Interview with Dutch maverick Johnny Rep for Champions, the official Champions League Magazine.

Here's Johnny!
He is almost the Zelig of the international football scene of the seventies and early eighties. John Rep (58) played alongside three of the defining players of that era, Johan Cruyff (WC 74), Mario Kempes (WC 78) and Michel Platini (Euro 84). Yet with two World Cup finals on his pedigree he had more than just a supporting role. A fan’s favorite at all of his foreign clubs, and still the Dutch topscorer in the World Cup with seven goals.  
Calling John Rep is surprisingly easy. He answers within two rings. No voicemail with  ‘I might call you back’, which is the average message you get in football. A week later we meet in a trucker’s restaurant, where everybody knows his name. For being a regular guest that is, not because he ended Scotland’s dreams in Argentina 31 years ago or scored the winner in 1973’s European Cup final against Juventus. Rep is enjoying his life as a scout for first division FC Omniworld and is barely mentioned as one of the mavericks of Dutch Total Football these days.

ZFC (1965-1969)
Rep was 17 when he made his debut in professional football at ZFC in Zaandam, a club from the now extinct second division.  “I used to play in the reserves, but I was on the verge of getting into the first team for the 1969-70 season. My uncle thought I could do better and went to the recordstore of Ajax-chairman Jaap van Praag in Amsterdam.", he recalls. "He told Van Praag how big a talent I was and that they needed to see me play. He must have been quite convincing as they did scout me a couple of games and subsequently asked me to come to the Meer. My father was dead against it as he liked to see me play for ZFC while I initially had some doubts myself. I had to start in an Ajax youth team, while I was already playing professionaly at ZFC. My entrance in Amsterdam was rather inauspicious too. Being a bit hotheaded then, I was sent off for retaliation in one of my last games at ZFC. So I started my career at Ajax with a four match suspension. My debut was therefore in Ajax A2 against Rood Wit, but thanks to a couple of goals I soon made it into the A1, the highest youth team.” 
Ajax (1969-1975)
In 1971 John Rep joined the squad that had just won the European Cup at Wembley, beating Panathinaikos 2-0. He should be the successor of right forward Sjaak Swart, mister Ajax, who was 33. Rep’s debut came when Swart was injured just before the break in the European Cup homegame against Dynamo Dresden. To his horror he was substituted again with still fifteen minutes to go. “That was humiliating”, remembers Rep 38 years later vividly. “I did not feel I played that bad, but evidently our trainer Stefan Kovacs thought otherwise.” According to a newsreport the next day Ruud Krol had said: “Obviously it is difficult for such a boy.”
Rep spent the rest of his first season mostly on the bench, although he played well in the reserves. It was the formidability of his competitor that proved hard to beat. Swart was present at Ajax’ first away trip in Europe fourteen years earlier and had no intention of surrendering his place, especially in such a succesful team. Swart did not even mind taking the place of Wim Suurbier at right back, when the latter was injured, as long as he could play. Several journalists supported Swart’s cause, while Rep’s image did not work in his favor. With his golden locks and easy going manners he was framed as a fancy hipster which was resented by some in the squad. They were still picking themselves up from the hardship and toughness of the Rinus Michels-era, when jolly Rep came waltzing in. Maybe they felt that the young Zaankanter came to reap the fruits that they, and for all Sjaak Swart, had sawn. “I had a fight with Johan Cruyff during training some days before the Benfica-game. They sent me back into the reserves for a month. Not the trainer, but the members of the player’s council. Kovacs had nothing to do with it. His influence on the squad was diminishing rapidly.” 
Rep witnessed  from the bench how his teammates impressively beat Internazionale in Rotterdam to win their second European Cup. After the summer his chances increased. As a substitute he made his name in the World Cup final against Independiente by scoring two goals. “The next weekend I was in the starting line-up, but when we lost 2-0 against NAC in Breda, I was the easy scapegoat. My next game was Volendam reserves away, where I picked up a yellow card and a subsequent suspension out of frustration. I felt I was good enought to play in the first team and if I could not then I should go anywhere else just to get gamepractice again. At that time FC Twente were interested in me and willing to pay about a million guilders. I certainly was prepared to leave.”
Swart still did not budge. He called Rep ‘ Goudhaantje’, a sort of lucky bird, which was quickly picked up by the media. It enhanced Rep’s reputation as the fancy hipster, which he felt was unfair. “ I had the timing to be at the right spot, which was not only a talent but also something you can acquire.”  The board of Ajax were less sentimental than the crowd around Sjaak Swart. They believed the time had come to bring Rep in the team. Stefan Kovacs however did not have the courage to tell Swart he was out. It almost became the ground to fire him, but as the players liked the Rumanian so much they stepped in and convinced mister Ajax that they would rather see Rep in his place as well. It was another sign that the players were in charge, not Kovacs. Soon the team began to disintegrate as individuals started to exploit their own importance. Results were still good in 1972-73 as Rep’s appearance increased the goalscoring potential. “Piet Keizer and Sjaak Swart hardly ever entered the box. They rather kept their position on the flanks. At that time Johan Cruyff liked to drop more and more into midfield. When I came in I used to run into the gaps he left and Johan always had the perfect pass to set me up. In 24 games I made 17 goals to become topscorer of the team in 1973, that won another title and European Cup. ”  

Valencia (1975-77)
After the summer Cruyff departed to Barcelona returning Ajax into an ordinary team. Johan Neeskens left a year later. “The 74-75 season was a real drag”, remembers Johnny Rep. “The new manager Hans Kraay put Piet Keizer on the bench. He did not take that very well and ended his career within a few months, never to touch a ball again. And those who had been to the World Cup all had a seasonlong hang-over. No Dutch international played well that year. I decided to go. Hungarian agent Jenoe Bekeffy contacted his friend Emil Österreicher, the manager of Valencia, and helped me go to Spain. Unfortunately in my first days at the club I suffered from food poisoning and missed the start of the league. Being fit again the chairman, the trainer as well as Österreicher had been fired already. It therefore took me some time to get into the team, as much so that there were even attempts to bring me back at Ajax, but at the end of the season I was chosen as Valencia’s Player of the Year. The next year we had a sensational forward line with Mario Kempes and Paraguayan Carlos Diarte. At Christmas we were on top, then coach Heriberto Herrera lost the plot. He made the tactical decision to leave me on the bench at Barcelona, where we then lost 6-1, but also had the weirdest training sessions. In the end we dropped to seventh place, which even kept us out of the UEFA Cup. Herrera was fired, but it was too late.” 

Bastia (1977-1979)
As Valencia was flirting with Gladbach’s midfield maestro Rainer Bonhof and only two foreigners were allowed to play in the Primera Division Rep understood that his time was up on the Spanish East coast. He became the replacement for Yugoslavian star Dragan Dzajic, whose goals had propelled Bastia of Corsica into the UEFA Cup. “FC Köln was an option as well, but their trainer Weisweiler had a row with my agent Cor Coster over Johan Cruyff, so that fell through. However, the 1977-78 season on the island became the best year of my life. Both life and football was top.”  In the UEFA Cup Bastia beat Sporting Lissabon, Newcastle United and Torino home and away and crushed Carl Zeiss Jena 7-2 in the quarter final. In the semi-final Bastia were the luckiest when they scored the only, decisive goal on an almost unplayable waterlogged pitch at home against Grasshoppers. Meanwhile PSV took care of the favorites Barcelona.
“Both finals against PSV were a bit of a let-down. At first the officials had contemplated to play the homeleg in Marseille or Paris, but in the end we played in our own Furiana stadium for 15.000 people. Most of them came already after lunch, although they had to wait several hours. They did not mind. I have this film made by the famous Jacques Tati, who documented the special atmosphere that day perfectly. However, at four o’clock a torrential rain broke lose which drained pitch and spectactors alike. It was dry when we kicked off, but the place was a quagmire and part of the crowd had gone home already. Football was near impossible. Without a goal we travelled to Eindhoven, but not after we had played four leaguegames in between. We were knackered and never stood a chance : 3-0.”
St. Etienne (1979-83)
The second year in Bastia was less succesful for the team, but Rep did well enough to deserve a transfer to Saint-Etienne, where he met a young Michel Platini. “One of the best I have ever played with. Different then Johan Cruyff of course, but what a goal scorer. Cruyff dropped into midfield to escape the shackles of the centre backs when he was in his early twenties, but Platini kept on going where it hurts. We had a great team, but we won only one French title, in 1981, and had some remarkable European scores, good and bad. Having beaten HSV 5-0 in Hamburg we managed to lose 4-1 at home to Ipswich Town in the UEFA Cup for instance. And our games against PSV are legendary.”
​PSV met Saint Etienne for the first time in the European Cup semi-final of 1976. A comperatively easy draw it seemed looking at the other lots Bayern München and Real Madrid. After a 1-0 defeat in France everyone in Eindhoven expected an easy passage to the final for the freescoring Dutch champions, but a goalless draw caused widespread heartbreak and frustration. The opportunity for revanche came five months later already, however the exact same results send Saint-Etienne through again. In October 1979 they drew each other for the third time, now in the UEFA Cup. PSV, and especially trainer Kees Rijvers , being an ex-player of Saint-Etienne in the fifties, were desperate at least to score. 
“This time the first game was in Eindhoven. We were cheated by the Swedish referee. Within six minutes I was kicked hard on three occasions by Stevens and Brandts and their goal after twelve minutes was blatantly offside. I can’t remember exactly but their second may have been incorrect as well. Anyway with 2-0 down, I knew something had to happen in the return. I issued the local press with some agitating lines to stir up the crowd. Rijvers still had friends in the city so he knew very well what I was doing. On the night the 35.000 were baying for blood. We surprised PSV with our line-up and before they reacted we were 3-0 ahead. With only five minutes gone! Michel scored a magnificent free-kick ten minutes later and we ended on 6-0 with a penalty of mine in the last minute. I was marked by four different defenders. Afterwards Rijvers told me he would pay me back later on. ” 

Dutch team (1973-81)
It proved the end of the Rijvers-era at PSV as the game in France was the epitome of the troubles between the coach and his squad. The little flat-capped coach popped up at the national team in 1981, just when Rep was hoping to go to the World Cup in Spain. “Unfortunately I was hardly a regular in the Dutch squad as there was not an international calender at that time. Especially the French league had a tendency to schedule midweek league games, barring me from playing for Holland. When Rijvers took over I knew  I was on a dead-end street.”
Rijvers ran into trouble early on in the campaign when Holland started with two defeats. “Rijvers needed results and after a failed experiment with youngsters like Rijkaard and Gullit he returned to experience in the team. He invited Johan Neeskens, who did not even have a club, and me again. It worked and in the final game in Paris we only needed a draw to qualify. Still 0-0 in the second half France had a free-kick just outside the box. Michel Platini grabbed the ball. Having seen him take them plenty of times, I warned Hans van Breukelen that someone needed to guard one of the posts. So Ruud Krol took the job, while Van Breukelen positioned himself in the middle of the goal. That was not what I meant. In the confusion both missed Platini’s curler and, as a result, we watched the World Cup on television. In May, Rijvers invited me for a farewell game when Holland played England in a friendly at Wembley. I could not make it because I had to play with Saint Etienne, but anyway, I was only 29! I still played in   the Dutch Eredivisie until 1987, but was never called up again.” 

Two silver World Cupmedals is all that remains of his 42 caps. “In 1974 we fooled ourselves. After the first goal we arrogantly tried to humiliate the Germans instead of using the early advantage to score a second. In Argentina I believe Piet Schrijvers would have made the difference in the final. Jan Jongbloed did have some great games for us, but looking at both Kempes-goals I am sure Schrijvers would have saved us. These ackward situations were his specialty. “ 
Rep now lives in North-Holland, where he was born and raised. “I would certainly have stayed in Saint-Etienne if it was not for the tax problems I had at that time. It is such a beautiful region and I had many friends there. Could have lived there forever. They even published a book about me : Allez Johnny Rep, Feu Vert, which unfortunately went missing during one of my removals. So if anyone has one to spare...” 

Published in Champions, Issue 37, October/November 2009.