Interview: Johan Cruyff, Catalan national team manager

Johan Cruyff has no time for Scotland's backs-to-the-wall philosophy, especially as the Barca legend's attack-minded influence is so obvious in the Spain side who will visit Hampden on Tuesday, writes Paul Forsyth

DOWN by the shore at windswept Kingsbarns, a spindly figure is battling with the elements. A drive squirts into the gorse, a mid-iron from a perfect lie is chunked about two yards and a misjudged putt has him scurrying across the green to retrieve his ball and try again.

Johan Cruyff, once described as "Pythagoras in boots", a striker blessed with an unparalleled repertoire of angled passing, is struggling to master the geometry of his golf swing.

Rarely does the Dutchman, among 169 amateurs competing in this weekend's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, show any sign of the magic that set him apart on the football pitch, but it doesn't put him off. Every now and then, he is lifted, like at the par-5 16th, where he chips into the hole. He raises his hands above his head, and for a fleeting moment, you are taken back to the 1970s, when his famous turn, his goals and his uncanny appreciation of the game's finer points made iconic the red stripe of Ajax, the blue and grenadine of Barcelona and Holland's brilliant orange.

The long, lank hair is now short and grey, and the cigarettes have given way to fingernails, but something of the old Cruyff has survived. The 63-year-old golfer, like the twenty-something footballer, has no fear of failure. Several times a week, the 12-handicapper keeps his hand in at the course near his Barcelona home. "In the summer, I play nine holes early, before it gets too hot," he says. "I try to maintain (my game], but it's always an enjoyment. It's never been an obsession or a problem."

It is a favourite theme of Cruyff's, one he returns to in the clubhouse later. It's how he played his football, and how he likes others to play it. It's how, as a coach, he elevated Barcelona to new heights, and in turn the Spanish national team, who depend heavily on players from the Nou Camp. When Scotland face up to the world champions at Hampden Park on Tuesday night, it will be his legacy they confront.

It has the makings of a horrible mismatch: the world champions, who play a sophisticated brand of passing football, against a side, ranked 46 places below them, who do not. Read Cruyff the quote attributed to Craig Levein recently, the one in which the Scotland coach said that football was "more like chess than a game of flair", and the Dutchman interrupts: "No, no, no, I don't like this sort of thing. Football should never be a worry. It should be exciting. When a child plays football outside, he doesn't need to worry. Professionals should be the same. OK, there are a lot of times when winning is important, but at the end of the season, only one team is successful. Only one, never two. So what are we saying? That all the other teams have to suffer? It's absurd.

"Football is not about suffering. It's about enjoyment. Control the ball, be friendly with it, try to attack, try to score goals. Of course defending is part of it, but you can defend in a lot of ways. You can defend going backwards, but you can also defend going forwards, which is what I like. Of course, it can mean taking some risks, but that's OK."

Cruyff was demoralised by this summer's World Cup finals, where Holland betrayed their past, and too many teams in the opening round sought only to avoid defeat. "I followed it, but there were teams there that I don't even remember playing. What did they do? At least Chile were enjoyable to see. They said, ‘let's go and have a look, let's get past the first level'. They can be proud of themselves. But playing for two draws and a loss... that makes no sense."

Suggest to Cruyff that Levein is only playing to his squad's strengths, just as Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, did at Old Trafford, and he quickly cuts you off, showing not a shred of sympathy. "If they are not the right type of players, it means that you didn't look for them, didn't create them. Don't use it as an excuse."

His catch-all solution to the game's ills is this: limit the number of foreign players allowed in every European team, even for domestic matches. By encouraging home-grown talent, it would improve the national teams of small countries, as well as the fortunes of their bigger clubs. The likes of Ajax, Celtic and Rangers, big fish in small ponds, would no longer need to call for a European League. "As soon as the politicians say they are not allowed more than, say, five players from outside, the problem is solved. All these countries like Holland and Scotland, they create their own problems. They are always complaining, but they don't solve anything. Don't look at what you don't have, look at what you can create."

If Cruyff is not the greatest player who ever lived, he could claim to be its most influential. The principles of Total Football, learned when he played under Rinus Michels for Ajax, Barcelona and the Dutch national side, were later applied in his career as a coach. The players inspired by his three years in charge of Ajax, and his eight with Barcelona, included Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, both of whom have gone on to coach the Catalan club. Cruyff's pupils now have pupils of their own, so that the effect is multiplied, all the way through to the national team.

Barcelona players have represented Spain often enough in the past, but only in recent years have they brought with them their own philosophy. If it's not Xavi, Iniesta and Villa upholding the Cruyff blueprint, it's Puyol, Pique and Pedro. "It's unbelievable," says Cruyff. "I changed the way Barcelona played. Now, Spain have had to change. [Spain coach Vicente] Del Bosque has done a good job. Everybody is convinced by the way they play. They can win, and it's nice to look at."

Cruyff's only fear is that Spain have too many players doing the same thing. For all their qualities, he says, the national side are not as good as Barcelona, and not ready to rank among the game's greatest sides. "They could be, but not yet," he says. "They deserved to win the world championship, but their players didn't play as well as they used to with Barcelona. They have a lot of quality, but two or three players play in the same position. Maybe they need to leave somebody out. It's not ideal, but a team isn't always the best 11 players. It could be what the best mix is. They've got to sort it out."

Cruyff acknowledges that the "problem" is in midfield, where Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas is among the others indulging in what has become known, disparagingly in some quarters, as Tiki Taka. If that short, repetitive passing game isn't quite a carbon copy of Total Football, it is born of the same theory. "It's quite similar," says Cruyff. "Your full-backs are wingers, your wingers are full-backs, and the distance between them is so small that you can interchange. It's beautiful. With quality players, you can mix them up. If you want to defend a little or attack a little, you just change positions because everyone is nearby. You never have to run 25 yards to cover someone. It's always 15 yards at the most. If somebody makes a mistake, within half a second, you are there to put pressure on."

It worked for him in his time as Barcelona coach. Between 1988 and 1996, he led them to a European Cup, a European Cup-Winners' Cup and four straight league titles, all of which cemented a relationship with Catalonia that started when he went to play there in 1973. His son, Jordi, was named after the region's patron saint. Now he is coach of the Catalan national side, which is not recognised by FIFA or UEFA.

Like Alex Salmond, Cruyff sees similarities between Scotland and Catalonia, but unlike the First Minister, he does not advocate independence for either. "It's always good to live together and work together. By doing that, one and one should make three. The problem is that some people want to separate, and that leaves you with just one. Together they've got so many things to take advantage of. Fighting each other makes no sense."

He cites this summer's World Cup finals as the perfect example. Did the Catalans support Spain in South Africa? "In the beginning no, in the end yes. They played like Barcelona, there were a lot of Catalans in the team and everybody was happy. That's what I mean. One and one should be three. It's been good because they have more respect for each other now. And that's what sport is for. The whole of Spain was jumping."

These days, Cruyff devotes most of his time to charity work, his foundation and a network of schools aimed at preparing athletes for retirement. Every so often, he assumes an advisory role with either Ajax or Barcelona, but for the moment, neither of his beloved clubs are interested. If and when that changes, he will be there for them.

As for Scotland, well, he played, and scored, against them in a friendly 39 years ago, but he remembers little about it, just as he is a little hazy on the alleged approach by Dumbarton in 1982. Did he really meet with their manager in Amsterdam? "It's a possibility," he says.

So, too, is a win for Scotland on Tuesday night, but you wouldn't bet on that either. They are not what they used to be, but Cruyff likes their honesty, every ounce of which will be needed against Spain. "You always have a chance," he says. "But everybody's got to play with his heart. Don't try to copy. Be yourself." Cruyff has always been that.