35 years since Johan Cruyff became FC Barcelona manager

On 4 May 1988, Johan Cruyff was hired as the new coach of FC Barcelona, replacing Luis Aragonés. This was all part of a move by Josep Lluís Núñez to stay on as president after ten lively years in the position, including the infamous 'Hesperia Mutiny' when the players themselves rose in rebellion.

On the day he arrived, Cruyff said "I am cleverer than I used to be. I made mistakes as a Barça player that I'm sure I will never make again." He also flatly denied that he had ever said that he would never coach Barça as long as Núñez was president.

The rest is history. The Dutchman utterly overhauled the squad, which was still unhappy with Núñez. Before the 1988/89 season, no fewer than 17 players departed (Archibald, Calderé, Clos, Manolo, Hughes, Gerardo, Moratalla, Pedraza, Urruti, Rojo, Amarilla, Cristóbal, López-López, Nayim, Fradera, Víctor and Schuster).

Only nine players remained (Migueli, Alexanko, Zubizarreta, Roberto, Urbano, Salva, Julio Alberto, Carrasco and Lineker).

There were 14 new faces for the coming season (Bakero, López Rekarte, Begiristain, Julio Salinas, Eusebio, Soler, Valverde, Unzué, Serna, Milla, Amor, Sergi López, Roura and Serer), with Aloisio and Romerito also on the point of joining.

There has never been such a massive change to the playing staff at Barça, but the results were extraordinary. Under Cruyff's magnificent orders, that team would win four Liga titles in a row and go to Wembley to bring home the club's first ever European Cup.