Krol: “I didn’t win any trophies with Ajax. It was the warm welcome I received at Napoli that made the difference”

No distance can change that. Even after decades, Ruud Krol speaks like a Neapolitan through and through – in English, mind you, but pay attention to the substance. In Neapolitan slang, the number 5 stands for the hand: for the Dutchman, however, “it’s always been the one on my shirt. So today I have a dream’. What’s that? ‘That this season, to celebrate its centenary, Napoli will win its fifth league title. It would be fantastic, for the whole city and for a club that has given so much to football’. Ever since 1 August 1926, as tradition dictates.

“I go back there several times a year; I was even there for Spalletti’s Scudetto win. Matches between old favourites and reunions with former teammates: many have moved on, but my friend Bruscolotti is still there. And so is the fans’ love.” In a recent radio poll, Krol was voted the greatest Azzurri defender of all time with 95 per cent of the vote. A landslide victory. “It moves me to know that this bond still endures. And the affection is mutual. Playing for Ajax, I won everything: league titles, European Cups. The warmth of Naples, however, is worth more than any trophy.” Today Krol is 77 years old and speaks with the enthusiasm of a schoolboy. He was one of the finest footballers of his generation, a mainstay of the Dutch ‘total football’ side that captivated the world in the 1970s. “The best was yet to come,” he tells “Il Foglio Sportivo”. “After so many seasons in Amsterdam, I’d lost my motivation. So I went to the Vancouver Whitecaps”—then as now—it was 1980—a move typically seen as the end of a career. “Instead, Canada revitalised me. Antonio Juliano, a Napoli director, approached me after a match in Seattle. He could barely speak English, but through a translator he told me: ‘Come and fly with me on Monday.’ I seized the opportunity. Serie A is the best league in the world and I couldn’t wait to have my say again. On the appointed day, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but Juliano just didn’t seem to turn up at the airport. Moments of panic. In the end, he boards just before they close the aircraft door.” And the adventure begins. “Yes. After a 42-hour journey. Tired and reeling from jet lag, I land in Naples in the morning and have to take to the pitch that evening. In my first match, I still manage to hit the post and the crossbar. The fans are thrilled. So am I.”

Why choose Napoli of all teams? “The simple truth? They were quicker off the mark than the others when the borders reopened,” smiles Krol. “Liedholm’s Roma had also been after me, following a good performance of mine in a friendly against them. One day, when he was already manager of the Azzurri, I bumped into Ancelotti: ‘It’s a shame we never faced each other in a match…’, he said to me. I agreed. In that Vancouver v Roma game, he was young, but he certainly made his mark. We checked it out together and had a laugh about it.” Ruud still has a memory of steel. “A good defender needs a sense of direction, to read the game, and always keep an eye on the most dangerous opponent. So talk, talk, talk: even toughly, if necessary, to lead your teammates to victory. One of my strengths was precisely organisation and communication between the lines. I had to learn Italian straight away, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to command the defence. I realised that on the pitch…” Another anecdote. “We were playing in Ascoli, we were 1–0 up, I wanted to push the back line up and I shouted: ‘Fiori, fiori!’, instead of ‘fuori, fuori’. In the end we lost 3–2. That’s when I realised that pronunciation matters.”

And so Krol was also able to get to know Neapolitan life inside out. “I loved the city, as a man from the north who’d moved to the south. After a couple of months of settling in, I was able to listen, joke and chat with people. I always felt as down-to-earth as they were.” Even though they regarded him as a deity to be worshipped. “One day I found myself in a neighbourhood street for a Dutch TV feature. I hadn’t told anyone, but somehow word had got round: suddenly a horde of fans turned up with flags, led by a local councillor who was mortified because he had no gift to give me. I should have warned him; I even got told off for it. So I went back there three weeks later: they loaded me up with wine, pasta and all sorts of goodies.” And with what pleasure they must have done so. “On another occasion in Sorrento, they even presented me with a gold medal: ordinary citizens, not the authorities. At that point I said to my teammates: ‘Lads, that’s enough. I can’t do this any longer.’ As long as it’s food, that’s fine, but it’s not acceptable to receive something of such value from such humble people, when I’m a footballer: it’s too much. I don’t think it’s morally right.”

So that leaves his time on the pitch: it’s said that Krol was to Napoli what Maradona was, before Maradona. “I think I opened the club’s eyes,” he agrees. “Together we raised the standard and the bar of ambition: third place with one of the best defences in the league, 15 matches in a row without defeat. We showcased a style of football to the whole of Italy; rarely had Napoli come so close to the Scudetto. Wonderful memories. It’s just a shame I wasn’t part of the rest of it.” Krol remained with the Azzurri for four seasons. Then he became the price to be paid to sign Diego. “The club didn’t have the money to sign such a world-class player without recouping funds from my transfer: I understand that; I was 35 by then. I’d once faced Maradona for the national team, when he was just a lad. I would have loved to have had him on the team with me too: for a defender, someone like him is better as a teammate than as an opponent. But that’s all right. I played a lot alongside Cruijff.” An impossible comparison? “I think football is made up of great eras. And every era has its undisputed star: they were just that.” Ruud was part of that transition. Those who love never forget.