Cruyff to act as consultant for Guadalajara
Reuters - Friday 24 February 2012, 04:18
Johan Cruyff is joining struggling
Mexican side Guadalajara as a consultant, the club lying bottom
of the Clausura championship said on Thursday.
The club invited 'Chivas' fans on their website to welcome the Dutch great at their
Omnilife Stadium on the outskirts of Guadalajara on Saturday.
"Consistent with our constant search for innovation and
excellence, Chivas invite you to welcome one of the best players
and coaches of world football, who is coming to join the club,"
Guadalajara said.
"With his arrival, we will continue to push the development
of the club... to make the Chivas the best team in the world."
Cruyff, one of the world's greatest ever players, won the
European Cup three times with Ajax and captained the Netherlands
to the 1974 World Cup final before steering Barcelona as coach
to their first European Cup in 1992.
Guadalajara hold a record 11 Mexican league crowns, winning
their last in 2006, but they have struggled to meet the high
ambitions of their owner, wealthy Mexican businessman Jorge
Vergara.
Vergara, who has been the club president for a decade, vowed
when he bought the club that he would make them the best in the
world while maintaining a squad made up entirely of Mexican
players, against the grain in a league full of imports mainly
from South America.
Guadalajara have hit rock bottom this season. They won the
league phase of the Apertura, first of two championships in the
season, but were upset in the quarter-finals when it went into
the eight-team knockout stage.
They made a dreadful start to the Clausura last month with a
club record worst start to a championship of four defeats. They
are now bottom with two points from seven matches.