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Ian Farrell follows the tetchy career of a player highly rated by Johan Cruyff, but who proved to be an unsatisfactory replacement for Jason Wilcox

Depending on how sympathetic you are towards them as a species, Richard Witschge is either a ty­pical Dutch player or the sort that unfairly gives them a bad name. Arrogant, outspoken, not quite as talented as he thinks he is and ultimately destined to underachieve big time. Mix these characteristics with the flop­py hair, three-day stubble and permanent sulk of a long lost Gallagher brother, and the result is no British manager’s idea of a trouble-free pro.

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Aside from the chevron on their shirts, Filippo Ricci explains that Sampdoria are now unrecognisable from the team that came so close to European glory just a decade ago

On April 21, Sampdoria lost 2-0 at home to Serie B’s bottom club, Crotone, a team from a tiny town in Cal­abria. The result left the once-mighty club just four points above the relegation zone with six games to go. Ten years ago, Sampdoria lost the last the Euro­pean Cup final before the start of the Champions League, 1-0 to Barcelona at Wembley. On paper, it’s a long jour­ney, on the pitch, a quick and irreversible plunge.

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Known as many things, mainly to rude to print, the referee has a tough job. Cris Freddi is taking no pity on the men in black

As always, there are enough examples of dreadful refereeing to fill a book, let alone a couple of pages. Only room here for a quick mention of Alan Hudson being given a goal for Chelsea against Ipswich, when the ball hit the side netting, and Clive Allen being den­ied one when his free-kick came back off the stan­chion, both pushed aside by more momentous ex­amples.

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Ruud Gullit was an iconic figure during his time in England but Rutger Slagter reveals exactly what his fellow Dutchmen think of him

When Johan Cruyff went to Barcelona his name was better known worldwide than the name of his new club. When he left the recognition was about equal, according to Cruyff himself. The same could be said for Ruud Gullit and Chelsea. Manchester United and Liverpool have been household names in Holland for years. Some fanatics had known about Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Wimbledon. A couple of years ago I read somewhere that Glenn Hoddle was moving to Chelsea. I knew Hoddle.

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Nothing unusual about a teenage player keeping a record of progress, except when he is a future European Footballer of the Year. In an extract from a feature first published in the Dutch magazine Hard Gras, Hugo Borst describes the contents of Marco van Basten's diary

Joop van Basten now lives alone in the house in Utrecht where he raised his family. His sons Marco and Stanley (named after Stanley Matthews) have moved out. Several times a day Mr Van Basten visits his wife in a mental home – a stroke depriving her of her mind in 1985 – and in Marco’s old room, he maintains a shrine to his son’s career.

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