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Vincent Cutajar
1950 -
 

Date of birth: August 23, 1950
Nationality: Maltese
Position: striker
Debut: March 20, 1968
Last match: January 13, 1985
Appearances for Club: 129
Goals for Club: 75

Vincent Cutajar is one of the Club's all-time greats. He is one of eight Blacks who have won all the five league titles with the Club. He has won over twenty major honours in an Ghajnsielem shirt. He is the Club's all time scoring leader with 75 goals. He is one of only five Blacks who won the G.F.A. footballer of the year.

No other Black has been G.F.A. top scorer as much as him (three times). No other Black has been Club top scorer as much as he has (seven times). He is one of only a handful of Gozitan players who have made an impact in the M.F.A. (with Hamrun Spartans). All of this, however, does not do justice to what Vincent Cutajar meant to the Club and to his precise position among the elite of Gozitan football.
Before Vincent Cutajar broke into the team, Ghajnsielem had never had in its thirty year history a player that inspired fear in its opponent. After his effective retirement in 1976, Ghajnsielem is still looking for a player that comes close to him on this danger factor. His style was unique in that he departed from a deep left position which gave him a range that is very rare for a striker. In essence he was more like a modern day mezza punta with a twist, in that instead of roaming behind the striker or strikers, he roamed on the left strip. His interplay with the Blacks' midfield, most notably with Loreto Galea, meant that he participated in transition play. He would then present assists to the centre-forward of the day or to the right winger, Toni Cauchi. Sometimes he would opt to go for the individual action and have a go himself at the net. The rest of the time he would dash inside the box to meet the killer pass from Cauchi or Galea. He was otherwise unpredictable. His left shot had so much action on it that made it very difficult for the opposing keeper to handle. His slight but muscular built made him very elusive. His marker had a terrible dilemma: if he marked him too tight, Vincent would spin away and be gone on a through pass; if he gave him space, Vincent would turn on the ball played to his feet and run straight at and through him. Vincent was fortunate in that he had team mates that appreciated the full implications of his vast array of weaponry. These team mates made sure that he was constantly involved in the action. Indeed, it was Vincent that immortalized the phrase that "unless you go back to the Club drenched in sweat, caked in mud and dripping blood, you have not done much in a match".

To limit Vincent's value to the Club to the goals he scored and to the goals he made others score, would still not do full justice to this player. At a very young age, Vincent developed such a degree of self-confidence that not only fuelled his personal ambition but more significantly propped the whole team's head up for a good ten years of the Club's history. Vincent Cutajar's swagger was infectious. He believed in himself and made his team mates believe in themselves. No team of sports psychologists would have seen a squad full of young players through so many all or nothing encounters in the span of five years. No task was insurmountable as long as Vincent was playing. The sad proof of this generally accepted claim is in the surrender of the scepter in the 1974/75 season. Vincent had received a lengthy suspension and the team had to make a charge for the sixth consecutive title without him. The team cut through all those who crossed its path impressively, until the moment of truth, the decisive match against eventual champions, Xewkija Tigers. The 0-1 reversal is more noted for the weak performance washed in self-doubt than for the result itself. Who knows what would have happened if Vincent was there!

With the passing of the years, history is slowly becoming legend. The longer the Club goes without producing someone in the mould of this great player and without a first division title, the longer will the shadow of Vincent and his band of brothers grow on the Club.

 

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