“The behavior of Ajax’s club management is unprecedented”

Wim Kieft finds it incredible that nobody at Ajax still knows who will be ultimately responsible for next season, he says in his weekly column for The Telegraph. The sixty-year-old Amsterdammer believes that the uncertainty surrounding the future of trainer John Heitinga does not suit a top club. Kieft describes that just about everything has gone wrong in the Johan Cruijff ArenA this season and calls the behavior of Ajax’s club management ‘unprecedented’.

The former top striker sees that nobody around Ajax knows what will happen. “Incredible, even unprecedented, that the club management cannot or will not say whether John Heitinga will remain in front of the group as head coach or whether a new man will be appointed. As a trainer-coach you also have to be busy with the new season,” concludes Kieft. who would like to see action. “In any case, give everyone clarity. Now Heitinga and the entire Ajax organization are dangling. It is incomprehensible that it should take so long and a total certificate of inability for the Ajax leadership.”

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Kieft is not yet impressed by Heitinga. “Incidentally, Heitinga has not manifested itself in such a way as a heavyweight in recent months that Ajax cannot ignore him as a future head coach. If that assumption was true, it turned out to be wrong. Although Heitinga was saddled with a sick group, composed of an unbalanced composition, when he was appointed, yet he has not been able to bring about a turnaround.” Ajax is currently third, lost the final of the TOTO KNVB Cup against PSV and playing Champions League football is less realistic than participation in the Conference League.

Veronica Offside’s analyst sees several things going wrong under Heitinga. “The game remained dutiful, below par, the results weak and the negative sentiment continues to prevail in Amsterdam. While you can expect that a new trainer can at least achieve something that indicates a breath of fresh air,” said Kieft. “The fact that Ajax is threatening to participate in the Conference League with two games to go tells the whole story. At a club with the aim of storming the European top with at least overwintering in the Champions League.”