Ajax has reached the bottom.
And you can take that very literally. This weekend, the Amsterdam team lost after a dramatic second half against rival PSV and dropped to the very last place in the Eredivisie.
“This has never happened at Ajax, which used to be the best club in Europe,” says Dutch football analyst and former youth player at Ajax, Youri Mulder.
According to Mulder, Murphy’s Law plays a role between the lines, but the real problem is more deeply rooted.
“We must especially look at the management of the club to identify the negative spiral. After the dismissal of Marc Overmars, there was a vacuum at the top.”
The gap was filled in the summer by Sven Mislintat, the new technical director. “He tried to put together a completely new team, but the players he brought in were simply not of sufficient quality. And that with 115 million euros…”
The German has since been fired again due to a fraud case.
A blessing in disguise?
Ajax once again brought in Amsterdam blood with Louis van Gaal – as advisor – and the new trainer John van ‘t Schip.
“Unlike Mislintat, they do have the Ajax DNA again. From Germany, Mislintat brought in players based on data, which is not the way Ajax has achieved its successes in the past. Ajax is the opposite. It is not a club of numbers , but of intuition.”
“But you notice that that operation and those who carried it out are quietly being replaced by real Ajax players. They have to convey what the club really stands for.”
The supporters also crave recognisability.
“An Ajax supporter doesn’t just want to win, he wants to see good football in the stadium. Amsterdam is currently full of confused fans. They even get pity from the outside world. That is an insult to the self-confident people of Amsterdam.”
Something that Louis van Gaal and co will undoubtedly take personally.
