Valentijn Driessen makes mincemeat of Ajax and Maurits Hendriks

The Telegraph has again lashed out hard at Ajax Chief Sports Officer Maurits Hendriks through a column by Valentijn Driessen. The latter has been the target of criticism for some time and this has not diminished in recent days. Ajax watcher Mike Verweij revealed on Friday in the Kick-off podcast that Hendriks is the ‘big leak’ within the Amsterdam club and accused him of ‘character assassination’ of Edwin van der Sar. Driessen is also critical of the role of Michael van Praag, the chairman of the Supervisory Board.

While Ajax has started to move upward within the lines, things are still a mess at administrative level. The Amsterdammers hoped that Alex Kroes could have started his job as general manager before the turn of the year, but the non-competition clause with AZ put a stop to that. Kroes will therefore only start in March as Van der Sar’s successor. The latter resigned a few months ago after a turbulent period in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. This meant that the last word about his activities had not been said or written. Van der Sar comes off very badly in the book ‘Ajax in crisis’ by Menno de Galan.

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According to The Telegraph is that the fault of Hendriks, who is said to have passed on a lot of information to De Galan. Driessen lashes out at Hendriks in his column. “During Van der Sar’s general managership at Ajax, he tried to tackle the club icon from behind to take his place. It is seen in the rotten Ajax organization, but no one lifts a finger to stop the lust for power. There is support from above, from the supervisory board. They have appointed Hendriks, who licks his way up and kicks him down, and is blind to his delusions,” Driessen writes in his column. According to the newspaper’s football chief, Ajax appoints Sven Mislintat as the new technical director on the recommendation of Hendriks. The German was fired on September 24 after the dramatic Classic against Feyenoord.

“Together, the kindred spirits collapsed the football institution Ajax, one of the Netherlands’ most beautiful export products, sportingly and financially. Ajax is currently last in the Eredivisie and external financing is being sought to meet various payment obligations,” Driessen writes. According to the reporter, Hendriks Van der Sar ‘stabbed a knife in his back’. “The Ajax player through and through, first as a player, later as a director, is mercilessly dismissed by Hendriks as an anonymous source in the book ‘Ajax in crisis’. Hendriks profiles himself on the back of Van der Sar. The real Ajax players, the club people at De Toekomst, would like to shout it from the rooftops, but fear the wrath of Hendriks and other managers. The fear of far-reaching consequences when openly sharing negative experiences with Hendriks and having their names mentioned in the newspaper is enormous. Talking about an unsafe atmosphere in the workplace.”

Driessen wonders whether Ajax ‘wants to be structured like this’ and questions Van Praag’s role. “Does Van Praag want Ajax to symbolize a club that gives space to an outsider to anonymously burn down a club icon like Van der Sar from within its own organization? Is that the new moral compass of the club management? Does Van Praag allow himself to be taken in by a narcissist without scruples, without moral sense? It is his imagination to maintain Hendriks. Does Van Praag stab a second knife in Van der Sar’s back? Under his chairmanship of the Supervisory Board, will Ajax become a club where icons have been declared outlaws?”

2023-12-05 17:11:05
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