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After this season, Ajax does not have to turn to Ron Jans for the position of head coach in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. The 65-year-old coach was appointed coach of FC Utrecht at the beginning of September and expects this to be his last job in the coaching profession. Jans said he would have dared to make the step to a top Dutch club, but is content with the fact that Ajax, PSV or Feyenoord are not on his CV.
After last season, Jans resigned from his duties as head coach of FC Twente and, as was the plan, took a sabbatical. The experienced coach did this for exactly 66 days, after which the itch started and he signed a two-year contract with Utrecht. If it were up to Jans, his employment with the Domstedelingen would also be the end of his career. “FC Utrecht is probably my last club as a trainer,” Jans said in Algemeen Dagblad.
In all modesty I dare to say that I could work at the top. I would certainly have dared to take the step
– Ron Jans (trainer FC Utrecht)
“I certainly don’t feel 65. I am very fit, I get excited when I see ‘us’ playing football well and I don’t notice that there is a generation gap between my players and me,” Jans explains further. “Only: I’d rather stop myself than have others say: ‘Ron, it’s been nice now, isn’t it, boy’. I want to be ahead of that moment.”
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Jans performed excellently in the past at FC Groningen, SC Heerenveen, PEC Zwolle and FC Twente, but was never active in the Dutch top. “I have sometimes asked myself whether I could do it, working at the top,” he admits. “In all modesty I dare to say that the answer is ‘yes’. I would certainly have dared to take the step, but it does not feel like a loss to me that those clubs never came for me.”
“I really don’t suffer from the fact that I have not been a trainer of Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV,” says Jans. “During my time at Heerenveen I experienced how annoying I find it when there is no peace in the organization. At the big clubs you have to deal more with all kinds of force fields, with people who may not have your best interests at heart. I don’t know if I would have felt comfortable with that. That’s why it’s fine. I really like the sub-top.”
