With the departure of Erik ten Hag, Ajax has lacked a leadership culture. Veteran coach Louis van Gaal could bring order to Amsterdam, but he is likely to put his own health first.
Riots by Ajax Amsterdam supporters interrupted the Dutch premier league top fight between Ajax and Feyenoord on Sunday. The supporters’ rampage was due to the club’s recent lack of success and lack of confidence in the club’s management. The suspended match is supposed to be played to the end on Wednesday, with Feyenoord starting with a 3–0 lead.
Now a Dutch football legend Marco van Basten has taken a stand on the country’s football unrest and the former Ajax striker is proposing to suspend all professional football in Holland. Dutch media Ad’s according to Van Basten opened his verbal chest on the Sunday broadcast of television channel Ziggo Sport.
– Do I have a solution? Is not. However, I could say: stop professional football in Holland, because otherwise this will just continue.
For example, in May, supporters of Dutch AZ Alkmaar attacked supporters of English West Ham in a Conference League match.
Ajax supporters riots are of The Athletic as a result of supporters’ dissatisfaction with the club management. The decline began when Erik ten Hag moved from the position of Amsterdam’s commander to the English big club Manchester United. In the Ten Hag era, Ajax excelled in terms of play, winning, among other things, the Dutch championship three times and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019, besides which the club’s player deals were financially successful.
With the growing criticism of the supporters and the violence that broke out, the football director had to pay for the club’s lack of leadership at his workplace By Sven Mislintati. A former Ajax player who arrived at the club’s management last spring and was appointed as the club’s CEO at the beginning of September Jan van Halst is still in the manager’s place, but according to the Dutch media Algemeen Dagblad, quoted by the Athletic, no one is running the club.
Ajax needs a change of pace, or else international matches at the top of Europe are just a long-term dream for the Dutch football giants. Among other things, a midfielder who has already finished his playing career Rafael van der Vaart has been suggested as the club’s savior by a coaching legend Louis van Gaal. At the moment, however, the veteran coach is known to be focusing on his own health, as he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.
Sources: AD, The Athletic