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Co Adriaanse fired as Ajax' head coach
29 November: As the Amsterdam Stock Exchange announced a
temporary stop of the trade in Ajax stock on Thursday morning,
due to an expected "important announcement" by Ajax, it was not
too hard to predict what the announcement was gonna be. Co
Adriaanse has been fired as Ajax' manager and coach with
immediate effect.
Ajax.nl reports that the decision of the Board Of Directors
to dismiss the Amsterdammer, is "unanimously supported" by the
Council Of Commisioners. Ajax has not yet decided what will
happen to Adriaanse's coach- assistants, Leo van Veen and Peter
Boeve. The club will soon discuss their Ajax future with
them.
During the first press conference about the matter, on
Thursday at 2:00 PM in the ArenA, general director Arie van
Eijden refused to answer questions about the reasons of Co
Adriaanse's dismissal. "It's a feeling, which made us decide
that we want to head in a different direction with Ajax", he
said. Neither did he want to reveal Ajax' plans for the near
future. He gave no comment as to who will become Adriaanse's
successor.
Adriaanse at Ajax
Co Adriaanse (54) was presented as Ajax' new 'director of
professional football' on 27 March, 2000. He took over from
stand-in head coach Hans Westerhof, who had just replaced fired
Jan Wouters. Adriaanse officially started working as the Ajax-1
head coach on 01 July, 2000. Under Adriaanse's supervision,
Ajax played 84 games. 50 of those were won, 20 were lost and
there were 14 draws. In the KPN Eredivisie, Adriaanse won 27
out of his 48 games (9 draws, 12 defeats). He had a contract
for three full years, until June of 2003. He lasted for just
under 17 months.
Under Co Adriaanse, Ajax-1 played only one Amstel Cup game,
which was lost against Vitesse. Adriaanse was particularly held
responsible for the fact that Ajax was eliminated early in the
UEFA Cup for two seasons in a row. The Amsterdammers succumbed
in the second round to Lausanne Sports (Switzerland, 2000-2001)
and FC Copenhagen (Denmark, 2001-2002), clubs that Ajax should
have beaten under any circumstance.
Adriaanse was already under fire at the beginning of this
season, as Ajax reduced the second leg of the Champions League
qualification play-offs to a formality by losing 1-3 at home to
Celtic FC (Scotland), in disgraceful style. Technical director
Leo Beenhakker and a few players described Adriaanse's tactics
in the media as "naive" and "suicidal". The coach saved himself
by reverting to a more defensive formation, with which he had
an excellent start in the league. The UEFA Cup elimination by
FC Copenhagen, followed by two more home defeats against NAC
(1- 3) and PSV (1-3) sealed his fate. Yesterday's spectacular
win over FC Twente came too late.
Adriaanse's tactical choices in big and especially in
European have not always been lucky. He was also criticized for
"poor communication" within the club. However, it needs to be
noted that he has almost never had the full support of board
and fans. Adriaanse, known as a coach of the "manager" type,
was hired by former general director Frank Kales, who wanted to
adjust the Ajax club structure to the demands of a modern
enterprise. Kales resigned shortly after head coach Jan Wouters
was fired.
Adriaanse was confronted with new directors, who would
probably never have contracted him in the first place: general
director Arie van Eijden and technical director Leo Beenhakker.
By inviting these "people's managers" back to Amsterdam, Ajax
emphatically chose for a return to a warmer approach. Much has
been said and written about the reportedly bad relationship
between the strict and inflexible Adriaanse and Van Eijden, the
amicable club man.
The Ajax fans were particularly unhappy with a string of
decisions by Adriaanse which seemed to confirm his
business-like approach. The hard core of Ajax fans did not
appreciate Adriaanse's announcement that Ajax' Jack-of-
all-trades and fan hero Sjaak Wolfs would no longer sit on the
team bench during games. Banning prodigal sons Aron Winter and
Richard Witschge from the first team. Some of Adriaanse's blunt
remarks touched the Ajax fans on the raw. Calling PSV chairman
Harry van Raaij a "talking lamp-shade" was deemed rather funny
by most Ajax supporters; referring to Frank Rijkaard as a
"bungler" coaching the Dutch national team without any official
certificates and stating that there was "no place for Marco van
Basten in the staff" much less so.
Co Adriaanse already knew the Ajax culture when he signed as
a head coach. He was the director of the youth system during
the historically succesful 'Van Gaal era', between 1992 to
1997. After that he moved to Tilburg, where he finished second
in the league and qualified for the Champions League with
modest provincial club Willem II. Adriaanse has also worked for
AZ, PEC Zwolle and FC Den Haag. This season's lost home game
against PSV marked his 400th game as a coach in professional
football.
Blind to take over?
Immediately after Adriaanse's dismissal was announced, NOS
Teletekst reported that Danny Blind, currently the coach of
Ajax' A1 youth team, was most likely to taker over from
Adriaanse, possibly as a duo with current coach- assistant Leo
van Veen. NOS Teletekst even announced an "Advisor's role" for
Marco van Basten.
However, in Ajax' first official statement, the club said
that no successor had been chosen yet and that the future of
Adriaanse's coach-assistants, Peter Boeve and Leo van Veen, was
yet to be discussed with them. A few days earlier,
Volkskrant journalist Paul Onkenhout claimed that Boeve
was to "disappear from the stage" with Adriaanse. Van Veen's
name was not mentioned in Onkenhout's article, which has - so
far - turned out to be right. (MP)
Quotes from press conference in
the Arena
Technical director, Leo Beenhakker: "We will search for a
structural successor, and we will start our search outside the
club. Of course, you depend on the availability of the desired
successor. If we don't succeed, a temporary solution is the
second option. If we end up choosing for that option, we'll
search within the organization."
Ajax has not contacted any coaches, within or outside Ajax.
Beenhakker: "That's a deliberate choice you make. I have a lot
of respect for Co. Therefore, you simply do not present the new
coach immediately."
General director, Arie van Eijden: "This morning, at 9:30,
we unanimously decided not to continue with Co. Shortly after
the decision was made, we had a conversation with Co Adriaanse,
in which we told him about it. Co did not agree on our
decision. I was told that he said goodbye to his players in a
warm and emotional way. From a human point of view, this is a
very unpleasant decision, but it's all about the larger
interest of Ajax here."
Beenhakker: "We agreed not to discuss Co Adriaanse's
qualities at this point. But you'll understand that it's all
about the results. This decision was made this morning, but the
results in several phases have led to this. Earlier moments,
such as the eliminations against Celtic and in the UEFA Cup,
were obvious reasons. But in the middle of a good series, you
decide not to handle. The results have deteriorated recently.
Then you start looking at the bigger picture."
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