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General Meeting of Shareholders: "It looks good"

On Friday 29 November the annual General Meeting of Shareholders took place in the Rinus Michels Hall of the Amsterdam ArenA. Ajax used the meeting to publicly comment on, as well as answer shareholders' questions about, matters such as the negative club financials over the 2001-2002 season and the club's plans for the future. General director Arie van Eijden was said to be optimistic, despite Ajax' loss of 25.8 million euros over 2001-2002. The shareholders, in their turn, were remarkably kind and accomodating, possibly because of Ajax' excellent on-field achievements at the moment.

Chairman Michael van Praag started the meeting by provinding his audience with some information on his position as Ajax' chairman, his departure and his unexpected remaining in office until the summer of 2003. His successor, John Jaakke, wil not take over immediately, but at the start of the 2003-2004 season. Van Praag explained that Ajax' Board of Commissioners officially asked him to remain in office until that time.

General director Arie van Eijden then moved on to the negative financial, as presented in Ajax' annual report on 16 October. Van Eijden told his audience that he has "an ambiguous feeling" about the results: "Sportively, we have done extremely well, by winning the 28th Dutch championship and the 15th Dutch cup. As an organization, however, we can not possibly be satisfied with the financial results."

However, Van Eijden stressed, Ajax' continuity is not in peril. "And those are not just pleasant words", the general director said. "I want to sincerely indicate where we are: it looks good. When I returned to Ajax as a general director, my main task was to get the operational result 'break even' in a few years' time."

Ajax' operational result increased by 18% in 2001-2002. However, the total 'booking result' was more negative than the year before: 25.8 million euros were lost. Van Eijden explained that this was caused by decreasing income from player transfers, the dissolving and redeeming of a number of contracts, and the poor results from Ajax' foreign brands: Ashanti Goldfields (Ghana), Ajax Cape Town (South-Africa) and Germinal Beerschot Antwerp (Belgium).

Van Eijden announced that Ajax will financially withdraw from these foreign projects. Several legal changes for members of the European Union have wiped out the advantages of scouting abroad. It is no longer allowed to sign players from outside of the European Union under the age of 18. Also, it appears that players from Africa have problems acclimatizing in The Netherlands if signed at a young age. Van Eijden: "The foreign brands have been valuable. We have signed Steven Pienaar on a free transfer, and Jelle Van Damme for a very low fee. There are still several Belgian players in the Ajax youth." The general director announced that Ajax will continue to co-operate on a technical level. Several parties are interested in buying Ajax' stakes. Those parties have made clear that they would like to keep working with Ajax.

Van Eijden: "The situation is not nearly as bad as the figures might make you think. This is part of Ajax' recovery. We are busy making a clean sweep."

Van Eijden thinks he will need another two years until the process of making Ajax 'financially healthy' will be completed. The number of contracted players, for example, is still much too high. Most of those player contracts will expire in the upcoming two years. He underscored that Ajax will not require a loan and that it is not necessary to sell players for financial reasons. "However, some players may choose to leave Ajax." As an example, Van Eijden named Cristian Chivu. He admitted that the Romanian will "almost certainly" leave Ajax at season's end. "We already know who his successor will be", the general director added.

Rafaël van der Vaart, on the other, has expressed his wish to stay for another season, at the very least. "Probably two", said Van Eijden. "Rafaël has told us that." (MP)

(Source: Ajax.nl)