Danny Blind is Ajax's head-coach until summer 2007
Ajax legend to be assisted by coaches Gerard van
der Lem and Ruud Krol
14 March: There were rumours about Henk ten Cate and
Michael Laudrup, a Johan Cruyff preference for Johan
Neeskens and talks with Spurs boss Martin Jol, but the man
presented by Ajax today as the official successor of Ronald
Koeman was found at De Toekomst: Danny Blind, former player,
captain, technical director, director of youth system
and youth coach of Ajax, is the club's new
head-coach, effective immediately. Blind signed a contract
until the summer of 2007.
The legendary Ajacied's first day as the new man in
charge will be Wednesday. Blind selected his own technical
staff. Ruud Krol, one of Ronald Koeman's assistants will
continue to assist Blind. Koeman's second
assistant, Tonnie Bruins Slot, will continue as
a scout and the 'spy' for Ajax-1, with the task to
visit and analyze games of Ajax's opponents. At Danny
Blind's intercession Gerard van der Lem will return to the
Amsterdam ArenA as the head-coach's second assistant.
Van der Lem, a born Amsterdammer and Ajacied, was the
right hand of coach Louis van Gaal during the 'Golden Years' in
the mid 1990s. He will quit his job as technical director of
the Saudi Arabian football association, which he accepted
after a short spell as coach of Young Ajax in the fall of
2002.
"This is my club," Van der Lem said. "I hope I can
contribute to the process of giving Ajax its own feel back
(...) I've known Danny Blind since he was 18 years old. We
actually team-mates at Sparta for half a season. It's good that
he has a couple of experienced assistants. Ruud Krol and I can
back him up."
"At Young Ajax I worked with players such as Heitinga,
Sneijder and De Jong. Sneijder needed to be brought
into line every once in a while and I remember sending De
Jong to a dietician. Perhaps some of the lads need a good kick
in the butt, if you know what a mean. Well, I will give it to
them. I would also love to do individual training sessions with
some of the boys. The support for the strikers - passing,
crossing - in this team really is an eyesore to me. I would
love to work intensively with the wingers, for example, just
like I did with Finidi and Overmars at the time."
More changes: Danny Blind has made Fred Grim goalkeeper's
coach of Ajax-1 with immediate effect. Grim worked as John van
den Brom's assistant-coach at Young Ajax this
season. Will Coort, goalkeeper's coach of Ajax-1 in
recent seasons, will return to De Toekomst to train the
goalkeepers of lower Ajax teams.
During a press conference at the Amsterdam ArenA this
afternoon Danny Blind addressed the press as boss of
Ajax-1 for the first time. "I am very happy indeed to be the
new coach of Ajax-1 and I actually like the idea of starting
with a game against PSV. I'd rather start with such a top
fixture than with an away game at NEC."
Blind revealed that the Ajax management wanted him to start
immediately, and not on July 1st. "I accepted, on one
condition: I wanted to work with my own staff from day one. My
staff will consist of Gerard van der Lem, Ruud Krol and Fred
Grim. Van der Lem has experience with this club and the Ajax
way of playing. He will be in close contact with the players as
individuals. It's a very good thing that Ruud Krol will stay.
He has a very clear opinion about the way people
function within the club. My decision to add Fred Grim to
the squad was a matter of personal judgement. I could also have
finished the season with Will Coort. There's nothing wrong with
his way of working. But the club asked me to start immediately,
so this was the moment for me to start working with
the people of my own personal choice."
Both Tonnie Bruins Slot and Will Coort may consider
their new jobs as a 'step down' in the Ajax hierarchy. Both
coaches will stay at the club. Their respective contracts
expire in the summer of 2006.
Ajax's general director, Arie van Eijden, stated that he was
'extremely pleased' about the Blind's promotion from director
of youth system to head-coach. "It took us two or three
weeks to decide, for the simple reason that we wanted to
consult as many knowledgeable people as possible, both within
and outside of the club. Our choice has everyone's
support. We also asked Johan Cruyff for his advice and he
supports our choice for Danny Blind."
The 'carroussel' of Ajax coaches and directors has left a
new vacancy within the club's structure: Ajax now require a new
director of youth system and a new technical director, a
position that has been vacant since
Louis van Gaal resigned in October 2004.
Finally, Danny Blind revealed his goal for the remainder of
the season. "We're going for Champions League
qualification. That's within reach. We're also in the semi
final of the Amstel Cup and we must clinch a slot in the
final."
Danny Blind biography
Danny Blind (born Oost-Souburg, 01 August 1961) made his
début as a professional football player for Sparta in
the 1979-1980 season. He played 165 Eredivisie games for the
Rotterdam-West outfit and scored 18 goals for them. Ajax boss
Johan Cruyff offered him a contract in the summer of 1986.
Danny Blind, a right fullback at the time, moved to De
Meer.
It was the start of a legendary, golden Ajax career. In
Blind's first season as an Ajacied he won the KNVB Cup and the
European Cup Winners Cup, although he had to miss the final in
Athens, Greece, due to an ankle injury sustained the day before
the match. Ajax made it to the Cup Winners Cup final once again
one year later. This time Blind was sent off after only 15
minutes and ten Ajacieden lost to KV Mechelen of Belgium.
Blind's international career seemed cursed.
However, everything would end up more than okay in the
1990s, a decade that started with a Dutch championship under
coach Leo Beenhakker. But the real fun started when Beenhakker
left and was succeeded by Louis van Gaal, who moved Blind to
the heart of defense and made him the team captain. Danny
Blind could finally lift a European trophy in 1992 (the UEFA
Cup). In the years that followed Ajax and Blind won four
Dutch championships (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998), two Dutch cups
(1993, 1998), three Dutch Super Cups (1993, 1994, 1995), the
Champions League (1995), the European Super Cup (1995) and the
semi-official Toyota World Cup for club teams (1995).
Blind was in the Oranje squad that won Euro
'88, but did not see action at the tournament in West-Germany.
In the 1990s he collected 42 caps for Holland (one goal). For
Ajax he had the impressive number of 372 Eredivisie games, 38
Dutch cup games and 74 matches in UEFA competition. In 493
official fixtures for Ajax he netted 36 goals in total.
Danny Blind played his last game for Ajax on 16 May 1999: an
emotional 'farewell game' against RKC Waalwijk. In the
dying minutes both Danny Blind and Jari Litmanen, two key
figures in Ajax's 'Golden Era' of the mid-1990s, walked were
replaced to receive a last, big hurrah from
their supporters. Litmanen left for FC Barcelona, but
Blind did not leave his club. He signed a contract as Ajax's
director of player management, a position that no longer exists
today.
The 1999-2000 will be rememberd as a black page in the
history of Ajax in general - and in Danny Blind's career in
particular. In close co-operation with head-coach Jan Wouters
and advised by Ajax's unofficial consultant Johan Cruyff Danny
Blind spent a historic sum of 80 million guilders on new
players, such as defenders Jan van Halst and Frank Verlaat,
strikers Nikos Machlas and Brian Laudrup and a
number of others. The season of Ajax's centenary developed into
a historic disaster, in which none of the newcomers lived up to
the expectations. Danny Blind resigned on 07 February 2000; Jan
Wouters was fired on 21 March.
It soon became clear, however, that there were major
disagreements between Wouters and Blind. Less than two months
after Wouters' dismissal, on 12 May 2000, Ajax announced
Blind's return to Ajax as per 01 July 2000, this time as a
coach of Ajax's oldest youth team: Ajax A1. His contract
was extended until the summer of 2004 on 24 April
2002. On 14 December 2002 he got 'promoted': he became the
responsible director for the entire Ajax youth system, while
also remaining coach of Ajax A1, with which team he won the
Dutch championship in 2002 and 2004. (MP)
Reactions
Danny Blind and the Ajax management will comment on the new
situation later today. On the training pitch, however, players
John Heitinga and Wesley Sneijder already gave their comments.
Both players know Blind as a youth coach.
"I think the management took the right decision in
making Danny Blind the new head-coach. He's a calm man, he
was my coach for a couple of years when I played for the A1. He
knows most of the players in our squad, especially
those coming from the youth system and that's very
pleasant, I think. He has tremendous experience as a
player and it's not that long
ago that he stopped playing. Also, he's a real
Ajax man, he knows the club very well and he knows what
the club needs right now. I think he's the right man."
- Johnny Heitinga.
"Ruud Krol and Tonnie Bruins Slot did great work
for the past three games, yet something was missing. It's
strange without a head-coach. We will now try to achieve our
goal, which is qualification for the Champions League.
We're also in the race for the Amstel Cup, which is a
nice trophy also. Most importantly, though, we need to
start playing football again. We must show we're Ajax
(...) I won the championship with the A1, with Blind as a
coach. It doesn't mean much to me that he doesn't have any
experience as a coach on the highest level. As a player he
wasn't just the captain of his team, he was a real leader. He
won everything a player can win with Ajax. Which seems
more than enough experience to me."
- Wesley Sneijder.
"I'd heard the rumours, of course, but I am very glad it has
now been confirmed. Personally I feel this is a very good
choice. I know Danny Blind fairly well from the youth system,
where I always had a good and open relationship with him. He's
a typical Ajax coach, who will also give youngsters a
shot."
- Rafaël van der Vaart. (MP)
(Source: Ajax.nl)
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