RONALD KOEMAN RESIGNS AS AJAX HEAD-COACH
25 February: Ronald Koeman has resigned as Ajax's
head-coach, effective immediately. The Ajax boss, 41, announced
his decision in a private meeting with members of the Ajax
board, the morning after the team's dramatic elimination from
the UEFA Cup by AJ Auxerre. The club wishes to stress the fact
that Koeman was not fired: "Yesterday's result would have had
no direct consequences," said general director Arie van Eijden.
Koeman's assistants, Ruud Krol and Ton Bruins Slot, will take
over for the time being, as the club search for a permanent
successor.
Ronald Koeman faces reporter
questions
as he leaves the Amsterdam ArenA. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The trade in Ajax stock at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was
temporarily interrupted this morning, just before noon.
This normally indicates that an major news announcement is
expected. Dutch news sources such as NOS Teletekst, the
websites of football weekly Voetbal International and
newspaper De Telegraaf and Amsterdam's local news
network AT5 almost immediately reported that Koeman was on his
way out, 'according to well-informed sources within the Ajax
organization'. Ajax's official confirmation followed around
2:00 PM local time.
The official Ajax website, Ajax.nl, has published a
statement from Koeman: "I have asked directors and board of
Ajax to terminate our partnership immediately. I have to be
honest to Ajax and myself. Yesterday's result was decisive. I
can no longer summon the power and the energy to get over this
and to make the squad perform better. That worked one time,
after the game at Maccabi Tel Aviv, but I can't do it again. If
I am no longer totally motivated and determined I can no longer
be coach of Ajax. After three years and three months our
successful partnership has come to an end. It has been
extremely pleasant working at this club during that period and
I genuinely appreciate the support that directors and board
always gave me."
On behalf of the club general director Arie van Eijden said:
"Of course we are disappointed about the current season.
Yesterday's result, however, would have had no direct
consequences if it wasn't for Ronald's personal decision. We've
been succesful with Ronald Koeman, but we also respect his
decision."
Whereas Koeman's predecessors, Jan Wouters and Co
Adriaanse, left the ArenA in silence and through the
backdoor, Ronald Koeman was available for the Dutch
press on his way to his car on the parking deck. "I am
leaving Ajax through the front door,
literally and metaphorically" Koeman said. The
Ajax coach had just said goodbye to his players. "It was
emotional. Yes, there were some tears. Some of the boys had a
really hard time. To a few of them this will probably
be a relief. But over all, I feel very good about the
reactions of the players."
"I saw no other way out," Koeman continued, "I can no
longer be the coach that Ajax deserve. We're having a poor
season and this club is entitled to a coach who can put his
shoulder to the wheel. I can no longer do that. Prior to
the Auxerre game I told the players that, if it would go
wrong, I would have to draw my conclusions. The last
period has been tough. However, I can look back at three good
years and three months at this fantastic club.
Unfortunately, this is where it ends."
Ajax under Ronald Koeman
After an impressive career as a player of FC Groningen,
Ajax, PSV, FC Barcelona, Feyenoord and the Dutch national team,
and coaching jobs at Barcelona, Oranje (both as a
coach-assistant) and Vitesse (as head-coach), Ronald Koeman
(born Zaandam, 21 March 1963) was presented as the
successor of Co Adriaanse on 03 December
2001. Ajax had just lost three home games in a row and
booked only one win in the last seven games.
He débuted on the Ajax bench on 04 December 2001,
during the Eredivisie home fixture against Fortuna
Sittard. Ajax won by the score of 4-0. It must be said that
Ajax's position on the Eredivisie table was not too bad when
Adriaanse left, but Koeman does deserve the credit for averting
the crisis at the club. A young and determined Ajax squad
moved on to win the Dutch
championship and the Amstel
Cup in May 2002. It was Ajax's first championship
in four years and their first cup in three years.
Everyone at the club was extremely pleased with the young,
new head-coach at the start of his first full season in charge
of Ajax's first team. The 2002-2003 season will be remembered
as the year of a memorable, unexpectedly succesful run in
the Champions League by one of the youngest football teams ever
to have played in the European Champions Cup. A new crop of
Ajax youngsters (including Rafaël van der Vaart, Nigel de
Jong, Steven Pienaar, Maxwell, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristian
Chivu and Andy van der Meyde) drew the attention of the
world, survived two group stages before succumbing to
AC Milan in the quarter
final in highly unfortunate fashion. Partly due to the
long but exhausting Champions League run Ajax finished
behind PSV in the Eredivisie and lost to Feyenoord
in the Amstel Cup, but the supporters sang "Thank you,
Ajax!" at season's end and chanted the name of Ronald
Koeman.
An interesting detail was Koeman's struggle with two of his
young strikers. The 2002-2003 season marked the 'big break' of
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ajax's European topscorer. The Swede
sometimes clashed with Koeman in training, but praised the
coach for making him a better player. Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam,
meanwhile, was banned from the team by
Koeman a few times before leaving the club through the
backdoor. Mido criticized Koeman for 'not understanding' young
players and poor 'man management'.
Although Koeman was generally praised for his achievements,
there was one point of criticism: under Koeman Ajax's play was
more defensive and less spectacular than usual. Koeman
acknowledged this and announced that, having worked with
the team for 18 months, his aim for the 2003-2004 season was
more attractive, more offensive football in the 'classic' Ajax
formation of 4-3-3, with more goals as a result. He
had to accomplish this without his captain, Cristian Chivu,
who left for AS Roma at the start of the season. The
Ajax board allowed Koeman to buy players at will: defenders
Julien Escudé and Zdenek Grygera, striker Wesley
Sonck and wingers Tom Soetaers and Victor Sikora were
landed. Koeman announced that it was his goal to make the 'next
step' with his team, now generally regarded as Ajax's most
talented side in years.
Although Ajax was at the top of the Eredivisie table
for most of the season, Koeman was criticized more
frequently and more heavily than before. The Champions League
campaign was a bitter
catastrophe, Koeman's purchases failed to make an
impression and the team's play was everything but spectacular,
in spite of the fact that Koeman fielded a 4-3-3 formation in
most games. Ajax had not made a step forward, but a step
back, according to press and fans. There was also
criticism 'from the inside', as players such as
Rafaël van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder were quoted by
the press saying that Koeman was overly critical of their
performances. 2003-2004 was not an easy season for Koeman, but
he did win his second
Eredivisie championship with Ajax in May.
The team, however, was in a downward spiral and in the
course of the current season, it turned out that Koeman could
not stop it. Koeman lost his number one superstar, Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, to Juventus, had to give up on a number
of his acknowledged 'bad buys' (Sonck, Soetaers, Sikora)
and got into conflicts with players such as Rafaël
van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Wesley Sonck. Meanwhile,
Ajax once again failed miserably in the Champions
League. A 4-0
hammering by Bayern München led to a conflict
between Koeman and Ajax's enigmatic technical director, Louis
van Gaal, about the ambitions of the club. It was a
conflict of idealism and progressive
thinking (Van Gaal) versus realism
and pragmatism (Koeman). The Ajax board supported
Koeman and
parted ways with Van Gaal, but it did not solve the
problems: instead of making a step forward Ajax were now
playing their most disappointing and gray football since
Koeman's arrival. The press were increasingly scornful;
the fans grumbled.
Koeman managed to avert a crisis in the fall of 2004,
but had to bow his head when the team slid into
another one, marked by poor home results in three
consecutive home games against lowly Eredivisie
opposition, 'fan mutiny' during the home game
against
Den Bosch and a dramatic UEFA Cup stumble at
Auxerre.
Koeman's decision to step back does not come as a surprise.
It marks the end of a period that seemed to herald a new
'Golden Era', but culminated in the deepest crisis since the
days of Jan Wouters in 1999 and 2000. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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