Board crisis: Blocks and Nuninga leave Ajax board
22 October: At a press conference at Schiphol Airport on
Friday 21 October, Ajax chairman John Jaakke surprisingly
announced that both of his fellow board members,
Hein Blocks (treasurer) and Klaas Nuninga (technical affairs),
have decided to resign. Jaakke said that the reasons for
their decision are a "lack of chemistry" within
the board and "different opinions about the way the board
should operate". Jaakke subsequently told the Board of
Members that he was also willing to step down if they wanted
him to. The club's membership, however, did not demand
this.
Ajax announced the departure of Blocks and Nuninga in a
rather dry news report on Ajax.nl, the official Ajax website,
in which a few 'changes' to the composition of the board were
announced. The board had 'unanimously decided that it would not
be in the club's best interest if the board continued in the
current composition'.
Most Dutch newspapers, however, pointed out that there has
been a worrying exodus of genuine 'football people' under
John Jaakke: Ronald Koeman, Louis van Gaal, Marco van
Basten, John van 't Schip and (as per 01 December) Arie van
Eijden have left the ArenA. Klaas Nuninga, in particular, is
generally regarded as an important advocate
of the Ajax club culture and
the world-famous Ajax approach to the game. No
Ajax board member was closer to Danny Blind and the
first team. When a TV reporter confronted Jaakke with this
list of departed official, the chairman answered: "Yes, they
are all gone, but you really are comparing apples and oranges
here."
Johan Derksen, editor-in-chief of Voetbal
International magazine and Holland's most prominent
football journalist on TV, said in football talkshow
Voetbal Insite - in his usual provocative manner
- that "things look pretty bad for Ajax, because they
will now be managed by a self-complacent
lawyer [Jaakke] and a former cricket player [new
general director
Maarten Fontein]. They're both jolly good chaps, but not
exactly the people you would pick to run your football
club."
Keje Molenaar, a former player of Ajax and reportedly one
of the candidates when Ajax were searching for a
new general director, said on AT5 television: "It is
deeply, deeply sad that Klaas Nuninga, a true football man, has
to leave because he has a conflict with someone who doesn't
know the first thing about football." Klaas Nuninga played for
Ajax from 1964 to 1969. He played 187 official games for Ajax
and scored 88 goals.
Some background information on the Ajax club structure:
Jaakke (chairman), Blocks (treasurer) and Nuninga (board member
for technical affaird) formed the board of AFC Ajax,
the club. The
club is a 73% stakeholder in AFC Ajax NV
('AFC Ajax Ltd.'), which you could describe as Ajax, the
company. The directors of AFC Ajax NV (a.k.a. the managing
board) are Arie van Eijden (general director), Jeroen Slop
(financial director) and Martin van Geel (technical director).
The managing board is under supervision of the Board of
Supervisory Directors, in which all three board members of
the club had a seat. The board of AFC Ajax, in their turn, are
supervised by the Ajax membership (Board of Members).
Blocks and Nuninga will stay in office until the Board of
Members has approved with their successors. In their report on
Ajax.nl Ajax underscore that there will be no changes in
either the club structure or the specific tasks of
the board, the managing board or the Board of
Supervisory Directors. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant
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