Ajax USA  

IT'S OFFICIAL: BLIND + ASSISTANTS OUT

10 May: What everybody already knew was made official today: Ajax have decided to fire head-coach Danny Blind after his first full season as boss of the first team. Blind's assistants, Ruud Krol and Gerard van der Lem, will also be replaced. Chairman John Jaakke and technical director Martin van Geel commented on the club's decision at a press conference at the Amsterdam ArenA this morning, and explained why Ajax want to continue with a new head-coach.

In the last five games of the otherwise historically dismal 2005-2006 campaign Ajax secured a slot in the third preliminary round of the Champions League (by winning the Eredivisie play-offs) and also won the Gatorade Cup by beating PSV in the final. These triumphs brought the Ajax board in an awkward position. According to almost everyone (even including Danny Blind himself) they had already decided to replace Blind. But what were they going to do now, now that the season had unexpectedly ended on a high note - and the chants of some of the more fanatical Ajax supporters were very clearly 'pro-Blind' and 'anti-board'?

We know the answer to that question now: the string of excellent results after the regular Eredivisie season was 'too little, too late' for the Ajax board to change their minds. The club issued a press statement on Wednesday morning, in which the decision of board and directors is explained:

The managing board of AFC Ajax has decided to part ways with Danny Blind as head-coach and with Ruud Krol and Gerard van der Lem as his assistants before the end of their contracts. They have been informed about this decision on Wednesday morning.

 

The reasons for this decision are as follows:

  • Ajax's first team has not realised the most important goal: playing for the championship.
  • Ajax's first team has in the past season not played the desired football, namely attractive, offensive and dominant football.
  • The progress of both the collective and the individual players - with a few exceptions - has been insufficient.

The evaluation of the coaching staff concerns the entire 14 months in which Danny Blind, Ruud Krol and Gerard van der Lem have acted as the team's staff. The decision about their position was taken during a meeting of the managing board and the board of supervisory directors of Ajax. In the eventual decision that has led to the termination of the collaboration, the results and developments of the entire season have been weighed, including winning the playoffs and the cup final.

 

Ajax regret the fact that commotion has risen in the past few weeks about the position and the future of Danny Blind, especially where it concerns the role and position of the club's management. Ajax stress that they at all times have tried to operate carefully and sincerely in their decision to abstain from giving a comment on the achievements and results of the technical staff.

 

The club's management would like to express its appreciation for the unrelenting effort and commitment that Danny Blind, Gerard van der Lem and Ruud Krol have shown during the season, and particularly in the period of late. The club's management expresses its special thanks to Danny Blind for his long-time efforts and contribution to Ajax.

 

At the press conference in the press room of the Amsterdam ArenA, John Jaakke and Martin van Geel provided the press with further explanation.

 

"We believe this was the best decision," said chairman John Jaakke, "but these are dark times for Ajax. Also for the club's management, who had to take this painful decision. We are human beings, too. We cheered for these people. On the other hand: it's part of our jobs."

 

Jaakke announced that the technical staff of Danny Blind will (and wishes to) finish the 2005-2006 season in its entirety: they will coach Ajax-1 in their two post-season friendlies on 20 and 23 May. Jaakke also announced that Ajax expect to present Blind's successor in less than three weeks' time. According to almost every Dutch news source this will be Henk ten Cate, currently Frank Rijkaard's 'right hand' at FC Barcelona. Neither Ajax nor Ten Cate himself have confirmed these claims. Ten Cate did say that he will unfold his future plans after Barcelona's Champions League final against Arsenal on Wednesday 18 May.

 

After John Jaakke, technical director Martin van Geel provided his comments. Van Geel admitted that Ajax's recent results have been excellent and stated that he can understand the sentiments of certain supporters, who didn't seem to understand why Blind had to go after the succesful play-offs and cup final. "Those were fine results, but they were not typical for the season as a whole. Also, sometimes we have had a little bit of luck, to put it mildly. That's part of football, but we saw no structural improvement."

 

"Ajax are supposed to play attractive, offensive and dominant football," continued Van Geel. "We will have to take many major steps in order for Ajax to return to the level where they belong. Three Dutch championships in ten years' time is not enough. This process makes changes necessary, and sometimes individuals have to be the victims of these changes. Danny Blind is the right man, but not in the right place."

 

"We have thought for a long time about the best evaluation procedure. On 30 March I have informed Danny Blind that the evaluation of his work was going to take place at season's end. In fact, I also told him that a termination of our co-operation was going to be an option. We agreed on the timing of the evaluation at that point, but after the Feyenoord game Danny Blind suddenly asked for clarity. We have reacted very carefully to that, because we were dealing with Danny Blind here. We decided that it was not in Ajax's best interest to re-schedule the moment of evaluation to an earlier date."

 

After their respective monologues Jaakke and Van Geel told their audience that Ajax have asked Fred Grim to stay as the club's goalkeepers' coach. Van Geel: "We would like Fred to stay. He asked for some time to think, which - of course - we will give him. In fact, we have also spoken to Danny Blind and Ruud Krol about the possibility of accepting a different job within the club. Obviously, they will need some time to think about that."

 

Ajax under Danny Blind

 

Seventeen days after Ronald Koeman had  resigned, Ajax presented club legend and fan hero Danny Blind as his successor. It was 14 March 2005, Ajax had just been knocked out of the UEFA Cup bu Auxerre and were third on the table, 8 points behind PSV and 4 behind AZ. Danny Blind's very first game was a nightmare. Not that he could do much about it (he had only trained with the team a few times), but Ajax suffered their largest home defeat in the history of the Eredivisie against PSV: 0-4.

 

In the remaining nine games of the 2004-2005 campaign, however, Danny Blind succeeded in giving the team a new élan. After spectacular wins over AZ and Feyenoord, the direct competitors for a slot in the Champions League qualifying rounds, Ajax actually managed to finish second and more or less 'save' the season. In the summer of 2005, after two initial months of 'freewheeling', Blind could start building his team. He landed Markus Rosenberg, Olaf Lindenbergh and (later) Juanfran. Loanee Thomas Vermaelen was told that he could return to the ArenA.

 

The start of the 2005-2006 campaign, Blind's first full season, was promising: the team qualified for the group stage of the Champions League by eliminating Brøndby and (in the month September, particularly) played some of its finest football in several years. Blind seemed to have the true Ajax feeling. He seemed to have the plan that Ronald Koeman hadn't.

 

To cut a long nightmare short: it soon started to go seriously, seriously wrong. In late September and October Ajax dropped six points in three Eredivisie home games and failed to score a single goal in 440 minutes of football. After the 27 November loss at FC Utrecht Ajax were actually 9th on the table....

 

In December Danny Blind decided to revert to a 4-4-2 formation, something that was unthinkable at the start of the season. Ajax improved slightly and won a series of games, but ended the year 2005 with a 4-2 spanking at Heerenveen and a 4th place in the Eredivisie. The only positive thing about the first season half was the fact that Ajax easily survived the Champions League group phase, by finishing behind Arsenal, but comfortably ahead of FC Thun and Sparta Prague.

 

The second half of the season started with a very fortunate win at FC Twente (2-3, after two goals in the last minute), but Ajax soon returned to their losing ways. After an embarrassing 1-4 home defeat to FC Utrecht on 29 January Ajax were 7th on the table. But things were about to change. Not thanks to Danny Blind or a great return to form, but almost exclusively thanks to one man: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who had been signed from Heerenveen in the winter break. 'The Hunter' scored 16 goals in half a season and was almost single-handedly responsible for the fact that Ajax eventually finished 4th - and thereby qualified for the inaugural post-season play-offs. Nevertheless, Ajax suffered no less than 10 defeats in the Eredivisie, the same number as in Ajax's very worst Eredivisie season ever (1964-1965).

 

Almost every Dutch football journalist seemed to know for sure that Blind was going to be sacked no matter what the outcome of the play-offs would be. Yet, the situation became awkward for the board when Ajax booked an unforgettable 7-2 win on aggregate over arch-rivals and won the play-offs by brushing Groningen aside. Two goals by who else than Klaas-Jan Huntelaar also gave Ajax the Gatorade Cup, so that Danny Blind was fired with two trophies (the Johan Cruyff Shield and the Gatorade Cup) and an admission ticket to the Champions League qualifiers in his pocket.

 

After his career as a player, however, he has not always been succesful at the club that he loves: he has now been fired twice, once as director of 'player policy' (towards the end of the 1999-2000 season) and once as a head-coach. Both times, Blind had been very confident at the start of the season, but the players could not live up to the expectations. Nevertheless, Danny Blind is and always will be a true Ajax icon. We can only hope that he will continue to work for the club - although it will most definitely not be as head-coach. (MP) 

 

Source: Ajax.nl

 

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