A serious crisis plagues Ajax with unpredictable consequences

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A serious crisis plagues Ajax with unpredictable consequences

Manos Staramopoulos • sept 26, 2023

Ajax, an old giant of European football, is now mired in one of the most serious crises in its 123-year history

Ajax, an old giant of European football, is now mired in one of the most serious crises in its 123-year history. They are in 14th place in the Eredivisie, counting just one win in 4 games. (2 draws and one loss), and is already 10 points behind the leader PSV Eindhoven.

The home "Klassieker" against Feyenoord was stopped for good by the referee on Sunday in the 55th minute, with the visitors leading 0-3 and the home fans throwing smoke bombs and flares onto the pitch.

Then there were incidents with police on horseback, who used tear gas. "The club is on fire," headlined the fans' website, describing the end of Sunday's game with arch-rivals Feyenoord as "a low point in the crisis" that is rocking the big club, 36-time Dutch champions.

We have to go back to 1964/65, when club icon Johan Cruyff had just joined Ajax's youth team, to find a worse start to the season. For the NRC newspaper, this meeting with Feyenoord "symbolized the existential crisis in which Ajax finds itself".

In the UEFA Europa League, Maurice Stein's players, who took over as manager only this June, conceded a draw to Marseille (3-3), another club that is also going through a big crisis. AEK and Brighton are also in the same -2nd- group C.

In the wake of Sunday's fiasco, the club announced the departure "with immediate effect" of director of football Sven Mislindat.

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For the fans, "it is clear that the instability within the club is not only prevalent on the pitch but also in the administrative part".

The Dutch press has been reporting for several months about a power struggle at the head of the club. Mislindat, who is now a thing of the past, reportedly interrupted training last week shouting in front of the players that Stein could lose his job if they lose to Feyenoord, showing that something is no longer right at the big club.

The successive departures of sporting director Marc Overmars in February 2022 and general manager Edwin van der Sar in May 2023 have weakened the club. Ajax, then coached by Erik ten Haag, reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2019.

"It's obviously a very gloomy afternoon," admitted Steyn on Sunday (24/09), who is with... one leg out of the club. Speculation is rife as to the name of his replacement. Louis van Gaal has ruled himself out, saying his health must take priority.

Interim Ajax chief executive Jan van Halst, who has also been the target of fan fury, admitted the club is in deep crisis: “This is a very difficult time. If only it were that easy to push a button and change things."

The bottom line is that at Ajax there is chaos, absolute chaos. Wrestling is everywhere. On the field, off the field. They need a new leader, a strong leader who will put everything in order...