Netherlands
Danny Blind returns to Ajax

Blind won the national cup and secured CL football, but was still sacked…
Marco van Basten has spent quite some time with Arsene Wenger and Arsenal lately. Of course, they did discuss Van Persie’s fitness, but mostly it was Marco, new manager of Ajax talking. Van Basten has always been a fan of the French football professor and likes to model his Ajax orgnization like Wenger’s in London. Also, Ajax and Arsenal are in indepth talks about working together on youth development.
In Marco’s Ajac Vision, he would become the all mighty technical boss, a la Sir Alex and Wenger, and he’d be assisted by a technical manager who will take care of signing, contracts, scouting and related “TD” tasks. When Danny Blind received a phone call from his old buddy San Marco he didn’t have to think long to return to Amsterdam
“But it does hurt to leave Sparta. I left Ajax two years ago and I am on the job here for one. I had a great time in Rotterdam and I love this club. But obviously, when Ajax and Van Basten call, your heart makes the decisions.”
As it did in the 80s when left full back Blind was lured from Sparta to Ajax by one Johan Cruyff. The very young Marco van Basten was angry then, that Cruyff signed a full back from Sparta instead of signing big name players. Danny Blind would move on to center back and captain of the team to win the Champions League with Van Gaal.
Blind put a clause in his contract with Sparta, that if the club from Amsterdam would want him back, he could go without a problem. Blind spent 20 years with the Sons of Gods: first as a player, then director player-management, director youth development and lastly as head coach. “The contract clause was specifically for Ajax. That goes to show how I feel about the club.”
The managers who pushed Blind aside - John Jaakke and Martin van Geel - are both gone. “That made my decision very easy, but in all honesty, if they were still there I probably would have done it as well.”
Martin van Geel couldn’t work in the new Van Basten model. Blind doesn’t see a problem. “I don’t mind working in the background. I even regretted my decision to become head coach at Ajax. I know how fickle that life is.”
Blind reports into Van Basten: “Marco is the end responsible person. But on fields where he can’t focus, like scouting or youth development, I will support him.”
Ajax chairman Uri Coronel. “With Danny Blind, the model is finished. Danny will become Marco’s right hand man. This was Marco’s choice. And I support it fully. I am very happy that Danny is back at Ajax.”
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Marco van Basten doesn’t get challenged too much in the media. Sure, experts and analists criticize him but once he shows up in a tv program, the host is always happy to protect him. For starters, it is San Marco of course and secondly, they don’t want to risk being blacklisted by omnipresent Kees ... [read]
Van Basten’s provisional squad
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Well, here are the 30 names. No one will be added, players will only be axed, until we have 23 by the end of May.
No Kromkamp (disappointed), no Davids (makes sense)… We do see Kuyt, Maduro, Jaliens, Landzaat…
I’ll put my 23 names up in the comments…
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg ... [read]
Fave player of the Future!
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Here’s a bunch…
Why not… We don’t have a lot of time for this, what with the CL, the EC and the Olympics coming up!
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(more…)
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EC 2008: Group D…
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Remember?
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Living Legend Ove Kindvall scores!
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Orlando Engelaar in Oranje?
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Van Basten names preliminary squad on Tuesday
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Next Tuesday, Marco van Basten will name his prelim squad for the EC this summer. The first selection will have 30 names. On May 28 the Dutch team manager will need to communicate his final 23 names to the UEFA.
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Quickly some results from the Dutch Play Offs:
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Latest Comments
- Real Madrid humiliates Barca!
I have a side question - how is Neeskens pronounced? Is the "ee" like the English long e sound, lik ...[read more] - Van Basten vs Johan Derksen
Hmmm.... John, if I understand you correctly, you say that it was maybe good of Marco to not follow ...[read more] - Real Madrid humiliates Barca!
Jan: Franks technical staff (inckuding Neeskens, Eusebio and Unzue) will be replaced by Pep's techni ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
Missed that Arsenal news. Is Hleb leaving? Flamini I read, yeah. But Hleb and Cesc would be a shame! ...[read more] - Van Basten vs Johan Derksen
I saw the interview and ofcourse Marco van Basten made scored some points yet it doesn't make the tr ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
ferenc - In my opinion, if Huntelaar does something special at Euro he will certainly be on his way ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
i thnk ajax r have a challenging one year ahead of them. they have won the play off final cong.. but ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
Dirk, The Bundesliga is far superior in quality to the dutch league. I think 2 dutch teams in the ch ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
i think rijkaard won't coach any team in the next year, but for the year 09/10 he might be at milan ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
btw; a 'brilliant 'song about Huntelaar... hahaha.. those boeren http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4 ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
this is why we love Rijkaard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9xzNjQ984I http://www.youtube.com ...[read more] - Van Basten vs Johan Derksen
Wow really enjoyable discussion here... I snickered at Jan's closing line (Give them a ball, feed th ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
Good point Bob, about the split personality of Rijkaard... The zen like quality paired with the spit ...[read more] - Real Madrid humiliates Barca!
Pep was such an awesome player. He saw the game so good he didn't break a sweat or ever had to tackl ...[read more] - Danny Blind returns to Ajax
I hope Huntelaar stays so that we can make it to Champions League. If Sneijder, hadn't left last se ...[read more]
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