AZ and Ajax in trouble…

And PSV and Feyenoord lucky, I might add…

AZ still hasn’t found the bottom. This weekend, the Van Gaal management team thought they’d secured one point against FC Groningen, with a 1-1. Only for the opponent to snatch a penalty kick in the dying seconds, leaving AZ Alkmaar again with nothing… Even AZ’s biggest enemies want this losing streak to stop now…

Ajax on the other hand did butcher little nephew Sparta (6-2) but has problems on a totally different level. The club is in trouble. The youth development and scouting fail, expensive signings are benched (Luque), the fans and the so-called fifth colonne want to see blood.

Well, it’s clear that Adrie Koster will have to make place for a big name coach with an Ajax heart (Marco van Basten). Koster will soon start negotiating with…PSV to get the Huub Stevens assistant job. Furthermore, the club appointed a committee to analyse what went wrong in the last 10 years (!). And that committee came with their conclusions last weekend. And the conclusions are not really surprising. The board of directors failed, the general manager Fonteyn failed and technical director Martin van Geel failed.

Right. So now, Maarten Fonteyn is asked to resign immediately. The board of directors (who appointed the Unilever top exec) will stay seated in the pluche chairs while Martin van Geel is almost untouchable. Yes, the former Ajax and Feyenoord midfielder had it tough, but he is also very close to signing club icon Marco van Basten and opportunistic as we are, we don’t want to disrupt that.

Ajax was in a similar situation some years ago, when manager Arie van Eijden retired and technical director Louis van Gaal split after his rift with Koeman. It’s not good to have two execs at those levels leaving together. So, Fonteyn will be sacrificed and Van Geel gets a second chance.

In my humble opinion, the committee has done a sloppy job. It’s easy to point fingers at the responsible people. But have they looked at the tougher to change elements, like…the conditions these people work in? The culture? The financial structure (Ajax is a listed company)? Why were a series of former club icons (Wouters, Adriaanse, Koeman, Blind) sacrificed in the past? Questions that are not answered… What JC’s position in all this? Is he accountable? And the council of members? How much power do they hold… (the so-called fifth colonne with sponsors and ex-players…).

Will be continued…

PSV had a lucky win against Willem II, with a penalty gift after an Afellay schwalbe, conceded by Timmy Simons.

Feyenoord climbed to the third spot after Heerenveen’s draw against Heracles. Feyenoord won against Vitesse, thanks to a De Guzman distance strike (1-0).