Van Basten sacks himself: I’m just not good enough…

In a surprise press conference yesterday, Ajax legend and former Oranje coach Marco van Basten announced to quit his job as technical director and head coach per now. “It’s simple. I’m not good enough. I’ve looked in the mirror and found too many weaknesses in my approach. It’s better for Ajax when I leave.”

The players were dumbfounded and the criticasters now attack Van Basten for running away from his responsibilities. First he pushes every one – including JC – out at Ajax and grabs the reigns and after one bad season he jumps ship. Van Basten sees it differently. “I know what’s needed at Ajax and I wasn’t able to deliver. I can’t see any improvements for next season. I’m not the man to do this. People can say what they want now. But I know I’ve done all I could and it isn’t enough. Simple.”

Asked what he’ll do next: “I’m not sure. I won’t go back to coaching right away… I might even quit coaching altogether…”.

Van Basten also stressed that the fans and the players can’t be blamed. “The players have worked hard and done the best they can. The fans I can’t blame for anything. They have all the right to feel disappointed and frustrated. We all are. I didn’t mind the supporters coming onto the pitch at Sparta to demand answers. I was happy to talk to them. No problem. The only thing Ajax will really need to change in the future is the position of the trainings pitch. That’s located right next to the supporters home and it doesn’t help if they yell stuff via bullhorns to the players while we’re working. Ajax needs to consider that very seriously.”

Guus Hiddink and Marco van Basten had a good relationship in the last years and Hiddink’s name was mentioned directly to take over. Hiddink with a response right before the CL game against Barca. “No no… I won’t go to Amsterdam. After Chelsea, I’ll take the plane to Moscow. I wasn’t surprised to learn this news though. I know Marco wasn’t enjoying himself and for Marco to be valuable, he needs to enjoy what he’s doing.”

And thus, Marco van Basten remained true to himself. He can be cool and detached and that was exactly how he analyzed himself this time around. “Not good enough” was the conclusion. John van ‘t Schip will assume the role till the end of the season. Names of potential successors are already tossed up in the media. The usual suspects of Hiddink, Van Gaal, Rijkaard and Adriaanse while some people feel Danny Blind or Frank de Boer should take up the mantle.

Ajax general manager Van den Boog wasn’t stirred by the news. “It was a huge surprise and the management didn’t want to see Marco go, but he’s taken his decision and we’ll need to move forward. The circumstances haven’t changed. We are looking for a man for the long term. Someone who knows and understands the club. I won’t go into names now…”

Van Basten is the 7th coach in eleven years who won’t finish the job (Morten Olsen, Jan Wouters, Co Adriaanse, Ronald Koeman, Danny Blind, Henk ten Cate and now Marco van Basten). Apart from the usual suspects, coaches like Johan Neeskens and Dick Advocaat will be available for the job next season. It’s not known what John van ‘t Schip and technical manager Danny Blind will do now. Blind was Ajax’ head coach in a previous life.

Skipper Thomas Vermaelen reacted emotionally. “This is a blow for us. We know we made a mess of the season. After the Sparta game, we had a very good and intense briefing and Marco was very future oriented in that talk. This comes as a total surprise. But he apparently has had a long look in the mirror. It’s time we the players do the same thing. We would have wanted to work with Marco in the next seasons to come, but alas…”.