Former Ajax star Johan Neeskens doesn’t get it anymore. The current Galatasaray assistant coach sees a team playing in the Ajax jersey, and in the Ajax stadium, but he doesn’t recognize Ajax anymore.

The Ajax of Nees is no more. Will it ever come back.

“It hurts to see it, in all honesty…” Neeskens says. There’s one simple fact that demonstrates how Ajax has alienated from it’s own self. “Twelve different coaches in ten seasons?!?” moans Rijkaard’s assistant. “That is not like Ajax at all. I wonder where the big vision has gone.”

Nees points at the globally envied youth development. “Ajax own youth was the foundation of the club. Not signing players from all over the world. And let’s face it: Dutch teams can’t buy the big players anymore! In our days, we had Vasovic, Blankenburg… Big names in their own competitions. Internationals. And sometimes you can get a player at a young age and mould him, like with Litmanen, Jesper Olsen, Soren Lerby and Finidi George. But a Chelsea player or a HSV player doesn’t come play for Ajax. Even players from FC Twente won’t make the step. So I say: focus on your youth development! The bonus is, you’ll get players who immediately know what to do within the Ajax style.”

A lot of foreign players arrived in the ArenA in the last years and almost as often they disappeared through the back door. With a loss. In certain cases, Ajax didn’t even see any transfer sum back.

“At a certain point, Ajax signed failed Argentines. What in the world would you do with them? Check out the talents in the youth. Give a 17 year old a break! Like Cruyff, Vanenburg, Kieft, Seedorf… I don’t think the foreign chaps are better and they’re most certainly more expensive.”

With Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Heitinga and Babel Ajax showed that it still can develop talent. “In Barca’s team of Van Gaal, Barca played with seven or eight players developed by Ajax! Will it ever return? I hope so, but time will tell. You’ll need a vision, and not just a short term one, it needs to be culture, strategy and lifestyle!”

The former Barca Toro also talks about the Ajax style. “4-3-3 was religion. But new coaches bring new systems and the link between youth and Ajax 1 is gone. And the next coach brings another system. The players won’t develop like that.”

After Van Basten’s resignation, Frank Rijkaard was named as his successor. If Frank would have said yes, Neeskens was without a doubt his first choice to assist him. Would the 57 year old penalty specialist have said yes? “I would have needed some time to think about that. It was never an option by the way. But it could have been, sure… I would have wanted to know what Ajax’ long term vision would be. And I would have wanted an indepth discussion about everything that went wrong in the past. I mean, buying full backs for millions of euros is plain silly. A club like Ajax needs to develop backs themselves.”

Seventeen years in a row, Edgar Davids spent his days on a football pitch. Last season, he was no longer. Retired? And then suddenly, yesterday, a piece in the news on him, in which he said he wanted to see where he was, physically. “I want to train again. I haven’t really played for a year and I want to see where I stand…” A come-back? Probably not.

Davids has had busier days last year than in the years he was an active player for clubs like Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona.

Instead of pushing forward with the ball, last year Edgar Davids walked with Secretary of Integration Ella Vogelaar through the “development suburbs” of The Hague. Or he was in his office from 9 to 5. Meetings, phone-calls, workshops and brainstorming with the Street Football Association (SVBN), an initiative he founded with sports journalist Humberto Tan.

Davids: “I think Mrs Vogelaar was doing a tremendous job. She was really pro-active in the so-called problem suburbs. And there’s not a lot of people who’d dare to do it her way. She went in head first, instead of just talk. Her goal is our goal, so we had a connection. We even played street football together in The Hague! Whether she was any good? Well, she was quite talented, haha…”.

Her successor Eberhard van der Laan also found his way to Edgar Davids. The politicians know that Edgar Davids serves a purpose as figure head of street football. Through him, the government can address and access the problem youth.

Tomorrow, Rotterdam is the hosting city for 64 teams from all sorts of “problem suburbs” to play for the National Title of Street Football. The area around suburb Alexandrium will be turned into a social meeting place for young, old, male, female of all walks of life. Other than football, it will be music, dance, food, drinks and parties all day long.

There were qualification rounds in 55 regional competitions, in total 500 teams competed. And Edgar Davids was able to convince Oranje skipper Gio van Bronckhorst, Andy Slory, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas Jan Huntelaar to act as ambassador for Street Football in Holland.

“Honestly, I busier now with this than I was as player,” says Davids, still fit as a young God. Apart from the national competition, Davids also interacts with Dutch schools, with the aim to stop the exodus of youth out of the schoolsystem. Students can use Davids’ and Tan’s association to organize apprentice jobs in companies or institutions and there’s a project to help the semi-illiterates in society.

The official slogan of the Street Football Association is “Make a goal, don’t make trouble”. Davids translates this into his own motto: “I aim to let Kees and Mohammed play together. Both lads need to experience that they have more in common than that they don’t….”

Davids himself grew up in one of the problem areas in Amsterdam. In a time when Kees and Mo did play together. “In football, it’s easy. You want the best team, so when the muslim kid is the best player, you want him in your team, whoever his God is…. Football looks at skill and talent, not at color or religion. That makes football a strong integration force. Kids grow up like that, they don’t care what your race, color or creed is. Only later, when you realize “the world” says they’re different is when they start to make that distinction. As if we need to enlarge our differences instead of strengthen what we have in common.”

Davids always wanted to be involved in worthwhile projects. “I knew I’d do something like this after my professional career. And with the same passion with which I played football. When our first competition in 2008 appeared to be a huge succes, I knew enough. I wanted to be the role model for our organization.”

“It’s as Barack Obama says: it starts at home. In your community, in your suburb and street. That’s where you need to engage people and give them a purpose. We do this for the youth through street football.”

“And it’s good as it is, you know. I played for the biggest clubs in the world. Now I’m going to pay back. Football was great for me, 17 years long. Wonderful. Now, I want to do something meaningful with my life. I thought I’d do this when I was 40 years old, you know, but the opportunity was here so I took it.”

The 74 times capped international didn’t see a lot of games last season. He visited Italy once and saw a couple of Ajax games. What’s the matter with Ajax, now? “Well, it’s the same old song. Every season, the new coach has to work with a group of youngsters. The more experienced and binding players are sold. So, every season you have to start all over. In football, it’s about team. And teams get stronger due to the build up of young talents, players in their prime and some veterans.”

“I don’t follow football that much. I won’t stay home for a game on tv. I sometimes catch the news. That Zidane returns to Real Madrid is a nice peace of news.” Zinedine Zidane, Davids’ former team mate, would be a good ambassador for street football in France. “Zidane also grew up in a backward suburb and the issues in France, Italy and Germany are similar to ours. I’d love to take this initiative internationally.”

Another old team mate- Lilian Thuram - is part of David’s network. “Lilian also likes the idea. He’s on a mission as well. He’s part of the High Council of Integration. I don’t have political ambitions. I like to speak my mind and I don’t think politicians can or will do that. You need to be subtle, and understand how the alliances work. That’s not me.”

The finales tomorrow in Rotterdam are the crown on David’s year of hard work. But his moment of satisfaction already came.

“We had just started our football association. We were talking for days about our mission, strategy, values and all that. We needed big words to package our message. And one day, we’re at somebody’s house, the telly is on and we see the Youth News, with a Morrocon kid, really young, who said it in three simple statements. He basically said: when we play football, we dont fight. We bond together and it keeps us from using drugs.”

Louis van Gaal’s first working day in Munich has been hailed by the German media. The new coach received compliments for his “warm words” during his press presentation. The papers were also very positive about his command over the German language and the way he managed the first training. In particular his attitude towards Franck Ribery was highly appreciated.

Bild talks about a “Donnerwetter” start ( thunderstorm) for Van Gaal. The coach impressed with his story about ganzheitliche prinzipes, (holistic principles), meaning body, mind and spirit of the player and his environment. Van Gaal, the Tulip General, also thinks Van Bommel should stay on as skipper. “Mark is captain material, so why not.”

The Suddeutsche Zeitung calls Van Gaal a typical gym teacher, armed with whistle and stopwatch. Accessories of the old school coach. “A confident, experienced and authoritarian master of his craft, oozing charisma.”

The Abenzeitung compared the openings speech of the ex AZ coach with a government statement and a romatic declaration. “Munich and Van Gaal finally found eachother.”

Der Kicker yells “Louis legt los!”, meaning something like Louis is going off! Van Gaal’s ambitions are the main theme in the sports paper. “He wants to end his career in Munich with the Champions League cup. His deal ends at 2011, so….”.

Van Gaal made a smashing impression in other words. The fans applauded the coach during training and manager Uli Hoeness complimented the former Ajax success coach with his German language skills. Franck Ribery was at the receiving end of Van Gaal’s temper and knows who’s boss.

After an hour of training, Ribery suddenly sits down in the blistering heat and pulls off his shoes. Within seconds Van Gaal is in his face. The conversation couldn’t be heard, but according to Van Gaal’s body language ( red face, finger pointing at his own chest) it’s clear that he said something like: “You can only take your shoes off when I tell you to. If I don’t tell you, you don’t take them off. There’s only one boss here and that’s me! And don’t look at me like that!!” (and all that in German).

The best player (and the best paid player) of Bayern will need to live with Van Gaal’s rules. No one is spared. The fans look on breathlessly when Van Gaal is unhappy with a certain exercise. Van Gaal copies new player Braafheid, who reacted too slow in a certain situation. Other players get to hear loud and clear what they did wrong as well.

The fans are astonished. “It’s like street theater. But that’s what this group needs. It’s much better than under Klinnsmann. It was chaos under him. Look, here’s a coach with a whistle and a stopwatch. Perfect.”

The camera’s of the four big broadcasters register it all. For the first time ever, the presentation of the new coach is broadcasted live on four channels! “As of today, the Tulip General rules,” screams tabloid Bild.

In the summer months, Van Gaal started his renovations. Eight new players and renovations at the trainings complex as well. Klinsmanns office has to go. Van Gaal demands a new office with windows overlooking the training pitch. He also wants camera’s on the light poles and he gets them. His former AZ video analist Max Reckers will register all training sessions and deliver special instructions on dvd to the players.

Van Gaal: “I’ve been hailed here like royalty and only met warmth. I had a list of wishes and they’re all met. I was able to write history in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Alkmaar and I’ll do it here too.”

And during the press conference, Van Gaal starts with his lessons.

A German reporter: Herr van Kaal, who do we pronounce your name exactly?”

Van Gaal: “Why don’t you give it a go?”

Reporter: “Well, it’s hard for us… Is it Von Kaal, Von Haal? It’s difficult…”

Van Gaal: “Nein, es ist nicht schwierig. It is GGGGGGGGaal…. ( Exaggerates the G-pronounciation). Van GGGGGGGGaalllll……. Van GGGGGGGGGGGGaal… Everybody, please practice at home!”

The room bursts with laughter…

And it gets even more crazy.

Reporter: “Do you enjoy life in Bavaria?”

Van Gaal: “I most certainly do. I enjoy the German food a lot. But the best brattwurst you can’t buy in a restaurant? You know who makes the best Brattwurst? Herr Uli Hoeness!! He baked me one last week and it was the best.”

Hoeness: “Yes, and der Louis is still alive…”

Hoeness, grijnzend: ,,Ja, und der Louis lebt noch…’’

With Uli Hoeness, Van Gaal seems to have a friend for life. The ex-international, with Beckenbauer the most powerful man in the club, adores Van Gaal. In October, the real test will follow. During the October festen, Louis is supposed to join in the festivities in Lederhosen (Hoeness: “Only when you wear these, you’re part of the Bayern family) and Truus van Gaal will need to wear a dirndl-dress.

Love at first sight, it seems, but the test will come in five weeks when the season starts. The champion maker doesn’t hide his ambitions. “I want to give it my all to win the title, the national cup and reach the last eight in the CL. Our example is Barcelona. That club won the treble. We have similar qualities on the pitch, similar personalities. The difference is, Barca is a team. We need to strive to become one ourselves, and then anything is possible.”

Franck Ribery claimed after the training session that he’s made up his mind: he wants to move to Madrid. “It’s Real Madrid or nothing,” the French playmaker said.

Hoeness isn’t fazed. “We don’t want Franck to go. Simple as that. Real doesn’t need to come by. We play Monopoly all right, but only according to our rules, not to theirs…”

Johan Cruyff was silent this year. The last time he was actually big news was when Marco van Basten told him he didn’t want to follow JC’s guidelines at Ajax. As a result, JC said: Fine. And walked away. He was also conspiciously absent from Champions League analysis on Dutch telly.

The official reason was that JC was too busy with his university, sports courts and shoetique but insiders knew he was fed up with the lack of interest in the interviews by the NOS tv-makers and the constant criticism he got from the younger generations. So, Johan though: sod it!

But, in the new Sportweek magazine, Johan Cruyff again speaks his mind.

About Ajax and Marco van Basten.
“I saw it go wrong at Ajax. And I warned Marco. You have to really make “a clean ship” in Amsterdam. And with a vengeance. Otherwise they’ll set you up for failure, and they did! I saw this coming months and months before. I don’t have an issue with Marco. He didn’t want to follow my advice, which is fine by me. But then I don’t have a role to play. But I saw all this coming and it has been happening for years and years. The organization is rotten to the core. You can’t sign a new coach and expect him to solve it. The problem lies deep. It’s typical that Ajax fired seven or eight coaches now and the management and board stay untouched. Some people simply have to leave. Then you need one supervisor and one executive to carry out the mission and that’s it. And for specific specialist jobs, you can hire the best in on a project basis. It’s not hard. I think I could do it. I know the club inside out. And the Cruyff University has been around for ten years now so I know a lot of experts in different fields. You can easily say, hey…would you please take a look at this or this? Ajax screws up at many levels. Take the signing and firing policies. Players like De Jong and Van der Vaart are European top players, and they left for a fee! In the past, this happened to Van Basten himself, to Kluivert, Davids, Rijkaard… Ridiculous! That annoys me so. Whenever the board screws up, they fire the coach.”

About Real Madrid
Cruyff also blames Ajax for the trouble Sneijder and Huntelaar are in. “It’s Ajax’ responsibility to help players take the right decision. You gotta understand club cultures. Real Madrid has always been run by opportunistic people. Football is number 2 at Real. Money is number 1. At Barca, it’s the other way around. The players need good advisers. Van der Vaart wanted to play in Spain, ok. I get that. But when Sneijder is injured, you shouldn’t move to Real. You know they need you as a stop gap for Sneijder. There’s always been debate about Rafael and Wesley in one team, so that will repeat itself once you go to the same club. It’s an ABC. Huntelaar too. They signed him in the winter because of Van Nistelrooy’s injury. I understand that, but from Huntelaar’s perspective, he should have said: do you want me, or do you want a quick fix for Ruud? And if the players can’t see that, Ajax should have helped them. But no, other interests were more important. And now look at them. It’s a waste!”

About Oranje:
“At the way Oranje plays now, I can’t see them win silverware. With all due respect, we have a good team, good players and a good coaching staff. But we’re too flimsy, too light to win against the big boys. Nations like Germany and Italy never had those great players like we do, but still as a team they can kill games off and grab the results. That’s how you win cups. We are too late against good teams. We lack a line, so to speak. I think timing is everything on the pitch and our playing field is too long when Sneijder and/or Van der Vaart play as creative midfielders. They are the playmakers and they should play with the field in front of them. Against Macedonia, Sneijder played well because they allowed him to. He was standing with his back to the goal, receiving the passes from behind, and he was allowed his turn. But against Germany, Italy, England, Argentina, Brazil and Spain, he won’t get that time. He needs to play on the position as holding midfielder, but as a playmaker. You need work-rate and depth in front of him. Van Persie, Robben and Kuyt for instance. They can make the distance and they threaten defenses with their runs and movement. I’m not criticizing Van Marwijk, I think he did well in the qualifications, but now you need to prepare for the big nations. And Sneijder needs to move a line back. I’m not sure who to take out, but I would experiment with Mark van Bommel as libero and De Jong next to Sneijder. Wesley needs to play in the Guardiola role, who was not a holding midfielder or defender, Pep was our playmaker.”

Hi all,

In today’s football season, it’s hard to determine when it stops and starts, what with play offs, cup finals, qualification games, confederation cups and now the up coming CL qualification games…

But let’s say we’re in pre season warm up phase now.

Which means it’s time for me to check how everyone is doing?

We’ve had a cool run last year and with the WC2010 looming on the horizon, I think we’ll even get more busy and crowded in this space. Which is good!

So, into the coming season, expect us here to follow the shenanigans of Bert & Co. Preparing for the big one in South Africa.

Also, we’ll see if Ajax and Jol are a good match, whether Fred Rutten is able to get more football into PSV and we’ll follow the activities of the Rotterdam Messiah Mario Been at Feyenoord.

Obviously, Ronald Koeman has to step into big shoes in Alkmaar and Steve McClaren might even sell his umbrella this year!

We’ll be on the heels of our heroes abroad as well, of course. Van Persie wants to be number 1. Van Gaal wants to demonstrate he can survive at FC Hollywood and Rijkaard and Neeskens want to be able to stand the heat. And the Real Madrid lads? Well, they basically just want to play football I guess…

We’ll continue our “Where are they now…” series, our Specialist accounts, the “Once in Oranje” articles and we’ll add a new category to our posts here, something called “Thanks for the Memories”…

But most importantly, I’m looking forward to more male (and female) bonding and bromances over Clockwork Orange here, thanks to all of you out there!

So, do me a favour… Just re-iterate in a comment for me (so I can keep track and play to your strengths)

1. Favorite club today
2. Favorite player today
3. Fave player ever
4. Most memorable football moment and
5. What would you like to see differently on this blog in the next season!

Gotta go, off to training session

In England, Bryan Robson was named the best English player ever. Bobby Robson - no relation - uttered the words in 1990 and there was some logic to it too.

Bryan Robson was the embodiment of everything English football stood for. The midfielder was a great passer and could repossess the ball with razorsharp tackles. He also had the depth to make penetrative runs into the box and score goals. Robson was strong, touch, opportunistic and above all, a team player.

He could be compared to Johan Neeskens. A specialist. A type of player you don’t see anymore on in Dutch football. Why is that? Has our way of playing changed?

In the olden days, midfields consisted of three players: the destroyer, the playmaker and the runner. Wim Jansen, Willem van Hanegem and Franz Hasil. Or Nico Rijnders, Gerrie Muhren and Johan Neeskens. Or Jan Poortvliet, Willy van der Kuylen and Willy van de Kerkhof.

Today, teams play 4-2-3-1. With two destroyers/holding midfielders and a number 10 who plays more like a shadow striker, such as Litmanen or Dennis Bergkamp. In other words, the Johan Neeskens type is not longer around. Or not longer developed. Which begs the question: do the specialists make the system or is it the other way around?

Eljero Elia was once sent away from Ajax’ youth system, as a striker. Via ADO Den Haag he came to play for Twente. Adelaar positioned Elia on the left wing. At Twente, that was his spot. He was so good last season that Ajax tried to sign him during the winter break. The club which sent him away a striker, now wants him back as a left winger.

This calls for a debate. Wingers are a dying race in Holland. FC Twente is one of a few clubs where they consistently play with two wingers. Elia wouldn’t have been able to develop the way he did, if Twente would have played, say, 4-4-2. In this case, you could say that Twente’s system was key in developing Elia. Is it that simple?

Elia could also be that good, and that talented that he could have developed in a 4-4-2 as well. Elia is a specialist, a player with tremendous individual skill who makes the difference. A player any coach would embrace.

In Barcelona, they have four or five players with those skills. Normally, a coach considers himself lucky when he has two or three. The other eight basically play in service of those three. And that determines the system. The specialists are essential to good football.

Without goal scoring and skilled players, football is a game in which no team can make the difference. For instance, Stijn Schaars is a good and crucial team player for AZ but the top dog is obviously Mounir El Hamdaoui. The man who decides game. And it’s not for nothing that Louis van Gaal expects all his players to play in service of this one man. Because he makes all the difference.

Column in VI

Eleven years ago, Louis van Gaal showed me around in the Camp Nou. The new Barca coached had revamped the old-fashioned chambers in the football temple and was proud at the result. Everything was shiny, it smelled new and the dressing rooms and massage rooms blinked. And at last, the coach of the most exciting club of the world had it’s own decent office.

Seven years later I entered the same space. It was blue with smoke. The office was now the home of Frank Rijkaard and Henk ten Cate. And on the space where Van Gaal neatly put a pile of Spanish newspapers, Frankie and Henkie now positioned a huge ashtray.

Rijkaard’s first question to me was: did I have any smokes. He was out and Henk’s stock was minimals. “This is a huge worry to me,” Frank said with a wry smile. My at the airport acquired Lucky Strikes were the solution. After we all lighted one up, there was a knock on the door: Carles Puyol entered the office.

There were no windows in the room, so the smoke lingered. Coughing, Puyol asked what time morning training would commence. Smiling he blew away some smoke when Frank answered him. He kinda liked, he’d tell the media later, two coaches who sat smoking in that office, talking football all day long. Because that’s exactly what both coaches did after training.

And so they did this afternoon. And there was a lot to talk about, that May 2005. That night, a full Camp Nou saw a new hero. He had played a couple of matches already, but in the home game against Albacete, the youngster showed what would follow in the near future.He scored a brilliant chip after a tremendous lob from Ronaldinho. His goal was celebrated with a long dance of joy, on the pitch and on the stands.

A day later, I asked Rijkaard and Ten Cate about that lad, that Lionel Messi. Whoever scores his first goal when 17 years old in Barcelona 1 has golden feet. Rijkaard seemed to want to dampen my enthusiasm. “Lio is an incredibly talented chap. But I don’t want you to publish that. It will be all over the Spanish papers the next day and that’s not good for such a young kid.”

From that moment on, I never lost track of Messi. I had the same with Andres Iniesta. A year before Messi’s first goal, there was a rumor that Van der Vaart might go to Barca. I checked it with Ten Cate. He said: “Nah…Great player, Rafael. Don’t get me wrong, but we don’t need anyone on that position. We have Iniesta. Mark my words, he’ll play the roof of the stadium here in the next years.”

Ten Cate said something similar after their first title in Barcelona. It was about Xavi this time, like Iniesta he made his debut under Van Gaal. “They all want to talk about Ronaldinho,” Ten Cate said, smoking another cigarette. “But to me, the title is Xavi’s. That kid is so important for the team.”

So, looking back at the CL finals, last May, those words rung through my head. Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta played the big Man United into smithereens.

It may have been very smoggy in that room in Camp Nou, but both Frank and Henk saw it well in those days….

In today’s game, allrounders are key. Players who can tackle and repossess the ball, who can score, penetrate into the box, cross the ball in and work for 90 minutes. Dirk Kuyt comes to mind. But there have always been allrounders with that little bit extra. The cross is one of those specialities. Manfred Kalz was an ok full back, but a tremendous crosser. John van ‘t Schip was an ideal playmaker, but his cross made coaches always play him on the wings. David Beckham is known to have placed a perfect ball on a strikers tie and Piet Keizer rather not do anything at all, but scissor his way past defenders to curl the ball into the box.

In the Dutch Eredivisie, Croatian international and new Bayern signing Danijel Pranjic is the King of Crosses.

The History
Every successful team in Holland’s history had tremendous wingers with precision crosses: Ajax had the aforementioned Keizer and later John van ‘t Schip, Bryan Roy or Finidi George. Feyenoord had legend Coen Moulijn and in later generations Pierre Vermeulen or Regi Blinker. John van ‘t Schip could cross a ball in without even passing his direct opponent. This was in the days when it was normal to put a left footer on left and a right footer on…you guessed it… The winger would reach the touch line and curve the ball away from the goalie right on the forehead of the incoming man. Wim Kieft would go to the near post. Peter Houtman was lurking at the far post. Cees van Kooten would simply storm through any defender… But, the space got scarcer and due to double marking, it became harder and harder for wingers to threaten the opponent. So, coaches started to experiment, with left footed players on the right and right footed players…well, you know… These wingers would have two options: come through the middle, go wide, or simply pass and move.
Feyenoord 2003 under Bert van Marwijk was the last Dutch team to reap success with a left footer Van Persie on the left wing and the right footed Kalou on the right wing.

The new Bayern signing with his cross…

The Position
By that time, however, Ajax played with anti-footers, like Marc Overmars and Peter van Vossen. And today, we even think it’s normal. Robin van Persie operates from the right and Ryan Babel operates on the left wing. The cross is now the territory of the full back or the midfielder, while the winger operates as a combination player or delivers an inswinging ball. Danijel Pranjic - last seasons at Heerenveen, next season under Louis van Gaal - is the exception to the rule.

“I prefer playing on the left, although I can also play from right. It’s maybe even better for me, because I can attempt a shot for myself, but for the team I think I need to play on the left. I can cross the ball in with my left, turning away from the goalie, which is ideal for a striker.”

The Skill
Pranjic: “The key is looking. You need to know where you want to place the ball. A great cross into nowhere land is horrible. You normally hit the ball with the inside of the upper-foot. You can give it speed, precision and spin like that, but it does depend on the situation. Is the striker marked, does the ball need to travel a bit because the striker is on his way, or does the ball need to be fast because he’s already there… You also need to look at who it is, you know… Some players are good headers, others want the ball at knee-height for a volley… But, sometimes you just can’t look up when the defender is putting pressure on. You need to feel what your mates do. You can get there by training and talking… I also talk with the strikers about how they move and what they do. The great teams all have that quality. And it’s not that hard to do. It’s awareness, isn’t it? I had a great rapport with Klaas Jan Huntelaar. He will always do the contrarian thing, coming fast into the box, but then suddenly stopping and moving away from his opponent. I do think I was born with the feeling in my left foot, but you need to train your crosses. Not everyday maybe, but twice a week at least. Hitting the ball from all angles and understanding what happens when you’re out of balance and all that.”

The Best
Pranjic: “Well, the King is David Beckham, without a doubt. His vision and skill are unparalleled. He has so much feeling in his feet… From midfield, from the touch line, free kicks, he can do it all. Curve, slice, spin… I can watch him for hours. He has the gift of placing the ball between defender and goalie. Very hard to defend and ideal for a striker. You only need to walk into the ball. The pace of the ball is perfect too. Yeah, he is the best ever. John van ‘t Schip had a tremendous cross too. He could even curl the ball around the defender, as if he wasn’t there. I also saw many clips of Johan Cruyff, who used to drift to the left. His best foot was his right, so he used his outside of the right foot to curl the ball away from the goalie and it was as if he played in slow motion. My best cross was without a doubt the one against Germany for Croatia at the EC. I didn’t reach the touchline, because there was a gap between the defense and the goal. I curled the ball into that area, like Beckham haha, and Dario Srna only had to touch the ball to score. All the training, all the excercises, it all happened at the highest level, for my country. Goosebumps…”

And when you say goosebumps and JC, than this is what you get:

It just doesn’t take off, the star behaviour of our football players. C Ronaldo does it with Paris Hilton. Or did. Which is something that can change within the hour with our Hilton. The walking glasses with titties used up men in the same speed as Henk Kesler makes mistakes. C Ronaldo is enjoying his holiday in America. You know enough then. To visit a nightclub during your holiday in Hollywood. That will never come good agan. C Ronaldo is basically a narcissist, who happens to be a good football player.

God, I long for guys like Ed de Goey or Jaap Stam. During the summer break, they go the camp site in Bakkum. Like every year. Ed de Goey had his spot on the camp site conveniently next to the toilets. He could tell who was on the toilet by the way the toilet flushed. He liked that. That’s how our players are. No grandeur whatsoever. Our players would ask the nightclub bouncer to turn the light on so they can actually see their girlfriends.

Jaap Stam used his summer break to make cheese. Gregoor van Dijk, FC Utrecht skipper, has a kids’ farm in Meppel. With goats and horses. Our football players can’t do it. They don’t have that passion, that over-the-topness. Ruud Gullit did have the charisma of a rock star, but he couldn’t be dragged away from Nelson Mandela. A guy in a frock. You could see the panick in Mandela’s eyes, whenever Ruud Gullit rocked up. He would have stayed on Robben Island if he’d known this.

Our players prefer to golf. That is the Dutch way of going out of your mind. Six hours of strolling in nature with a jumper on your shoulders. Walking in a checkered pants. Willem van Hanegem can even recognize 15 different birds. He can spot a cross-eyed woodpecker from 1300 meters!

Wesley Sneijder does try hard, but it just doesn’t work. Compared to C Ronaldo it’s even poor. Ronaldo is filmed with a 900 euro shirt around his horny chest when he is using the phone in Paris Hilton’s appartment. And we can only guess what Paris is doing. Probably finetuning the camera to film the opening crosspass through the middle. We’ll probably see it next week on YouTube, that spasm Portuguese male porn star head with the blonde bitch crawling under him.

No, let’s take Wesley. That is typically Dutch and thus lame. He was spotted with Yolanthe in the vip-box at a Toppers gig. I doesn’t get any worse than this. On Yolanthe’s shoulders, bitterball in his mouth, singing along to another jerk-off song by Gordon!

But, I do think we need to cherish that attitude. That’s where we are strong, scarily old-fashioned and “normal”. Look at Royston Drenthe. He’d lost the plot for at least half a year. There he was, in his white marble bathroom overlooking the 39 guest rooms in his home. It was pathetic, Royston’s forced superstardom. He did get into a spectacular car accident, but again - typically Dutch - he rammed a police car. A real superstar like Wayne Rooney would park his Ferrari into some restaurant, skidding into the kitchen. Opening his window and ordering a piece of fuckin’ salmon. Royston tried hard, but returned to the normal people. An ordinary player from Rotterdam dreams of a game of football on some field, with two coats as goal posts.

We simply can’t do it. Rinus Israel worked as a coach in Romania and sat in his hotel room staring at the picture of his wife, for months. Johan Cruyff got fired in Barcelona and walked his dog! Leo Beenhakker has a second job in snackbar the Fries Generation and moves on to help some third world country club, in this case Feyenoord.

I hated that family business at the EC. Dirk Kuyt and Edwin van der Sar with their kids on their arms. That’s what you do when you scored your first goal after 15 years of amateur football! Then you’re the hero for a day. Walking into the cantine with wet hair, asking your daughter how she thought dad played today. And then buying six euros worth of candy. You go home drunk, you hit your wife and you fall through the glass coffee table demonstrating how you scored that goal.

It seemed to be Oranje’s Little House on the Prairie. The party congress of the Christen Unie. It didn’t have anything to do with top football.

But, in the run up to the next WC, I think that’s our strength, really. A tremendous sacharine and off-putting adoration for your family. Totally confusing the opponent with our typically Dutch values. You know, waiting until the dressboys of Portugal come onto the pitch and doing a French Fondue on the field. And arguing about who get’s what color stick. I’m telling you, you’ll be 3-0 up against types like Cristiano Ronaldo.

For the first time in decades, Ajax started the new season with training yesterday without a new signing to present. The only new face was that of Martin Jol, the new Ajax coach.

“But I do hope we will change that still,” Jol said after having led his first training in front of 1000s of fans at sports complex The Future (De Toekomst).

It’s not that Ajax wasn’t active. In every line of the team, Ajax has a couple of players it likes to add to the mix, but experienced players like Boulahrouz, Braafheid, Schaars, Van der Vaart or Nicklas Bendtner are not available, or not ready yet. Jol would have loved to sign Arsenal striker Bendtner but Arsene Wenger doesn’t wat to see the Danish player leave. And FC Twente made it clear to Elia that if he leaves, he won’t go to the competition.

“Everyone knows we lost four of five specialists in the last two seasons. Players like Sneijder, Huntelaar, Stam, Davids, you name them. I won’t mention names, but we still have a list of players who can make the difference. We did score a lot last season, but every game we trailed with 0-1, we lost. So, I do hope the players Ajax signed last season will step up to the plate now. I assume that they will be settled in by now and can start to improve.”

Last week, Jol went and checked out Miralem Sulejmani during the Youth EC in Sweden. “He may have disappointed some, but he was involved in 20 goals we scored. I hope he will continue to develop, he’s one of the lads that needs to lead.”

In the queste for the first title in 5 years, Ajax will train mostly at De Toekomst. Sometimes even behind closed doors…

Every coach before Jol wanted to train at De Toekomst, but no one succeeded where Jol did. And it’s not because of the hassle Marco van Basten underwent with supporters storming the pitch. “No,”says Jol. “It’s about club culture. I analyse what we need from the football perspective. I don’t want opponents to be able to see what we’re working on. Some morning sessions will be behind closed doors. We can’t just let anyone in all the time. This is Ajax’ home. And you need to be able to close your home off for visitors, otherwise you go nuts.”

Ajax is the first club in Holland to have all elements of the club on one location, like most English clubs have. PSV does have De Herdgang, but the office personnel is located in the Philips Stadium. Ajax expects their office staff to move to De Toekomst soon.

With this moce, Ajax is back where it started, so to speak. Till 1995, Ajax always had the professionals and the youth together in De Meer. The stars will be totally accessible for the younger talents. But, there will still be a difference: the hot dog sold to the dad of the D-pupil will come from a different kitchen than the lunch for Luis Suarez or Martin Jol.

Ajax is currently preparing a new pitch for the Ajax 1 team, a field that can be closed for prying eyes of the fans, media and competition. De main gate of De Toekomst will be opened up every midday for who ever wants to come in: youth players, parents, scouts, media and fans…