Dennis Bergkamp talks: I don’t need this

November 24th, 2011 | by: Jan | Comments(23)

“We are Ajax”

“Ajax was not Ajax anymore”. This was the most often heard expression. And it was perfectly symbolised in that one Champions League game. Martin Jol was the head coach and right after the bashing they received in the Bernabeu he told the press that his “boys” weren’t equipped to play Mourinho’s “men”. Everyone with Ajax in their heart was insulted. And Johan Cruyff, who also had a bleeding Barca heart that night, decided to pick up the phone.

He was a youngster, with players like Krol, Neeskens and Muhren when his Ajax played the then already mighty Real Madrid. And his Ajax beat Real. And Gerrie Muhren demonstrated his fine skill without any Madrid player ballsy enough to stop him.

That was Ajax!

And that Ajax produced some fine talents across the decades. And these players were all gifted, well developed and most importantly, had the bravado to take on the world with a air of….”We Are Ajax!”. There was that Cruyff generation and we had the Louis van Gaal, Soren Lerby, Tscheu La Ling generation. Followed by the likes of Wim Kieft, Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Aron Winter, Dennis Bergkamp, John van ‘t Schip, Wim Jonk, Rafael van der Vaart , Wesley Sneijder and most recently Vernon Anita and Daley Blind. Ajax will always produce the talent, but will they all have that confidence, that swagger?

Cruyff felt a lot was “off” at De Toekomst (The Future). “I know they are doing a lot right. Our youth academy is still pretty good. But pretty good is not good enough. It needs to exceptional. Because it’s important and because we can. But today at Ajax, mediocricity rules. It has become too much cooky-cutter. We need less academia and more real experience.”

Wim Jonk and Dennis Bergkamp were hauled back to Ajax by Cruyff when he finally was able to have the membership support him to make some changes. The sitting general manager and the board left and a new board was supposed to create the platform for Cruyff’s team to operate.

But, someone leaked information to the media, to block Cruyff in his escapades. One source said Bergkamp and Jonk came with axes. The two former Ajax and Inter players were highly criticised for the way they went about their business at De Toekomst telling many youth coaches they could pack their bags.

Bergkamp: “This is a story that keeps on coming back and it’s false. We supposedly fired a number of coaches on the spot. It’s a lie. We never told coaches to leave. We did express our doubts to some about their way of working. It’s simple. We are going to change things in a big way. Not everyone will be willing or able to follow. But to say that there is a list with people who will have to leave… That is not true. That’s not us, is it?” And Wim Jonk adds: “The last year the least coaches left, compared to the years under our predecessor. The facts also speak against this rumour.”

Dennis: “Before we started in our roles, Johan gave a presentation to all the youth coaches. And leave it Johan to be very clear about his vision and you could tell that he touched all coaches present.”

Bergkamp wants to get this off his chest. “I always talked a lot with Johan, even before I was at Ajax. And always about football. About practice methods and developing youth. Never about organisational diagrams or job descriptions. We would come together regularly with former players and chew the fat you know. People like Rijkaard, Van Basten, Aron Winter. It was not a fixed group, it would change, but we all had Ajax’ future at heart. Not because we thought Ajax was doing badly, but we felt more was possible. We are not in this for the money or the power, but because we love this club and believe it can be bigger and more successful.”

Bergkamp is clearly hurt by the allegations. “We have signed a contract as youth coaches. We are not here to take over Frank de Boer’s position or anyone’s. We are here because our heart and soul wants to be here.”

Wim Jonk makes his point: “Take Johan! He lives in Barcelona, plays golf, supports Barca and does his charity thing. Do you think he needs this shit? He does this because of his passion for the club. At his age, he’s not after a leadership role. Ajax has been drifting under the weight of different head coaches, over the last years. We need a strategic vision and we have that philosophy and we will implement it now. And everyone at the club needs to support this. Our wish, Johan’s wish, is to lay the foundation for the next 100 years…”

Johan in the future ( Johan op “De Toekomst”)

This gives clarity about their ideas and Johan’s plans, but with the installation of Danny Blind and Martin Sturkenboom recently, what will that mean for Bergkamp and Jonk ( and Cruyff’s philosophy)?

This week, the actors in this soap opera met. Bergkamp: “We discussed the different job descriptions and responsibilities. The Cruyff Plan is key and will guide us. We have agreements in place and that will be the main thing for us. We don’t expect any changes in that and we will keep on working in the academy as we did in the last months.”

Wim Jonk explained how the Louis van Gaal news reached him. “It’s unbelievable really. Wednesday, we got the message through the internal communication system that Van Gaal got the job. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have had more surprises at Ajax the last months, but this was the clincher.”

It can be called remarkable that Jonk and Bergkamp are still at Ajax, given that Rik van den Boog, former general manager, wanted to kick them out.

Bergkamp: “He was really personal in his attacks and comments to me. That surprised me enormously. He said I wasn’t capable of coaching the D-juniors, but a week earlier he signed me for the A juniors. He also claimed I wasn’t spending enough time at the club. I was flabbergasted. So, he decided to attack my character. I decided not to accept that. I don’t need all that bullshit. These games aren’t needed when you are all working towards the same goal.”