I can’t handle the Amsterdam economy.

Edwan van der Sar is a renowned goalkeeper who has seen a lot in his life and has come under enormous pressure more than once. However, he now has to bear a different kind of pressure: in the role of a coach who has blocked too many decisions at Ajax, and because of this a system that seemed ideal has started to falter.

At the end of January, after a draw with modest Volendam (1: 1), Ajax coach Alfred Schroeder was fired. The team fell to an unprecedented fifth place in recent years in the Eredivisie. Although Schroeder initially had a very difficult task – to maintain the incredible level set by Eric ten Hag. A man who won the league three times, the cup twice, and also twice led Ajax to the Champions League playoffs, and in 2019 reached the semi-finals with him.

When Schroeder was sacked, Ajax had not won the league for seven consecutive games. This is the longest such streak since 1965. In the match against Volendam, the fans were already frankly waving white handkerchiefs, signaling their desire to say goodbye to the coach. And in the home games there were chants against Schroeder.

The fans must have liked to be heard. They felt a sense of relief and also welcomed former quarterback John Heitinga as their interim head coach through the end of the season. But Ajax’s problems go beyond just the manager. It seems that the Amsterdam club is facing a systemic crisis.

Confusion in decisions

The Supervisory Board has a special place in the management structure of Ajax. For a long time, there was no clear line of interaction and performance evaluation between this body and the club’s football management. At the same time, the Supervisory Board can participate in all decisions: from transfer operations to dismissals of coaches.

The current Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Lyn Meijard, has been on the Board since 2016. And lately her position has come under fire. He has been criticized for stepping away from the football side of things, leaving everything in the hands of chief executive Edwin van der Sar.

When Mark Overmars was sacked as technical director last year, there was a void and confusion in the decision-making system and in the development of strategy and tactics for the club. Obviously Overmars was fired for what is believed to be an accident: it happened because of the scandal with his inappropriate vulgar messages and photos sent to club employees. But after his dismissal, a replacement for Overmars could not be found.

Instead, a “technical duo” was appointed to the club in the form of Jerry Hamstra, who had previously worked in managerial positions at Heerenveen and Vitesse, and Klas-Jan Huntelaar, who was brought up as a manager under Overmars. And this duo has not been given all the power and responsibility of the technical director. All this remained in van der Sar’s hands.

The latest decisions by the former goalkeeper and two of his appointees led to a tense period for Ajax, who replaced ten Hags with Schroeder on the coaching bridge, and also had a frenetic transfer campaign, spending the unusual 110 million euros for the Eredivisie and saving 210 million euros for the sale of Martinez, Anthony, Allera and others.

I lost ten Hags

Dutch mass media has begun divulging details of some management decisions. In particular, it emerged that ten Hag had a desire to stay another year at Ajax, despite sustained interest from bigger clubs, including Manchester United, where he ended up. However, van der Sar failed to provide him with a clear long-term plan for the development of a team that has almost become a contender for victory in the Champions League. This attitude discouraged the coach and hastened his departure.

Ajax also had discussions with Go Ahead Eagles technical director Alex Cruz. He was set to move to Ajax last summer, even selling his share in his current club as required by the rules, but van der Sar appointed Schroeder without any consultation with his future technical director and Kroes resigned.

Now they write that van der Sar wants to officially combine the role of manager and technical director of the club. Also, Hamstra and Huntelar, who already decide almost nothing, don’t seem to mind. But this operation will not go well. Dissatisfaction with van der Sar grew and became more pronounced. The lengthy rejection of Schroeder’s seemingly bad work didn’t add boos to him. Although Ajax have suffered enough in the Eredivisie and Champions League that the manager could have been sacked sooner.

The fans want the Ajax management to return to football and not internal intrigues. This requires a clear appointment of a technical director who can put the football economy in order and appoint the right manager. But for now we need a temporary one.

And with this van der Sar seems to have coped. Heitinga was appointed as manager until the end of the season. There is time to sort things out somehow. And John, who has already worked in the club’s youth team, seems to have started well, improving the team’s results. In addition, he had as assistants who worked in PSV and Dutch national team Dwight Lodewegs. The club has a deadline to decide on a technical director and permanent head coach by the summer.

At the limit

Ajax’s problems may be more serious than it appears. The main goal is to get into the Champions League. The financial stability of the club directly depends on this. Without Champions League Ajax will have to organize a new sale and the right “product” has not yet grown. In this case, all the team’s talents will be given away, which will aggravate the class drop. And who knows how to get out of such a hole later.

To some extent, acquiring a technical director at this stage is even more important than appointing a head coach. The former had been missing for almost a year, and the detrimental effect of such a person’s absence is immediately visible. The name of the head coach also depends on the figure of the technical director.

By the way, for the first time since 1997, Ajax is considering the possibility of appointing a foreigner to the post of head coach. The club has been linked to Marcelo Gallardo, but he has excluded himself from these rumours. The names of Marcelo Bielsa, Luis Enrique and Zlatko Dalic were also mentioned, but it is unlikely that these specialists will be attracted to Amsterdam. The return of Peter Bosch was not excluded, but he had a bad relationship with van der Sar. There are several months of rumors ahead.