Ajax Coaches

[Orange14]

You know, we could do a lot worse than Steve Coppell....

If we are going to look for a foreign manager, he might be an interesting choice. He's done all right with Reading over the past five years.

[bryan]

Yup, Steve Coppell is an extremely good manager.

See also Roy Hodgson, who is performing miracles with Fulham on a shoestring budget. And he's a friend of Jari Litmanen... Hodgson with Litmanen as his assistant/translator anybody?

[Orange14]

Yup, Steve Coppell is an extremely good manager.

See also Roy Hodgson, who is performing miracles with Fulham on a shoestring budget. And he's a friend of Jari Litmanen... Hodgson with Litmanen as his assistant/translator anybody?

And also Steve Bruce at Wigan Athletic. All three are good solid managers who will never see CL football until they move to one of the big four. They might be looking at what Steve McClaren has done at Twente this season and think that maybe managing over in the Netherlands would be something good to try. We could do a lot worse (paging Ronald Koeman). Plus the idea of an English manager isn't crazy. Look at how Jack Reynolds got things started.

[bryan]

Steve Bruce would screw a club over in a flash. Ask any Palace or Birmingham City supporters.

[Amol]

VI is reporting that Foppe De Haan is open to the possibility of a job at Ajax. Might be a good thing for us as he has been working with kids for the past 6-8 years now.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Mr Coppell is a big hero of mine from his days at Palace, but he is no way suitable for Ajax. The guy is absolutely great at plucking nobodies and making them into a team but give him any money to spend and he is crap. The guy also wouldn't be able to take the pressure. Just remember how long he lasted at Man City.

[acab]

One name - Luigi Del Neri

[martinkohout]

One name - Luigi Del Neri

Hmmm. I don't know much about him, but according to the always reliable Wikipedia it seems like he's done best in low-pressure jobs (Chievo, Atalanta). And he's got no track record outside Italy; in fact, the only time he signed a contract elsewhere (to succeed the Chosen One at Porto) he was fired before even coaching a game for them, claiming he wanted to return to Italy for personal reasons. Not sure that adds up to much of a recommendation for Ajax.

[Orange14]

If we are going from the sublime to the ridiculous we can also look to Roberto Mancini who hasn't had a run out since he left Inter. Claudio Ranieri is likely to be out of Juventus after the season. Juup Heynckes is out as the caretaker of Bayern. Thomas Rongen has Ajax roots and manages the United States under 21 team (playing a 4-3-3 even!!). Probably are a lot of others that one can conjecture about. I just hope the management makes the right choice this time around.

[jamie]

I think that there are plenty of good coaches available out there however Ajax seems to be fishing from the same pond it always does. I mentioned a few names in the Dutch section but it seems that people thought I was nuts.

I am no expert in coaches however I am sure that at least a few of the available coaches listed below could do a good job at Ajax.

1) Eriksson
2) Scolari
3) Karel Bruckner
4) Jacques Santini
5) Oleg Blokhin
6) José Pekerman
7) Henri Michel
8) Roger Lemerre (status?)
9) Philippe Troussier
10) Clemens Westerhof
11) Javier Clemente
12) Aimé Jacquet
13) Daniel Passarella
14) Kevin Keegan
15) Avram Grant
16) David O'Leary
17) Jean Tigana
18) Glenn Roeder

[DanK]

Didn't Stanley Menzo manage a few years ago, and get Volendam promoted?

Is he available?

[Cedric]

He works for Cambuur now if I remember well.
But I'm not sure he's an option...

[Frans]

I think that there are plenty of good coaches available out there however Ajax seems to be fishing from the same pond it always does. I mentioned a few names in the Dutch section but it seems that people thought I was nuts.

I am no expert in coaches however I am sure that at least a few of the available coaches listed below could do a good job at Ajax.

1) Eriksson
2) Scolari
3) Karel Bruckner
4) Jacques Santini
5) Oleg Blokhin
6) José Pekerman
7) Henri Michel
8) Roger Lemerre (status?)
9) Philippe Troussier
10) Clemens Westerhof
11) Javier Clemente
12) Aimé Jacquet
13) Daniel Passarella
14) Kevin Keegan
15) Avram Grant
16) David O'Leary
17) Jean Tigana
18) Glenn Roeder

Any of these people speak Dutch?

Aside from that, I'd rather the cleaning lady takes over than see either Roeder, Keegan or Santini in charge. A few people on there are also quite old; Jacquet hasn't worked for 11 years. Bruckner is pushing 70. Lemerre is 67. If I had to take anyone on that list it would probably be Avram Grant... Still rather have Co or De Haan (I realize he's old)

[martinkohout]

Any of these people speak Dutch?

Well, presumably Westerhof...

[jamie]

They are looking at foreign coaches and it will be very hard to find one that speaks any Dutch. Anyway, Foppe is 66 so he is not the youngest either. And I wish it would be Co but it does not look like he will be it.

What about David O'Leary, he did pretty well at Leeds, didnt he?
Jean Tigana did pretty well in his coaching career, didn't he?

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

I think that there are plenty of good coaches available out there however Ajax seems to be fishing from the same pond it always does. I mentioned a few names in the Dutch section but it seems that people thought I was nuts.

I am no expert in coaches however I am sure that at least a few of the available coaches listed below could do a good job at Ajax.

1) Eriksson
2) Scolari
3) Karel Bruckner
4) Jacques Santini
5) Oleg Blokhin
6) José Pekerman
7) Henri Michel
8) Roger Lemerre (status?)
9) Philippe Troussier
10) Clemens Westerhof
11) Javier Clemente
12) Aimé Jacquet
13) Daniel Passarella
14) Kevin Keegan
15) Avram Grant
16) David O'Leary
17) Jean Tigana
18) Glenn Roeder

Any of these people speak Dutch?

Aside from that, I'd rather the cleaning lady takes over than see either Roeder, Keegan or Santini in charge. A few people on there are also quite old; Jacquet hasn't worked for 11 years. Bruckner is pushing 70. Lemerre is 67. If I had to take anyone on that list it would probably be Avram Grant... Still rather have Co or De Haan (I realize he's old)

Bruckner is the one that stands out the most to me, his style is pefect for ajax, fast, atractive, atacking football. He also got the most out of a crappy team like austria...at least for a little while, so i think he would be a good choice. I dont think age is a factor, we are not looking for the next guy roux you know....

[jamie]

I think that there are plenty of good coaches available out there however Ajax seems to be fishing from the same pond it always does. I mentioned a few names in the Dutch section but it seems that people thought I was nuts.

I am no expert in coaches however I am sure that at least a few of the available coaches listed below could do a good job at Ajax.

1) Eriksson
2) Scolari
3) Karel Bruckner
4) Jacques Santini
5) Oleg Blokhin
6) José Pekerman
7) Henri Michel
8) Roger Lemerre (status?)
9) Philippe Troussier
10) Clemens Westerhof
11) Javier Clemente
12) Aimé Jacquet
13) Daniel Passarella
14) Kevin Keegan
15) Avram Grant
16) David O'Leary
17) Jean Tigana
18) Glenn Roeder

Any of these people speak Dutch?

Aside from that, I'd rather the cleaning lady takes over than see either Roeder, Keegan or Santini in charge. A few people on there are also quite old; Jacquet hasn't worked for 11 years. Bruckner is pushing 70. Lemerre is 67. If I had to take anyone on that list it would probably be Avram Grant... Still rather have Co or De Haan (I realize he's old)

Bruckner is the one that stands out the most to me, his style is pefect for ajax, fast, atractive, atacking football. He also got the most out of a crappy team like austria...at least for a little while, so i think he would be a good choice. I dont think age is a factor, we are not looking for the next guy roux you know....

Thats why I put Bruckner in that list. For years the Czech republic was one of the top ranked teams in the world under him and the majority of the team was really not that great. He was able to create a real team spirit and he is a master in tactics.

[Frans]

Any of these people speak Dutch?

Aside from that, I'd rather the cleaning lady takes over than see either Roeder, Keegan or Santini in charge. A few people on there are also quite old; Jacquet hasn't worked for 11 years. Bruckner is pushing 70. Lemerre is 67. If I had to take anyone on that list it would probably be Avram Grant... Still rather have Co or De Haan (I realize he's old)

Bruckner is the one that stands out the most to me, his style is pefect for ajax, fast, atractive, atacking football. He also got the most out of a crappy team like austria...at least for a little while, so i think he would be a good choice. I dont think age is a factor, we are not looking for the next guy roux you know....

Thats why I put Bruckner in that list. For years the Czech republic was one of the top ranked teams in the world under him and the majority of the team was really not that great. He was able to create a real team spirit and he is a master in tactics.

I like Bruckner too. The main issue I have with getting an older foreign coach like him is that he's got nothing to prove, probably has plenty of money and so might not take the job too seriously. If things didn't immediately go well for him there'd be nothing stopping him just packing it in. The only reason I said I'd prefer Avram Grant is that he'd be looking to prove to those in England that he can do a good job at a big club, so there'd be more motivation for him to do well.

[Orange14]

I don't think anyone had mentioned Johan Neeskens. Isn't he managing one of the Oranje youth sides right now? He did assist Rijkaard at Barca but I have no idea about either his quality as a first team manager or interest in the position. Another one worth considering is Mirko Slomka who I think did a nice job with Schalke a couple of years ago. He had them playing nice attacking football was let go because they failed to win the Bundesliga having a chance on the last match day. As far as I can tell he isn't managing a club this season.

[jamie]

Actually I would imagine that he does still has a lot to proof. He has hardly ever worked abroad with the exception I think of the Austrian national squad. I doubt that he got paid a lot at his previous managerial positions.

[bryan]

Karel Bruckner doesn't have that much money, I think I remember reading somewhere that the Czech job only paid 30k a year or something.

He's going on 70 years old though...

[jamie]

I admit that he is a bit old however if he would get the job done then who cares. I mean Bobby Robson was a good coach whilst in his 70's.

[SPL]

Oh dear a little depressing talking fo 70 year olds.Foppe at 66 is probably too old to start rebuilding a club like Ajax.He would be short term for a couple of seasons. Mind you keeping a coach for 2 years would be an improvement for us.!!

[jamie]

There are plenty of other options. Tigana, O'Leary, Skibbe, Hitzfeld and the list goes on. My gut feeling says that it will still be Co at the end.

[GangstaRiB]

There are plenty of other options. Tigana, O'Leary, Skibbe, Hitzfeld and the list goes on. My gut feeling says that it will still be Co at the end.

Your gut feeling could be right.

Sources on other messageboards state that Co is still the number one pick and that Co himself is also keen on comming back to Ajax. The only thing that Ajax and Co have to sort out, is the financial settlement with Co. Because Co left FC Porto early, Porto went to court and sued him and Porto did that succesfully. Co had to pay around 1 milion back to them.

So things are starting to clear up. Both Ajax and AZ are after Co. AZ already seeked contact on 30th april, when it became clear that Van Gaal was going to Bayern. I think AZ was earliers than Ajax, but Co wants to return to his homeground.

Co is an "Amsterdammer" and when he became headcoach in the previous period, he was really proud that he had reached that position. When he was fired, it really hurt hem, not only professionaly but also emotional-wise.

All this is very good news, because the pool of potential successors of Van Basten was getting smaller by the minute. I'm glad that Ajax is going 100% for Co. Sure Co will have his weaknesses, but if you look at his track record, he is one of the best coaches that Ajax can get.