'The Boss': Marco van Basten

[martinkohout]

Van Gaal loves Ajax. How hard could it really be to reel him in? It may be too early yet, but eventually he has to come back for another round. Since we all know that, why wait? ;)

Wonderful if true.... I'm still not absolutely convinced that getting rid of MvB will fix everything, but IF Van Gaal could be convinced to return, that's a no-brainer.

[martinkohout]

lucky you, the pathetic online shop is still closed

Philippe, I got my set via bol.com (thanks to guidance from Ko):

there is a very cool highlights 2dvd-set of the 'Golden Years' (1971-1973): league goals, European goals. I reckon that dvd is about as complete as can be. I'm talking about this one:
http://www.bol.com/nl/p/dvd/ajax-de-gou ... index.html

[Philippe]

What Marco has not fully realized is the lack of motivation of his players for Dutch league games. It is the backlash of the “nursery of Europe” culture : the only thing on their mind is to move abroad to one of those wealthy clubs and get huge salaries there.
That’s why we play better in the UEFA games.
And that’s why, once again, firing the coach will take us nowhere.

[Over Pasanens Head]

I would normally agree with you philippe on sacking the boss after just one year but with Van Basten I think that it is best that he went. My reasoning behind this is that football is littered with great players that just haven't cut it as managers due to the fact that they cannot understand why mere "mortal" players cannot do what they found really simple. Van Basten I am afraid, probably fits into this category. They just cannot motivate the players under them.

Having said that it does seem very strange to me that his assistants appear to not attracting any attention - surely they must shoulder some of this blame.


A very sad state of affairs as I thought that this was the season when we started to see a revitalised Ajax.
If Van Basten does go then I would like to see either Co or Fop de Haan come in earlier rather than later.

[Cedric]

Having said that it does seem very strange to me that his assistants appear to not attracting any attention - surely they must shoulder some of this blame.

Van den Boog pay attention to them... Van Basten too. From what they have said those last weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if the staff change a bit.


And I must say I don't really understand this "Co hype". Is it some sort of a weird nostalgia of the infamous 4-2-4 against Celtic, the "Berlin Wall" or his "good" alchemy with his strikers?

[GangstaRiB]

Having said that it does seem very strange to me that his assistants appear to not attracting any attention - surely they must shoulder some of this blame.

Van den Boog pay attention to them... Van Basten too. From what they have said those last weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if the staff change a bit.


And I must say I don't really understand this "Co hype". Is it some sort of a weird nostalgia of the infamous 4-2-4 against Celtic, the "Berlin Wall" or his "good" alchemy with his strikers?

Van den Boog said on multiple occasions that the current staff is too inexperienced. If Van Basten won't gets fired, or doesn't resign, I think changes in the staff are absolutely necesarry.

Van den Boog likes Van Basten, but doens't like the capabilities of Van 't Schip and Witschge.

But I think that the position of Van Basten is almost indefensible. The fans are outraged and the media are sharpening their knives.

About Co Adriaanse: sure he has his downsides, but he has proven to be an excellent trainer. He is capable of creating a teamspirit and in a pretty short time, his teams are starting to play as 'real teams'.

I am also not sure about Co, given his history at Ajax. But I think that we can now definitely say that we never want an inexperienced trainer again.

[gordonvandekamp]

If van Basten goes, it's imperative we have a quality (experienced) manager ready to go. Otherwise we will end up with someone like ten Cate and another 2 years away from competing for anything serious. My fear is that there are few of those managers available, and even fewer willing to come into a situation like ours where they will be fired in a year if they don't perform.

I really think the answer is to build stability around the manager and give him 5 years to change things. It really has to be someone who is up to the challenge. Van Gaal is really who I think could do it, but I can't imagine him even wanting to now as he's got 3 other teams that want him.

[martinkohout]

I really think the answer is to build stability around the manager and give him 5 years to change things.

I don't think that'll happen because the supporters won't stand for it, if the posters here are any indication - and I suspect that by and large they're among the most knowledgeable, best-equipped-to-take-the-long-view, supporters the club has.

It really has to be someone who is up to the challenge. Van Gaal is really who I think could do it, but I can't imagine him even wanting to now as he's got 3 other teams that want him.

Yeah. If/when MvB goes, doesn't someone have something we can blackmail Van Gaal with???

[Philippe]

And I must say I don't really understand this "Co hype". Is it some sort of a weird nostalgia of the infamous 4-2-4 against Celtic ?

Hilarious.

[bryan]

The 4-2-4 against Celtic was a product of Ajax fucking with Co's head. Leo Legchopper and the board kept openly questioning his "Berlin Wall" tactics and demanded he played more attacking football... he called their bluff against Celtic. Typical Ajax infighting bullshit.

What Marco has not fully realized is the lack of motivation of his players for Dutch league games. It is the backlash of the “nursery of Europe” culture : the only thing on their mind is to move abroad to one of those wealthy clubs and get huge salaries there.
That’s why we play better in the UEFA games.
And that’s why, once again, firing the coach will take us nowhere

It's the coach's job to motivate the players.

[Cedric]

The 4-2-4 against Celtic was a product of Ajax fucking with Co's head. Leo Legchopper and the board kept openly questioning his "Berlin Wall" tactics and demanded he played more attacking football... he called their bluff against Celtic. Typical Ajax infighting bullshit.

The Berlin Wall was inaugurated just after that game against Celtic. I guess that must change your explication...
I still think Adriaanse can be a (very) good coach, but I'm afraid he's too weird to manage a top club. Too excessive, too unstable.

[The Purple Cow]

The Berlin Wall was inaugurated just after that game against Celtic.

No, you are wrong.

[Cedric]

Ajax lost againt Celtic in 4-2-4 on august 8th and then played in Berlin against AS Roma on the 12th. How can I be wrong ?

[Philippe]

How can I be wrong ?

That was a good laugh !

[GangstaRiB]

Ajax lost againt Celtic in 4-2-4 on august 8th and then played in Berlin against AS Roma on the 12th. How can I be wrong ?

You're right Cedric. Celtic was the first match under the reign of Adriaanse. Trabelsi made his debut, Cruz (WHO?!?!) was playing midfield... my god.. what a match.. there were around 6000 Celtic fans in the Arena and it was very painfull.

In the Dutch league, on the other hand, it went okay. But when things went bad in the league, Adriaanse created his system-Berlin during recess, against Roma.

Then Adriaanse gathered some more points and Ajax was doing fine, but Beenhakker and others already made their minds up. Co had to leave.

Adriaanse was the victim of a real turbulent period. We just had Jan Wouters at Ajax who really messed it up. Co had to reoganise with very little money. And the public demand was: play attacking football.

So when he did that against Celtic, he was really doing his assignment... but everybody else thought different.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Ajax lost againt Celtic in 4-2-4 on august 8th and then played in Berlin against AS Roma on the 12th. How can I be wrong ?

You're right Cedric. Celtic was the first match under the reign of Adriaanse. Trabelsi made his debut, Cruz (WHO?!?!) was playing midfield... my god.. what a match.. there were around 6000 Celtic fans in the Arena and it was very painfull.

In the Dutch league, on the other hand, it went okay. But when things went bad in the league, Adriaanse created his system-Berlin during recess, against Roma.

Then Adriaanse gathered some more points and Ajax was doing fine, but Beenhakker and others already made their minds up. Co had to leave.

Adriaanse was the victim of a real turbulent period. We just had Jan Wouters at Ajax who really messed it up. Co had to reoganise with very little money. And the public demand was: play attacking football.

So when he did that against Celtic, he was really doing his assignment... but everybody else thought different.

I thought that that Celtic wasn't the first match for Co as he was here the previous season (2000/01) and achieved qualification on the last day of the season against AZ with a big 5-1 win (shame it didn't happen this year !!!!)

Then at the start of November Ajax lost 4 matches with 3 of these being at home which resulted in demostrations outside the ground.
From memory, Co was a stubborn whotsit who said that his plan was a plan to bring Ajax back to the top but that this plan wasn't going to be all achieved over a couple of days but over a number of years. The board and some of the fans were impatient for succes and as such Co just had to go.

It is really ironic that we are still looking for this overnight success 8 years later. !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Philippe]

I thought that that Celtic wasn't the first match for Co as he was here the previous season (2000/01) and achieved qualification on the last day of the season against AZ with a big 5-1 win (shame it didn't happen this year !!!!)

Indeed.

[Kowalczyk]

He's resigning.

Official press release is on its way.

NU.nl already have it:
http://www.nu.nl/algemeen/1959951/van-b ... pt-op.html

No shit.

Edit: NOS Teletekst (page 802) now have it, too...

K.

[Kowalczyk]

It's official.

BREAKING NEWS: MARCO VAN BASTEN RESIGNS AS AJAX HEAD-COACH

http://www.ajax.nl/Nieuws/Nieuwsarchief ... n-Ajax.htm

Marco van Basten has just informed general director Rik van den Boog about his decision to call it quits as head-coach of Ajax. His main reason: he did not achieve his goals and think he wouldn't be able to do a better job next season. Coach-assistant John van 't Schip will be in charge of the remaining training sessions.

Van Basten, 44, started as head-coach of Ajax on July 1st 2008. before thatm he was manager of the Dutch national team for four years and coach of Young Ajax for one season.

K.

[Philippe]

F**k.
Thanks for the good games in the UEFA cup, Marco.

I wonder who on earth will want the job now.

[saddlerian]

SO...he's done the right thing....but what a hell of a mess he's left us in!!!


WHO NOW??

[Kowalczyk]

It's sad to see him fall.

But this had to be done. Respect for the fact that he took the decision himself.

K.

[Philippe]

Seems to me that it's time to stop that boycot Ajax - FC Twente nonsense.

[rjf1]

... And apart from the few bad results this season, his overall record is pretty good if you include the Dutch team, but that 'we' already knew...

But what kind of football is the team playing -- even when they win games? Ugly, ugly football -- same with the National team. It's nothing like the Ajax football I have loved since the 1960s. Some people have the attitude that the style doesn't matter as long as you win -- I have never been able to stand that attitude. If you have to play ugly football to win, better to be a shoemaker than a footballer.

[Kowalczyk]

Less than one season...

F*ck me.

K.