A new English Ajax website...?

[Juneau]

Hi guys, first post here, so hopefully this isn't in the wrong place.

Well basically, I have been an Ajax fan for the past 2 years or so, as that was when I made contact with my good Dutch friend Vin. I support them alongside Liverpool and over that time have gotten increasingly more supportive, buying the memoribilia and I now have plans to see an Ajax game later this season (I am from the UK).

But what I have noticed is there is a lack of an English Ajax site, which features news, information and what not. Other than the official Ajax site, which has very limited articles (and not the best grammar/spelling), I cannot see any site that is aimed for English Ajax fans, as they all seem to have gone away (such as AjaxUSA, which is how I got to this website).

Now, I'm figuring you guys would be of help to whether there is an actual need to build one. I have made starts but I am not really a great web developer and so it may take some time. But would anyone be interested or feel that it would be a good idea to start one?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Richard

[Orange14]

The folks who ran the AjaxUSA site are on this forum. You will find all the news fit to read right here (though it is a bit of a down time right now because of the FIFA International break.

[Juneau]

Thanks for the reply mate, yeah I've heard they were on here. I don't want to make this come across as rude, but do you think a forum is right to be the main source for info on Ajax? I don't know a why to put it across other than that, so sorry if it sounds nasty, but I just feel maybe there was a gap for a site to come around that was other than the official one, which seems to lack detail?

[Orange14]

I think if you go back and sample some of the threads you can answer the question for yourself. We have lots of in match comentary from Ajax fans all over the world who watch live streams on the Internet. I'm up at 6:30 am local time on Sundays watching on ESPN 360. This is a highly critical group of folks and we are not shy about voicing criticism at players, managers, and the blokes who run the club. There are also threads on virtually every single player both present and past. Wealth of information on all things Ajax.

[martinkohout]

I think if you go back and sample some of the threads you can answer the question for yourself. We have lots of in match comentary from Ajax fans all over the world who watch live streams on the Internet. I'm up at 6:30 am local time on Sundays watching on ESPN 360. This is a highly critical group of folks and we are not shy about voicing criticism at players, managers, and the blokes who run the club. There are also threads on virtually every single player both present and past. Wealth of information on all things Ajax.

Agreed. This is my primary source for all things Ajax, and then there are other sites (for some of which I have to use Google Translate, as sadly I don't speak Dutch) like the official club site, Voetbal International, Ajax Foto Side, Big Soccer, and (as of yesterday, when they finally got a new Ajax blogger) the Offside. I can't say I've felt like I'm missing much without an English-language website.

Having said that, though, if you want to do it, more power to you - I don't think there can be too many Ajax-related sites on the web!

[Juneau]

Fair enough guys, from looking at this site, there is a lot of information and a lot of discussions that stretch into a lot of pages being produced. However I think I will go ahead with the site to try to improve my skills with computers/journalism as well as hopefully adding another dimension to other websites, another source per say. From then, we'll see how it goes. I'll definately keep you guys updated and I'll hang around here for sure. If you want to add any further thoughts, please do. :)

[Kowalczyk]

Hi Juneau,

Menno here, one of the Ajax USA duo from the olden days.

Personally, I thought it would be great if a 'new Ajax USA' would pop up: a good, independent, high-quality Ajax website with a personal vision and 'touch'. That would be fantastic, the club deserves it and the international fanbase deserves it, too.

But... I'm not going to be involved.

I wrote pretty much everything for Ajax USA between 1999 and 2008, and it was great, but all good things come to an end. I started writing books, I started writing two bi-weekly Ajax columns (in Dutch...), I'm a busy man, my life has changed. I wouldn't want to have the 'responsibility' to write two match reports a week anymore, if only because ten miserable Ajax years have had their effect on me: in the last two, three years of Ajax USA's existence I had the frustrating (and perhaps arrogant) feeling that we (Ajax USA) were doing a better and definitely more passionate job than Ajax itself...

When we pulled the plug on Ajax USA, Jim and I published a sort of 'obituary', which explains why we decided to stop. Perhaps you've read it before:
http://www.ajaxusa.com/ajax-usa-calling-it-quits.html

Yet again: I hope you can make it happen. You have my 'passive'/moral support, for whatever that's worth...

K.

[Juneau]

Thanks for the nice support Kowalczyk, yes I've read that before and that's partially why I feel inspired to do a site for English Ajax fans. Your support is worth a lot, from what I have saw and what you have said you have done some brilliant work for us English speakers!

I am a student and so time and money is obviously an issue, but I feel I could make it work. I have set up the basics of a site, and with my college lecturer helping me out on web-design (being honest I suck at it!), I feel I am getting somewhere. I am having to use a webhost as I cannot afford to pay for a site to be hosted, but I feel it is a good host that I am using. I am using Joomla, which some of you may heard of, and the extensions are proving quite useful. I am using a basic default template which in my opinion looks quite effective and suits the Ajax colours. I have added a forum section but there is a lot of editing to be done and work to make it an actual site.

If I was to set a timescale of any sort, I would say I aiming for a New Year finish of the site.

P.S, nice win last night! Got to watch it on ESPN. :D

[raymon]

Thanks for the nice support Kowalczyk, yes I've read that before and that's partially why I feel inspired to do a site for English Ajax fans. Your support is worth a lot, from what I have saw and what you have said you have done some brilliant work for us English speakers!

I am a student and so time and money is obviously an issue, but I feel I could make it work. I have set up the basics of a site, and with my college lecturer helping me out on web-design (being honest I suck at it!), I feel I am getting somewhere. I am having to use a webhost as I cannot afford to pay for a site to be hosted, but I feel it is a good host that I am using. I am using Joomla, which some of you may heard of, and the extensions are proving quite useful. I am using a basic default template which in my opinion looks quite effective and suits the Ajax colours. I have added a forum section but there is a lot of editing to be done and work to make it an actual site.

If I was to set a timescale of any sort, I would say I aiming for a New Year finish of the site.

P.S, nice win last night! Got to watch it on ESPN. :D

Hi Juneau,

What are your thoughts about an English web-site? Is it like the old ajax-usa site with match reports, interviews etc or is it something else you have in mind? I have to discuss with my fellow site-admins but we may be able to help you with this. We may be able to provide you with web-hosting and some practical technical help. If you can PM or email me your ideas then I will take this up with the admins.

Kind regards,

Raymon

[Juneau]

Hey Raymon,

My basic ideas would just simply be to provide a good site which includes match reports, news, etc. I can't see me being able to do interviews if I'm honest as well I have no contacts, haha. I would just be doing it by watching the games, looking out for info and what not. I can show you what I have at the moment, but it is very basic and there are errors with the template and stuff which I am trying to fix. The banner is designed by myself by the way.

The link is www.ajax-uk.netai.net

I would love technical help as really the only time I get it is by seeing my college lecturer which is just in his lessons only, and that is trying to do work as well haha.

[Juneau]

Sorry for the double post, but do you think it would be alright to use ajaxtalk as one of my ad links? As their currently all set to Joomla at the moment, which isn't very interesting.

I mean I'm not entirely sure on the whole advertisement process, but I am guessing you need the companies permission to advertise it on your website?

[ajaxusa]

Hey, this is Jim, founder and co-publisher of Ajax USA. I think it's great that you are starting a new Ajax fan site in English. I don't read Dutch either, so any sources of news, rumor and opinion are truly appreciated. I have just a few pieces of advice for you:

1) Do it for fun, and only as long as it's fun. Do it the way you want, and don't worry about doing it wrong. You can always try and change things up. Having said that, it's also a great feeling to put something out there that you KNOW people enjoy and appreciate.

2) Consider taking a "news aggregator" approach, where you publish intros of (and links to) content from other sources, plus facility for people to comment on and easily share (via Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Mix that with your own original content as often as you like. But as Menno said, the "grind" of having to produce original match reports and news on a daily basis can become a real chore and might sap your enthusiasm for the site. Instead, leverage the now plentiful news and match reports from major news sources. The mere fact that you're doing the hard work of aggregating them in one place and allowing people to browse, share and comment on stuff will be appreciated. Also make it easy for people to "subscribe" to your site via RSS.

3) Take a collaborative blog approach; invite guest writers to contribute.

Cool! I look forward to checking out your site!

- jim

[666]

Let us know when you've got a quality Ajax news site running. In between "Nieuws" and "Teletekst" on top of this page sits a "News" link waiting for a target.

[Juneau]

Done my first match report guys today for the game, go to Ajax-UK.netai.net to view it. =) The site isn't done, just wanted to show you guys an article of what it would look like and whatever when it does get properly running. :)

[Juneau]

Starting this idea again guys. I've got an IT apprenticeship now and hopefully will start to learn some web-designing skills.

For now, the website link is: http://ajax-international.netii.net

Again I'm using Joomla, still figuring it out!