02 May 2012: Ajax - VVV-Venlo

[Blind3]

The big question of the day is : Did Ajax ever get the cork out of the champagne bottle ? ESPN finished after Jan and Jody Lukoki failed miserably.

[aveslacker]

All is right with the world. PSV is in third place and Ajax is on top. Well done boys. Here's to nine more for our fourth star.

[rjf1]

Halfway through the season I was sure we were going to finish in 4th place at best -- who woulda thunk it! Now it's one down and only nine more to go!!

[Philippe]

Well done guys ! Great achievement for all the players and staff.

Special thanks to Frank !

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS !

[SPL]

Blind 13th stream stayed on air and I did not see anyone with that champagne bottle. Back in the changing room it was Amstel Beer and rolls.

A well done to the players and Frank de Boer for turning the season round after Utrecht.

Oh yes thanks to all you guys for sharing the season via this great messageboard . Thanks Menno and Jim for making sure we english speaking fans of the worlds greatest football club can discuss,without a cross word,the games and all about this beautiful special football club from Amsterdam.

We are champions inspite of not having our 1st choice front 3 or full backs for lots of the season . 90 goals without a striker is not bad. I am sure 2 or 3 years ago we all said we would not want to win by resorting to dirty football as we are Ajax and that means standards .I salute Frank de Boer and the players who has won 2 titles without having to resort to diving ,cynical fouls or cynical time wasting just playing the game beautifully as Ajax supporters and fans have expected ever since that great team of the early 70's.

[Kowalczyk]

I have a hangover from hell, but I'm smiling.

Congratulations, everybody. This is fantastic. We were in 6th place at some point. I think we were 4th in early February, 13 points behind AZ and 8 behind PSV.

And now we're celebrating. A game before the end. Amazing.

Well done, Ajax. Well done, Frank. Well done, everybody.

K.

[Orange14]

13th stream stayed on air and I did not see anyone with that champagne bottle.

The top of the cork snapped off when they were trying to get it off. For all we know it's still lying on the Arena pitch!

[ajaxcolombia]

hahaha that whole champagne bottle affair was too funny!!!

[Manneken Pis]

hey why was the de grafschaap vs excelsior game suspended? All I know an Excelsior player was sent off. Anyone got any details?

There was heavy thunder and lightning ("very very frightening") with 10 minutes to go, so they stopped the game.
The KNVB said they had to finish that night so they restarted very late (eleven something I believe).
Score stayed the same.

[ajaxcolombia]

It was a good idea to stop the match when there is thunder and lighting. A couple of years ago, two players from Deportivo Cali (one of the big clubs from country Colombia), died on the pitch when they were struck by lightning, it was really really awful.

[ajaxusa]

Champagne-gate is a modest little snafu, compared to what they did to the trophy last season.

Ko: Love that new signature.

[Manneken Pis]

Congratulations, everybody. This is fantastic. We were in 6th place at some point. I think we were 4th in early February, 13 points behind AZ and 8 behind PSV.K.

Not only that;
- there were all the injuries
- there was the issue with El Ham
- there was all the board-room nonsense
- there was the "strange" Lyon result in the CL to knock us out
- there was the theatrics from AZ in the cup

Any of these factors could have knocked the team off it's stride.
Huge kudos to Franck d. B. and the coaching staff for keeping the team focused.

[Kowalczyk]

Champagne-gate is a modest little snafu, compared to what they did to the trophy last season.

Guess what: Jan Vertonghen dropped it again!

On his toe, this time. During this little interview on AT5: http://www.ajaxlife.nl/nieuws/detail/11088



I love the swearing.

K.

[Dave the mac]

That's so funny about Vertonghen. Obviously he's much better with his feet than his hands. And yeah congrats to the team and coach's on such a great season! What a nice feeling!!!

[Blind3]

THANK YOU Ko and Manneken Pis for the perspective . Add all those circumstances together and The odds against winning must've seemed like the odds of winning powerball lotto in the states (143,000,000:1) . Just glad the players and coaches never bought in.

[Blind3]

Translation of item from Ajax Netwerk :

According to sports marketing expert Frank van den Wall Bake, Ajax next season counting on a hefty sum from the Champions League. Higher media revenues are brought in by UEFA, which the participants according to Van den Wall Bake the next three years 15% more money can look forward to revenue. According to him, Ajax through direct placement for the CL already sure of at least 15 million.

It's the last line which pricked my ears up.

[souras84]

Have we cleared our debt yet?

[Rooie]

Debt?

[souras84]

I think around 2006-07 we were losing money or something...

[Rooie]

Losing money is not the same as having debts. We certainly made some big losses in the past (in the years you mentioned), but had the capital to counter those losses. The last couple of years we've seen a profit and for this year and next year the financial forecast is excellent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last financial report showed that we have a capital of about 60 million euros.

[Orange14]

Losing money is not the same as having debts. We certainly made some big losses in the past (in the years you mentioned), but had the capital to counter those losses. The last couple of years we've seen a profit and for this year and next year the financial forecast is excellent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last financial report showed that we have a capital of about 60 million euros.

I think that is in the ballpark of the capital surplus. As long as the club doesn't go overboard in bringing expensive players in they will be OK> CL money should increase next season and if some how we can make it out of the group stage, we will pick up some extra €s. Certainly the one thing that van den Boog and Coronel did right was to get the finances in order. The long term problem for all Dutch clubs is that there is little opportunity for growth since television money is the big payoff and the Eredivisie is maxed out in this regard. Even if a lot of Ajax fans living abroad subscribe to the Internet feed for the league it's still just a drop in the bucket. I know the club was looking to do some things in China and that could be one way to increase merchandise sales.