Ajaxtalk

Kowalczyk schreef:website was one of the main reasons for Ajax to offer me my membership of the club (which is the coolest reward I could ever get).

Kowalczyk schreef:Wow. That's a really moving post, Thomas. Thanks for that. Reactions like yours are the only 'profit' that Ajax USA makes (and may it forever stay that way). I'm doing the whole thing because it's fun, and because I love my club. People telling me that they actually enjoy it, is pretty f**king great, to be honest.

Kowalczyk schreef:I personally think the 15 Years Ago pieces got better over the years: the recent ones are better than the old 1987 ones, if you ask me. Which is a good thing: it means that you'll probably start enjoying it more and more, reading the installments chronologically.

Kowalczyk schreef:I am very proud of Ajax USA, especially because we've 'survived' and still do our thing, consistently, according to the same editorial policy. We've never taken a break. Our readers/friends/community can count on a serious match report of every Ajax game (no exceptions), news reports on every transfer or relevant news fact. The news and match report archives are slowly becoming pretty huge: this is the 7th season in a row that we cover 'Ajax USA style'. Ajax USA has become a pretty enormous Ajax archive.

Kowalczyk schreef:I'm particularly proud of our club profiles (no website that I know has anything like it) and 15 Years. I'm a much busier man now than I was in 1999 (which is when I started writing for Ajax USA), but I'll find the time. I can't stop. I just can't. With every 15 Years Ago installment that I write it's becoming more unthinkable that I will 'break the cycle'. You know when 15 Years Ago will end? The moment it 'bites the tail' of the Ajax USA archives, on 01 August 2000. From the 2000-2001 season onwards we have a full archive, so July 2000 will be the last 15 Years Ago installment. And yes, I'll keep going until we're there. Next month is the 5th anniversary of 15 Years Ago, so you better believe I mean it... :yes: .

Kowalczyk schreef:

I also have a couple of questions that just came to mind. Who manages the site for you and how much time do you have to put into it?

The founder and webmaster of Ajax USA is my good friend Jim McGough. He started the whole thing. He designed the site, maintains it and is, essentially, the publisher. He sometimes writes stuff, too. From 1995 to 1999 he did Ajax USA all by himself (including a series of newsletters in the years 1996-1998, which you can find in the Ajax USA archives as well). In 1999 my good friend Bastiaan Vercouteren and I offered our services. We started writing match reports and news reports (and Jim started archiving them in the way we still archive our articles). Bastiaan called it quits after a few years. Today, I do most of the writing. In years that Jim can watch Ajax games in the U.S. he will write match reports as well (he's done a few this season).

How much time it costs me? You don't want to know... I don't even know how much time it costs me, and I don't want to know either. A lot of time, that's for sure. But I promise you I will call it quits as soon as I don't enjoy it anymore. Ajax USA has become my baby, sort of. I've made some very good friends via Ajax USA and the website was one of the main reasons for Ajax to offer me my membership of the club (which is the coolest reward I could ever get).

To everybody who likes Ajax USA: this little website ain't gonna disappear. :eusa_dance:

K.

Cedric_AeF schreef: And thanks again for keeping Ajax USA up-to-date as there aren't many other solutions to have some reliable and complete news in English.

Kowalczyk schreef: To everybody who likes Ajax USA: this little website ain't gonna disappear. :eusa_dance:

Thomas schreef:Ko?

Cedric_AeF schreef:Maybe he's waiting for February 92... :D

Kowalczyk schreef:

Thomas schreef:Ko?

What can I do for you, Sir?

K.

Cedric_AeF schreef:Maybe he's waiting for February 92... :D

Thomas schreef:Well it's definitely something you guys should be proud of. So what do you do when neither you nor Jim were able to watch the game? Where do you get your match report from?

Kowalczyk schreef:Have you ever thought about expanding? By gathering even more (fun) facts and information about players of the opposite teams, for instance?

March 18 – Ajax: A Potted History

TODAY our tales of footballing history take us over to Amsterdam, where four men met today in 1900 to create what would become one of the most stylish and sophisticated football clubs ever seen. Named after the mythological Greek hero and not the detergent, AFC Ajax have treated football fans to some of the finest club performances ever seen over the years.

Taking the credit for the birth of Ajax are Floris Stempel, Carel Reeser and brothers Han and Johan Dade, who were attempting to resurrect the defunct side ‘Footh-Ball Club Ajax’, who came and went in 1894, possibly because of the spelling mistake in their name that wasn’t picked up on by it’s Dutch speaking founders.

A slow start to life in the Eredivisie meant that Ajax didn’t reach the top division until 1911, the same year that their iconic strip first came into play. The stylish thick red stripe on their white shirts made famous during their all-conquering side in the 1970s came about due to a kit clash with rivals Sparta Rotterdam once Ajax hit the top flight. Their first league title came in 1917, and by the 1930s they were hooving up trophies all over the shop thanks to the likes of Wim Anderiesen Sr. and Piet van Reenen on the pitch and Englishman Jack Reynolds in the dug-out.

Ajax would struggle after Reynolds’ retirement in 1940, but the introduction of professional football in the Netherlands in 1954 lead to the foundations of their greatest ever side, one that dominated European football and was known as ‘Gloria Ajax’. At the heart of this revolution was manager Rinus Michels who was appointed manager in 1965, when the club had just narrowly avoided revolution. Armed with a crazy new philosophy called ‘total football’ and the best young player in the world in John Cruijff, Michels’ free-flowing style of play had an immediate impact as Ajax won the 1965/66 title. The next season saw Ajax score 122 goal in all competitions, a record that still stands today, with Cruijff, still only 20, scoring 33 of them.


Now that all had been conquered on the home front, Ajax turned their attention to the European stage, as Michels’ team began to peak. A first European Cup triumph occurred at Wembley in 1971 as the Amsterdam side defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 in the final, but the best was still to come. Their second of three consecutive European Cup triumphs came in a season where Ajax won every competition they entered. By the end of 1972 the European Cup, Intercontinental Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Eredivisie title and KNVB Cup all found their way to the Olympic Stadium in a feat that has never been achieved before or since.

The glory days came to a close at the end of the 1972/73 season when Cruijff left for Barcelona, ending the reign of the ‘Twelve Apostles’ as the Ajax first XI and reserve Johnny Rep were known. Cruijff has made it back a couple of times, once as manager in the mid-80’s where he oversaw the emergence of Marco Van Basten and more recently when, in a farcical development a few weeks ago he took over as technical director, appointed Van Basten as new manager for next season and then quit again over a “professional difference of opinion” between the two.

Ajax’s other great period was in the mid-90’s when they forged another European Cup winning side, this time under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal, that became famous for being the first side to be torn apart by the Bosman ruling in 1995. These days they are still battling it out at the business end of the table in the Netherlands, with fans hopeful that the appointment of the former favourite Van Basten can help re-establish themselves as one of the top sides in Europe. Take a gander at Cruijff and co in their pomp winning their 1972 ‘quintuple’ below and come back tomorrow for some unlikely Anglo-Italian action.

Kowalczyk schreef:...

Marco van Basten's Ajax-1 début. 26 years ago today!
...

K.