We can all learn something from the decline of Ajax, even those who do not like football and therefore planned to skip this part. Don’t, stay awhile!
Ajax is a company that alternates periods of prosperity with times of crisis. I know such companies closely, I have worked for them as a journalist. Some of those companies don’t even exist anymore or hardly exist anymore – there the crisis lasted just a little too long. How can such crises be prevented?
Especially by realizing that the self-overestimation starts halfway through the flowering period. „Have you seen the latest figures, colleagues? Another ten thousand subscribers. Who else makes us what? We also write great articles. That last report from Sientje – fantastic! Sissy, thank you! Oh yes, Sientje is not there, who is writing a book, Sientje good luck! And Karel with that revealing political interview! Unknown! Karl, where are you? What? Is he working for his TV show? Karel, we’ll look!”
The trees seem to grow into the sky and everyone does what they want. The management looks at it with sorrow, but does not want to say too much for the sake of peace. The rot has begun.
When Ajax almost reached the final of the Champions League three years ago, they assumed that they could continue to belong to the top of European football. Did the stars want to leave? Well, then you bought a new De Jong, De Ligt, Ziyech, Mazraoui, Onana, Martinez, Antony and you name them? Ajax eagerly raised hundreds of millions with those sales, but after a while it began to be noticed that none of the successors could even stand in the shadow of his predecessor. Compare Bergwijn with Antony, Rensch with Mazraoui, Klaassen with De Jong, Pasveer with Onana, Bassey with Martinez.
At such companies you often see the management dozing off complacently or seeking distraction in pastimes that stimulate the senses. Then there are major scandals and layoffs that cause even more unrest. A year later, everyone is upset. New debris clearers are appointed, but they discover that it is mopping at a crane that is directly connected to a tidal wave. What to do?
At Ajax they simply decided to ignore the sad developments. Before the new blowout against Liverpool, they had a technical manager named Gerry Hamstra admonish a TV interviewer that his critical questions were very “unsubtle”. Hamstra thought that coach Alfred Schreuder and his staff delivered “a great performance”. Schreuder himself said after the 0-3 defeat that “a big step forward” had been taken. Perhaps he meant that 0-3 sounds a bit more pleasant than 1-6.
This has brought Ajax into the denial phase, which is typical of many companies in need. It reminds me of the editor-in-chief, way back when, who simply kept silent about subscriber loss numbers. It doesn’t have to be fatal, but it shouldn’t last too long.
Ajax needs a new leader. Danny Blind is mentioned, but I wonder if someone who failed at Ajax as director of player policy (2000) and head coach (2006) should become the new technical director. But maybe I’m being very ‘unsubtle’ right now.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 28, 2022