Feyenoord increases the concerns at Ajax in 35 minutes, where the sporting crisis is increasingly becoming a management crisis

Large cracks are in the glass of one of the revolving doors at the main entrance of the Johan Cruijff Arena. Shards still lie on the ground. Another part of the entrance is boarded up with wood. Also heavily damaged as a result of last Sunday’s riots after the Classic between Ajax and Feyenoord, which was stopped at 0-3 because fireworks were repeatedly thrown onto the field. Almost the entire main entrance is cordoned off with large fences.

On Wednesday, a few hours before the resumption without an audience, Ajax’s press department requests the accredited media to arrive well in time. Because there is a “probable chance” that the main entrance will have to be closed from 1 p.m. – one hour before kick-off. This has to do with the fact that the F-side, the hard core of Ajax, has announced that it will take action against the board at the stadium at that time.

Shortly before the players enter the field, the speaker explains that the match will be resumed with a referee’s ball and that there are still 35 minutes and four seconds to play. Last Sunday the game was stopped three times: once due to a plastic cup on the field and twice due to fireworks – which led to a permanent stoppage.

Audible cheering

When the match resumes, there is some discussion around referee Serdar Gözübüyük, who urges Ajax striker Carlos Forbs to keep sufficient distance when he wants to throw the ball up. Feyenoord ended up in possession of the ball on Sunday and can therefore restart the match through midfielder Mats Wieffer. It immediately leads to an opportunity for Feyenoord midfielder Quinten Timber.

Lots of excited shouts can be heard from the field. It is striking that players at Feyenoord explicitly coach each other, while this hardly happens at Ajax. Within four minutes, striker Santiago Giménez makes it 0-4, when Ajax again has big gaps at the back. It is the first time in years that there has been audible cheering from Feyenoorders – in this case staff members and players – in the Johan Cruijff Arena: away audiences have not been welcome at the Classic since 2009.

Feyenoord approached the match as a new match, coach Arne Slot said afterwards. The selection also went to a hotel on Tuesday to prepare properly. There was a feeling within the team that she did not want to give away “anything at all”. Slot understood that in the app group with players, of which he was not a member, there was a great urge to win “one more time”.

You don’t need much for that. Ajax is again porous, creating virtually nothing, although it starts with an extra striker (Chuba Akpom) instead of a defender. The score remains 0-4, Feyenoord’s biggest victory in a competition match at Ajax. This deepens the crisis; Ajax is now fourteenth with five points from five games. The last game Ajax won was on August 24 at Ludogorets, in the Europa League play-offs.

The pressure on coach Maurice Steijn increases towards Saturday, when Ajax visits RKC Waalwijk, which is one place higher in the rankings. They play “on islands,” says midfielder Branco van den Boomen. “We need to help each other more, be more involved with each other.”

Feyenoord striker Giménez, who scored a hat trick including his two goals on Sunday, is looking for kind words about the rival: “We hope to see Ajax at a higher level.”

Board of Directors intervenes

The sporting crisis is increasingly becoming a management crisis. Three quarters of an hour before the match it is announced that chairman Pier Eringa is stepping down. Over the past week, fanatical supporter groups repeatedly called for the departure of the supervisory board, led by chairman Eringa. With his departure, Ajax has lost another director in a short time after the dismissal of football affairs director Sven Mislintat on Sunday evening.

Eringa, former boss at rail manager ProRail and a director who built a reputation as a problem solver, started in March this year. He says in a press release: “I am not deaf to the criticism and not blind to the situation Ajax is in now. For that reason I have decided to make room for a new chairman.”

The new board of directors of the association, with a 73 percent major shareholder in professional club NV Ajax, asked Eringa to resign on Wednesday morning, writes The Telegraph. Those involved confirm this NRC. Eringa’s resignation raises questions about the manageability of Ajax.

In the press conference, Ajax coach Steijn looks tired. Before the match, he said that the past few days had been “extreme” and “super hectic”. “I think we need more time to improve,” he says afterwards. But it is a given that that time does not exist.