Jansen, who coaches John Heitinga, who was recently fired from Ajax, does not mince his words in the broadcast. “Danny Blind is one of the biggest factors in the shit that is happening at Ajax right now. He manipulates and influences everything.”
Everything wrong
Jansen continues: “Blind never spoke for a second with Heitinga at Ajax. John spoke to Louis van Gaal every week and he always said, as a kind of sounding board, ‘I know what you are doing and I support you’. But Louis was then repeatedly told by Blind and Marijn Beuker that everything was wrong.”
Even after Heitinga was sacked by Ajax, the former international was still in contact with Van Gaal. Jansen: “Then Van Gaal indeed told Heitinga that he indicated that he had to leave. So Heitinga said: ‘but coach, we’ve always talked, haven’t we?’ But Van Gaal kept receiving information from Blind and Beuker that everything was wrong. ‘Then I probably received the wrong information. Nothing can be done about it anymore,’ Van Gaal told John.”
Liquidated
Jansen is outraged by the turn of events. “Danny Blind liquidated John Heitinga via Louis van Gaal. John also had no support from certain former players, no one stood up for him.” Tablemate Wim Kieft wonders whether Jansen knows Blind’s nickname. “Yes, scholletje,” Jansen responds. “That’s what all the players who played football with him called him, because you never know what he will do. It is not completely waterproof.”
Discussion leader Michel van Egmond had to laugh at all the trainers who so emphatically stood up for Heitinga in recent days. “I don’t know where the crying of those trainers comes from,” Van Egmond refers, among others, to Ron Jans and Peter Bosz. René van der Gijp agrees. “In the beginning, Heitinga’s press conferences were also laughable, it really wasn’t possible.”
‘You are Ajax’
Kieft also briefly refers to the football and Ajax’s performance in the first three months of this season. “Isn’t it surprising that Heitinga is thrown out? He didn’t bring anything.” Jansen: “Steven Berghuis and Davy Klaassen should have left and Alex Kroes should have immediately said: ‘He’s out, then I’m out too’.” Van der Gijp: “You can do something with this selection if you are NEC or PEC Zwolle. But you are Ajax, and Ajax is expected to do something that this selection cannot do.”
Watch or listen to the entire Kieft Jansen Egmond Gijp podcast here