Glorious Reinvention

Karan Tejwani

Description

Glorious Reinvention is the story of how Ajax rediscovered their mojo to compete again with Europe's best. In November 2010, after Ajax's 2-0 loss in the Champions League group stage to Real Madrid, Johan Cruyff wrote a newspaper column criticising his former club. He believed the side were poorly run, had lost their identity and been left behind by modern football. Cruyff wanted change. He wanted Ajax to rely on their academy as they once had, and he wanted former Ajax players in high positions calling the shots at the club. This was dubbed 'the velvet revolution' - a peaceful coup that would propel Ajax to once more compete with the best. A few years on, with many of the changes in place, the side reached a Europa League final and a Champions League semi-final with an exquisite style of football and methods that Cruyff would have appreciated. Ajax, now run by former club greats such as Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars, combined the techniques of old with modern elements.

Sujets

• Países Bajos
• Ámsterdam
• Netherlands
• Amsterdam

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 18 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801502351
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Karan Tejwani, 2022
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Print ISBN 9781801500692
eBook ISBN 9781801502351
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Part 1 : Ajax and the Revolution
This Is Ajax
The Wilderness Years
Velvet Revolution I: All Change
Velvet Revolution II: Cruyff vs Van Gaal
Cruyff Plan, with Ruben Jongkind
Part 2 : New People, New Success
The De Boer Years
Two Peas in a Pod
The Man from Apeldoorn
From Amsterdam to Stockholm
De Tukker
Marc Overmars s Belly Flop
Part 3 : Ajax, Reinvented
Revolution 2.0
A Little Samba, a Little Grinta
De Toekomst, with Ronald de Boer
For Everyone
Melodies Pure and True
Who Is Ajax?
Bibliography
Photos
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AJAX S 4-1 win over Real Madrid in 2019 is my favourite club match ever. Apart from the fans of the Spanish club, I haven t come across many people who didn t enjoy that clash. A club from outside Europe s top five leagues, one that modern football had left behind for so long, had just beaten and dominated the record European champions - a club that had won the three previous editions of the Champions League. It was a wonderful night, and their run that season was magical.
I was 19 when that match took place - not too old, and I had only watched football religiously for a few years prior. But that match, for the first time in a long time, brought back the childlike joy and excitement you get when you first watch football. From then on, it was all Ajax. I wanted them to go all the way, and, as dramatic as the semi-final was, it was sad to see them lose to Tottenham in such a heartbreaking manner. Ajax s class of 2019 will remain my favourite team for a very long time.
It wasn t unexpected, but it was a shame that team didn t get more time together. That run came as a result of years of drastic changes to fix errors of old, and adapt to 21st century football and the overall state of the game. This is what I wish to convey with Glorious Reinvention : how Ajax went from Champions League winners in 1995 under Louis van Gaal to years of turmoil to Champions League semi-finalists and a healthy European club under Erik ten Hag in the modern day.
As ever, no work of non-fiction is complete without the help of so many. The team at Pitch Publishing have been so great to work with for this book and my previous one, Wings of Change . Jane Camillin is always helpful, and Duncan Olner has done another beautiful job with the cover.
I m so grateful to all the fans, journalists, bloggers and footballers who took time out of their schedules to help me out with this book.
In alphabetical order, they are: Amber van Lieshout, Auke Kok, Bart Sanders, Chris David, Erol Erdogan, Fabian Nagtzaam, James Webb, Jan Willem Spaans, Jelmer Jager, Jo l Veltman, Jos Boesveld, Kenneth Vermeer, Leonne Stentler, Lukas Raeder, Mark Looms, Marleen Molenaar, Mateo Cassierra, Menno Pot, Menno de Galan, Pascalle Tang, Paul Groenendijk, Peter Drury, Peter McVitie, Rodney Rijsdijk, Ronald de Boer, Ruben Jongkind, Stefan Coerts, Tessel Middag, Thijs Zwagerman and Wim de Wit.
Writing this book didn t come without its challenges. My first book was written in different circumstances, albeit mostly positive ones. That was during a COVID-induced lockdown, a quieter, idler world, and a different life.
This time was different and a huge part of those different circumstances was the people I was around. I m thankful to the very good friends and flatmates of mine at C14 who have been tremendous company throughout the process of working on this book: Caitlin, George, Josh, Lily, Oliver, Penny and TC. The biggest of hugs to them.
I also wanted to send great love to my family, who have been a constant support throughout this book and my career.
Finally, I want to thank you, the reader, for getting hold of this copy. Glorious Reinvention is the work of several months, one that I certainly had plenty of fun writing and researching, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I ve enjoyed writing it.
Karan Tejwani,
November 2021.
Notes:
Throughout the book, I ve used the anglicised versions of Dutch names (e.g. Cruyff, rather than Cruijff).
All competition and transfer data is correct as of November 2021 (with reference from Transfermarkt).
PART 1:
AJAX AND THE REVOLUTION
THIS IS AJAX
A brief history of the pride of Amsterdam
AJAX ARE a unique institution. A club of innovators and inspiration, revolutionaries and rebels - one that looked to the future. They ve given birth to and hosted some of football s great minds and continue to influence the game around the world to this day. While Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal and Rinus Michels are significant to the club s modern history, Ajax s early years and British roots make them an admirable football club.
In 1894, a group of friends and students in Amsterdam, Floris Stempel, Han Dade and Carel Reeser, formed Union Football Club. That same year, they were renamed as Footh-Ball Club Ajax, with football being misspelled due to an error in the registration form. The name Ajax was chosen because the trio were fond of Greek mythology as a result of history lessons and were admirers of the warrior, Ajax. The team, donning their red and white stripes, played outside Amsterdam, namely at the Willemspark and later in Nieuwer-Amstel, against fellow townspeople. In 1896, Nieuwer-Amstel became a part of Amsterdam and the city wanted to build houses where Ajax played, leaving the club with no place to play.
By 1896, interest in Ajax was dying with many of their members taking their own path following the completion of their education at Hogere Burgerschool, where they all studied. Inspired by England and the English in the country, football was becoming increasingly popular in the Netherlands, with Amsterdam a key hub - the foundation of Amsterdamsche Football Club in 1895 was a prominent example. To cope with this, the Amsterdam Football Association set up rules to provide their clubs and players with a clear structure. Stempel, however, didn t want Ajax to die and in 1900 he wrote a letter to Dade and Reeser, calling for the rebirth of a new, more professional Ajax.
Hereby, the undersigned invites you politely to grace us with your presence in one of the upper rooms of Caf -Bar Oost-Indi , at number 2, Kalverstraat, on Sunday morning at 9 hours and 3 quarters, to discuss the establishment of an entirely new Football Club. - Floris Stempel s letter.
He got a positive response and on 18 March 1900 at the Caf Oost-Indi in Kalverstraat, Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (now spelled correctly) were born. Of course, the entirely new aspect of that was entirely true - an Ajax existed before. This was a more thorough version of it.
At the new Ajax, Reeser was the club secretary while Stempel was their first chairman. Ajax were one of Amsterdam s more elite clubs and most of their playing squad, like their founders, were students and had upper-or middle-class backgrounds. A registration fee was charged, which was fairly pricey at the time, and that registration had to be renewed each year. Professionalism was a must and to ensure discipline - which was a problem at the time - they introduced a strict fine system, which included penalties for not showing up to matches, walking away from matches, not carrying the right equipment and the use of inappropriate language or behaviour, amongst others.
Stempel remained chairman until 1908 and enabled the club to join the Amsterdamsche Voetbalbond (AVB), playing in their first official AVB league game on 29 September 1900 and winning 2-1 away at DOSB. In that first season, the club also yielded a profit of just over four guilders, which allowed them to play in their first away game outside of Amsterdam, winning 4-2 in Haarlem against a club named Oranje. Ajax were a step ahead of the rest in terms of facilities but were still playing in the second division of Dutch football for the first decade of their existence. It wasn t until the arrival of Irishman Jack Kirwan in 1910 - their first professional manager - that they went up. Until that point, Ajax wore red and white, but when they went up, they were asked to change their strip because Sparta Rotterdam, in the same division as them, had a similar shirt. Ajax chose a white shirt with a red bar in between, and that has stuck ever since.
Their stay at the top was short-lived, lasting just three seasons before they went back down. With the First World War impacting Europe, Kirwan departed. His replacement was Jack Reynolds, the Bury-born former Grimsby Town and Sheffield Wednesday player. Reynolds moved to Switzerland in 1912 to work at St Gallen and two years after that he was set to manage the German national team as they prepared for the 1916 Olympic Games. However, due to the outbreak of the war, those plans were halted. Instead, he moved to Ajax. Germany s loss was the Amsterdammers gain as he revolutionised the club and set the foundations for eras of success.
At Ajax, Reynolds helped raise the standards of