Month: February 2016

Dennis Bergkamp: a very emotional year…

Interview with former Ajax forward #3… This was and is not a series… Just happened to be three stories in a row of people with a story to tell.

And that this post is about Ajax and not Oranje is relevant, as this story would be much bigger – in disappointment terms – if Oranje had qualified for the Euros, as expected.

But Ajax is the second behemoth of Dutch football to have a disastrous year. On the pitch, all seems to be going ok (PSV is the current champs but Ajax is still in the race this season and Frank de Boer can be happy with 4 titles on the trot). But off the pitch, Ajax is a mess.

Results are ok, performance quality is not and Frank de Boer does seem to have had it with his job at Ajax. And while critics enjoy debating Ajax’ football style and people guessing where Frank will go next (and who will succeed him at Ajax), the shenanigans behind the scenes (board level and youth academy) got everyone quite flabbergasted.

A number of years ago, Cruyff initiated the “velvet revolution” in the club. Back to the roots in playing style, utlising young talent as the foundation and making a return – of sorts – to the European elite. Well…. It didn’t work.

Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk,a phenomenal pairing on the pitch, not unlike Neeskens – Cruyff, Davids- Zidane, Mahrez – Vardy or Iniesta-Xavi… Jonk the playmaker deep and Bergkamp the goal scorer high up the pitch. At Ajax, Oranje and Inter Milan, they collected victories, trophies and kudos.

They both were the flag bearers of JC’s revolution. But this year, Wim Jonk was fired from his role at Ajax, as director youth academy and Dennis Bergkamp was one of the people behind that decision. Bergkamp: “The youth academy turned into an island within the club.”

Bergkamp

Where did it go wrong?

Dennis Bergkamp: “Let’s start at the beginning. Before Martin Jol was fired, I got a call from Aron Winter to come to a meeting to discuss the football of Ajax. The word “revolution” wasn’t used, it was all about the identity and the youth development of the club. Later Johan asked me if If I was keen to take a role in the technical staff. Wim was already working as individual coach at Ajax and based on our past I invited him into those meetings. We had a small group of people and started to make plans. Johan used to ambush meetings, as he called it. Sometimes certain people would block what we aimed to do and Johan would just come into those meetings to confront people and have the debate. It soon became the Cruyff Plan, but Johan didn’t invent this. He wasn’t keen to become the name giver. He is not as dominant as people say he is. He just wanted to get clarity about the club philosophy. And he used to say “I don’t need you to agree with all I say. I just need you to hear me out.” I still back Johan’s vision, don’t get me wrong, but Johan does want people to bring their own ideas in. And I like to work like that. Johan always stimulated people to follow their own plans, as long as it fit the bigger picture.”

But the club articles of association determines that the management team decides… And Cruyff installed the so-called Technical Heart. Wasn’t this like setting yourself up for failure?

DB: “From a formal perspective, yes. True. But we had agreements with the management that we would focus on technical aspects and our directives would be followed. The management would then ratify these decisions taken by us. Wim and I negotiated with the management team for a year before we signed our deals. And this was not about money but purely about responsibilities and authority. When  we won that courtcase and Marc Overmars joined, things turned for the better. The board of directors, the management team, everyone embraced the new direction. To me, that is more important than the articles of association. When everyone has the same aim, it should not be hard to sort things out.”

Frank+De+Boer+Dennis+Bergkamp+Ajax+Amsterdam+S0AeX_tzpgOl

And that appeared to be not the case?

DB: “The first technical heart consisted of Wim, Frank de Boer and myself. When Marc joined, we had a new meeting – with Johan present – and determined that the head coach shouldn’t be part of it anymore. Coaches are passerbys. The head coach needs to focus on results of the first team, that is his focus and objective. So Frank left, and Marc came. This worked well. Although Marc had some issues to resolve between the technical heart and the management team. But that was his role. We also determined that we would vote if we couldn’t see eye to eye on certain topics. And who ever lost the vote would simply have to accept that.”

If you look at the paper work it is quite a complicated spagetti of responsibilities and authority… Wasn’t that an accident waiting to happen?

DB: “Not necessarily. If you communicate openly and talk things through, it can and should work. But Wim got more and more disgruntled about Mark and my opinion about the youth academy. We would all have oversight in one another’s fields. But Wim started to shield what he did in the Academy. We started to get more and more… discussions and disagreements about this.”

jC D Bergkamp -4

 

JC and Dennis shoulder to shoulder….

Jonk says that you and Marc hardly came and watched the youth teams play and weren’t up to speed what the youth coaches were doing or even who they were… So how can you judge them?

DB: “We never judged the performance of the youth coaches. That was purely Wim’s responsibility. We also didn’t concern ourselves with players moving up from one youth team to the next. We couldn’t have a real opinion about that. But we did have an opinion about the selection of new coaches. At a certain point, a whole series of people were hired whom did not have a real impact or role in the football side of things. We saw a culture chance happening at the youth academy. Performance coaches came in, physiologists and it went too far. Football was and is and will always be the foundation. Too much happened without communication. The mentor system, the appointment of coaches, the department methodology, organisation charts were changed, reporting protocols were changed… Wim basically just informed us. Some of these ideas were probably very good but we felt we needed to have at least some form of say in it. The youth academy became an island. The connection between the first team and the academy weakened.”

And your role, partly, was to form the bridge between youth academy and first team?

DB: “Exactly. And that role became harder and harder. We had this situation for more than two years! And my focus was the flow through from the older youth teams to the first team. I focused on watching the A juniors. I don’t need to watch games of the 10 year olds. Irrelevant to me. I can’t be at three places at the same time. So I watched all A team games, with a focus on “which players are knocking on the door?”. I repeatedly asked for some youthful talents to be able to train with the first team. But I did feel and still do, that some A juniors were not good enough, in terms of tactical and physical development. And I had ideas how to improve this. But it doesn’t help if the director youth academy won’t come to meetings.  And in the meantime, they ignored our ideas and requests and started to work differently. The first team was supposed to be leading, that is a key element in Johan’s vision. The benchmark is, are the lads ready to deliver at top level, in terms of skill, handling speed, tactics, physically, etc… ”

overmars sar

Club icons in management: Overmars as technical director, Van der Sar groomed as general manager

But it is also important to look at the signings Ajax has done. Did Jonk have a say in this?

DB: “Of course. Wim was part of the technical heart. The starting point in determining the squad is always “who do you have coming up?”. This helps to determine the gaps we could expect and the positions we needed to fill. And we don’t sign players to broaden the squad or strengthen the bench. We needed players to make Ajax better and that is not always easy with a limited budget. And I think it is great if we buy a player but he is surpassed by a young talent. Fantastic. But you can’t just expect to sell players like Eriksen, Siem de Jong, Vertonghen and Alderweireld and expect four youth players to take their role.”

Jonk didn’t claim this. He complained about the way those decisions were made…

DB: “But I return to what I said earlier. If the director youth development decides to ignore the technical heart meetings, communication is getting hard. Take Daley Sinkgraven. We believe in him. He is still young and a talent still, but he has played a lot of games for Heerenveen already and he came with a price tag. We checked with Jonk and he admitted that Donny van der Beek and Nouri were not yet ready for that spot. We took that advice and decided to fork out the millions  for Daley. And now Donny van der Beek is starting to play his games too! Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing. It’s a luxury.”

JC Dennis training

Buit Ajax has had a number of failed signings… Why sign Heitinga for 1 mio euros p.a. if you have Veltman and Van der Hoorn?

DB: “For starters, you need 4 center backs. You can play two, but you need to have two players at a good level to take over when needed. Johnny trained really well and added value to the group even if he didn’t play. See him as Andre Ooijer in the past. If he needs to play, he is there. But we do want to give the youngsters the chance to prove themselves.”

Frank de Boer publicly said he would happily share the responsibility for the signings with Marc Overmars. How is that for you?

DB: “The same of course. And I don’t agree with players on the bench being labelled “failures”. It’s silly. Robin van Persie took some time at Arsenal to get into the team. Is Memphis a failure? Of course not… Players like Viergever and Van der Hoorn help to bring the level up but we only can play eleven players. You need a balanced squad. And our aim is to have as many home grown players as possible. The aim used to be for the Youth Academy to supply three new players every season and one player from the partner clubs. This is much to ambitious and puts a lot of stress on the academy. It almost forces the academy to have players move up that actually aren’t ready yet. But you always end up in a situation where you need to sign a player. When Sigthorsson left, our youth strikers weren’t ready. Simple. So we went out to get a player on loan. Sanogo of Arsenal…. Well…that is not a success, I know, but it is the way how we will need to maneuver.”

swart ling

 

Two former rightwingers: club legend Mr Ajax Sjaak Swart and rebel Tscheu La Ling

Tscheu La Ling developed a report for Ajax, on the request of Cruyff, and his report says that most signings are done after a quick conversation between Frank de Boer and Marc Overmars?

DB: “That is not correct. I was always present and Wim could have been present too. Even before he formally said he didn’t want to come anymore, he was often absent. Too busy. While those meetings are key for the club. Do you really think Frank makes a list of players and Marc goes out to get them? That whole report Ling made is a preposterous and futile excercise.”

Oh? Why?

DB: “Ling is biased. It was clear what he wanted and whose side he was on. Before he wrote it, it was clear what his conclusions were. I had a 20 minute conversation with him. When I said “Let’s discuss the real issues here” he hastily grabbed his notebook and his bag and said he was in a hurry but he would call me back for another meeting. I have yet to hear from him. We would do follow up interviews, etc…we never heard from hims since. he wanted to have a broad look into the organisation. And suddenly, he presented his report. Ling had a 1 minute conversation with Frank de Boer! Can you believe that? The guy won four titles in a row and was just ignored like he was the coffee lady. Ling had a 30 minute meeting with Marc and had not even one conversation with Edwin van der Sar! Not with Jaap Stam. We never saw him at the training ground. And there were two versions of this report. A short version for the board and they leaked a longer version to the newspaper De Telegraaf. People played games, is my conclusion. I don’t even believe Ling wrote the report. It was a farce and this is the end result.”

Kort geding Cruijff en jeugdtrainers tegen Ajax

 

Wim Jonk supporting Cruyff in his court case versus Ajax

Cruyff thinks the Ling Report is valuable….

DB: “That makes it so weird. I spoke with the management team some six months ago to give them my opinion on our issues. The general manager went to see Johan in Barcelona . I wrote a letter to Johan with 12 points we needed to focus on. And we spoke about that letter later. He gave me compliments for the analysis. I saw him in the summer about this as well. But Johan didn’t want to pick sides. It became awkward and when Wim was asked to go, Johan always protected the former players. while the board was playing the blame game. It is disappointing that we, as former team mates, weren’t able to resolve it. Kinsbergen, the general manager, who is friends with Johan couldn’t sort it out and the three board members who tried to mediate failed as well.”

Wim is an old team mate. You used to have this psychic connection almost. How was it get into conflict with him?

DB: “Highly regrettable. Wim, Johan and myself were the founders if you like… We battled and fought for reform in Ajax. I think the management back then underestimated it all. We had court cases and rifts and when it was finally behind us, the management team basically said “ok, that’s it, lets move on” but it doesn’t work like that. The distance between Wim and myself happened over a longer period. It was intense and emotional at times. Which was hard. But this wall was being put up between us… Don’t get me wrong, as a youth coach, in his vision and as a human being, I think Wim Jonk is a top bloke. But as a manager I think he listened too much to others. In the Academy we started to get people who had less focus on the actual football and more on the side aspects. I never said I didn’t believe in Wim, but I don’t believe in his entourage. Wim, Marc, Frank, Johan and myself were focusing on the technical decisions and I really didn’t need Wim to suggest all the time to bring in the performance coach and ask his opinion. We are a football club. With a lot of experience in the organisation. I think that Frank, Marc and I are quite capable to see if an A talent is ready for the big team. I really don’t need Ruben Jongkind’s report for this (Jongkind was Ajax’ performance coach). Wim got influenced by these people, while his view on the game is unsurpassed.”

JOnk Dennis Inter

 

Better days for the ex Ajax and Inter team mates, winning the UEFA Cup

Everyone at Ajax says that they follow the Cruyff plan. But according to Cruyff this can only be said about Wim Jonk….

DB: “I think in essence we all do. It really hurts me in my soul if people doubt my loyalty to Johan’s vision. We all want to play attractive football, with home grown players and working on these players individually to make them better. But there ought to be some protocols, some methods as to how you do this. The first team needs to be leading and the youth academy is the source of future first team players.”

Johan officially stopped as Ajax advisor and recently is even a great criticaster of Ajax’ performances…

DB: “I think it is wonderful that he still follows Ajax closely. I want him to be critical. It’s great to talk football with him and although we share the same vision, we don’t always agree on certain things. We have different opinions about the midfield situation. I prefer to play with a number 10. I like the fact that there is a shadow striker available when the wingers pass their opponent. Also, with a number 10 in Litmanen style, you can put pressure on their build up high up the park. But, in some case a deep lying center midfielder is better. Depends also on the opponent. I do believe midfielders need to be able to play all those roles. Like Strootman, Pogba, Fabregas… Multi functional and we haven’t developed that well enough in the Academy. It applies to the forwards as well, for me. I’m talking working on their two feet, technical skills, explosivity, lungs and legs and the capability of finishing.”

DB jonk now

 

The psychic connection gone….

So, do you create talent or does talent simply come to Ajax?

DB: “Both! Real talent is God given. But to develop them with the broad spectrum of skills and capabilities is a different thing. I believe the foundation always is ball skills. Most other things we can train them in. And sure, there is room for a performance coach in that process, but only to support, not to be the leading guy in it all. There are a couple of 15 year olds now who can bench press their own weight. Great!! But I rather have them work on their weak foot or on heading or on set pieces… The rest will come.  And our youth teams need more resistance. They need to learn how to battle. It was good for Tete, Riedenwald, Veltman and Bazoer that they had to make their games with Young Ajax in the Jupiler league. There is a lot of battle going on there. They learned a lot there. More than they could from statistics or videos or performance analysis. We wanted to bring young A juniors to the A team to let them work with more resistance. Higher pace. But Jongkind blocked that as he felt they weren’t physically ready, and he let them go into the fitness room. They need to find their resistance on the pitch, not in a gym. When Johan coached us he was tough as nails. He was toughest for the big talents. Van Basten, Rijkaard. I was there…. And Ajax has been spoiling the biggest talents. They were told to skip training if it was all getting too much for them. Ajax’ youth academy has gone far beyond what their charter was.”

ajax-talent-camp

Now Said Quaali is taking over from Jonk. Why him?

DB: “He is interim. But we have him with us now for four years and he has impressed. He coordinates the older talent teams and did his practicum with us at the first team. Frank and I were impressed with him. He’s neutral, objective and loyal. You can rely on him. And it’s not like Wim Jonk did everything wrong. He did great things and we want to keep those. But I will get more involved now. I have started my assessment meetings and I will be more involved with the youth academy. The lines between the pro and junior departments are open again. The objective is clear: making sure our youngsters get ready for the first team, with Cruyff’s vision as the leading vision.”

How are you going to do this?

DB: “For starters, we need to bring harmony back. I also want to re-balance the ratio between ball practice and performance training. I want to skip a number of those for individual technical training. I heard some players actually get individual training outside of the club! That is the world upside down. I am also convinced the youngsters can handle more practice. When I was young, I hated a day without practice. It blocked your rhythm. We need to play more 11 v 11 practice games. Even if it is just 30 minutes. It creates strength. It all happens in the game. I also believe we spoil them too much. We have almost one physio per youth team. No wonder players suddenly feel all the little pains more. They tend to pick days to just get massages. It’s rubbish. Just run it off! Get on with it.”

Do you want the new Youth Academy director to be a man with an Ajax background?

DB: “Yes, that is ideal. We are working on a profile now. We’ll have some more meetings and make up our mind. I am not saying we don’t want to innovate with nutrition and medical approaches, but the football need to be central.”

ajax-in-the-1990’s-1420726587

Is it disappointing that this Ajax has difficulties against small European clubs, like Molde?

DB: “It is, but it is the result of an ever weakening of the Eredivisie. You see the level drop, due to different reasons, and as a result our levels drop too. There is less resistance. And when you play European, against Scandinavian teams or Turkish teams or Czech teams, they might have less real quality but they’re physically and mentally mature. We play with too many young players who still only focus on their own game. When you are around 35 years old you start to see more of the pitch, more of the team. Our lads have difficulties in toughter games, when the duels are tougher and the pace is higher. In Holland we win most of our games at 90%, we score two goals in the first 30 minutes and the pace drops. We simply play the game out. In tighter games, vs Feyenoord, PSV or European opponents, we find this tough. We need to be on the ball and focused for 100% and our players struggle with this. It’s no coincidence that we play well vs Man City and Man United and AC Milan but struggle against Molde…”

And when players get to that age and can do all what is needed, they’re signed by richer clubs….

DB: “That is our fate. Yes… And players will be tempted to go sooner, because big clubs make it hard for them to ignore those offers and because our level is dropping. If you can train daily with Aguero, Silva and Toure, that is quite attractive.. And play against Rooney, Ramsey and Kane… So we will need to work harder to keep them with us and to allow them a growth path. My career was a good example. I played in the Ajax youth and made it into the first team when I was 18 years old and I stayed for five years. When I was 23 I left and then you are starting to see the game. My first years at Inter were hard and when I got to Arsenal I was 25 years old. Great age to play for a big big club. I see myself as the culture guardian of Ajax. I will make more time for individual coaching and guidance and will form that bridge between youth and first team. I like to get a more free role in the organisation, with strategy being dealt with in the technical heart of the club and with individual focus with the talents. A lot that Jonk has done was excellent. But we need to re-focus ourselves to serve the bigger Ajax vision. That is our main mission.”

 

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Wim Kieft talks Ajax 1982

Wim Kieft is quite a tv personality these days. A reluctant people’s man. Shy as a player. Humble. A bit narcy. Got in trouble after his football career, when acting as tv pundit. His sour and critical analyses turned vitriolic and he started to look worse and worse. Until the news broke, that he was dealing with some personal issues. Cocaine and alcohol addictions and as a result personal bankruptcy. He did what most people wouldn’t want to. He beared it all in a book. He went to NA and the AA and quit his addictions. The book “Wim Kieft” became a bestseller in Holland received critical acclaim for the style and honesty. A fit and healthy Kieft is back on TV doing his football analysis. But his tone hasn’t changed. Typical Kieft statements: “This makes me sooo tired…” And “this guy is starting to take himself too serious…”.

kieft analyse

 

Dick Advocaat, Wim Kieft and Johan Derksen

He was one of the youngsters in the Ajax 1981/1982 team, that won the title in Holland, led by one Johan Cruyff…

This interview is not about his 1988 header goal vs Ireland… (“That makes me sooo tired, to have to talk about that header… Before I know it I start to take myself really seriously…”)

Kieft describes the team and relives memories.

“I actually don’t have too many good memories about football, you know. I was not happy with that status. My team buddies in the Ajax youth would go by tram to the complex and carry their bag on the bus in such a manner that everyone saw the Ajax logo. I was the other way around. I was quite embarrassed by the attention. I didn’t want people to see I had an Ajax bag.”

“My best memories are from the Ajax days. I am an Amsterdam born and raised kid. And Ajax was my club. But, it was better for them that I would leave. Marco van Basten was getting ready for Ajax 1 and he was a super player. I was a bumbling idiot compared to him. So I had to go. Cor Coster, Cruyff’s father in law, brought me to Pisa, in Italy. Ever since, I couldn’t really enjoy the life of a player anymore.”

“I played in a sensational team in Eindhoven. PSV was strong: Romario, Lerby, Gerets, van Breukelen, Vanenburg… Great team. But I never really enjoyed it. Hardly have any good memories from those days. It was work. Nothing more. Training, go home. Match, go home.”

“I didn’t have the right personality for football player. Those galas… The time I had to pick up the Golden Boot for Europe… I was on stage with Platini… The players there… It was so daunting. I threw up before and when I had the award I slipped out to go back to the hotel. I wanted to go home.”

“I didn’t really celebrate my goals. I hated the attention. Marco and Johan could run and jump and pump their fists.. I was the end station of a good attack and I usually had the easy job. I couldn’t run across half the pitch and jump up like a super star. That isn’t me. I would want to know me if I was like that. I was not gifted. I had a talent for scoring and I needed to work really hard.”

Wim Kieft made it through the Ajax youth ranks. Not the typical gifted velvetty technician like Vanenburg, Schip or Van Basten. But a born goal getter. Fearless header of the ball. And as time went on, became a perfect forward playmaker (playing with 10) at PSV, guiding Romario and Ronaldo to goals.

ajax81

 

Piet Schrijvers, Wim Kieft, Johan Cruyff, La Ling, Dick Schoenaker, Frank Rijkaard, Jesper Olsen, Gerald Vanenburg, Soren Lerby, Wim Jansen, Peter Boeve

The Ajax 1981/1982 team as remembered by Willem Kieft.

Piet Schrijvers: “The best goalie I ever played with. Imposing dude. Fearless. Amazing reflexes and speed in responding to anything coming his way. But maybe not speedy when coming out of his goal. But it didn’t matter, he either had the ball or the man. Was a bully of a man, big mouth, but really a heart of gold. He was chair of the players committee and would plan everything for us. But we took the piss at times. In 1981 we lost for the Europa Cup away, at Bayern 5-1. Drama. The financial manager of Ajax saw the profitable home game evaporating. Who would pay money to see us play that game, right? So when we got in the plane, in Munich, it was just after midnight. And Frank Rijkaard, deadpan, walks up to Schrijvers and points at his watch and says “Piet, it’s midnight now, could you talk to the financial manager please and ask for overtime payment for this?” Piet had already had a couple of Bacardi Coca Colas and stumbled through the plane to make this totally inappropriate request. The financial manager looked at Piet as if he was just pissed on, hahahahaha. Classic. But Piet was golden, he arranged my whole wedding festivities when I got married… Was a blast. The marriage didn’t last. But that was not Piet’s fault.”

Wim Kieft: “Really? Do you need me to talk about me? Well, I won the Golden Boot in Europe that season but truth be told, we had a tremendously attacking team. Playing with Cruyff behind you is the best a striker can have. He’d pass a player and prepare a shot or a dink and I would think “ah well, I better run after the ball, to see if I can pick up the spoils” and that happened so often. I had balls returning from the post or spilled balls from the goalie. Or, Johan would see me go and would reward me with a through ball. It wasn’t too hard. I was picking up the crumbs Cruyff left for me. Some of these goals were easy. And some people then say “yes but you need to be in the right spot” and I guess that is true but some people will probably say “ah well, you were lucky”. I think both things are true. I received lots of protection from Cruyff as well, in the group. He was very good for me. Because he could see I was working like a beast to get everything out of myself, as I was not a great talent. He used to be really tough on Van Basten, Vanenburg and Rijkaard. They were top talents. Marco left the practice ground crying more than once.”

ajax 81 kieft

Johan Cruyff: “He was my idol. I was crazy about him. It was a tremendous honour to have played with him. I have had an ok career and made a bit of mess of my life later, but having played with Cruyff is like… a life well spent hahaha. He used to train with us, before Ajax signed him again. He was 34 years old but fit man. So when he made his debut that season vs Haarlem, this zing went through the stadium, the vibe was awesome. He started nervous and anxious, but then he had that little dribble and the tremendous lob from the edge of the box and the crowd went mad and he lost all the tension in his body and played like a champ. I scored two goals that day and one from a Cruyff cross. I was too embarrassed to cheer. He put the ball on my forehead and I had to just head it in. It was his goal, not mine… With Cruyff back Dutch football got a shot in the arm. The stadiums were full, everyone wanted to see him. And we didn’t lose another game. We were quite a stretch behind PSV but when JC came, we won everything and won the title at the end. There was some resistance when Johan returned. Some of the older players didn’t like Cruyff’s tendency to tell everyone how the world worked and all that. Wise guy :-). Soren Lerby was the captain and he saw Cruyff as a threat, a bit. So Lerby started to become really vocal and dominant and they were the two alpha dogs. And Johan could be really mean in those situations. I remember a game where Johan was bringing the ball up from midfield and he was slowing down and gesticulating to Lerby “Come on come on push on” with his hands and voice to be able to play the ball to Soren… So when Lerby sprinted forward to collect the ball, Cruyff turned the other way and opened on the other wing yelling “you’re too fucking slow!” to Lerby.”

Tscheu La Ling: “Our right winger… A beautiful artist. Typical winger. Totally independent. On and off the pitch. Uncoachable guy. He was a bit older than us but he liked us, he loved to hang with us. And players like Rijkaard and myself looked up to him. He was a playboy. One day on trainings camp on Curacao he took us to this private beach… Just us, a bar with cocktails, and a bunch of hot girls, hahaha. We thought that was awesome. But somehow I became Ling’s rival on the pitch. The coaches felt it didn’t work with Ling AND Cruyff AND Kieft. So he was the first out of the line up. Kurt Linder needed to find some balance. But the Ajax supporters adored Ling, he had his own group of fans who would move sides after the break with him and would run with him on the flanks, hahaha. So they protested like crazy, and then Linder sacrificed me… I had 23 goals to my name and I was benched. I was quite confused. But two games later I was back in the team. I think JC made that happen. Tscheu was a gifted player but a bit lazy and tactically uninterested, hahaha. He never reached his potential I think. He played 14 international games for Holland. Should have been much more. Him and Rene van der Gijp were wonderful wingers but more interested in other things, hahaha.”

johan haarlem

Johan about to score the infamous goal vs Haarlem

Dick Schoenaker: “He was Mr Balance in our team. We had a number of chiefs but he was a true Indian. A wonderful runner. Box to box. Fearless in the challenges. And he could score too! Not your typical Ajax player though. He had lungs, unreal. First he ran his heart out of his chest for Ling, and when Cruyff came he did it for Cruyff AND Ling… He was from the East, a rural kid. He used to be bullied and ridiculed a lot. Older players like Krol and Suurbier would have a real go at him, because he was an easy target. He wouldn’t say anything back. Modest guy, but invaluable for the team. A real team player and really nice bloke.”

Frank Rijkaard: “Frank was a bit dreamy, but Wim Jansen was very important for him. Jansen took him by the hand and taught him what it takes to be a defender. When Jansen joined us, Rijkaard developed so fast. Wim Jansen’s coaching was tremendous for Rijkaard. The year before he played with Kees Zwamborn, with all due respect. I had a great relationship with Frank. He was modest. But also sensitive. The vibe at Ajax was quite cynical. Cruyff, Lerby, Krol, Ling… all tough guys, real machos. Players like Rijkaard and later Van ‘t Schip didn’t deal well with that. Rijkaard would close himself off from that stuff. But he was no softie. Just not interested in bullying. Rijkaard is a very funny chap, by the way. Dry humour. And like Ling, a totally independent thinker. He tried to get Ruud Gullit to Ajax, but Ajax wasn’t convinced of his qualities. Ruud and Frank played street football together.”

Jesper Olsen: “Ooh he was good… Jesper was Soren’s protegy. Both Danish of course. He was a tremendous worker, that kid and what a technique. A real Ajax winger. They don’t make them anymore, it seems. He was also very consistent. Wingers tend to be a bit inconsistent, but not Jesper. He was always on. Nice bloke but these Danish guys, they’re all perverts hahaha. Loved yelling dirty words to people. Lots of humour and lots of swagger too. He was not scared of anyone and we had some tough guys in our squad. But he would get up and smile and wink. He didn’t start too well by the way, and like me he started to play better and better alongside Johan.”

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Wim Jansen, Kurt Linder and Jesper Olsen

Gerald Vanenburg: “Gerald was such a sensational player already when he was 17 years old. Unbelievable, what he could do with a ball. One of the biggest talents I’ve seen come up. Him, Seedorf, Van der Vaart… Vaantje was 16 when he made his debut. And I think he scored a sensational goal on his debut. The problem with Gerald was that he thought he was a leader in the team and very important. Too many people in his ear. And statistically he was important, but not as a personality. The practice matches were tougher for us than the real matches. We were getting really good. Gerald scored a lot too, as offensive midfielder. What a technique! Opponents wanted to kick him in half but couldn’t get to him :-). I played with him later at PSV as well. Gerald was seen as a bit up himself but that is not the case. In 1988 he had to change his role from playmaker to more a waterbearer and he took that role well. He played very good against West Germany in the semi finals. People rave about Van Basten in that tournament but Erwin Koeman and Gerald Vanenburg were very important for us. Sadly, Cruyff said some bad things about Vaan and that carried a long while. When Gerald moved to PSV Cruyff was coach at Ajax and dissed him a bit, taunting him with his high voice. That wasn’t necessary I thought.”

Soren Lerby: “Soren was winner. Tremendous power and what a left foot. He was tough on the pitch, for himself, his mates and particularly the opponent. He was a real leader and managed the vibe in the team. A real party animal, with Frank Arnesen, his buddy. But for us youngsters he was an animal. He would yell at us at any occassion. Soren loved the best of the best. Good watch, expensive cars, good restaurants and expensive women. He would always want to go better and bigger. At some stage, he married (Dutch singer and actress) Willeke Alberti and moved to Belgium. So he invited John van ‘t Schip and myself and our wives for dinner one night. All was nice, beautiful setting and Willeke had made this amazing pasta. Soren takes one bite and drops his spoon and yells “Goddammit what kind of shit are you serving us!!” and exploded. That was Soren, nothing was good enough. But we would become close mates later, at PSV.”

Wim Jansen: “The perfect professional. What a player. He saw the game so well. The yin to Cruyff’s yang. Wim was midfielder at Feyenoord alongside Willem van Hanegem but played libero for us. He would never lose the ball and his passing was perfect. Always the right pace, the right angle, to the right foot… Incredible player. And always coaching, talking. He is a very good man. Patient, and always had time for you. This is what I liked about him and Cruyff most. The best players on the planet, but modest, sweet and helpful. This football world is full of egos and inflated personalities but Cruyff and Jansen always remained who they were. Interested and respectful. Top lads.”

Peter Boeve: “A very offensive back. Sweet kid. Hard working. He was a bit serious and really strived for the appreciation of the big name players. And they knew that so they never gave him any, hahaha. He was a health freak. Always stretching. Before practice, after practice. When we were playing pool he was stretching. When we were boozing he was still stretching, hahaha. He kept on going, in the matches. A totally committed lad. Nice guy.”

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Frank Arnesen, Ruud Krol and Soren Lerby in front of the old Ajax home

 

Marco van Basten: “Marco wasn’t part of this team as yet, but was coming through alright. I mention him because people at Ajax and in the media loved to make this huge rivalry between us. But there wasn’t any. I think Marco was and is a great guy. Just a nice guy with sensational talent. I could see then that Marco would be much better for Ajax 1 than me. No problem. He is the best striker ever, for me. I was just a hard working guy who could score, but Marco was an artist. We never had any trouble together nor were we bothered with that stuff going on.”

Coach Kurt Linder: “I wasn’t impressed. He wasn’t really good. German… Very disciplined and stern. We would do these German style pre-season trips, going to the gym and running in the hills. God, I hated that. We all did. We would have dinner together and we all asked for beer with dinner. We were allowed only one. But one player didn’t need that beer so Piet Wijnberg – substitute – drank that. Linder exploded and we couldn’t stop laughing when that happened. He didn’t like me much I feel. He was always out to “keep me sharp” for some reason. Once we flew back from some overseas winter trip and when we landed in Amsterdam we had to go and train immediately. We were all groggy and jetlagged. He almost attacked me when I did something wrong. He thought I was screwing around and he yelled “YOU! You have to train harder! You are still young and you must work hard!!” in my face. I was fed up and yelled back “Fuck off with your bullshit!”. So he suspended me. But one week later I was back in the team. I think Johan arranged that. Because obviously Cruyff was the boss, not Linder, hahaha.”

Where are they now? Piet Schrijvers (68) is currently awaiting a new challenge as keepers trainer. Johan Cruyff (68) writes columns and is advisor at Ajax and Barcelona. Tscheu La Ling (59) manages his company in supplements and owns a club in the Czech Republic. Dick Schoenaker (63) used to own an insurance company and is on the board of Ajax. Frank Rijkaard (53) cycles through the Vondel Park at times and drinks coffee in the Hilton Hotel. Jesper Olsen (54) lives in Melbourne and works at a Football Academy. Gerald Vanenburg (51) manages his daughter, a top tennis talent. Soren Lerby (57) lives in Marbella and runs a football management business. Wim Jansen (69) works in the Feyenoord youth academy. Peter Boeve (58) is coaching amateur team Apeldoorn. Kurt Linder (82) is retired.

Note: Johan was not offered another deal the next season as the board figured “Johan was getting too old”. He was pissed off as only he can be and his buddy Willem van Hanegem lured him to Feyenoord. During the farewell match for De Kromme, Cruyff was introduced to the Feyenoord legion. He scored in that match and signed a deal for one season. Wearing Van Hanegem’s number 10, Cruyff helped Feyenoord win the double in the 1983/84 season.

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