On September 24, Ajax faced Feyenoord at Johan Cruyff Arena in the context of wanting to regain their form after 2 losses and 1 draw in the Dutch national championship (Eredivisie). In the 56th minute, the match was canceled after fans threw morning fireworks onto the field to protest.
Ajax fell 0-3 and the unrest in the stands quickly spread outside the stadium, with fans continuously causing chaos. Ajax manager Maurice Steijn called it a "dark day".
As workers stepped onto broken glass doors to repair them at the stadium, football director Sven Mislintat was sacked by interim CEO Jan van Halst. Mislintat has only been in charge for 129 days and spent €109 million on 12 new players that summer.
A month later, Ajax finished bottom of the domestic league for the first time in the club's history and their Europa League campaign must also end soon.
Ajax has somewhat regained their form under new manager John van 't Schip - the fifth in charge since Erik ten Hag left in June 2022. "Garded leafy" players like Brian Brobbey and Jorrel Hato were the leaders in that revival. But they are still 23 points behind the league leader PSV Eindhoven. And seeing Ajax in this situation is amazing...
Having made the whole of Europe jealous, Ajax are in the process of comprehensively rebuilding, trying to recreate the formula that took them to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019. So what happened to Ajax?
Ajax loses DNA
Ajax has targeted Alex Kroes to succeed Van der Sar - who announced his resignation as CEO on May 30 due to the team's poor performance. However, due to a non-competitive clause with AZ Alkmaar, Kroes cannot take the job until March 2024. Jan van Halst was then appointed as interim CEO.
Ajax's board have previously had a number of former players, but that presence has been completely absent this summer. Ajax fans see that as one of the reasons for the decline in standards. Previously, in February 2022, Marc Overmars also resigned as Ajax's sporting director.
Finally, Ajax decided to appoint Sven Mislintat as director of football in March 2023, along with the appearance of new coach Maurice Steijn.
They have spent €109 million on 12 new players and received a series of criticisms. Star striker Tadic left on a free transfer, having broken Ajax's strategy. Meanwhile, midfielder Davy Klaassen has also moved to Inter Milan.
Defender Daley Blind left in January after a disagreement with the board. And so, the main characters in Ajax's rise have all disappeared.
Ajax started the season poorly, having won just five points from their first seven games. "Steijn is not really in the club's DNA. I find it strange to bring in a defensive coach for a club that is attacking," former Ajax player Kenneth Perez told ESPN.
However, in the end, Mislintat was fired first on September 24. The announcement came just four days after Ajax announced that they are investigating the signing of defender Borna Sosa.
Dutch media revealed that Mislintat has a close relationship with Sosa's representative, Arthur Beck, through data analysis company Matchmetrics GmbH.
Beck's management company, AKA Global, is a shareholder of Matchmetrics, a company founded by Mislintat four years ago and holds a 35% stake.
Steijn, meanwhile, will serve another month in office before leaving by mutual consent on October 23. At that time, Ajax was muddy into a series of poor results.
Light returns
A few days before Van 't Schip's first match as head coach of Ajax, he spoke to the whole team. Van 't Schip shared that the late Danielle's wife wanted him to return to Ajax and help the club he played for from 1981 to 1992.
Ajax players listened, understood and responded with a victory over Volendam on November 2, ending a 10-match winless streak. Since then, under Van 't Schip, Ajax have been unbeaten in the domestic league.
Excitation has returned as some Ajax legends have been appointed to the club in various positions. Louis van Gaal was appointed as a consultant on October 3, while legend Danny Blind will return to the supervisory board at the end of December.
18 months have passed painfully but Ajax fans have gotten used to the unpredictable life in Amsterdam. Everyone has gone through similar transition stages before and in the end everything was fine...
