Green Dragon

Chapter 11 The Declining Dutch Giants

Ajax can definitely be called the epitome of Dutch football, and his brilliance is inseparable from the brilliance of the entire Dutch football.

Countless world-renowned top stars have emerged from Ajax, and many stars have also chosen to join the Eredivisie giants as their starting point to conquer Europe.

Cruyff, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Bergkamp, ​​Blind, Kluivert, Bogarde, Reichiger, Overmars, Kanu, Davis, West Dorf, De Boer Brothers, Van der Sar, Ali Haan, Koeman, Stam, Ibrahimovic, Chivu, Maxwell, Babel, Sneijder, Van der Meyde, Heitinga, Huntelaar, Van der Vaart, De Jong, Vermaelen, Suarez...

These star-studded names either came from the Ajax youth academy, or went from Ajax to superstars. Together, they created the most glorious history of Ajax, and their success also made Ajax Known as the world's No. 29 star processing factory, the club has won 18 league titles, [-] Dutch Cups, four Champions League titles, one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, three European Super Cups and two European Super Cups in history. They are also one of only three clubs to have won all three European trophies (the other two being Barcelona and Juventus).

But when time entered the 21st century, with the development of Jinyuan football and the introduction of the Bosman Act, the mobility of players began to accelerate, and the territory of the football world seemed to collapse overnight: in the UEFA rankings, Netherlands League One has fallen from the stable fifth and No.6 positions all the way, and is about to withdraw from the top ten. As the most successful club in the Netherlands, Ajax has also fallen from the clouds to the mundane in just a few years. Not only was PSV robbed of the league championship for three consecutive years, but it was also getting farther and farther away from the UEFA Champions League, the world's top event.

In the last season, they were defeated by Denmark's Copenhagen in the qualifying round, and lost their qualification to participate in the Champions League. They also lost tens of millions of euros in participation bonuses and broadcast dividends, which once caused major financial problems for the club-you know , Ajax's annual income is only 7000 million euros, and the huge Champions League participation bonuses and broadcast dividends are definitely a piece of fat that is difficult for them to give up.

But this isn't their worst time.

Just over a month later, in August 2007, Ajax once again stumbled in the Champions League qualifying play-offs. This time they were eliminated by Slavia Prague from the Czech Republic in two rounds, missing the Champions League for the second consecutive year.

In the 2007-08 season, Ajax, who played single-line battles, exerted their prehistoric power, but still ranked second behind Eindhoven by three points. There are three points less, such a result will not be satisfactory anyway...

But in the next Champions League qualifying play-off, Ajax lost to the sudden emergence of Twente, and once again gave up the Champions League qualification.

——Note: In this year's Eredivisie, only the champion can directly participate in the Champions League main match, and the second to fifth in the league will select a place through the knockout round.

The consecutive inability to play in the Champions League further deteriorated the financial situation of the club. They sold many core players of the team in just one year. For example, midfielder Sneijder was poached by Real Madrid at a high price. Defender Heitinga, who just won the best player in the league, joined Atletico Madrid.

In order to regroup, Ajax invited Marco Van Basten, one of the Dutch Three Musketeers and former Ballon d'Or winner, as the head coach. Van Basten led the Dutch national team in the previous few years. The team failed in the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Cup. Both public opinion and fans questioned his ability. Use the team as a weapon to clean up your reputation.

But he found that the once overlord of the Eredivisie is now so poor that it is almost impossible to get rid of it. The league has lost its dominance and has been absent from the Champions League. —After all, no one is willing to stay for a long time for a poor team that has no money, can't afford high wages, and can't play in the Champions League to increase its exposure.

Even their sponsors have changed. The main sponsor of the jersey chest, ABN AMRO Bank, which had supported them for 19 years, ended its partnership with Ajax in the summer of 2008 and replaced them with Global Life. Insurance companies - they also have branches in China.

Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with Long Shute who is still struggling in the second-tier team.

Poor performance will naturally affect the sponsorship fee, and the club naturally does not have the strength to spend a lot of money in the transfer market. It competes with Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and other powerful players. In fact, they even the famous Porto and its ilk in European black shops can't grab it.

But for the sake of performance, the Ajax club still took out all their wealth to let Van Basten strengthen the lineup. Van Basten was also unambiguous, and spent 1600 million euros to buy Serbian striker Miralem Sulai. Manny, that's almost double the all-time transfer record in Dutch football...

In addition to Soleimani, Van Basten also spent 700 million euros to sign the Argentine striker Dario Kvitanic, and bought another 400-year-old from rival Eindhoven for 20 million. The attacker Ismail Esatti, these three transfer fees cost more than 30% of the club's annual income, but the problem is... In this team's forward line, there are obviously Suarez and Henry. Two top killers in Trall...

Van Basten's excessive obsession with buying strikers caused him to be criticized by the Amsterdam media, but this storm was not enough to shake the support of the club and fans for him.

After all, his historical status in Dutch football is too high and stable, and even those media reporters who criticized him could not discredit his glorious resume.

Unless his signing choice turns out to be terribly wrong.
-
But it didn't seem to take too long. After only half a season, Van Basten felt the pressure from all sides.

Soleimani, who he bought with a lot of money, quickly fell silent after only a few bright games. As for the other two new attackers, they even had very few opportunities to play. They signed loans with third-rate teams in third-rate leagues early on. protocol.

In contrast, Suarez and Huntelaar, the two Zhengyin forwards, ushered in explosions one after another, and the two scrambled to compare each other's goals in league and cup matches.

But the game didn't last long.

Because during the winter break, Huntelaar, who has won the Eredivisie Golden Boot twice and is known as "Roud Nicholas II", left Real Madrid for a transfer price of 2700 million euros, and with Sneijder, van der Fah Te, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Drenthe and others formed the glorious Dutch gang.

Huntelaar's halfway departure seemed to make Ajax lose its backbone overnight. After the winter break, Ajax lost consecutively to the mid-ranked Groningen and Heerenveen, and then barely drew After defeating Hercules, they were swept 4-1 by Vitesse, who fell into the relegation zone. In four consecutive league games, the dignified Ajax only scored one point, ranking fifth in the standings!
Even if Van Basten's prestige in Dutch football is high, he can't sleep anymore.

(End of this chapter)