Ajax and Van Gaal part ways with immediate effect
20 October: The most remarkable news on Tuesday
evening, 19 October, was not Ajax's fine Champions League win
over
Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but the club's unexpected announcement
after the match: Louis van Gaal will resign as Ajax's
technical director, effective immediately. Van Gaal apparently handed in his notice on
Saturday 16 October. Ajax's Board of Directors and
Board of Commisioners accepted his resignation on
Tuesday. Ajax.nl issued an official statement today in which
both parties comment on Van Gaal's unexpected
departure.
It appears that Ajax and Louis van
Gaal have had several discussions in recent weeks about
the exact definition of the position of technical director
within the club structure, as well as the co-operation between
Van Gaal and head-coach Ronald Koeman and the current situation
around the first team.
A few passages from
the statement on Ajax.nl:
These meetings confirmed that it is
not in Louis van Gaal's nature to compromise. This has led to
tensions within the club. In recent weeks these tensions also
influenced Van Gaal's relationship with Ronald Koeman and in
the policies for the first team.
Finally, Louis van Gaal has made
clear that in his opinion the authority of the technical
director is too limited compared to the authority of the
head-coach, in particular when it comes to the purchase
and sale of players. In their conversations with Louis
van Gaal the Ajax management has stressed that
the position of technical director will not be
re-considered and is to remain unchanged. For that reason
Louis van Gaal decided that he can no longer function within
the Ajax club structure and he has handed in his notice on
Saturday.
On behalf of Ajax general director
Arie van Eijden said: "Unfortunately we have to conclude that
things have not developed as planned. We openly talked about
this. We are very sorry about this situation, as Louis van
Gaal is a superb and very sincere professional. However, we
have found that there are disagreements as to approach and
responsibilities."
Louis van Gaal's comment: "I
have decided to hand in my notice for the best interest of
Ajax and it is not a result of the disappointing first team
achievements in recent weeks. The reasons include a
difference in viewpoints when it comes to the way our
technical policy is carried out and the authority of the
technical director at Ajax."
"Everyone who knows me knows that I
like clearness. Compromising is not in my nature and I
foresee more disagreements. With that in mind I decided to
make way. I genuinely hope that I will serve Ajax's best
interest by doing this. I would have loved to grow old at
this club, but unfortunately it turned out otherwise."
Van Gaal's departure comes
as as much of a surprise as his sudden return to Ajax, on
10 October 2003 as the successor of Leo Beenhakker.
Ajax had just changed the responsibilities of
the technical director within the club: less influence on
player transfers (that was now the shared responsibility of
head-coach and general director), but more control
over the 'traffic' of youth players from De Toekomst to
the ArenA, in co-operation with the director of youth academy,
Danny Blind.
It seemed a perfect
construction: Blind is generally regarded as Van Gaal's number
one disciple and used to be his unofficial assistant on the
pitch in the 'Golden Ajax' team of 1995. Ronald Koeman and Van
Gaal also knew each other very well: Van Gaal hired Koeman as
his assistant when he signed as head-coach of FC Barcelona in
the summer of 1997. The two referred to each other as "good
friends" when Van Gaal returned to the ArenA.
The relationship between
Van Gaal and Koeman deteriorated at the start of the current
season, when Van Gaal stated that the current Ajax
squad should be able to compete in the Champions League. Koeman
echoed these ambitions, but later admitted that he
had his doubts. Shortly after this, Van Gaal played a
part in the unexpected sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and -
subsequently - Ajax's failure to land Roda JC's Arouna
Koné as the Swede's successor. The Ivorian
failed his medical test.
After Ajax's dramatic 4-0
defeat at Bayern München Ronald Koeman openly criticized
"certain people within the club who expect too much from
this squad". It was clear to everyone that he referred to Van
Gaal. A conflict between the two was the result.
Immediately after the
announcement of Van Gaal's departure the Dutch media
started speculating: Jack van Gelder, TV reporter for NOS
Studio Sport, stated that Spanish outfit Atletico
Madrid was one of the candidates. Newspaper Algemeen
Dagblad reports that Van Gaal is talking to Chelsea about
a possible job as a technical director, to supervise manager
Mourinho. Newspaper de Volkskrant, finally, claims
that Van Gaal has been eyed by German powerhouse Bayern
München as the successor of Felix Magath, who is currently
under heavy pressure as Bayern's head-coach.
During today's press
conference at the Amsterdam ArenA, however, Van Gaal stressed
that he does not yet have a new job. Ajax, in its turn, have as
yet not commented on the vacant position of technical director
and possible successors of Louis van Gaal.
For a biography of Louis
van Gaal read our archived
news report of 10 October 2003. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl,
VI.nl, de Volkskrant, AT5, Algemeen Dagblad
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