Martin van Geel is Ajax's new technical director
20 June: Precisely eight months after the sudden and
much-discussed departure of
Louis van Gaal Ajax have landed his successor: Martin
van Geel (the difference is only a vowel...), former player of
Willem II, Roda JC, Feyenoord and Ajax (1979-1981).
Van Geel was succesful as technical director of
Willem II and - the last three years - AZ.
Ironically, he presented Louis van Gaal as the new AZ
head-coach only months ago, before moving to Ajax himself to
become Van Gaal's successor.
"I've had a wonderful time at AZ," said Van Geel (44), "but
it is a great challenge to become the new technical director of
Ajax. I've said a few times that I was not going to leave
Alkmaar because I was very happy there, but I did not want
to let this chance go. I played for Ajax in the old days.
Returning as the club's TD is the highlight of my career."
Ajax's general director Arie van Eijden added: "Martin van
Geel has proved himself as one of the ultimate
candidates for the job in recent seasons. We've searched
very carefully for a new TD and we are extremely pleased that
we can start the new season with Van Geel."
Martin van Geel (born 27 November 1960) played well over 400
games as a professional for Willem II, Roda JC, Feyenoord and
Ajax, albeit for a short spell. He joined the Amsterdam club in
the summer of 1979 and celebrated the Dutch championship of
1980 less than a year later. In total he played 22 Eredivisie
matches (9 goals), 6 Dutch cup games (1 goal) and 3
European fixtures for Ajax.
After having returned to Willem II and quit his career as a
player, Van Geel became the technical director ('director of
football affairs' as they called it in Tilburg) of Willem II,
forming a tremendously succesful couple with head-coach Co
Adriaanse. The duo led Willem II to a stunning second slot in
the Eredivisie in 1999, good for direct qualification for the
Champions League. Van Geel followed his good friend Adriaanse
to Alkmaar in 2002, as the latter signed as head-coach of
AZ. Once again they were remarkably succesful: AZ finished
fifth and qualified for 'Europe' for the first time since the
early 1980s. In 2004-2005 AZ managed a fourth slot in the
Eredivisie and made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Both
Willem II and AZ played sassy, stylish and offensive football
under Adriaanse and Van Geel. It is the style of football Van
Geel believes in -- and used to play himself.
At season's end Van Geel was named as Frank Arnesen's
possible successor as technical director of English Premiership
side Tottenham Hotspur. According to media reports in England
and The Netherlands Van Geel turned the London club down.
Van Geel will officially start his job at the
Amsterdam ArenA on July 1st and will be presented to the media
on Monday 04 July, the day of the first training of Ajax-1 at
the ArenA. Ajax did as yet not reveal for how long Van
Geel will sign. Also, it is as yet unknown what the exact
responsibilities of the technical director will be in the new
club structure. Van Geel's job description is likely to be
different from Louis van Gaal's
at the time of his return to Ajax.
Van Geel still had an ongoing contract at AZ, so that
Ajax will have to pay them a transfer fee for Van Geel. On
their official website the Alkmaar club confirm Van Geel's move
to Amsterdam, but the club announce that they are
'disappointed' with Van Geel's decision and 'totally
surprised' by what happened. "AZ will start talks
with the parties involved about a contractual
settlement," the news report on AZ.nl reads. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, VI.nl, AZ.nl
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