Candid Van Basten says he lacks quality to lead Ajax
Marco van Basten, a living Ajax icon, has resigned after only 12 months as manager of the club. Contemplating his skills after another staggering defeat last weekend, Van Basten blames himself for the failure to get the famous Amsterdam club back on track this season.
On Wednesday Marco van Basten announced his resignation as Ajax' coach. "I asked myself, am I good enough for Ajax? Do I have influence on my players? Am I capable of improving the team?" the 44-year-old former Netherlands striker told reporters. "When I could not reach an affirmative answer to those questions, I decided it was best to leave."
Van Basten added that he "fears" next season and doubted that he has what Ajax needs to improve. With one game to go this season, Ajax is in third position with no chance of competing in the prestigious European Champions League next season. It was eliminated from the Dutch Cup early on and knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Olympique Marseille.
With fragile sincerity, the man who was branded the 'ice king' for his lack of empathy and people skills, Van Basten blamed only himself for the disappointing results this season. But his candid display of personal failure cannot conceal that it is also Ajax - as a club and as an organisation - that has failed yet again. Van Basten is number 11 on the list of managers who left Ajax over the past 12 years.
Burden of success
Ajax is still the most popular football club in the Netherlands. Many players who were trained in Amsterdam still move on to great international successes. But the burden of its successful history, with three European Cups to its name in the 1970s and being the last Dutch team to win the Champions League in 1995, weighs heavily on Ajax.
Marco van Basten is part of that history. He played for Ajax from 1981 to 1987, before he went on to become a world-class striker for AC Milan and he was the face of the Netherlands' 1988 European championship. With the return of this icon, Ajax had hoped to enter a new era of national and international success. Van Basten signed a four-year contract in 2008 and took control of the club's purchasing policy.
Returning to Ajax as head coach was a big step for Van Basten, who had no experience managing a premier league team. Too big perhaps: his limited manager's skills had become obvious during last summer's European Cup, when he was Holland's national coach.
In the end, Van Basten beat his critics to the punch by deciding for himself that he was not the best man for the job. "What I bring to Ajax is not enough," he said. "Ajax deserves better than what I have achieved."
Van Basten explained that this season's results, and those of the final weeks in particular, played an important part in his decision. It had been his goal to get Ajax back to the top and give the club its first national title in five years. When that slipped out of reach, he aimed for second place, a position that would at least have enabled the club to participate in next year's Champions League. But that failed too after a humiliating 4-0 defeat against the number 13, Sparta from Rotterdam. Ajax still has to play FC Twente in the last game of this season next Sunday, but that match has become insignificant now.
"When you miss both your goals, you can say you failed," Van Basten said.
Look in the mirror
Some of the fans had given up on Van Basten a while ago and now refered to him as "pannenkoek" (pancake) because of his disappointing performance. But the moment of his resignation came as something of a surprise, because the coach seemed to still have the support of both the Ajax board and the players. If Ajax loses to Twente on Sunday, and rival PSV wins its last game, Ajax will even end up in fourth place. It will then have to survive two qualification rounds to even participate in the new Europa League (the former UEFA Cup) next year. John van 't Schip, Van Basten's longtime friend and assistant, will coach the team in the final match.
Ajax players were speechless when their coach announced his departure, Van Basten said. Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen said the players were disappointed and surprised at Van Basten's departure. "We didn't expect this. The news has hit us hard. ... The coach has looked in the mirror, we have to do that too. We are equally responsible for the performances on the pitch," Vermaelen said.
Five years ago, the legendary Johan Cruijff predicted that Van Basten would go on to become one of the world's greatest football managers. But until now, Van Basten has little to show for himself. The question is what this untimely departure from Ajax means for Van Basten's own career as a football coach. He said he will have to contemplate his future now.
Van Basten began his coaching career with Ajax before he gained the trust of the national football association to become Holland's national coach in 2004. Under his watch, the Orange team displayed some of the most marvellous football of the 2008 European tournament, beating Italy and then France in the opening round. But the Dutch were knocked out in the second round of the tournament by one of their own, Guus Hiddink, the former Holland coach who now coaches the Russian team. Like in the 2006 World Cup, Van Basten was eliminated in the first knock out round.
Van Basten is often seen struggling with his urge for perfection. He misses the managing capacities to pay players the compliments they need and correct them when they fail. "Let me do this my way," he said in an interview in a Dutch sports show last week, where he was portrayed as an ice king. Despite the strong self-analysis, Van Basten appeared cold again in Wednesday's press conference. His ruthlessness was one of his greatest features as a striker, but now appears to be a handicap as a coach.
Lion's den
Over the course of this season, Van Basten made many controversial decisions. He chose keeper Kenneth Vermeer over the national goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. He chose not to find a replacement for striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar when he left for Real Madrid this winter. And he failed to make Luis Suarez and Miralem Sulejmani (who came to Ajax for a record 16.25 million euros) thrive.
The question is who can make Ajax shine again. Ajax' glory days were all under the leadership of dominant personalities: Jack Reynolds, Rinus Michels and Louis van Gaal. The latter has had enough of the lion's den Ajax is known to be. Van Gaal managed AZ to the Dutch championship this year and is said to be the top candidate for the Bayern Munich opening. Guus Hiddink, the most successful Dutch coach who manages both Chelsea and the Russian national team is out of the question.
Frank Rijkaard, although he is known as a good people manager, does not seem to have what Ajax needs right now. British media put Steve McClaren in pole position for the Ajax job. The former England coach failed to qualify his country for the 2008 European Cup, but has made a stunning comeback as the manager of FC Twente this year.
It could be that Co Adriaanse, who is leaving Red Bull Salzburg despite the upcoming Austrian championship, will return to Amsterdam. In 2000 his remarks about Van Basten were one of the reasons he had to leave Ajax. At the time Adriaanse said: "A good race horse doesn't make a good jockey."