Can’t believe what’s happening to the biggest and most successful Dutch team.

Currently 4-2 down against PSV and rock bottom of the league.

Won once on the opening day and not won in 10 games… including a 4-0 spanking against big rivals Feyenoord

They couldn’t go down could they ??

ClaretsPadiham wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2023 3:08 pm

Can’t believe what’s happening to the biggest and most successful Dutch team.

Currently 4-2 down against PSV and rock bottom of the league.

Won once on the opening day and not won in 10 games… including a 4-0 spanking against big rivals Feyenoord

They couldn’t go down could they ??

and Lyon bottom in France

Not so surprising with Ajax who were the victims of asset stripping with most of their star names from last season being sold off. Two of those players Edson Alvarez and Kudos playing for Wet Spam this afternoon.

Finished 5-2 to PSV. Worrying times for Ajax.

These two articles tell what's going on:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... relegation

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... s-to-chaos

It's not, as far as these article say, 'asset stripping' as we normally think of it, but seems more one of incompetence where they've sold their quality players but bought in younger and poorer ones based on instructions to cut the wages.

If you sell your best players year after year and replace them cheaper then sooner or later, it won’t work - however this is something else altogether.

Recruitment hasn’t been the same since the Overmars debacle but the consensus is this summer has been shambolic in recruitment terms.

Sporting director fell on his sword after the Feyenoord game was abandoned and then Stejn the manager went too.

Not sure where they go from here, they will hope they have enough to stay up and then go from there with a better summer next year.

Ten Haag could be available soon. Return of the prodigal son.

They should be cleaning up in that league tbh

JR1882 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2023 6:15 pm

If you sell your best players year after year and replace them cheaper then sooner or later, it won’t work - however this is something else altogether.

Recruitment hasn’t been the same since the Overmars debacle but the consensus is this summer has been shambolic in recruitment terms.

Sporting director fell on his sword after the Feyenoord game was abandoned and then Stejn the manager went too.

Not sure where they go from here, they will hope they have enough to stay up and then go from there with a better summer next year.

One of their big signings was Mikautadze who we were heavily linked with and tried to sign.

A club in turmoil.

kentonclaret wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2023 3:25 pm

Not so surprising with Ajax who were the victims of asset stripping with most of their star names from last season being sold off. Two of those players Edson Alvarez and Kudos playing for Wet Spam this afternoon.

Not remotely asset stripping.

Ajax have always had a policy of getting big money for their stars, with recruitment geared so that the replacements were in place. Since Overmars disgraced himself and got fired the management structure hasn’t been up to scratch, and neither have the players.

RicardoMontalban wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 7:40 am

Not remotely asset stripping.

Ajax have always had a policy of getting big money for their stars, with recruitment geared so that the replacements were in place. Since Overmars disgraced himself and got fired the management structure hasn’t been up to scratch, and neither have the players.

Basically, they sold players for around £200m and replaced them with incomings worth around half of that amount.

If you sell your star players and do not recruit adequately no surprise the club plummets. Happens at all levels of football.

kentonclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 8:14 am

Basically, they sold players for around £200m and replaced them with incomings worth around half of that amount.

If you sell your star players and do not recruit adequately no surprise the team plummets. Happens at all levels of football.

Much too simplistic.

Replacing your stars for less than you recouped in sales is how you make it sustainable, especially for clubs like Ajax who are hamstrung by the relative poverty of their domestic league.

Until recently Ajax had the player development and recruitment network to do that, but that all went up in smoke after their DoF Marc Overmars took a picture of his manhood and sent it to a female employee.

Recruitment since has been poor but the problems run much deeper than that. And as I said, not asset stripping.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... SApp_Other

RicardoMontalban wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 8:23 am

Much too simplistic.

Replacing your stars for less than you recouped in sales is how you make it sustainable, especially for clubs like Ajax who are hamstrung by the relative poverty of their domestic league.

Until recently Ajax had the player development and recruitment network to do that, but that all went up in smoke after their DoF Marc Overmars took a picture of his manhood and sent it to a female employee.

Recruitment since has been poor but the problems run much deeper than that. And as I said, not asset stripping.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... SApp_Other

Perhaps the wrong terminology. What I was really implying was that too many assets (star players) have been sold over the past few seasons without the necessary quality coming through. The performances on the pitch and position in the league table suggest that is the case. Not asset stripping but just rank bad management.

kentonclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 8:34 am

Perhaps the wrong terminology. What I was really implying was that too many assets (star players) have been sold over the past few seasons without the necessary quality coming through. The performances on the pitch and position in the league table suggest that is the case. Not asset stripping but just rank bad management.

Wholeheartedly agree with that. To say the wheels have fallen off is an understatement. It’s the risk that clubs like Ajax run when they push the financials - it’s fine when you’re going deep into the CL and it’s all going to plan, but mess it up and it all goes wrong as they don’t make enough money from their domestic league, hence the need to cover costs with player sales.

What they built under Overmars didn’t come overnight, which makes the scale of the mismanagement all the more mind boggling!