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EUROPEAN CUP - FIRST ROUND - CELTIC v AJAX
EUROPEAN CUP FIRST ROUND CELTIC v AJAX
IN Greek mythology, Ajax was the son of King
Telamon of Salamis, a man renowned for his
fighting qualities. The football club who inher
ited the name inherited these characteristics
also. Holland's most famous and successful
club was founded in 1900 and is now widely
regarded as one of the great European clubs.
The statistics speak for themselves; Ajax
have been Dutch champions on 20 occasions
and have won the Dutch national cup eight
times. Included in these figures are four Lea
gue and Cup 'doubles', achieved in 1967,
1970, 1972 and 1979.
Outside of Holland, Ajax have won the Euro
pean Cup three times. Two European Super
Cups and one World Club Championship
Trophy merely emphasise the extent of their
success in the early seventies.
The stars of that great Ajax side; Cruyff,
Neeskens, Rep, Muhren, Haan, Keizer and
Krol also formed the nucleus of the Holland
team which thrilled the world in two World
Cups and were unfortunate to be on the losing
end in successive World Cup finals in 1974
and 1978.
In view of this astonishing success rate it is
all the more remarkable to consider that the
Ajax club was a relatively slow starter. Interest
in football in Holland began at the tail end of
the last century and by the time Ajax was
founded in March 1900 there were already
three divisions. However, it was not until 1908
when Ajax formed an alliance with another
Third Division club called 'Holland' that they
began to make some progress. They won their
first championship in 1918 and repeated the
success the following season.
As is often the case, this first peak was
followed by 12 lean years before Ajax were
again crowned champions in 1931. They then
managed to win the championship another
four times in the thirties. The financial offshoot
of this success was that plans were drawn up
for a brand new Ajax Stadium, the De Meer in
Amsterdam, with a capacity of 29,000. Today
the club is still housed in this stadium, alth
ough for European Cup and other big matches
they prefer the 65,000 capacity Olympic
Stadium in Amsterdam. It is to this larger
stadium that Celtic will carry our hopes in a
fortnight.
It was after the war that Ajax really began to
appreciate the benefit of developing their own
young players. Today in Holland where only
the leading clubs have full-time professionals,
all the clubs have teams which play competi
tive matches from the ages of nine years and
upwards. Ajax have ten competitive teams
playing each weekend. This enables the club
to provide experience for a player through the
various stages in his development. It also
helps to ensure that a very strong club loyalty
is built up.
1958 saw Ajax's first venture into the Euro
pean Cup when they reached the quarter
finals before losing to the Hungarian side
Vasas. But a major turning point in their
fortunes coincided with the appointment of
Rinus Michels as manager. Between 1966-68
Ajax won the championship for three years in
succession, thus creating a new Dutch record.
In 1969 they reached the European Cup final
for the first time only to lose by four goals to
one to A.C. Milan in Madrid's Bernabeu
Stadium.
Ajax's first European Cup win was merely
delayed. In 1970-71after completing the dou
ble at home, Ajax reached the final again
(beating Celtic on the way). At Wembley on
June 2, 197130,000 Dutch fans in the stadium
saw Ajax beat Panathanikos 2-0 through goals
by Dick van Dijk and Arie Haan.
The following year Ajax contested the final
again, this time in the 'home' territory of
Rotterdam. They beat Inter Milan 2-0 in one of
the best European Cup finals of the seventies.
1972 represented the peak of Ajax's achieve
ment. They also won the Dutch league and
cup to complete a memorable treble. The
previous season they had declined, as a result
14
The history of
