ajax
Dutch journalist RUTGER SLAGTER charts the rise and
fall of Ajax as the once proud Amsterdam club went from
Champions League glory in 1995 to Dutch League
also-rans, and while coach Co Adriaanse has begun
re-building, defeat against Celtic hasn't helped his cause
Reversal of
fortunes
ENGLAND coach Sven Goran
Eriksson seemed genuinely
surprised when he didn't find a
single Ajax player in the Holland
squad ahead of last Wednesday's
friendly against England.
Apparently the Swede hasn't seen
many Ajax matches over the last few
years, which is rather significant in
itself, because otherwise he would
have refrained from inadvertently
rubbing salt in the wounds of Ajax
supporters.
The Amsterdam outfit are no longer
the side to beat in Holland, let alone in
Europe. The first leg of the Champions
League qualifier against Celtic was just
another example of the fact that the
times have changed. Not only were the
visitors by far the better side, as Ajax
manager Co Adriaanse admitted, only
three Dutch players made it to kick-off
and one of them was even defending
the colours of Celtic.
Ironically Eriksson made his
comments in the same hotel where
the Holland national squad was staying
during Euro '96, when Ajax still
provided more than half of the players
of the starting line-up. The capital side
had just conquered Europe, as well as
the world, during the previous two
years and only missed out on their
second straight Champions League
trophy after a penalty shoot-out defeat
against Juventus.
Besides the fact that the side of the
mid-90s was predominately Dutch,
with a few well-chosen foreign
imports, there are more striking
differences. Most of the influential
players back then had been playing
together for several years, while the
framework of the line-up had come
through the club's youth ranks and
was familiar with the system. The side
was also an ideal mix between
experienced players like Frank
Rijkaard and Danny Blind, and
talented youngsters like Patrick
Kluivert and Edgar Davids. Now the
question should be what happened in
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