I'M A LONG-TIME ADMIRER
OF THE AJAX YOUTH
SYSTEM. WHICH OVER THE
YEARS HAS PRODUCED
PLAYERS OF THE CALIBRE
OF JOHAN CRUYFF, MARCO
VAN BASTEN. FRANK
RIJKAARD. WIM KIEFT.
DENNIS BERGKAMP AND
PATRICK KLUIVERT
Having said all that, tonight's game is one that I'm eagerly looking forward to
and I'm sure that's a view shared by the players and our supporters.
Ajax remain one of the biggest names in European football and we're
delighted to welcome Ronald Koeman and his players to The City
Ground for what we regard as a prestigious friendly.
Like so many people, I'm a long-time admirer of the Ajax youth
system, which over the years has produced players of the calibre
of Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Wim Kieft,
Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert.
Despite their size and stature in the game, Ajax have always
been partly dependent on producing talented home-grown
V youngsters - as are so many teams these days, including
ourselves.
Their youth teams train in exactly the same way as the
Ajax stars, which means that youngsters who go all the
way through the system are accustomed to the style of
play when they finally make it to the first team.
That's a policy we have also employed in recent years
and the benefits of such a system have been clear to
see with so many of our youngsters making the leap
from Academy and reserve football to the first team
with apparent ease.
Like Ajax, we're extremely proud of our record of
developing talented young performers.
It's just a shame that two of our Academy products,
Gareth Williams and Michael Dawson, will have to
watch from the sidelines this evening.
Gareth is still rehabilitating from the shoulder surgery
he underwent at the end of last season, while Michael
is recovering from a bout of glandular fever that laid
him low over the close season.
Neither player is in full training at this momentin time nor
are they likely to be fit for the season of the new season,
which Michael must miss anyway as he has a suspension from
last season to complete.
But I hope it won't be too long before they have been given a
clean bill of health and are back in my plans.
In the meantime, we're gearing up for the big kick-off on August 9
against Sunderland and tonight's game will be followed by a trips to
Scunthorpe on Saturday and Rushden Diamonds seven days later.
And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Ronald and his Ajax players for
making the trip to Nottingham.
MARCO VAN BASTEN
www.nottinghamforest.co.uk
