TODAY'S VISITORS
"IT WILL BE AN
EMOTIONAL
SEASON FOR AJAX,
FOR VAN BASTEN
HAS RETURNED
TO MANAGE THE
CLUB HE GRACED
AS A PLAYER
MORE THAN 20
YEARS AGO."
Van Basten looks to awaken the sleeping giants of Dutch football.
Ajax are the most successful team
in Dutch history and their name is
synonymous not just with some
of the best players in Holland
but in the worldwide game itself.
Think of Johan Cruyff in the 1970s,
Marco van Basten in the 80s and
Dennis Bergkamp in the 90s.
But for a club that measures itself
in terms of league titles and European
Cup wins, recent years have seen
them come up a little short in the
Eredivisie, the Dutch top flight. PSV
Eindhoven are currently the dominant
force domestically, having won the
league title for the last four years,
which is one better than Ajax have
ever achieved, either in their 1970s
pomp, or when they were sweeping
all before them in the mid-1990s.
Even more galling for a team that
won the European Cup three times in
a row, inspired by the magical Cruyff
in the 1970s, is that they failed in both
2006 and 2007 to reach the group
stages of the Champions League,
losing in the qualifying rounds. They
didn't even get that far this year. Even
though they finished as runners-up
in the league in May, the rules of the
Dutch league meant they had to play
off for the second Champions League
position, and they lost out to FC Twente,
now managed by Steve McClaren.
Therefore, European competition for
the men from Amsterdam this season
will come in the shape of the Uefa Cup.
However, despite that letdown,
it will be an emotional season for
Ajax, for van Basten has returned
to manage the club he graced as a
player more than 20 years ago.
His previous job was as the Dutch
national manager but he gave plenty of
warning that Euro 2008 would be his
last tournament in charge, because he
wanted to go back to the club where
he made his name as one of the world's
finest, most authentic centre-forwards.
For a time during this summer's
European Championship it looked as if
