By David Gold
November 22 – Former Ajax legends Johan Cruyff (pictured) and Edgar Davids, now both members of the club’s Supervisory Board, have played down a race row which emerged this week, but doubts persist over the former’s future at the Dutch champions.
Davids had suggested on Dutch television show Studio Voetbal that there had been racist comments made towards him at board level, an allegation fellow board member Steven ten Have backed up, pointing the finger at Cruyff.
Steven ten Have claimed that Cruyff, a former Ajax player, captain and manager, had told Davids: “You are only on the Supervisory Board because you’re black.”
Cruyff used his Tuesday column in De Telegraaf to clarify the conversation between him and Davids.
“It was Frank Rijkaard’s idea to tackle the problem by putting somebody from the same background on the board who had completed the youth academy,” he wrote.
“That was one of the reasons Edgar Davids was asked to be on the Advisory Board.”
The three times Ballon d’Or winner also said: “My foundation now has some 120 football pitches laid out for children, a lot of them immigrants.
“We live in a multicultural society, they discredit themselves with this.”
Davids supported Cruyff.
“I have never said, and I want to stress it, that Johan Cruyff is racist,” he said on his personal blog.
As well as being one of the most talented players, not just of his generation, but any generation, Cruyff has a colourful history marked by numerous disputes.
Earlier this year the entire Ajax Board resigned following a disagreement with Cruyff over the running and organisation of the club.
It had been rumoured that the former Barcelona coach could be leaving his position on the Board next Monday (november 28), following the appointment of former coach Louis van Gaal as chief executive of the club, with the relationship between the pair known to be frosty at best.
Cruyff, who only returned to the Amsterdam outfit earlier this year for the first time since he managed the team in 1988, had accused Ajax of going “mad” for appointing the man who led them to the European Cup in 1995.
Van Gaal’s appointment was made by the other four members of the Supervisory Board without Cruyff’s knowledge, and it seems likely that club members will be deciding next week which side to back in the dispute.
With Cruyff’s iconic position meaning he holds hero status among many fans, these developments risk exposing a civil war deep within the famous team between those loyal to their former playmaker, who led them to three successive European Cup triumphs in the 1970s, and his opponents on the Board.
An Ajax statement yesterday, relating the dispute, read: “At the meeting for members council and [the] Board of Ajax, with the complete Advisory Board present, it was established that a breach of trust occurred between Johan Cruyff on one side, and Steven ten Have, Edgar Davids, Marjan Olfers and Paul Römer on the other.
“During the meeting, Cruyff confirmed that he was no longer prepared to work towards repairing this breach.”
If he departs, Cruyff will go the same way as the three man main Board of the club, all of whom left their positions yesterday, and next through the exit door could be a number of former Ajax players he brought back to Amsterdam, such as Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk, whilst coach Frank de Boer is thought to be another of his key allies.
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