By Samindra Kunti
June 23 – In recent years Ajax Amsterdam has become subservient to the business interests of Johan Cruyff, according to a report in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. Youth staff must follow a course at the Cruyff institute and Cruyff, rather than keeping the knowledge to Ajax, sells the secrets of the youth academy to foreign football clubs.
Cruyff joined Ajax Amsterdam when he turned 10 and would go on to win eight league titles and three European Cups with the club. “Johan Cruyff’s miracles in Amsterdam were many,” wrote David Winner, the author of Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. “He and his coach Rinus Michels (a sort of John the Baptist figure) raised Ajax from obscurity. More important, they invented a new way of playing. Cruyff became the greatest exponent and teacher of ‘Totaal Voetbal.'”
Cruyff developed a ‘Plan Curyff’, devised to develop Ajax into a leading club in Europe, based on individual training of youth players. “The importance of the club is paramount,” repeated Cruyff often. De Volkskrant revealed that ‘Plan Cruyff’ is not only about club interests, but also benefits Cruyff’s business interests. The equity of his companies doubled to over €5 million between 2011 and 2013.
Recently Ajax’s supervisory board appointed Tscheu La Ling, a confidant of Cruyff, as an advisor to the club. La Ling is tasked to ensure that Ajax further implement ‘Plan Cruyff’. Director of football Marc Overmars and assistant-coach Dennis Bergkamp are said to be dissidents, improperly executing ‘Plan Cruyff’.
In 2010, Cruyff advocated a revolution at Ajax: he wanted more former players in the club and an influx of youth players into the first team. Today, those goals have not been achieved.
Cruyff also sold the plans of the Ajax youth academy to Mexican club Chivas in 2012. Chivas owner Jorge Vergara struck a deal with Cruyff’s daughter in the hope of making the youth players of Chivas among the best in the world. After nine months the agreement was dissolved. Chivas refused to disclose how much they paid Cruyff.
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