Just six months after replacing Erik ten Hag as head coach of Ajax, Alfred Schreuder has been sacked by the Amsterdam-based side. The Sons of God dropped down to fifth some seven points adrift of Eredivisie leaders and archrivals Feyenoord having failed to win any of their last seven games under the Dutchman — losing once and drawing six in a run that dates back prior to the Qatar World Cup.
A 4-1 victory over Excelsior under the guidance of interim coach Johnny Heitinga just days after Schreuder’s dismissal has helped Ajax climb up to fourth and close the gap on the top of the table to five, so there is still a chance the Eredivisie trophy will remain in the trophy cabinet at the Johan Cruyff Arena for a fourth successive season.
That is fairly reflected as Ajax are the slight second favourites behind Feyenoord for the title if you bet here — and with just two wins in their last five games at the time of writing, the Rotterdam side aren’t exactly playing with the mark of champions either. That means the new manager will be confident they can still salvage something from this campaign.
But before we take a look ahead to what the future holds for the new man in charge in Amsterdam, let’s take a look back at what went wrong for Schreuder in his short tenure at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Major changes to the squad
Ten Hag’s exit for the Manchester United hot seat wasn’t the only big loss Ajax suffered last summer, as the former manager brought key players Antony and Lisandro Martinez with him to the Theater of Dreams — while fellow regulars Sebastian Haller, Ryan Gravenberch and Nicolas Taglifico joined Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Lyon respectively in the offseason.
Indeed, Ajax spent a Dutch record of over €110 million with the funds from those aforementioned player sales — bringing in the likes of Steven Bergwijn (€31m), Calvin Bassey (€23m) and Brian Brobbey (€16m). However, the large turnover has had an adverse effect on the side and they didn’t manage to gel in to a side that looked capable of winning the title under Schreuder.
Poor results cost him his job
While the changes in the dressing room certainly unsteadied the ship, the belief from the board and fanbase was that Schreuder still had a squad more than capable of winning the Eredivisie title at his disposal — and nine wins in their opening 12 league games was perhaps proof of that.
However, things turned sour in November. Ajax were knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages despite a 3-1 win over Rangers at Ibrox and they went into the World Cup hiatus on the back of a defeat to PSV and successive draws against Vitesse and Volendam.
Schreuder was allowed the break to turn things around. But after going winless in four more games this side of the tournament, the board ultimately decided that they had seen enough of the lacklustre performances under the Dutchman — which Edwin van der Sar was quick to cite after the sacking.
“This is a painful decision, but it’s necessary,” the Ajax chief said. “Regardless of the good start to the season, we lost a lot of unnecessary points. The football itself was precarious too.
“We gave Alfred our time and trust to change the way things were going. It became clear to us that he could not change the tide.
“Regardless of the many transfers that took place, we consider the squad fit for a championship. We lost a lot of points over the last few weeks and sadly saw a lack of progression.”
Issues off the pitch
While it’s easy to point the finger solely at the manager in these circumstances, Schreuder was not helped by the issues off the pitch. The Marc Overmars situation is well documented, and he had no choice but to leave his role as technical director, but his replacements (former Ajax forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Gerry Hamsta) have been inept in the position.
The players also turned against the manager, with senior players reportedly demanding that the squad hold a crisis meeting with the club’s mental coach Joost Leenders — in which the majority of players are believed to have confirmed to Leenders that they felt the coaching staff were to blame for the slump.
