AFC Ajax – The Velvet Revolution Of Frank De Boer

By Guest Author
11 years Ago

When Frank de Boer took over as the boss of his childhood club, Ajax, things were not too rosy. Here is a look at how he has revolutionized the club so far.

When Frank de Boer took over as the boss of his childhood club, Ajax, things were not too rosy. The tactics used by previous manager Martin Jol was under major scrutiny as the team tended to depend on one or two individuals like Mounir el Hamdaoui or more notably, the famous – or infamous, depending on how you see it – Luis Suarez. With Suarez suspended for biting Otman Bakkal, and El Hamadoui not consistent at all times, a poor run of form ensued, with only 1 win in the last 5 league games. It concluded with Cruijff voicing his discontentment and exercising his power as a the club advisor, Jol getting the sack and Frank de Boer appointed at the helm. And there fertilised the first seed of Ajax’s ‘Velvet Revolution’.

A flurry of changes soon materialised and the board was revamped, with ex-Ajacieden, who had shared dressing rooms with each other, taking important roles in the hierarchy. Marc Overmars was made Sporting director, while Edwin van der Sar assumed the role of Marketing director. Johan Cruijff took up an honorary advising role, though not officially on the Board, while Frank de Boer himself brought in ex-teammate Dennis Bergkamp as his right-hand man, and Jaap Stam as the defending guru for his players.

de Boer’s philosophy has been set straight from day #1, as someone who claims to know the club and its roots like the back of his hand. He said, ” “Football is a team sport. With (only) a great striker you don’t become champion, you do it all together. Our strength is that we are not dependent on one person.”, a bit of a tongue-in-the-cheek remark at Jol.

His tactics were born from the same thing he had been teaching his Ajax A1 team, the very ideology of the club, which was to keep the ball moving and make sure every single player on the field is up for support while attacking and back down, pressurizing opponents when defending. It’s all for one and one for all.Ai??de Boer has even changed the positions of many players to suit this style and in more or less, all cases, reaped the fruit of his labour. Almost as soon as he took over, he shifted left-back Anita to a holding position shielding the defence and the young Dutchman proved to be a hit there, and tailored his skills to secure that position for himself. The most successful transition, would probably be club captain incumbent, Siem de Jong’s promotion up-field from playing behind the striker to being the striker – a move which has since seen him score goals very consistently, being an endowed finisher and top scorer for the club in the last 2 seasons.

de Boer has done and is doing, in essence,Ai?? what Cruijff did. He is changing the tactics to keep up with football all around the world, while making sure that the club’s tradition and Michels’ prototype of Total Football still has a domineering influence on the way Ajax function on pitch. His Godenzonen side boast a very high pass completion rate and an average possession of around 60%.

Passing is something de Boer has developed to perfection with his current squad. Actually, it is all effectively what everyone learns when they first start playing in a team; form triangles on pitch and keep passing it. There is not a single player in the current Ajax side who could be considered an average passer. Even goalkeeper Vermeer has oft operated as a sweeper-keeper, and it has been noted that Cruijff in his managerial reigns, has reinforced to his players that defenders have to have the best on-the-ball capabilities. Indeed, under de Boer, Vertonghen, Alderweireld and even Moisander have emerged as top-passers.

Moreover, the passing that he has implemented is a very free-flowing style, likened to the Barcelona of recent years – who themselves are likened back to Ajax of the 70s. The passing is short and fast and played a few meters in front to maintain the pace and flow of the game.

Another very important plaudit to give de Boer is his ability to keep the team progressing, despite the loss of key players. Right after he took over, club captain Luis Suarez was sold to Liverpool. This was seen as a key loss and yet, Ajax went on to win the league title on the final day, in a direct shootout with Twente, after languishing in 4th spot when Suarez and Jol left.

The summer of 2012 brought even more departures – the club captain left for England (again), and right-back van der Wiel was seduced away by the riches of Paris Saint-Germain; the core of the team since his positional change, Vurnon Anita too, moved on to Newcastle. But the Ajax juggernaut just kept rolling on. In such a predicament, de Boer could have been excused for splurging a little on the market himself, but he has formatted a very strict transfer policy, where the club will not spend more than 5 million on any player, unless of course de Boer and his team are entirely convinced of his extraordinary talent. The key for de Boer is something the club is renowned for – to look to Jong Ajax. For the loss of Vertonghen, de Boer coaxed Niklas Moisander into a move back to Ajax for a mere 3 million euros, and promoted Ricardo van Rhijn to first choice right-back.

This summer, the likes Alderweireld and Eriksen have garnered a lot of interest from all around Europe, with the likes of Dortmund, Liverpool, Leverkusen and the Milan clubs interested. de Boer has planned ahead though, buying van der Hoorn, as a like-for-like replacement to Alderweireld and Veltman still available. Eriksen’s void will be considerably harder to fill, keeping in mind that he has been the primary exponent of creativity.

The financial aspect of de Boer’s reign is really fascinating. Everywhere you have teams throwing around Arab money like water in pursuit of the ‘best’ players and here we have a young coach who refuses to spend more than 5 million quid! Traditionally though, Ajax have been a club who have always preferred to tap in on the talent of their academy – right from the Golden 70s through to the Champions League-winning side of 1995. But over the last decade or so, no one has reiterated that stance to an extent such as de Boer has done. He understands what it means to be a youngster at the club and to go on to play for the club and win major trophies. When Juventus boss Conte remarked about how Ajax cannot keep up with the big-spending clubs of today, Johan Cruijff defended the club, quipping, “Of course we can, Football is game that is played with a ball and 22 men. I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.”

The most important aspect of de Boer’s reign is perhaps the fact that he has successfully culminated two differing schools of thought in Cruijff and van Gaal’s ideologies, and printed his own name on it. He has talked on the importance of individual capabilities in a team and has encouraged players like Alerweireld, Eriksen and de Jong to all be exemplars. However, he maintains that a team should have a collective approach and that every player should be able to step up when needed. Though it may seem contradictory on first thought, de Boer’s transition into this philosophy has been extremely smooth and is a notable feat.

The next target for de Boer and Ajax will be conquering Ajax, now that order has been restored domestically in the Netherlands. The Dutch club is nowhere near its glory days in Europe, to be brutally realistic. It has been the same story for a few years now – the failure to capitalise chances, the solitary moment of individual error, the lapses in concentration. This is something de Boer has to work on – as a former Champions League winner himself, the boss has to instill more belief and confidence in his current crop of players. He has his footballing aspect sorted and his self-confessed role of surrogate dad has to work on the mentality of his ‘sons’. But,Ai?? de Boer has his target well in mind, “We want to play attractive football and mean something in Europe. I’m convinced we can achieve something”

If he can manage to keep the stars of last season aboard and uncover a few more gems from the plethora in the Academy, Ajax might just be able to scale better heights in the continent. It will be a gradual process, but with definitely the right man at the helm, a Board of like-minded, relatively young footballing brains and el Salvador, who knows, in maybe 5-6 years, we shall see the Velvet Revolution bear its rosiest fruits – maybe we shall see Ajax near the zenith again.

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Written by Priya Ramesh

Categories: Around the World, Features
Tags: Ajax

When Frank de Boer took over as the boss of his childhood club, Ajax, things were not too rosy. Here is a look at how he has revolutionized the club so far.

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