Oct 29, 2023 at 9:40 PM Update: 18 minutes ago
John van ‘t Schip will be presented as head coach of Ajax on Monday, according to reports AD in ESPN. The former player of the 36-time national champion is therefore the successor to the departed Maurice Steijn.
This is an appointment until the end of the season. Michael Valkanis will be the assistant of 59-year-old Van ‘t Schip, it writes AD. The two have already worked together at Melbourne City, PEC Zwolle and the Greek national team.
It is expected that Hedwiges Maduro – interim coach for the past two matches – will return in an assistant role. Said Bakkati also remains associated with Ajax.
Van ‘t Schip has a rich past at Ajax. He made his debut as a professional and played for the club for eleven years. During that period he became national champion four times. After his playing career, the 41-time Dutch international was active as a trainer for the youth and promises of Ajax.
Van ‘t Schip played the role of assistant coach on several occasions with Ajax’s first team. He did this alongside Co Adriaanse (2000/2001), Marco van Basten (2008/2009) and Martin Jol (2009/2010). In 2009 he was briefly interim head coach after Van Basten resigned.
Later, Van ‘t Schip was head coach at Australian Melbourne City, Mexican Chivas and PEC Zwolle. In the summer of 2019, he started working as national coach of Greece, a position he held until the end of 2021.
Ajax is in deep crisis
Van ‘t Schip must turn the tide at Ajax. In the Eredivisie, the Amsterdam team won only once: in the first round against Heracles Almelo (4-1). Afterwards, Ajax suffered serious defeats with unrecognizable football against rivals Feyenoord (0-4) and AZ (1-2), among others. On Sunday, the Amsterdam team suffered the next blow at PSV (5-2) and Ajax dropped to eighteenth place for the first time in club history.
The poor performance led to Steijn’s departure last week. He came over from Sparta Rotterdam in June on the recommendation of then director of football affairs Sven Mislintat and signed for three years. The curtain fell for him after just 114 days.
After the departure of the native of The Hague, his duties were taken over by assistant coach Maduro. The former midfielder represented the group in the matches against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Europa League group stage (2-0 defeat) and on Sunday in the away match against PSV (5-2). He also failed to turn the tide.
2023-10-29 20:40:09
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