Maurice Steijn (49) had sinds zondagavond zijn twijfels, maar wilde maandag – ondanks de pijnlijke nederlaag bij FC Utrecht (4-3) en de zeventiende plaats in de eredivisie – in principe door als trainer van Ajax. Maar dan wel zónder Hedwiges Maduro en Steven Berghuis, die hij ervan betichtte een mes in zijn rug te hebben gestoken. Die eis was echter onbespreekbaar voor de Ajax-leiding, waarna in goed overleg werd besloten het tot de zomer van 2026 lopende contract van Steijn te ontbinden.
This article now is clearly from Steijn. He blames the whole world and can’t accept that he lacks skills and insight to be trainer at a club like Ajax. It’s very telling that again other people are blamed, and Steijn is the victim. Who do you think called the papers?
The thing is I do think there are some valid excuses like he didn’t get any of the players he asked for and the whole ‘build a squad while the competition is already on its way’ thing.
Berghuis and Maduro ‘backstabbing’ probably came after those two concluded that he’s not good enough for ajax. I think that part is bs.
But it wasn’t made easy for Steijn, that much is obvious as well.
The players that he wanted, baring Olij, would all have asked for above/significantly above the now salary cap that the board had placed on Mislintat.
And it was known for a long time that we had to sell before bringing anyone in, with Mislintat only getting the go ahead after the first part of the Timber money being officially on the bank balance.
So, sure it wasn’t easy for Steijn, but that was because the board was being difficult, not Mislintat.
Oh yes agreed it wasn’t just Mislintat. The board made a gigantic mistake with this half baked investing in the squad. We could’ve had Ziyech and Tagliafico, but we got forbs (nothing against him but he has some stuff to learn) Avila and Sosa. Etc.
Really they could have simply bought less players that cost more instead of so many. Sutalo, vd boomen, Tagliafico, Ziyech, Dest, Maybe go for zerrouki because we needed a dm?
The rest we didn’t really 100 percent need! This is also made evident by who’s playing now. It’s really a lot of players we already had and the new guys are playing only if the spot was really vacant like Sutalo and forbs or if someone is injured.
So the board made a huge gigantic mistake there with the caps. A cheap buy can be an expensive buy!
Eh, Ziyech has been constantly injured for Gala; and while Tagliafico would probably have been a solid addition, he is on more than both of Sosa and Avila combined afaik.
Don’t know about that, if I’m completely honest, yes there were some signings that felt like they were being bought to fill up the squad, and it would have been preferable to have done that with youth players, Ajax did lose a lot of players this summer.
Let’s not forget that Mikautadze has yet to be played as a striker, Mannsverk has only featured in one game due to Injury, the only time Akpom has started was at Right wing and Ramaj hasn’t played because Steijn was angry at not getting Olij.
While I do agree that sometimes a cheap buy can become an expensive one, the only ones that threaten to go that way, are players who Steijn hasn’t really given a chance.
Ramaj hasn’t played because Steijn was angry at not getting Olij.
That’s what people say about Steijn, but I think he genuinely saw that his team lacked cohesension and communication and tried to help create that by fielding a Dutch goaly that has been at the club for a while.
Ramaj never played for a club like Ajax, nor under this amount of pressure, and doesn’t speak the language. That is fine for 1 player, but Ajax already had to field to many new players that were still settling in and had no clue about what it means to play for Ajax.
Also, Steijn was quickly getting a lot of criticism for subsituting to much and not giving his players confidence, had he also changed his keeper those voices would have been even stronger. Gorter played in the pre-season and did alright, naturally he didnt want to swap another player.
Steijn would have played Rulli or Pasveer if they werent injured and we would never be talking about who is second or third in line in the goal. It’s one of the many examples of that he was dealt a really bad hand.
Also try to manage 2 new expensive strikers that dont fit a 4-3-3 while already having an expensive striker in the squad. Also no RW or Cam was attracted. Mislintat bought several interesting players, but it seems like he didnt put much thought on squad building
Ah Ziyech injured constantly? So the rumours are probably true ok fine not Ziyech then. Paying a bit extra for Tagliafico to get to the cl wouldn’t have hurt us though…
And yeah in most players except honestly akpom I see some future at Ajax for. It’s just that I mostly see future and not much now that is dragging us down hard this season.
My point around Tagliafico is that Sosa is close to the salary cap, while Tagliafico is on more than both him and Avila combined.
Probably (still have my doubts about Gaaei tbh), but I genuinely think, that with a decent head coach/manager, this squad is easily good enough for second or third.
I agree it’s a legitimate excuse. It did sound like Steijn actually had a much better idea what the squad needed than that surf fraud.
At the same time you can’t go and throw all those signings under the bus literally the first game things go wrong. How are you supposed to build a cohesive squad that way?
He also chose to play those guys out of position immediately when he easily could have waited to integrate them if they weren’t ready. He definitely started making excuses for his dismissal from the start.
I’ve been wondering what’s the link there. I can imagine you’d back your former colleagues. But why are guys like Sneijder and Van der Vaart so determined to back Steijn?
Because they have good contacts with him, Sneijder and Vd Vaart were close enough to him that they were being actively asked to be one of his assistants.
And Vd Meijde was literally getting most of his recent “scoops” from Steijn.
Yes I understand. But I’m more wondering how it happened. Can’t really connect how they became friends. Maybe because they were in the ‘zandbak’ around the same time?
I’ve been wondering what’s the link there. I can imagine you’d back your former colleagues. But why are guys like Sneijder and Van der Vaart so determined to back Steijn?
They are not, they are just free thinkers withs lots of experience that dont buy the emotional oversimplifications that the fans want. They all recognise Steijn had to go because he wasnt performing and that Steijn was dealt an impossible hand due to all the chaos, high expectations and lack of quality surrounding him.
Van der Vaart and Sneijder did not think Steijn had to go at all, they were constantly saying that he’s a good manager but that the players are the problem. I have never heard either of them say a bad word about Steijn.
I’d rather look at what people with actual tactical knowledge have to say like Suley or Pieter Zwart instead of the populistic nonsense that comes out of Van der Vaart and Sneijder. They’re not free thinkers, they don’t really think at all.
That’s called cherry picking, and is not a good habit to pick up.
If it is true, sure. But complaining like this after the fact just sounds like you are making excuses. If it was such an ongoing issue he should have addressed it sooner, it isnt like he didn’t get the time to fix any issues. Besides, there weren’t any remarkable leaks coming out week after week, nor was it the reason for Steijn’s failure. It appears he is just desperately trying to blame others.
Even if the tactics suck it doesn’t help that the players are incapable of playing the simplest passes or following their direct opponent when defending.
True, though often enough you see those mistakes happen under a manager that just doesnt fit the team. Even if it are things that dont depend on tactics etc, its probably confidence and motivation which a manager can have a clear effect on
I think this squad can still surprise you with proper management. There are a lot of players playing under their level. I have seen no players who are 100 percent incapable. Stupid mistakes yeah. Not making any tactical decisions on the pitch yourself, yeah. But no talent at all? Who? Which of these players that Mislintat bought completely sucks? Akpom didn’t show anything at all but we know he did great last year so probably also misuse. Same for Mannsverk. The rest all showed that there is something there. If that is good enough for top eredivisie I don’t know. They are very young for starters, but they can definitely give other top teams a hard time provided they have been instructed by a normal coach to do normal things.
I think this squad can still surprise you with proper management.
And by surprise you mean get fourth place next year, slightly above Twente, but below AZ after investing an amount of money that could buy you the entire city of Alkmaar, including AZ?
Which of these players that Mislintat bought completely sucks?
Gaeei, Akpom, Medic, Mannsverk have all looked completely out of their deptht. Ávila and Mikautadze are clearly a wrong fit for Ajax. Forbs, though fast, is nowhere near the quality of players he was meant to replace.
Who’s not good enough for champion of the eredivisie next year?
Everyone bar Brobbey, Berghuis and Bergwijn, although for Bergwijn to be good again you would need to significantly upgrade the players around him. Maybe Sosa and Sutalo can put in a shift too. I name those two, because even though they’ve made ridiculous defensive errors, they at least look like they can give a normal pass and play high tempo. All the others: just not good enough.
Gaeei and Mannsverk being talented is nice when they play in the KKD, because realistically, that’s the highest level their match performances have been at.
According to Steijn, Maduro had been constantly leaking information from inside the dressing room to ESPN. I’d call that backstabbing honestly
This article now is clearly from Steijn. He blames the whole world and can’t accept that he lacks skills and insight to be trainer at a club like Ajax. It’s very telling that again other people are blamed, and Steijn is the victim. Who do you think called the papers?
Steijn has been setting up excuses for his eventual failure pretty much since day 1.
The thing is I do think there are some valid excuses like he didn’t get any of the players he asked for and the whole ‘build a squad while the competition is already on its way’ thing.
Berghuis and Maduro ‘backstabbing’ probably came after those two concluded that he’s not good enough for ajax. I think that part is bs.
But it wasn’t made easy for Steijn, that much is obvious as well.
The players that he wanted, baring Olij, would all have asked for above/significantly above the now salary cap that the board had placed on Mislintat.
And it was known for a long time that we had to sell before bringing anyone in, with Mislintat only getting the go ahead after the first part of the Timber money being officially on the bank balance.
So, sure it wasn’t easy for Steijn, but that was because the board was being difficult, not Mislintat.
Oh yes agreed it wasn’t just Mislintat. The board made a gigantic mistake with this half baked investing in the squad. We could’ve had Ziyech and Tagliafico, but we got forbs (nothing against him but he has some stuff to learn) Avila and Sosa. Etc.
Really they could have simply bought less players that cost more instead of so many. Sutalo, vd boomen, Tagliafico, Ziyech, Dest, Maybe go for zerrouki because we needed a dm?
The rest we didn’t really 100 percent need! This is also made evident by who’s playing now. It’s really a lot of players we already had and the new guys are playing only if the spot was really vacant like Sutalo and forbs or if someone is injured.
So the board made a huge gigantic mistake there with the caps. A cheap buy can be an expensive buy!
Eh, Ziyech has been constantly injured for Gala; and while Tagliafico would probably have been a solid addition, he is on more than both of Sosa and Avila combined afaik.
Don’t know about that, if I’m completely honest, yes there were some signings that felt like they were being bought to fill up the squad, and it would have been preferable to have done that with youth players, Ajax did lose a lot of players this summer.
Let’s not forget that Mikautadze has yet to be played as a striker, Mannsverk has only featured in one game due to Injury, the only time Akpom has started was at Right wing and Ramaj hasn’t played because Steijn was angry at not getting Olij.
While I do agree that sometimes a cheap buy can become an expensive one, the only ones that threaten to go that way, are players who Steijn hasn’t really given a chance.
That’s what people say about Steijn, but I think he genuinely saw that his team lacked cohesension and communication and tried to help create that by fielding a Dutch goaly that has been at the club for a while.
Ramaj never played for a club like Ajax, nor under this amount of pressure, and doesn’t speak the language. That is fine for 1 player, but Ajax already had to field to many new players that were still settling in and had no clue about what it means to play for Ajax.
Also, Steijn was quickly getting a lot of criticism for subsituting to much and not giving his players confidence, had he also changed his keeper those voices would have been even stronger. Gorter played in the pre-season and did alright, naturally he didnt want to swap another player.
Steijn would have played Rulli or Pasveer if they werent injured and we would never be talking about who is second or third in line in the goal. It’s one of the many examples of that he was dealt a really bad hand.
Also try to manage 2 new expensive strikers that dont fit a 4-3-3 while already having an expensive striker in the squad. Also no RW or Cam was attracted. Mislintat bought several interesting players, but it seems like he didnt put much thought on squad building
Ah Ziyech injured constantly? So the rumours are probably true ok fine not Ziyech then. Paying a bit extra for Tagliafico to get to the cl wouldn’t have hurt us though…
And yeah in most players except honestly akpom I see some future at Ajax for. It’s just that I mostly see future and not much now that is dragging us down hard this season.
My point around Tagliafico is that Sosa is close to the salary cap, while Tagliafico is on more than both him and Avila combined.
Probably (still have my doubts about Gaaei tbh), but I genuinely think, that with a decent head coach/manager, this squad is easily good enough for second or third.
I agree it’s a legitimate excuse. It did sound like Steijn actually had a much better idea what the squad needed than that surf fraud.
At the same time you can’t go and throw all those signings under the bus literally the first game things go wrong. How are you supposed to build a cohesive squad that way?
He also chose to play those guys out of position immediately when he easily could have waited to integrate them if they weren’t ready. He definitely started making excuses for his dismissal from the start.
Yeah he should have done better then whatever this is. That much is obvious to anyone I think. But Ajax did not hand him an easy win.
Schreuder however still had a lot of good players but couldn’t even beat lower table teams…
Not sure what Steijn thinks Maduro was leaking to ESPN, they haven’t had any scoops at all since Maduro has been at Ajax
Steijn seemed to do the same but with the telegraaf and the fat and stupid ex-Ajax squad
I’ve been wondering what’s the link there. I can imagine you’d back your former colleagues. But why are guys like Sneijder and Van der Vaart so determined to back Steijn?
I think those two just try to rile up their audience for clicks
I think they’ve picked a side (the Dutch side) in a Steijn/Telegraaf vs Mislintat/new players battle they’ve cooked up.
And we all know Sneijder and Van der Vaart were incredible players but aren’t nearly as gifted in the brain department.
Because they have good contacts with him, Sneijder and Vd Vaart were close enough to him that they were being actively asked to be one of his assistants.
And Vd Meijde was literally getting most of his recent “scoops” from Steijn.
Yes I understand. But I’m more wondering how it happened. Can’t really connect how they became friends. Maybe because they were in the ‘zandbak’ around the same time?
With Sneijder and Steijn, quite possible, and then Vd Vaart/Vd Meijde via Sneijder.
They are not, they are just free thinkers withs lots of experience that dont buy the emotional oversimplifications that the fans want. They all recognise Steijn had to go because he wasnt performing and that Steijn was dealt an impossible hand due to all the chaos, high expectations and lack of quality surrounding him.
Van der Vaart and Sneijder did not think Steijn had to go at all, they were constantly saying that he’s a good manager but that the players are the problem. I have never heard either of them say a bad word about Steijn.
That’s called cherry picking, and is not a good habit to pick up.
I don’t see what me not taking Van der Vaart and Sneijder seriously has to do with cherry picking. Naming examples isn’t cherry picking
But specifically who though? There’s so many to choose from.
Lol, Sneijder, Van der Vaart and Van der Meijde.
Thanks. Updated the list.
Mido, Febo Janssen, Boukhari, Bogarde, Jeroen Verhoeven, Bulykin, SulejmaniIf it is true, sure. But complaining like this after the fact just sounds like you are making excuses. If it was such an ongoing issue he should have addressed it sooner, it isnt like he didn’t get the time to fix any issues. Besides, there weren’t any remarkable leaks coming out week after week, nor was it the reason for Steijn’s failure. It appears he is just desperately trying to blame others.
Even if the tactics suck it doesn’t help that the players are incapable of playing the simplest passes or following their direct opponent when defending.
True, though often enough you see those mistakes happen under a manager that just doesnt fit the team. Even if it are things that dont depend on tactics etc, its probably confidence and motivation which a manager can have a clear effect on
It’s weird the players are capable of simply passing with the national team squads. It’s almost like Steijn has something to do with it.
I think this squad can still surprise you with proper management. There are a lot of players playing under their level. I have seen no players who are 100 percent incapable. Stupid mistakes yeah. Not making any tactical decisions on the pitch yourself, yeah. But no talent at all? Who? Which of these players that Mislintat bought completely sucks? Akpom didn’t show anything at all but we know he did great last year so probably also misuse. Same for Mannsverk. The rest all showed that there is something there. If that is good enough for top eredivisie I don’t know. They are very young for starters, but they can definitely give other top teams a hard time provided they have been instructed by a normal coach to do normal things.
And by surprise you mean get fourth place next year, slightly above Twente, but below AZ after investing an amount of money that could buy you the entire city of Alkmaar, including AZ?
Gaeei, Akpom, Medic, Mannsverk have all looked completely out of their deptht. Ávila and Mikautadze are clearly a wrong fit for Ajax. Forbs, though fast, is nowhere near the quality of players he was meant to replace.
Medic was always a cheap backup. He’s not going to be in the main squad unless the pl buys our defense again which I doubt.
Akpom is also not going to be in the first team and Mannsverk and Gaaei are very talented.
So again, who? Who’s not good enough for champion of the eredivisie next year? Nobody in the main squad for sure.
Everyone bar Brobbey, Berghuis and Bergwijn, although for Bergwijn to be good again you would need to significantly upgrade the players around him. Maybe Sosa and Sutalo can put in a shift too. I name those two, because even though they’ve made ridiculous defensive errors, they at least look like they can give a normal pass and play high tempo. All the others: just not good enough.
Gaeei and Mannsverk being talented is nice when they play in the KKD, because realistically, that’s the highest level their match performances have been at.
Give Forbes at least a season man. I have very little doubt he’ll become better than Kudus.
The same Steijn that was leaking information to Sneijder, vdVaart and vdMeijde and the Telegraaf? Oh no, poor guy.
If that s true and remains thats recipe for failure for the next manager