Volume 1 Chapter 2 The Wind Rises
Since Ajax moved their home stadium from the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam to the current Arena Arena, they have been aggressively building a training ground, Detokmost, across the road to the west of the stadium.
As is the case with the whole of Amsterdam, De Tokmoste brings water from the Amstel River and divides the entire training ground into three zigzag areas, the largest of which is the first team training ground and training building in the north, and a stadium with simple stands for Ajax II.
The south is divided into two areas, the left is the training ground for the two senior age groups A and B, and the other youth echelons are on the right, separated by a river in the middle of the two training areas.
The two-storey training building in Detokmostt is located at the junction of the two training grounds.
When Ye Qiu almost stepped on the time to enter the conference room on the second floor of the training building, he found that it was already full of people.
At the top of the oval conference table sat the club's management, to Ye Qiu's surprise, the club's chairman Michael van Praag was also there, which surprised him a little, and to his left and right were the first-team manager, former Ajax star Jan Waters, and now the club's technical director, Leo Ben Haac.
Leo Benhag has a high status in today's football, he has been in charge of Real Madrid twice, Ajax twice, and each time he has been in charge of Ajax, the first year has been a title and the second year has been empty-handed, including his second time in charge of Ajax in the 90-91 season, when he switched to Real Madrid in the middle of the season, which made Ajax fans feel betrayed.
However, Louis van Gaal moved to Barcelona, and under the impact of the Boseman Act, Kluivert, Litmanen, Overmars and other stars left the team one after another, and Ajax fell into turmoil again, and Michael van Praag was forced to bring Leo Benhag to Ajax again as technical director.
Ye Qiu just glanced at the first few people, and probably knew the situation.
This season, the Ajax first team ushered in the opening three consecutive wins, first 3:2 at home to Heerenveen, then 6:2 away to Maastricht, just yesterday, Waters' team defeated Leeuwarden 3:0 away, in the Eredivisie can be described as the limelight, so it seems that it is quite a bit of a spirited posture, and when he saw Ye Qiu, he also nodded with a smile, obviously to the coach who he personally recruited into the club.
After Ye Qiu sat down, the meeting began.
To put it bluntly, this is a discussion of power redistribution, Waters is now nominally the head coach of the first team and the head of the youth team, but in fact his authority is mainly in the first team, and he can't get involved in the youth team at all, so he wants to take advantage of his current limelight to fight for power.
But Leo Benhag and Westerhoff refused to relinquish power happily, so the two sides seemed to be in harmony at the meeting, but secretly they were tense, which made Ye Qiu sigh in his heart, in this environment, it is strange that Ajax does not sink!
"Today, I went to the training ground for the younger age groups and I found out that we have some youth coaches who have privately changed the youth program of the team without the permission of the club. Vesthoff suddenly stood up and spoke in a stern manner.
When Ye Qiu heard this, he immediately understood, isn't what Westerhoff is talking about?
Looking at the top boss who swept towards him with contempt, Ye Qiu immediately understood in his heart, daring that they had no way to take Waters now, and they were unwilling to let Waters gain prestige in the club, so they used themselves to open the knife and fold Waters' prestige, how to say that they were also hired by Waters.
"We don't deny that there are a lot of youth training concepts that keep pace with the times, as well as advanced training methods, but two months ago, the club hired a number of external youth coaches, hoping to help improve the youth training level of Detokmmost, but everyone has seen that two months have passed, and there is no effect at all, but it has made a mess of Detokmmost, making the coaching team panic!"
Westerhoff was talking, and Leo Ben Hack on the side did not move from beginning to end, but this gray-haired, but energetic Dutchman gave people a feeling that he couldn't see through, but it is no wonder that after decades of wandering coaching, Leo Ben Haac has long been mixed with a human being, and today this kind of thing is nothing to him.
"Please remember that we are Ajax, we have our own youth training system, which has created countless brilliance and made the whole world look at it, and we must not allow some undisciplined people to disturb the atmosphere of De Tokmost!"
Speaking of this, Westerhoff raised his right hand, "So here, I propose that Ye Qiu, the head coach of the E1 youth team, who violated Detokmost's regulations, be dismissed on the spot to set an example!" ”
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the entire conference room was in an uproar, including Waters.
At the end of the day, Waters is still too young and inexperienced.
Although he is in the limelight right now, and fans and management are optimistic about him, the problem is that he lacks the minimum prestige.
This is the first time he has managed a professional team, and it's a team like Ajax, and everyone has suffered from him, even if it's Van Praag, who has promoted him from 18 to first-team president, why would he bring in Leo Benhag to help?
In this case, he is in a hurry to attack the youth team, which will naturally cause a revolt.
Westerhoff's example is actually an example of killing chickens and monkeys, killing Ye Qiu, breaking Waters' prestige, and at the same time shocking the youth coaches in the academy and letting them see the current situation clearly.
While everyone was talking, Leo Benhaq finally spoke, but he was speaking to Van Praag.
"Michael, I think, reform is a good thing, but there has to be a degree, we can't reform for the sake of reform, we need to know the direction and purpose of the road, the club's entire youth training system for so many years, there must be something good about him, these should be retained!"
If the previous words are still persuasive, then Leo Benhack will change his words.
"However, ignoring discipline must not work, the most important thing in the history of Ajax is discipline, this trend must be suppressed, otherwise the people's hearts will be scattered, and it will be difficult to unite again!"
Leo Benhake's words made Van Praag reassure himself and nodded.
This time, even Waters felt bad for Ye Qiu, because if even Van Praag nodded, then he would be completely finished.
But just before Van Praag could speak, Ye Qiu, who was sitting at the end of the conference room, suddenly stood up and shouted loudly: "You are holding a trial court, but you don't allow the prisoner to defend himself, is it fair to me?" ”
Although there are high and low levels in the power structure of the club, in this kind of meeting, anyone has the right to raise their hands to speak, but generally speaking, coaches with low status are generally more dedicated, at least not like Ye Qiu is now.
But it is also understandable that since a person is to be convicted, should we listen to his defense?
"What else do you have to say? Am I wrong? Wronged you? Westerhoff didn't expect that this Chinese, who usually didn't seem to talk much, would dare to resist, and his heart was furious.
Before coming to Ajax, Westerhoff was also considered the number one figure in Dutch football, otherwise, how could Van Praag poach him and take the helm of De Tokmost?
Coupled with the character he has cultivated as a long-term manager, he is always thinking about maintaining his authority, even at the expense of all his power and resources, and it is not difficult to see that Van Praag has made a fatal mistake in the personnel arrangement at the club level.
First of all, Waters is a newcomer, he has no previous first-team coaching resume, his career is good, but he is not a big name enough, and his coaching resume is more in charge of the Ajax youth team; Secondly, Leo Ben Hack and Westerhoff are both successful managers, and it is often difficult for such people to be subservient to others.
In this case, it is not difficult to guess the outcome of letting the unprestigious Waters manage the big-name Leo Ben Hack and Westerhoff.
"In arranging the training program, I didn't say that you were wrong, and you didn't wronged me!" Ye Qiu didn't care about Vesthoff's anger, he was going to be fired, where did he care if he was angry or not, this guy deserved to be angry.
"It's just that you say that I don't follow discipline, so I don't agree, if I am kicked out of Ajax by you like this, then wouldn't I be very wronged? It's a matter of my personal style, and of course I have to defend it! ”
Ye Qiu's words also have some truth.
Many people say that the Germans are stubborn and rigid, but in fact, to a certain extent, how can the Dutch, and especially the Dutch footballers, be rigid and dogmatic, clinging to what was left over from the Michels and Cruyff era decades ago, and resting on their laurels, not seeking progress, even to the point of stubbornness?
What do Michels and Cruyff value most?
Discipline, this is the first commandment of Ajax and the vast majority of Dutch clubs!
So Ye Qiu said that he wanted to defend, which was also recognized by many people present, and even Chairman Van Praag nodded, "Okay, you can tell me, what justification do you have for Hans?" ”
The Van Praag family played an important role in the history of Ajax, Michael Van Praag's father, Jaap van Praag, was the president of the club in the 70s, and then he left Ajax, and the club entered turmoil, until the 80s, Michael van Praag took charge of Ajax again, and directly brought about the revival of the Van Gaal era.