AJAX MAYHEM ... AND ERIK IS A WANTED MAN
ERIK TEN HAG is at the centre of a power struggle at former club Ajax.
The Old Trafford boss is waiting to hear if Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is prepared to give him the vote of confidence he wants by offering him a new contract.
However, Ten Hag was targeted for a sensational return to the Dutch giants when it appeared that Ratcliffe would bring in his own boss after taking control of football operations at Old Trafford following his £1.3billion buy-in.
But Ajax have sacked new chief executive Alex Kroes following an insider-trading scandal that has plunged the club into crisis.
Kroes is a lifelong friend of Ten Hag’s powerful agent Kees Vos (below) – and he was ready to offer the 54-year-old the chance to return to Amsterdam if he parted company with United this summer.
Ten Hag is fighting for his job after a miserable Premier League campaign and an early Champions League exit. And the FA Cup semi-final clash with Coventry this afternoon is a must-win game for the Dutchman.
But sources close to Ten Hag believe he will walk out at the end of the season if he does not get assurances from Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group about their commitment to him.
He has a year left on his contract and there have been no talks about renewing the threeyear agreement signed in 2022. United have an option to trigger a 12-month extension – but that would not stop Ten Hag resigning if he felt he was fighting a losing battle.
Now the tale has taken another twist, with Ajax’s hardcore fans demanding Kroes’ reinstatement. He was sacked last month after just two weeks in the job when it emerged he had bought 17,000 Ajax shares a week before his appointment was announced.
That has left Ajax looking for a new chief executive, coach, director of football and an academy boss after one of the most turbulent seasons in their 124-year history.
The crisis deepened when a widespread fan protest over Kroes’ sacking led to three of the club’s five directors resigning.
Kroes is demanding he gets his job back after insisting his dismissal does not adhere to Dutch stock-market regulations. If he is successful, he will once again put Ten Hag top of his managerial wish-list. Ajax have also been looking at ex-chelsea boss Graham Potter and Liverpool No.2 Pep Lijnders.
But they now believe Potter is being lined up for another high-profile job – with Ratcliffe and INEOS chief Sir Dave Brailsford big fans.
There is also a feeling in Amsterdam that Lijnders doesn’t have enough experience to take the role at such a testing time, despite working so successfully with Jurgen Klopp.