The once mighty Dutch league?

flas

spiralism wrote: »

Holland does have a population of nearly 17 million as well. But football is a national obsession over here. It's probably the highest profile national team not to have won a World Cup and i'd say the Eredivisie is actually a top 5 league in Europe. Comparing the LOI and the FAI to the Eredivisie and the KNVB is putting it a bit out of its depth to be honest.

On that note, it's not just a funding issue, but if we got our **** together it would certainly help. Definitely the standard of our league is shocking compared to many countries a similar size.

Shocking compared to what other countries with a population the same as ours?

NIMAN

I think the LoI has punched above its weight in Europe for many years, and the standard is better than most will give it credit for.

Too often in Ireland you hear, "the LoI, I wouldn't watch that sh1t". Even though people have never even tried watching a game in it. They compare it to football they see on TV, like the EPL and La Liga, where players are earning £300,000 every week. How stupid a comparison is that?

Unfortunately its a Catch22 situation. If more people watched the LoI and attended games I have no doubt the extra revenue would improve the league, but I can't see the league ever competing with Sky TV for the armchair fans. Simply not sexy enough.

spiralism

flas wrote: »

Shocking compared to what other countries with a population the same as ours?

Croatia, Norway and Slovakia all have similar populations and actually send teams to Europe on a regular basis and also have a much higher coefficient, to name a few. Macedonia has half our population and a higher coefficient. Cyprus has a quarter of our population and a far better coeffecient and sent a team to the quarter finals of the champions league a few years ago, not to mention APOEL and Limassol regularly getting into europe these days.

Im not trying to knock our league's standard but it is what it is. I'd still go when im home but the fact is that is woefully underfunded and invested and when countries smaller than us have teams punching above our weight in europe it raises some serious doubts about how our league is ran here.

MightyMandarin

NIMAN wrote: »

Unfortunately its a Catch22 situation. If more people watched the LoI and attended games I have no doubt the extra revenue would improve the league, but I can't see the league ever competing with Sky TV for the armchair fans. Simply not sexy enough.

Whilst it's not always slick football, there are some fantastic players and teams who play beautiful football. Look at some of Pats' highlights from last season, the standard of football was outstanding and they played a great passing game. There were some unbelievable goals aswell, Chris Forrester has had some wonder strikes in the past year. I think if the 'armchair fans' actually went to a LOI game, they would realise that these teams are not 'sunday league' by any means. LOI teams can and have competed with much better sides eg Pats drawing at Legia, a team who hammered Celtic. The LOI is alot better than we give credit for.

NIMAN

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Whilst it's not always slick football, there are some fantastic players and teams who play beautiful football. Look at some of Pats' highlights from last season, the standard of football was outstanding and they played a great passing game. There were some unbelievable goals aswell, Chris Forrester has had some wonder strikes in the past year. I think if the 'armchair fans' actually went to a LOI game, they would realise that these teams are not 'sunday league' by any means. LOI teams can and have competed with much better sides eg Pats drawing at Legia, a team who hammered Celtic. The LOI is alot better than we give credit for.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you, been a ST holder in the LoI for years.

losthorizon

spiralism wrote: »

Croatia, Norway and Slovakia all have similar populations and actually send teams to Europe on a regular basis and also have a much higher coefficient, to name a few. Macedonia has half our population and a higher coefficient. Cyprus has a quarter of our population and a far better coeffecient and sent a team to the quarter finals of the champions league a few years ago, not to mention APOEL and Limassol regularly getting into europe these days.

Im not trying to knock our league's standard but it is what it is. I'd still go when im home but the fact is that is woefully underfunded and invested and when countries smaller than us have teams punching above our weight in europe it raises some serious doubts about how our league is ran here.

Apollon Limassol yes they were an excellent team. Saw them playing in the Champions League the year before they got in the QF. However they didnt even get into the Group stages that year as my team Cork City beat them.

Down the years not many of the lesser Dutch teams have played here recently but Cork City knocked out NEC Nijmegen out of Europe. They were fairly bad in fairness.

keeponhurling

MightyMandarin wrote: »

LOI teams can and have competed with much better sides eg Pats drawing at Legia, a team who hammered Celtic. The LOI is alot better than we give credit for.

Pats drew at Legia, who hammered Celtic, who beat Ajax last season

All linking back to the thread title !

losthorizon

Not claiming that Irish sides can compete with the likes of Ajax or PSV or Feyenoord obviously but when you get down the Dutch League the standard falls off fairly quickly ala Scotland, except they have a few more bigger clubs.

Actually thinking back Sligo played Heerenven (sp) in a one off match in Europe - it ended in a draw.

I also remember Derry playing Vitesse twice in two years in a Row funnily enough in the early 90's i think which is going back a fair bit and the LOI has improved a bit since then but there wasnt much between the teams. It was odd goals defeat each times.

Up to the early 60s Dutch football was fairly crap tbh and then I suppose the introduction of professionalism and Total football and Michels influence had a huge influence on the game. Its amazing how standards increased in Holland in such a short space of time but they are a long way from that now.

You just have to look at Hungary and Austria to see how nations can decline. At one stage Hungarian football was the greatest in the world and Honved and Ferencvaros names to be feared. A LOI club would fancy their chances against them now.

MightyMandarin

keeponhurling wrote: »

Pats drew at Legia, who hammered Celtic, who beat Ajax last season

All linking back to the thread title !

Ajax beat Man City, Man City beat Bayern, Pats are better than Bayern.:cool:

losthorizon

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Ajax beat Man City, Man City beat Bayern, Pats are better than Bayern.:cool:

Dont be silly.

On a side note - Bayern are yet to win here though in European competition.

spiralism

losthorizon wrote: »

Apollon Limassol yes they were an excellent team. Saw them playing in the Champions League the year before they got in the QF. However they didnt even get into the Group stages that year as my team Cork City beat them.

Down the years not many of the lesser Dutch teams have played here recently but Cork City knocked out NEC Nijmegen out of Europe. They were fairly bad in fairness.

APOEL made the QFs. Apollon are a different side, albeit one in europe this year. Only shams have ever made it from here in the modern era of european football.

NEC are rather ****e though and have been over the years. Relegation candidates if not actually relegated.

Talk of games in the 90s is really irrelevant now. If you're going by that logic then look at what would have happened if an irish team ran into Ajax then, it would have been a bloodbath.

Dutch football has declined from the 90s because the money isnt in the game there but the eredivisie still produces quality players on a regular basis and is a competitive, exciting league with consistently good football and great atmospheres

losthorizon

spiralism wrote: »

APOEL made the QFs. Apollon are a different side, albeit one in europe this year. Only shams have ever made it from here in the modern era of european football.

NEC are rather ****e though and have been over the years. Relegation candidates if not actually relegated.

Talk of games in the 90s is really irrelevant now. If you're going by that logic then look at what would have happened if an irish team ran into Ajax then, it would have been a bloodbath.

Dutch football has declined from the 90s because the money isnt in the game there but the eredivisie still produces quality players on a regular basis and is a competitive, exciting league with consistently good football and great atmospheres

But thats my point about the Dutch league. The Top few teams are good after that not so as you said yourself. I agree about producing quality players just look at the Dutch national team. Having been around Europe a bit Turners Cross has an atmosphere to rival anywhere The best Ive ever witnessed was at Red Star if menacing . The worst by far was at the English Premiership and I was at a Dutch League game and found it very one sided and funnily enough it involved NEC again Versus Ajax. The atmosphere wasnt bad and despite all the precautions a small bit of trouble did occur (mainly involving the NEC fans). Actually to get into the game I had to show two forms of ID and my address which luckily we had and take out membership so officially I am an Ajax member. :pac:

You were right about the Cypriots - thought it was the same crowd who won the following season.

MightyMandarin

losthorizon wrote: »

Having been around Europe a bit Turners Cross has an atmosphere to rival anywhere

I'm sorry but no. Having been to Turners with Pats away this season, I have to say it was good in terms of LOI standard. However, my brother's an avid Ajax fan and a Pats season ticket holder and even he admits the LOI struggles in terms of atmosphere with foreign leagues because there simply aren't enough in attendance. Most other leagues have a great atmosphere because the stadiums are well over 10,000. The LOI has an avg. of 1000 or less each game.

spiralism

losthorizon wrote: »

But thats my point about the Dutch league. The Top few teams are good after that not so as you said yourself. I agree about producing quality players just look at the Dutch national team. Having been around Europe a bit Turners Cross has an atmosphere to rival anywhere The best Ive ever witnessed was at Red Star if menacing . The worst by far was at the English Premiership and I was at a Dutch League game and found it very one sided and funnily enough it involved NEC again Versus Ajax. The atmosphere wasnt bad and despite all the precautions a small bit of trouble did occur (mainly involving the NEC fans). Actually to get into the game I had to show two forms of ID and my address which luckily we had and take out membership so officially I am an Ajax member. :pac:

You were right about the Cypriots - thought it was the same crowd who won the following season.

Ajax would have the flattest atmosphere in the Eredivisie. Vak 410 aside (their ultras) and the F-Side (both of whom are quite nasty at times in terms of being troublesome), the Arena is lifeless most games and full of prawn sandwichers.

Go to Feyenoord and see does turners cross hold up. Feyenoord have some of the best fans you'll see anywhere.

MightyMandarin

spiralism wrote: »

Ajax would have the flattest atmosphere in the Eredivisie. Vak 410 aside (their ultras) and the F-Side (both of whom are quite nasty at times in terms of being troublesome), the Arena is lifeless most games and full of prawn sandwichers.

Go to Feyenoord and see does turners cross hold up. Feyenoord have some of the best fans you'll see anywhere.

Don't forget to mention that Feyenoord have some nasty fans too. Sure they murdered an F-side leader in 1997. That's not to say De Kuip hasn't got a great atmosphere though.

spiralism

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Don't forget to mention that Feyenoord have some nasty fans too. Sure they murdered an F-side leader in 1997. That's not to say De Kuip hasn't got a great atmosphere though.

They do. That said i've felt a lot more welcome amongst the Feyenoord support than at Ajax. Ajax are a dutch team for dutch people was the atmosphere i've increasingly got about them from living in Amsterdam and having been to a few games. Enjoyed myself far more any time i've been down to Rotterdam for a match.

Feyenoord are a people's club but it's a working class city and their support can be a bit rough around the edges alright. De Kuip does have a hell of an atmosphere though, one way or another and the loyalty is insane. What other club can you think of with attendances in the thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands at training?

Jelle1880

spiralism wrote: »

They do. That said i've felt a lot more welcome amongst the Feyenoord support than at Ajax. Ajax are a dutch team for dutch people was the atmosphere i've increasingly got about them from living in Amsterdam and having been to a few games. Enjoyed myself far more any time i've been down to Rotterdam for a match.

Feyenoord are a people's club but it's a working class city and their support can be a bit rough around the edges alright. De Kuip does have a hell of an atmosphere though, one way or another and the loyalty is insane. What other club can you think of with attendances in the thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands at training?

No doubt the 'Legioenzaal' has something to do with that, and the use of certain substances there :pac:

spiralism

Jelle1880 wrote: »

No doubt the 'Legioenzaal' has something to do with that, and the use of certain substances there :pac:

Legioenzaal is awesome but yeah, it's wall to wall gurning there haha. It's ****ing nuts though

MightyMandarin

spiralism wrote: »

They do. That said i've felt a lot more welcome amongst the Feyenoord support than at Ajax. Ajax are a dutch team for dutch people was the atmosphere i've increasingly got about them from living in Amsterdam and having been to a few games. Enjoyed myself far more any time i've been down to Rotterdam for a match.

Feyenoord are a people's club but it's a working class city and their support can be a bit rough around the edges alright. De Kuip does have a hell of an atmosphere though, one way or another and the loyalty is insane. What other club can you think of with attendances in the thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands at training?

Have you seen some of the youth games for Ajax? There's thousands in attendance most of the time, with the same supporters turning out for Jong Ajax aswell as in Vak410. Both Ajax and Feyenoord have great supporters of equal measure, they're the two biggest clubs in Holland sure.

NIMAN

The once mighty Ajax.

Could also add:
Feyenoord
PSV
Honved
St Etienne
Anderlecht
Ferencvaros
Bruges
Deportivo La Coruna
Nottingham Forest
Celtic
M'galdbach
Torino
Cologne
Sampdoria
Parma
Wolves
Steaua
Tbilisi
Dynamo Kiev

inforfun

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Have you seen some of the youth games for Ajax? There's thousands in attendance most of the time, with the same supporters turning out for Jong Ajax aswell as in Vak410. Both Ajax and Feyenoord have great supporters of equal measure, they're the two biggest clubs in Holland sure.

No.... really. No.

Only a few years ago, the Feyenoord stadium could have sold out 3x for a match against VVV Venlo, the first match after Feyenoord lost 10-0 vs P$V.

The ajax stadium would have stayed empty in that situation.


Reason why Dutch club football is ****e nowadays is really simple.
The Van Bastens, Gullits, Koemans et cetera stayed in Holland till they were 26/27 before going abroad.

Average age of the top teams now makes you think you are watching the U21 league.

MightyMandarin

inforfun wrote: »

No.... really. No.

Only a few years ago, the Feyenoord stadium could have sold out 3x for a match against VVV Venlo, the first match after Feyenoord lost 10-0 vs P$V.

The ajax stadium would have stayed empty in that situation.


Reason why Dutch club football is ****e nowadays is really simple.
The Van Bastens, Gullits, Koemans et cetera stayed in Holland till they were 26/27 before going abroad.

Average age of the top teams now makes you think you are watching the U21 league.

No. The reason why the Eredivisie creates so many great talents is because of the chances they get. The likes of Bakkali, El Ghazi, Kishna, wouldn't have a hope of playing in the Premier League. That's how they develop far better than English players and is how the national team succeeds in consistently developing players. Of course the standard of the league falls a little, but I love watching the Eredivisie, simply because I get to see the next Wesley Sneijders, Ibras and Van Persies before they become world class.

And stop trying to assume Feyenoord fans are much better than Ajax's, because they're really not. The ArenA may have a more 'family' atmosphere than De Kuip, but go to any home or away game and you'll hear the Ajax fans sing just as loud as Feyenoord.

weisses

Never would I have thought the rivalry between 010 vs 020 would be discussed on boards ....

spiralism

MightyMandarin wrote: »

No. The reason why the Eredivisie creates so many great talents is because of the chances they get. The likes of Bakkali, El Ghazi, Kishna, wouldn't have a hope of playing in the Premier League. That's how they develop far better than English players and is how the national team succeeds in consistently developing players. Of course the standard of the league falls a little, but I love watching the Eredivisie, simply because I get to see the next Wesley Sneijders, Ibras and Van Persies before they become world class.

And stop trying to assume Feyenoord fans are much better than Ajax's, because they're really not. The ArenA may have a more 'family' atmosphere than De Kuip, but go to any home or away game and you'll hear the Ajax fans sing just as loud as Feyenoord.

Been to see both teams a couple of times, completely disagree. 410 make noise but that's about the height of it unless it's a huge game. You stand up and sing anywhere else apart from F-Side and the block where North Up Alliance have formed, you'll be sharply reprimanded and may well have the stewards called.

weisses wrote: »

Never would I have thought the rivalry between 010 vs 020 would be discussed on boards ....

KOMEN WIJ UIT ROTTERDAM? :pac:

patmac

spiralism wrote: »

KOMEN WIJ UIT ROTTERDAM? :pac:

That's easy for you to say!

wandatowell

Dennis Bergkamp had a lot to say about Ajax in his book. Seems to have been a fierce amount of behind the scene politics going on that affected the team on the pitch but mainly their youth and coaching setups. Hopefully they'll get things right.

Always had a soft spot for them.

weisses

spiralism wrote: »

KOMEN WIJ UIT ROTTERDAM? :pac:

Hagenees ..:P

inforfun

MightyMandarin wrote: »

No. The reason why the Eredivisie creates so many great talents is because of the chances they get. The likes of Bakkali, El Ghazi, Kishna, wouldn't have a hope of playing in the Premier League. That's how they develop far better than English players and is how the national team succeeds in consistently developing players. Of course the standard of the league falls a little, but I love watching the Eredivisie, simply because I get to see the next Wesley Sneijders, Ibras and Van Persies before they become world class.

And stop trying to assume Feyenoord fans are much better than Ajax's, because they're really not. The ArenA may have a more 'family' atmosphere than De Kuip, but go to any home or away game and you'll hear the Ajax fans sing just as loud as Feyenoord.

Sure, go ahead and try to convince a Dutch person who went to Dutch football stadiums since the age of 7 (which is quite a while ago since i was 7) how things work in Dutch football.

MightyMandarin

inforfun wrote: »

Sure, go ahead and try to convince a Dutch person who went to Dutch football stadiums since the age of 7 (which is quite a while ago since i was 7) how things work in Dutch football.

Just because you're Dutch doesn't make your point stronger. I'm half-Dutch, my Dad's followed Ajax for over 50 years, does that strengthen my argument? No.

You may have a different philosophy than I, but I think that embracing the youth is what makes Dutch football. Sure the league would be stronger with more money and investment, but the clubs have decided that wage caps are the way to go, and frankly, I think that makes them more sustainable as they run less risk of financial ruin.

Liam O

These Ajax- Feyenoord arguments ruin every thread on the soccer forum.

MightyMandarin

Liam O wrote: »

These Ajax- Feyenoord arguments ruin every thread on the soccer forum.

Het zijn maar kut kakkerlaken!

evo2000

pmy.murphy wrote: »

After seeing them go down 4-1 to Real Madrid last night it has not but made me wonder what has happened to the 4 time european cup winners. It was only back in 1995 that they last won it with the likes of the de boer brothers, overmars, bergkamp and edgar davids in their team and 1996 they reached the final. I find the phenomenon of Ajax quite interesting and I cant help but wonder why they cant compete with europes best anymore and have to keep selling players. I mean with the ultra modern stadium they have and the excellent academy, how are they struggling so much to build a really strong team with a blend of youth and established champions league players??? I also wonder how a club with such a rich history havent been taken over already by some multi billionaire owner like PSG, Anzhi, Man City. Does anybody think the new financial fair play rules will help an Ajax revival??

The lack of cash money! if you cant speak 80 mil per player these days, you wont be winning much and if you do by some chance win something you re players will be bought so in short...money!

inforfun

evo2000 wrote: »

The lack of cash money! if you cant speak 80 mil per player these days, you wont be winning much and if you do by some chance win something you re players will be bought so in short...money!

According to reports, Ajax at the moment has about €100 million in the bank.
It would not be too hard to buy a 30 or 40 million player. Problem will be finding one that is willing to play in the Dutch league first and his salary in the 2nd place.

During the summer there were reports that Eto'o was offered to Ajax. They were interested but then came Everton and everything is history.

And to answer the OP's question why a club like Ajax hasnt been bought by some rich Arab, Russian or whatever.

It has happened with Vitesse. At the moment it is happening with ADO.
Vitesse was bought and then sold on to some friend of Abramovic, resulting in a team that has had a load of Chelsea loanees over the years.
Sure they end up a few places higher up the ranking because of it but their stadium is half empty most of the times. Supporters already have a hard time to get attached to players who are owned by a club because 2,3 succesful years i nthe first team and they are gone. Imagine to see every year 5 or 6 new players on loan in the team.
Now if you are a supporter of the shirt, you might not mind to see 11 different faces year in, year out.

ADO has the potential to become comedy gold. Chinese are taking them over but they havent paid a euro so far.

AZ was owned by a (very) rich Dutch guy who went bankrupt. He had a bank that fell. AZ had some hard times because of it because they had obligations to some very well paid players.

Someone who can really afford to buy a club and want to have success in Europe with it, will not buy a Dutch club. There isnt enough money to be made with Dutch clubs.

TV money is a joke compared to the English league. Fox bought the rights for 1,4 billion..... for 14 years.
I think 50% of the clubs in the Eredivisie could pay the bills for 5 years without any other income if they had the same 50 million a year English clubs receive from tv money.

So yes, Dutch clubs give young players a chance but they always have done that. But the last 10 years or so the need to go that direction was obvious.

Good Dutch players in their early 20's left for mediocre foreign clubs. And then were replaced by mediocre foreign players.
The rule that a player of 21 years or older from outside the EU has to earn a minimum of €550.000 (in 2012) also played a big part why clubs went the way of playing as much as possible with young players.

evo2000

inforfun wrote: »

According to reports, Ajax at the moment has about €100 million in the bank.
It would not be too hard to buy a 30 or 40 million player. Problem will be finding one that is willing to play in the Dutch league first and his salary in the 2nd place.

During the summer there were reports that Eto'o was offered to Ajax. They were interested but then came Everton and everything is history.

And to answer the OP's question why a club like Ajax hasnt been bought by some rich Arab, Russian or whatever.

It has happened with Vitesse. At the moment it is happening with ADO.
Vitesse was bought and then sold on to some friend of Abramovic, resulting in a team that has had a load of Chelsea loanees over the years.
Sure they end up a few places higher up the ranking because of it but their stadium is half empty most of the times. Supporters already have a hard time to get attached to players who are owned by a club because 2,3 succesful years i nthe first team and they are gone. Imagine to see every year 5 or 6 new players on loan in the team.
Now if you are a supporter of the shirt, you might not mind to see 11 different faces year in, year out.

ADO has the potential to become comedy gold. Chinese are taking them over but they havent paid a euro so far.

AZ was owned by a (very) rich Dutch guy who went bankrupt. He had a bank that fell. AZ had some hard times because of it because they had obligations to some very well paid players.

Someone who can really afford to buy a club and want to have success in Europe with it, will not buy a Dutch club. There isnt enough money to be made with Dutch clubs.

TV money is a joke compared to the English league. Fox bought the rights for 1,4 billion..... for 14 years.
I think 50% of the clubs in the Eredivisie could pay the bills for 5 years without any other income if they had the same 50 million a year English clubs receive from tv money.

So yes, Dutch clubs give young players a chance but they always have done that. But the last 10 years or so the need to go that direction was obvious.

Good Dutch players in their early 20's left for mediocre foreign clubs. And then were replaced by mediocre foreign players.
The rule that a player of 21 years or older from outside the EU has to earn a minimum of €550.000 (in 2012) also played a big part why clubs went the way of playing as much as possible with young players.

Yeah but clubs like united city madrid are so far ahead finacially they can afford to keep ajax down, its becoming increasingly harder to break into the top tier of football imo, the money is just ridiculous!

I agree aswell about the dutch league and players not wanting to play there,

inforfun

evo2000 wrote: »

Yeah but clubs like united city madrid are so far ahead finacially they can afford to keep ajax down, its becoming increasingly harder to break into the top tier of football imo, the money is just ridiculous!

I agree aswell about the dutch league and players not wanting to play there,

The only 2 major cups won by Dutch teams in the last 20 years, Ajax in 1995 and Feyenoord in 2002 were the result of 2 very good teams that didnt really have a few big stars yet. That Ajax team had of course quite a few players that went on and became big names but in '95 those players were relatively anonymous
Will not happen again that a Dutch club can play with basically the same 11 for a few years as long as it is allowed to nick 14/15 year olds from the Dutch clubs by English just to make sure the home grown rule works out for them.

It is a pity because i really enjoyed European nights in the Feyenoord stadium but nowadays you have Twente who gets kicked out of Europe by Qarabag.
Feyenoord scraped through against Luhansk but at least it was a classic scoring 4-3 in injury time after wasting a 3-0 lead.

8-10

inforfun wrote: »

The only 2 major cups won by Dutch teams, Ajax in 1995 and Feyenoord in 2002

? What about Ajax in 1992, 1987 and the 3 European Cups in the 70's?

inforfun

8-10 wrote: »

? What about Ajax in 1992, 1987 and the 3 European Cups in the 70's?

And Feyenoord in 70 and 74.
Psv in 78 and 88

Meant to say the last 20 years. (added)

8-10

I really think Ajax were good enough to win the CL in 2003, that was the last time a Dutch team were among the top teams in Europe. Unfortunately Milan were also a terrific side and nicked it in the second leg of the quarter final but they were seconds away from being eliminated. I think the final was a very poor one that year.

Also good point about first 11 not sticking together for conseutive years, very hard to keep players around. One thing that you've noticed Ajax doing in the past 10 years is making their best players captains, and in fairness, most of them have stuck around longer because of it IMO, and most of them were captain at a very young age compared to most teams:

van der Vaart
Chivu
Suarez
Siem de Jong
Huntelaar
Stekelenberg
Vermaelen
Vertonghen
Alderweireld (VC)

I'd guess that you will see Davy Klaassen given a vice-captaincy at the start of next summer for the same reason

inforfun

8-10 wrote: »

I really think Ajax were good enough to win the CL in 2003, that was the last time a Dutch team were among the top teams in Europe. Unfortunately Milan were also a terrific side and nicked it in the second leg of the quarter final but they were seconds away from being eliminated. I think the final was a very poor one that year.

Yep, Former Feyenoord player Jon Dahl Tomasson kicking Ajax out in injury time of the quarters

PSV did one better in 2005, semi's also against Milan, conceding in injury time as well

Those were 2 pretty decent Milan sides.

8-10

inforfun wrote: »

Yep, Former Feyenoord player Jon Dahl Tomasson kicking Ajax out in injury time of the quarters

Think that was the same night as Ronaldo hitting a hat-trick at Old Trafford? I was watching Ajax of course.

pmy.murphy

Really looking forward to this PSG game wednesday night. I have a feeling theres a good result in the pipeline

keeponhurling

Not looking like a good result so far
{edit two amazing free kicks later and Ajax should be in front!}

Genuinely seems a gulf in class, this is a real star studded PSG team.

ref is giving Ajax nothing.
Could have booked the entire Ajax team for dissent at this stage if he wanted

NIMAN

Back to 1-1.

8-10

NIMAN wrote: »

Back to 1-1.

Good result. 3rd the goal for this group.

pmy.murphy

8-10 wrote: »

Good result. 3rd the goal for this group.

Very good result and saw plenty of possession. Lacking a good striker though. Sigthorsson was poor again I thought

Fabulous Free Kick by Lasse Schone too, he could have had another one after that aswell and could very well have won the game.

I predicted beforehand Lasse Schone would score, had a fiver on him at 11/1 to score first. Unfortunately Cavani ruined it on me

8-10

pmy.murphy wrote: »

Very good result and saw plenty of possession. Lacking a good striker though. Sigthorsson was poor again I thought

Fabulous Free Kick by Lasse Schone too, he could have had another one after that aswell and could very well have won the game.

I predicted beforehand Lasse Schone would score, had a fiver on him at 11/1 to score first. Unfortunately Cavani ruined it on me

I always like betting on him. Every now and again you can see good odds on him, sometimes in-game.

I'm with you on another striker, yes please

pmy.murphy

I read the other day that Ajax have made 132 million euros in profit on transfers over the last 10 years and currently have 100+ million lying in their bank account free to be spent on anything they like. What I dont understand is why this money isnt being spent on taking the club to the next level like buying a few decent players or increasing the wage cap which would allow them to keep players for longer and broaden their own options by improving their bargaining position in the transfer market. Its money that could/should be used to take the club to the next stage in the Modern Era like to the Knockout Stages of the UCL. I cant under stand why its not being used. Think its bad management on the board of directors part.

Liam O

pmy.murphy wrote: »

I read the other day that Ajax have made 132 million euros in profit on transfers over the last 10 years and currently have 100+ million lying in their bank account free to be spent on anything they like. What I dont understand is why this money isnt being spent on taking the club to the next level like buying a few decent players or increasing the wage cap which would allow them to keep players for longer and broaden their own options by improving their bargaining position in the transfer market. Its money that could/should be used to take the club to the next stage in the Modern Era like to the Knockout Stages of the UCL. I cant under stand why its not being used. Think its bad management on the board of directors part.

They probably you know, don't want the club to go bust. As you said they have made that much on transfers and there is less than that sitting in the bank. You would be betting your club on consistently continuing to find or produce the Sneijders, Suarezs, Zlatans, Eriksons etc. which may not always be the case.

NIMAN

Thing is, compared to the likes of City, Madrid, Barca, Utd etc, they could spend all that €100m (if it is a genuine figure) and still not be competing regularly. €100m doesn't go far these days, that barely 2 top players.

so perhaps they are just adopting the logic of not wasting money to achieve very little?

pmy.murphy

NIMAN wrote: »

Thing is, compared to the likes of City, Madrid, Barca, Utd etc, they could spend all that €100m (if it is a genuine figure) and still not be competing regularly. €100m doesn't go far these days, that barely 2 top players.

so perhaps they are just adopting the logic of not wasting money to achieve very little?

Its not simply about buying players which would be a waste of the money I think. I think the wage cap could easily be increased enough to keep the club sustainable and take them to the next level. A team could be built around all these young stars along with having the money to add other good players if necessary