Maurice Steijn departs Ajax with immediate effect after disastrous four months
Amsterdam football club Ajax has announced that men's team manager Maurice Steijn will leave with immediate effect. The 49-year-old has been with the team for less than five months. During that time, Ajax started the 2023-2024 season with one win, two draws and four losses in seven Eredivisie matches. For the time being, assistant coach Hedwiges Maduro will take over as the team's head coach.
With just five points in seven Eredivisie matches, Ajax is off to its worst start in history. The team has not had a victory in two months after defeating Ludogorets in the Europa League on August 24. Ajax has played eight matches in the Eredivisie and Europa League since, losing five of them. Ajax is sitting in third place with two points in Group B of the Europa League.
They are in 17th place among the 18 teams in the Eredivisie, where the bottom two teams are relegated at the end of each season. With six points, FC Utrecht is ahead of Ajax, having beaten the Amsterdammers at home on Sunday by a score of 4-3. FC Volendam is at the bottom of the Eredivisie table with four points, and will travel to the Johan Cruijff Arena on November 2.
"The club management and Steijn have agreed that the coach will step down from his position," Ajax wrote in a statement. Steijn signed a three-year deal with Ajax in June in a transfer from Sparta Rotterdam. The team said it was Steijn who said he might not be the right person to lead the men's team considering the direction the team is moving.
"This morning, I sat down with the board, and we continued our talks later this afternoon. We came to the conclusion that this is what is best for Ajax, although I regret that," Steijn said. "Everyone who knows me knows I have done everything to take Ajax back to the place where this club belongs. But I failed to do so."
"We have worked intensely and professionally together over the last few months. But the sportive successes and the development of the team were lacking," said Jan van Halst, the club's interim director. Van Halst took over in early September.
Ajax has undergone several significant staffing changes during the past five weeks. It started with the team's technical director, Sven Mislintat, winding up under investigation for his controversial links to talent agencies involved in the team's acquisition of left-back Borna Sosa at a transfer fee of 8 million euros.
Legendary manager Louis van Gaal also returned to Ajax as an external advisor to the team's Supervisory Board. Michel van Praag and Leo van Wijk were also nominated to become Supervisory Board members, while Pier Eringa and Van Halst announced their intention to leave the Board.
The changes to the composition of the board still have to be approved during the general shareholders meeting on November 17. That meeting will likely involve the U.S. financial institution, Citigroup, for the first time. The firm took a four percent ownership stake in Ajax earlier this month.
"I want to thank the supporters and the people I have worked with here, and I hope Ajax will find its way up again soon." Steijn wrote.
