Amid the pyrotechnics that forced De Klassieker to be abandoned, it was tempting to wonder if Ajax’s season has already gone up in smoke.
Furious supporters smashing up their own stadium and fighting police outside, their team left sitting just two points above the relegation zone, and the brutal axing of director of football Sven Mislintat made for an eventful Sunday in Amsterdam.
The pre-eminent club of Dutch football once again finds themselves in crisis and it isn’t entirely clear how things are going to get better.
The dramatic scenes inside and outside the Johan Cruyff Arena on Sunday, when a barrage of flares forced the players back to the dressing rooms with Feyenoord winning 3-0, turned the spotlight on wider failings at the club.
Videos later on show mounted riot police charging at gangs of supporters on the approaches to the stadium, while firing volleys of tear gas.
Sunday’s clash between Ajax and Feyenoord was abandoned after furious home fans threw flares and fireworks on to the pitch with their team trailing 3-0
After flares were thrown onto the field, the decision was taken to abandon the Eredivisie match
The shocking clashes continued outside the Johan Cruyff Arena as fans battled with police
Baton-wielding riot police confront Ajax fans following the abandoned League game on Sunday
The team sit 14th in the Eredivisie table after winning just one of their opening five matches
Another clip showed a group vandalising the glazed frontage of the Arena’s reception area, smashing windows and lobbing red smoke canisters.
A large clear-up operation was underway on Monday and the remaining 35 minutes of the match will be played behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon.
It’s highly unlikely Ajax will find a way back from three goals down. They’ve won just one of their opening five Eredivisie matches so far and sit 14th in an 18-team league.
Tensions often run high in Ajax-Feyenoord encounters, hence a ban on travelling supporters, but the expression of sheer anger and frustration on Sunday was remarkable.
Ajax have won 36 Dutch league titles in their history, including three of the past four that have been completed, but things have fallen off a cliff in recent months.
Things may look a bit sketchy for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United right now, but that’s nothing compared to his former employer.
Since Ten Hag took up the challenge at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022, nothing seems to have gone right for Ajax.
Ten Hag’s former assistant Alfred Schreuder returned to succeed him but key players like Antony, Lisandro Martinez, Sebastien Haller and Ryan Gravenberch were sold.
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Fans started vandalising their own stadium by smashing the glazed frontage to the reception
The smashed glass of one entrance at the Johan Cruyff Arena after fans tried to storm in
A major clean-up operation was underway on Monday after the scenes of carnage
Ajax bombed out of the Champions League and, at one stage, went seven league games without a victory – something practically unheard of.
Schreuder was sacked in late January with Ajax a lowly fifth in the Eredivisie, with John Heitinga stepping in and eventually guiding them to third spot – good enough for the Europa League but not the Champions League for the first time in 13 seasons.
Another summer of upheaval saw the surprise appointment of Maurice Steijn as head coach. He’d just led unfashionable Sparta Rotterdam to a sixth-place finish – their best for 27 years – but there were doubts he could make the step up.
It wasn’t an appointment without precedent. After all, Ten Hag came highly recommended after achievements at Go Ahead Eagles and Utrecht that punched above their weight.
He was talked up by Sven Mislintat, the former Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund chief scout, who’d filled the vacant Ajax director of football position in April.
Mislintat succeeded Marc Overmars, who left in February 2022 after sending inappropriate messages and pictures to female colleagues at Ajax.
Sven Mislintat, the Ajax director of football affairs, was shown the door on Sunday night
There is severe pressure building on Ajax head coach Maurice Steijn after the terrible start
As is quite often the case at Ajax, Mislintat and Steijn had to handle a turnover of playing personnel.
Key defender Jurrien Timber went to Arsenal, while Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez were sold to West Ham. Old heads in the dressing room like Dusan Tadic, Davy Klaassen and Maarten Stekelenburg either moved on or retired.
Incomings focused on plugging the gaps but were hardly mouth-watering. Croatian defender Josip Sutalo, Georgian forward Georges Mikautadze, young Portuguese winger Carlos Forbs (from Man City) and striker Chuba Akpom (from Middlesbrough) were the most expensive.
Even with the usual squad churn, however, Ajax typically get off to a flying start. They beat Heracles 4-1 on the opening weekend but that, so far, has been their only league win.
Draws with Excelsior and Fortuna Sittard were followed by a 3-1 reverse at FC Twente. Inbetween, they drew 3-3 with Marseille in their opening Europa League group game but even that saw them chuck away two winning positions.
Josip Sutalo (left) and Devyne Rensch react after conceding in the match against Feyenoord
The abandonment was potentially a small mercy for Ajax, who were on course for a hiding
Against Feyenoord, they were outclassed and trailed by three within 37 minutes. The game had been paused on 36 minutes when a plastic cup was thrown onto the pitch and fireworks rained down at 3-0.
The stoppage 11 minutes into the second-half, despite repeated warnings over the PA system, led the referee to call a halt.
‘It is a jet black day, this makes it even worse,’ said Steijn afterwards. Ajax director of general affairs Jan van Halst admitted ‘it is a bad start to the season.’
A ritual sacrifice was maybe needed to appease the baying fans but perhaps Steijn hasn’t been in his job long enough.
Instead, Mislintat was the fall guy. Fired by the club on Sunday night, a brutally frank statement said: ‘The lack of broad support within the organisation is the reason behind this decision.’
It suggested the man in charge of Ajax’s recruitment strategy just wasn’t liked by anyone.
Or it may have been a reaction to press reports that Mislintat had stormed into the dressing room ahead of the Feyenoord game to talk about Steijn’s possible dismissal.
Branco van den Boomen looks dejected after Ajax were held to a draw by Fortuna Sittard
Ajax’s Europa League group stage began with a 3-3 draw against Marseille last Thursday
Ajax and Feyenoord will return on Wednesday afternoon to finish the game without a crowd
The coach wasn’t present at the time which is just as well as Mislintat appeared to be ‘very threatening’ as he allegedly disrupted preparations for one of Ajax’s biggest games of the season.
Staff had been told Mislintat would ‘operate from the shadows’ but by Sunday night he’d gone entirely, sparking yet another search for a director of football.
Meanwhile, Louis van Gaal, 72, was forced to speak and snuff out suggestions he might step back into the breach at Ajax even as he battles prostate cancer.
Van Gaal had surgery last month and said he cannot go to the toilet by himself, so taking on the toughest job in Dutch club football probably isn’t the best idea.
But Ajax certainly need someone of Van Gaal’s iron character to sort them out right now.
