Sven Mislintat (l.) and Ajax coach Maurice Steijn. — © ANP / ANP
Ajax is immediately saying goodbye to director of football affairs Sven Mislintat. That is the outcome of the hours-long consultation that took place after the abandoned Classic Ajax-Feyenoord (0-3) in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Mislintat, who came from chief sports officer Maurits Hendriks, is responsible for the appointment of Maurice Steijn and putting together the flawed Ajax selection. He is under external investigation for conflict of interest in transfers.
The members of Ajax told supervisory board chairman Pier Eringa on Wednesday that they wanted Mislintat to be suspended pending the investigation. Eringa did not want that for fear of legal action from the German. Although he would take a back seat according to Eringa, Mislintat caused a stir on Friday by storming into the trainer’s room at De Toekomst and talking about Sunday as D-Day and – in the event of a defeat – anticipating Steijn’s dismissal. However, not the trainer with support, but the director without support, dies.
Ajax communicates that ‘the collaboration has ended in good consultation’, but insiders report that the German had no choice but to leave.
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Van Halst
Interim director Jan van Halst: “We spoke with Sven this evening and jointly determined that there is a lack of broad support for further cooperation, also in view of the current sporting results. Sven has put in a lot of effort for Ajax in recent months, and we are grateful to him for that. It is now in Ajax’s interest to find the sporting path back up as quickly as possible with united forces.”
