There appears to have been in the media outside of the Netherlands a surprise reaction to the news about the new manager of Ajax. Some have cited it as an underwhelming appointment or accused the club of running the risk of going backwards or making an uninspired choice . Below are a few points that show why the fans, board, and Dutch press are certainly not surprised by the appointment of Peter Bosz as Ajax manager.
- By James Rowe
Peter Bosz has built a reputation of his teams playing attacking football whilst remaining a hard taskmaster. Peter Bosz won the Eerste Divisie with Heracles Almelo in 2005 and helped to establish them as an Eredivisie club finishing 13th with a win percentage of 49% the following season. During his second spell in charge in 2010, he helped guide the club to the European play-offs .
He then moved on to Vitesse Arnhem in 2013 where he helped guide to the club to the top of the league after 17 games for the 1st time since 2006. Vitesse eventually finished 6th that season. Once again Bosz showed his strength in targeting Europe and he guided Vitesse to the Europa League by winning the European play-offs defeating Heerenveen in the final and gaining a place in the 3rd qualifying round for the 2015 / 2016 season. He was also nominated for the Rinus Michels award for Dutch manager of the year. Bosz left Vitesse in 5th position in January 2016. He had a win percentage of 44 percent.
By his own admission Bosz left for Maccabi Tel Aviv to ”Learn to deal with a different kind of pressure and fight for trophies”. He narrowly missed out of the Israeli league title and lost the Israeli cup final. He did not lose a single league game in Israel winning 13, drawing 4 and scoring 40 goals and he obtained a win percentage of 82 percent. The base that Peter Bosz has created will stand him in good stead for managing Ajax and he will not be overwhelmed by the challenge .
Ajax director Erwin van der Sar stated his belief in the new manager of Ajax, ”In Peter Bosz we believe we have appointed a manager who can only make our talented squad better.
”The clubs that he has managed have always played technical attacking football and that fits with Ajax. He has a clear vision and we are delighted with the fact that he is coming to Ajax.”
Also the Ajax fans are not disappointed with the appointment. They are aware of the attacking intent that the teams of Peter Bosz have shown in the past and after a somewhat dull season with little attacking intent shown especially in Europe and against mid-table Eredivisie teams. The Ajax fans are ready and hopeful to see the Ajax signature football of old.
As always Amsterdam will have a keen eye on what it’s famous sons can produce next season in particular wresting the title back from Eindhoven and putting on a respectable show in Europe.
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