Ajax board memebers set to step down

ROTTERDAM-Reuters

Johan Cruyff leads the group of members to step down from the Ajax board. Reuters photo

Ajax Amsterdam’s entire board, including Johan Cruyff, will step down, the Dutch league club said yesterday.

The resignations of the five members, who also include Edgar Davids and chairman Steven ten Have, follow an Amsterdam court decision on Feb. 7 banning the naming of Louis van Gaal as CEO.
Van Gaal had been named as a director by four members of the club’s board - Edgar Davids, Steven ten Have, Paul Romer and Marjan Olfers - last November.

However, Cruyff, who is also part of the board, said the quartet had kept him in the dark when they appointed Van Gaal - a long time rival of the Netherlands great.

The court ruled in Cruyff’s favor, saying Van Gaal’s appointment had not been on the agenda for a board meeting which Cruyff missed.

Cruyff was joined by a dozen youth coaches including Dennis Bergkamp, Jaap Stam, Ronald de Boer and Wim Jonk in protesting the appointment of former Bayern Munich coach Van Gaal, who won the European Cup with Ajax in 1995.

Ajax shareholders are due to meet today.