October 31 – Ajax have a new coach with John Van’t Schip returning to the Amsterdam club to try and rescue the season.
The Dutch record champions announced Van’t Schip as interim manager after the club dismissed Maurice Steijn last week. Van’t Schip will start as interim head coach before stepping into technical role.
A club release announcing his return said: “Ajax appoints John van’t Schip as interim head coach. The former Ajax player signs a contract with the club running from 30 October 2023 until 30 June 2025… Van’t Schip and Ajax have agreed to him stepping into a function in technical management from 1 July 2024.”
Dutch media rumours had Van’t Schip as the frontrunner to take over from Steijn. Last Sunday Ajax went bottom of the Eredivisie table after a 5-2 defeat by league leaders PSV Eindhoven.
In a statement, Ajax director Jan van Halst said: “John is a real Ajax man, who has a lot of national and international experience, on the field and next to it. To us he is the right person to give a positive turn to our performances. First as head coach of the first team, for the long term we see a different technical role for him. John has already successfully worked with Michael Valkanis as an assistant trainer, and we think that Michael is a welcome addition to our technical staff.”
Van’t Schip spent 11 years at Ajax and later returned as assistant manager to Marco Van Basten. He has coached a raft of clubs and in his last managerial role, he served as head coach of the Greece national team from 2019 until 2021.
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