Fallen Star: The Dramatic Downfall of a Legendary Dutch Football Manager

In the world of football management, few have experienced a journey as extreme as that of the Dutch coach, who was once a legend at Ajax. Between 2010 and 2016, he led the club to four consecutive Eredivisie titles, the Johan Cruyff Shield, and earned back-to-back Rinus Michels Awards as the best coach in the country. His Ajax side embodied the ideals of Dutch football, playing a possession-heavy, attacking, and relentlessly dominant style.

However, in 2016, after narrowly missing a fifth league title, the manager resigned, bringing an end to an era of domestic dominance. What followed was a sequence of bruising experiences that reshaped his perspective on football management and his place within it. His move to Inter Milan in 2016 lasted just 85 days, as a low scoring average and four losses in five matches saw him dismissed before winter. Months later, his ill-fated Crystal Palace stint in the Premier League was even shorter, lasting a mere 77 days and five games, all of which ended in defeats.

What began as a mission to modernize teams quickly turned into a pattern of short-lived chaos, a far cry from the glory days at Ajax. The once-legendary Dutch manager's journey serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the football industry and the challenges even the most successful coaches can face.