Michael van Praag does not believe there is mismanagement at Ajax, he says on Goedemorgen Eredivisie. The former chairman of the Supervisory Board also discusses the appointment of Alex Kroes, who has since left Ajax as of 1 February.
“Whenever Ajax is mentioned, the word ‘mismanagement’ is immediately bandied about, but that is of course not the case,” begins van Praag, who left Ajax a year and a half ago. “At the time, we were dealing with the legacy of (Sven, ed.) Mislintat. The Supervisory Board tried to resolve that as best it could.”
Van Praag estimated at the time that it would take three years to resolve the situation definitively. “We are now in the second year and I can see improvements, but it is not yet where it needs to be. I reject the term ‘mismanagement’, because Ajax are working to turn the tide.”
When Alex Kroes was appointed, Van Praag came under fire from the Ajax supporters. Kroes was accused of insider trading. “We felt we couldn’t appoint him, and that drew a lot of criticism.” Kroes recently said on the Kale & Kokkie Podcast that his suspension was unjustified.
“Well, it turns out that’s not the case. The AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten) has since established that insider trading did take place. And if you’re a listed company, you can’t appoint someone like that as CEO; that doesn’t happen anywhere!” said Van Praag. “If Kroes is saying that now, he’s just trying to save face.”
The former Ajax director did consider Kroes suitable as CEO, but they could not appoint him. “We had no other choice. I would have done the same thing again, and my successors would have done the same. You have no other option.”
“Back then it may have been mismanagement, but now it’s a recovery strategy,” Van Praag concludes.