Kroes: ‘There are always doubts, unless we appoint Guardiola or Luis Enrique’

Alex Kroes explained on Thursday the suspension of John Heitinga and Marcel Keizer. The technical director – who is making his own position available – reflected on the decision to choose Heitinga. Wasn't the difference with Francesco Farioli too great?

"I feel responsible for the current situation," Kroes stated several times during a Teams meeting with regular Ajax followers. "It's not for nothing that I'm making my own position available. I'm not stepping down immediately because the other board members and the supervisory board have asked me to."

Kroes can now start searching for a successor to Heitinga, whom he co-appointed. He doesn't feel he's ruling from his own grave, as he doesn't make the decisions alone. Kroes declined to comment on potential names – such as Erik ten Hag. "I'm not talking about top candidates, second or third options. I can't and won't comment on that at this time."

Heitinga's dismissal was inevitable. Less than three months after the Eredivisie kicked off, he had to go. A painful dismissal for a true club man and also a major embarrassment for the Ajax board. Wasn't Farioli's move to Heitinga, in retrospect, a rather strange one?

Kroes: "One moment someone is available and the next they're not. The funny thing is that we were portrayed as people who didn't know anything about it when we appointed Farioli. Farioli can now walk on water, while Heitinga is useless. That's how it is with all of us, our mood swings."

Or was it doomed to fail? Those were the initial thoughts with Farioli too. Every decision we make now will be questioned. Unless we appoint Pep Guardiola or Luis Enrique. Things can always improve at Ajax. You know that. Normally, you hope for more time or for progress.

Shouldn't Kroes have ultimately pushed harder for Farioli to stay longer? "I get that accusation often, but it's really unfair. Francesco was unstoppable. He just wanted to leave. Period."

Kroes subsequently maintained faith in Heitinga for a long time. He genuinely believed he deserved more time. But you never get time at Ajax. Performance is essential. Or at least, it becomes clear that a team is developing. There wasn't even the slightest sign of that yet. Yet, the club's management only decided to let Heitinga go after the 3-0 home defeat to Galatasaray.

Shouldn't that have happened sooner? The difficult thing is that we also saw some bright spots during matches. Unfortunately, only very briefly. It's always difficult to say afterward, "If only I had done this or that." You also hope that the tide can be turned. We wanted to give John time and space, but it wasn't meant to be. In hindsight, it's easy to conclude that this decision should have been made sooner.

Grim will be on the sidelines on Sunday as interim coach during a visit to FC Utrecht. Ajax hopes to appoint a new head coach as soon as possible.