Sven Mislintat took the decision not to renew John Heitinga’s contract as head coach of Ajax on Thursday morning and was mainly based on the results of the past few months. That said the new German director during an inserted press meeting. “I think he had a fair chance.”
Mislintat started at sports complex de Toekomst with the announcement that the decision to say goodbye to the young head coach was a ‘heavy’ one for him. “In a short time I noticed that he is a great personality and good person. We are also grateful to him. But even in politically difficult times for the club, I have to base my research on football.”
He gave everything and received a tough announcement
And that did not work out favorably for Heitinga. On Thursday afternoon, the clubman, who could not prevent Ajax from reaching the CL places and the cup in the past four months, was told by Mislintat that he is not eligible for a contract extension as head coach. ,,John reacted professionally, although you could see that he was disappointed. And I think there should be room for that too. He gave everything and got a tough announcement.”
According to Mislintat, that announcement was preceded by a great deal of care. “I did this research step by step. Every week I analyzed what was happening on and off the field. In it, a number of cases argued for John, but a number did not. I made the final decision this morning.”
Mislintat continues: ,,So it is not the case that I said after the defeat against Twente that he cannot be a trainer. And not even after the victory over Utrecht that it must be him. It is very important to see the line of development over a period, to look back at matches. It’s a big investigation, not something you decide in a minute or an emotion.”
Go up in smoke
With this, Heitinga sees his fervent desire to stay on as head coach, to make the selection more to his liking during the transfer period and to push his club up from there, go up in smoke. Earlier, the former defender said that he would only consider it a fair chance.
Mislintat disagrees. “If you get the chance to show yourself from the end of January until the end of the season, then you have had a fair chance. Absolute. He has been involved in many competitions. He has been able to show himself in that, to turn things in our favor. In some cases, he did. He started in fifth place. We finished third.”
,,But we also had seven big games in that period. He won one of them. There were also matches between which we think he can get more out of it. You take all these things into account and complete the investigation, just like the expectations for the coming season.”
Mislintat strives to help and keep Heitinga in a different role for the club, but at the same time realizes that this will be difficult. The same goes for the role as an assistant. ,,I have never seen a head coach who becomes an assistant. And I really see a head coach in Heitinga. We need to see how we can help him with that.”
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