That Hedwiges Maduro and Steven Berghuis would have stabbed the now dismissed Maurice Steijn in the back is complete nonsense, according to Kees Luijckx. The former defender of AZ and NAC Breda, among others, believes that Steijn himself is also to blame for the sporting crisis in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. This is followed by a heated discussion with Hugo Borst about Hedwiges Maduro and his relationship with sports psychologist Annemieke Zijerveld.
“Let’s not feel sorry for Steijn now, right?” Luijckx expresses his opinion on Saturday The Grandstand. “Everyone stabs each other in the back there. That’s just public, you can hardly call it a knife in the back anymore. Because they just stab each other from the front.” Presenter Jan Joost van Gangelen immediately asks whether the analyst wants to name man and horse. “Be specific.”
“Steijn at Mislintat, and now it also seems to be the case with Maduro. Well, I don’t know if it’s true. You could also call it trampling. In any case, I have no sympathy for what people do to each other there. That I just want to say,” Luijckx is clear in his words about the ongoing unrest and internal quarrels at the ailing Ajax.
Chest
Borst then speaks. “If you analyze Ajax it is quite simple: it started with Van der Sar appointing Mislintat. That has all been approved. The key is in the hands of a foreigner, a stranger who does not have an impressive CV. Then he gets 110-120 million euro players who are immediately questioned. We only knew Sutalo from the Croatian team.”
“Then they get to work and there soon appears to be an internal argument about the Sparta goalkeeper (Nick Olij, ed.), as I remember,” said the self-confessed Sparta fan. “Steijn wanted that, but Mislintat under no circumstances. That was a German goalkeeper (Diant Ramaj, ed.). It then became clear that the verbal agreements that Steijn and Linse (agent Rodger Linse, ed.) had made about participating in discussions about the purchasing policy, are worth nothing. So that relationship has been broken.”
“Then things don’t go so well and Steijn thinks: I only see potential in Sutalo and not the rest. He then says that and protects himself from the technical director (Mislintat, ed.). But he also alienates himself from the players who have been recruited. Well, after that it’s a sliding scale. I then wonder about Maduro, who was seen as a tactical brain. What was his input actually? I had great expectations of him,” says Borst, the interim coach of Ajax.
Annoyance
Borst is then annoyed by Luijckx, who does not believe that Maduro discussed the affairs of Ajax with Zijerveld, whom he knows from their joint period at Almere City FC. “He is talking nonsense, because he says that in the radio interview (in which Zijerveld strongly criticized the technical staff, ed.) she did not say that they talk to each other. She did say that.”
“They did talk, but it is not said that they talked about Steijn’s body language,” Luijckx counters. “No, no, they were probably talking about the weather,” the surprised Borst responds full of cynicism. “What do you think if they had an intimate relationship last year, because they worked with each other. Then they are not talking about the situation at Ajax? What do you think?”
“She’s talking about body language, everyone can see that. She doesn’t say anything inside information of what happened there. So we can’t rely on that,” Luijckx maintains his position. “Do you think so? Why has Almere distanced itself from it?” Borst keeps the discussion alive. “From what she sees down the line, they have distanced themselves from that,” Luijckx emphasizes.
“If you have a relationship of trust with someone you worked with last year. And now it is friendly. Then you keep a straight face in every interview?”, Borst is very surprised about Zijerveld’s statements about Ajax. “You don’t suspect that you’re revealing anything, do you? That’s nonsense, isn’t it? She’s out of line and that’s very much to the detriment of Maduro, who won’t be happy about it.”
According to Borst, it is ‘Maduro’s responsibility that he must trust her’. A ‘wrong assessment’, according to the journalist. Luijckx can hardly believe Borst’s statement and interrupts Van Gangelen to respond. “That’s real nonsense! So it’s his (Maduro’s, ed.) responsibility that he has to trust her? You can’t say that, can you?” However, his tablemate refuses to take back his words.
“Of course! You’re not going to take the risk of revealing trade secrets, are you? You can defend your boyfriend…” Borst says teasingly to Luijckx, who reacts fiercely. “Who is my boyfriend?” asks the former player. “Well, he (Maduro was an analyst for ESPN, ed.) worked here.” Luijckx does not see why that should play a role. “I don’t even have his phone number.”