Erik ten Hag is not happy with a banner that was displayed on Sunday afternoon in the Johan Cruijff ArenA prior to the match between Ajax and PSV (5-0). After the press conference, the trainer says that he is not in favor of ‘offensive texts’. The canvas already led to disapproving reactions on social media during the match.
The canvas depicts two PSV players with an eggshell on their heads, such as the cartoon character Calimero. On the belly of their shirt you can read ‘Brainfart Aidshoven’ instead of the usual ‘Brainport Eindhoven’ and that text in particular caused the necessary criticism. “I don’t like insulting texts”, responds the Ajax trainer. “Last week in Nijmegen we saw what it could possibly lead to.” Ten Hag is referring to a banner for the match between NEC and Vitesse (0-1) that together formed the text ‘Pure Haat’. The match was plagued by riots with the supporters.
“We should not want to incite these kinds of actions. I keep far from it. I don’t look at it in a good way,” says Ten Hag about the banner in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. He believes that clubs should check the contents of banners more strictly before they are allowed. “I think every club should do that. Of course it is challenging each other a bit, and that is allowed, but there are limits somewhere. I am not saying whether this is over the limit, I have to let it go for a while. to settle in. It’s up to the entire football world.”
Ajax Life, the official account of the Ajax Supporters Association, initially wrote that ‘the creative Ajax players have worked hard again’. “We also see a certain text in the banner. It should be clear that, in our opinion, it should have been omitted.”, was added in a subsequent tweet. In the reactions there were also the necessary disapproving reactions from Ajax fans, who label the text ‘Brainfart Aidshoven’ as ‘scandalous’, among other things.