After the sudden departure of Marc Overmars as director of football affairs at Ajax, Marjan Olfers regularly joined talk shows to give explanations. Club watcher Mike Verweij puts in the Kick-Offpodcast from The Telegraph question marks about the performances of the special professor of Sport and Law at the VU University in Amsterdam, who was active on the supervisory board of Ajax in the 2011/12 season. According to Verweij, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Olfers internally at the club from Amsterdam.
“A lot of people have been disturbed by the role of Marjan Olfers in the media in recent weeks,” said Verweij. “She was on Beau and on a whole lot of other programs. But I also heard her on the radio. And that’s fine. She is a professor of Sports and Law and also knowledgeable in many matters in that turnaround (about alleged physical and mental abuse of some gymnasts, ed.). She had excellent points there, I think. Only what was missing in my eyes is that she clearly indicated that she was also a supervisory board member at Ajax. In fact, it turned out that Louis van Gaal was not lawfully appointed (as technical director, ed.) and a knife in the back of Johan Cruijff was planned.”
Studio Voetbal reveals a chilling quote during Ajax staff meeting
Mike Verweij questions the performance of Marjan Olfers in Studio Voetbal, among others.
“And she was diametrically opposed to the football players, including Marc Overmars,” Verweij recalls. “And that even led to a lawsuit. So she was in court opposite Overmars, who was not yet a technical director at the time. But she did feel so involved with Ajax that it competed against the then sitting supervisory board. And you can taste that resentment. And what I think is really crazy about a professor is that she makes a number of open ends at Studio Voetbal by stating, among other things, that she fears that something will happen at another professional football club. very strange.”
“She also says that she has a sound recording of the staff meeting at Ajax. Yes, I find that strange from a professor, that you have that from a closed meeting,” adds Verweij. “But also the words of Menno Geelen (commercial director Ajax, ed.), who was asked by the staff of: ‘Now speak out’. And he did that very clearly. And the conclusion was wrongly attached to this that Geelen indicated that much more would come up. Yes, he did not say that. And if she does have a sound recording, then she must articulate it properly. And not in this way, “says the Ajax follower.
Marjan Olfers was a member of the supervisory board of Ajax ten years ago.
Valentijn Driessen later in the podcast also intervenes in the discussion about the role of Olfers. “I just got an app and that is in line with what Mike (Verweij, ed.) said about Olfers. And that is about Steven ten Have (former chairman of the supervisory board of Ajax, ed.). Who indirectly also his face has shown in that entire Ajax saga. He was the one who, together with Olfers, appointed Louis van Gaal as director behind Johan Cruijff’s back, which was eventually reversed by the judge.”
“He is a supervisory director of the VEB, the Dutch association of securities owners. And that association sent a letter to Ajax last Monday, in which they asked for clarification about what is going on at Ajax. And they believe that the shareholders have been disadvantaged for what happened at Ajax, that the supervisory board did not intervene in the contract extension of Marc Overmars, while they had already heard signals and noises about cross-border behaviour.”
Verweij thinks that Ten Have should not blow so high of the tower in view of his Ajax past. “He was really called back by the judge at the time like a toddler. He has unlawfully appointed Louis van Gaal and Danny Blind. So now to address Ajax about things that did not go well. I would keep my mouth shut, I think” Verweij concludes his story about Ten Have.