‘Next week will bring clarity’
NOS Football–
John Heitinga had to take the hot coals out of the fire at Ajax after the dismissal of Alfred Schreuder, but things have not improved much since his arrival.
The inexperienced coach was ingloriously eliminated in Europe, lost the cup final to PSV and had to settle for third place after the defeat against FC Twente on the last matchday. No Champions League. Ajax will play in the preliminary round of the Europa League next season.
“I stepped in to help Ajax,” he said Sunday after the painful defeat against FC Twente. “I had a good start with a lot of victories in a row. Only it has often been insufficient. We have to make sure we don’t go through another season like that.”
Heitinga on his future: ‘Next week there will be clarity’
Heitinga talks about ‘we’ and so again that one question: will he also be Ajax’s head coach next season? “I can’t make any statements about that at the moment. In the coming week there will be clarity about it. That’s what I’m assuming…”
The coach saw that his team was trounced on all fronts against FC Twente. Ajax’s disaster season thus received a fitting finale. “I didn’t say that much after the match. Of course you feel bad. We had nothing to contribute today.”
For a moment an absolute doomsday scenario threatened when AZ equalized against PSV. If they won, the Alkmaarers would have taken over third place and Ajax would have been condemned to the preliminary round of the Conference League. Ajax and Heitinga were spared that.
“That was a relief for all of us. I didn’t see the match of course, but PSV did their sporting duty.”
