Ajax are a complete mess. The Dutch club are preparing for their crucial Europa League trip to Brighton against the backdrop of their biggest crisis in decades. Without a manager after sacking Maurice Steijn on Monday, the club are second bottom and in the relegation zone of the Eredivisie, and are currently on their longest winless since the introduction of Dutch professional football in 1954.
Could Ajax really be relegated? Probably not, but things are getting worse, not better. A month ago, even with the club in the bottom half of the table, you could get 2,500-1 odds on them dropping out of the top flight. Now, those odds are 150-1. Club legend Rafael van der Vaart said this week that Ajax “have to think like a relegation candidate at the moment. That’s very sad, but it’s true. You are no longer Ajax. You have to assume that you are not better than your opponent, because they simply do not have the qualities for that.”
