If it is up to Nick Hengelman, Alex Kroes has a future at Ajax. In January 2022, Hengelman was brought to Deventer by Kroes – then a major shareholder of Go Ahead Eagles. The former goalkeeper became charmed by Kroes at the time, although he finds the much-discussed purchase of a share package from Ajax ‘stupid’. On Thursday evening, the members of Ajax will meet at a scheduled meeting, where chairman of the supervisory board Michael van Praag will explain why Kroes should be fired.
Hengelman tells FCUpdate that he got to know Kroes off the field. “I did window coverings as a hobby and went to his house to decorate the house. I knew him because he was Jos Hooiveld’s agent. While we were decorating the house, we talked about football, as acquaintances,” the retired goalkeeper reflects. “At one point he brought me to Go Ahead Eagles. This way I could see how he works and how he has achieved everything at Go Ahead Eagles.”
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According to Hengelman, Go Ahead is still reaping the benefits of the Kroes era, when it became the financially soundest club in the Netherlands. “I think it’s quite high. We don’t meet up every day or anything like that, but we do have a chat when we see each other.” The 34-year-old Hengelman, who was under contract with Ajax as a reserve goalkeeper in the 2020/21 season, finds Kroes ‘quite strict and straightforward’. “He doesn’t disguise anything, he doesn’t make things more beautiful than they are. He just tries to put together a good team, with different characters that fit well together.”
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“That was also one of the reasons he came to me,” he remembers. “Warner Hahn had left, Andries Noppert took his place, and Kroes did not want anyone to saw around Andries’ chair legs. He explained that story very clearly.” Kroes made his mark in football as co-founder of real estate agency SEG. That connection soon led to questions. “I think it is only positive that he can come into contact with the best players in the world,” says Hengelman. “It’s better than you or I becoming director and not getting further than Sutalo, to name a few. So what difference does it make if he comes into the agent world?”
However, purchasing Ajax shares just before the announcement of his appointment as general manager was ‘stupid’. “In a cage like Ajax, where every stick is used to hit you, you just have to avoid handing over those sticks. But I also think of Ten Hag, who was first killed and later left as a celebrated man. Things will always be difficult for you, so you have to make sure you hand out as few sticks as possible. He should have avoided buying those shares. Even though the intentions may have been good.”
According to Hengelman, Kroes was not interested in financial gain. “That man has earned a lot of money and I think he only does things that he likes and that he sees benefit in. I think he always wanted to go to Ajax, even when he was still at Go Ahead, I think. Then you’re not going to buy those few shares for the money and then get fired, are you? I don’t believe in that.” Moreover, the value of the share hardly changed after the appointment. “Suppose Johan Cruijff rises from the dead and becomes technical director, then not a dime will be added to that share. Those shares don’t do anything at all. But of course it was stupid.”
The dismissal was orchestrated by the supervisory board. Hengelman suspects that Kroes has frightened certain people within Ajax. “If you make a fuss about those few shares – it’s a lot of money, but not by Ajax standards – what are we talking about? Then someone is afraid of something, I think. Football is not always leading, certainly not in a listed company, but I think Ajax wants to make football leading and return Ajax to the top of the Netherlands and Europe.” He would therefore grant Kroes a future in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. “Why wouldn’t it be possible? He has the connections, has done a fantastic job at Go Ahead… If he can get structure back in that club, he will soon go out as a celebrated man.”
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