Alex Kroes is happy that he can return as technical director at Ajax, he tells AT5. “These were bizarre weeks. I have already apologized several times for the unrest this has caused within Ajax. I hope that we can now put that unrest behind us and that we can finally look forward.” AT5’s Ajax reporter Sammie van den Broek spoke with Kroes.
Yesterday, Ajax and the Supervisory Board (SB) agreed that Kroes may return to the club as technical director. Kroes started as general manager at Ajax in March, but was suspended by the Supervisory Board on April 2 because he had bought Ajax shares with insider information.
“The difficult thing is that no one knows whether or not I have traded with insider information, and that is why the AFM has to make a judgment about it. There are three different lawyers who know about the situation, and all three have a different opinion about whether it was inside information,” says Kroes. “If I get a punishment, I will take the consequences. Because then I have done something, not with the wrong intentions, and then I have to quit Ajax.”
Kroes says he is particularly sorry that things were said within the club and the association that were also painful to him. “I don’t blame anyone, if I make a serious mistake, I will take my consequences,” he says.
The new technical director calls it hard Ajax-is-not-a-playground judgment from Supervisory Board chairman Michael van Praag about him is painful. “But it was not malicious. He had his information, but now with increasing insight it may be a little less black and white than it seemed.”
‘Bizarre weeks’
Kroes would rather not have experienced the past few weeks. “These were really bizarre weeks, I wish I hadn’t experienced this. I would have liked to have had other fun weeks, but things happen,” said Kroes.
According to him, his return as technical director was already a possibility, which he previously mentioned to the club and the board. “The difficult thing about this statement is that no one knows exactly whether or not I traded with insider information and that is also why the AFM has to make a judgment on this.” He is clear about one thing: “Let’s talk about Ajax and not about Alex”.
AT5 also spoke with Supervisory Board Chairman Michael van Praag and Board of Directors Chairman Ernst Boekhorst. All interviews can be seen below.
