AFC Ajax - 'The Velvet Revolution'

[jackstevens911]

The Velvet Revolution

As well documented, in 2010 Ajax decided to completely revamp the way they operated after a much disliked move away from their historical routes. Cruyff and co.'s decision to take Ajax back to the way it was, a club which entrenched itself in the ability to play attacking possession football and make total use of its world famous youth academy; subsequently moving away from previous years of overspending, financial mismanagement and inflated player fee's, most famously typified by the signing of a 19 year old Sulejmani from Heerenveen for €16,000,000 euros.

My aim is to move Ajax's domestic domination to the European stage, and successfully win the champions league whilst adhering to the rules, limitation and regulations set in real life. Ajax are a team who belong at the pinnacle of world club football, and that is where I intend to take them! Forza Ajax! Another reason for me taking on Ajax was simply because my favourite player of all time, Bergkamp is a coach!



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Limitations & Rules

- Ajax will operate with a strict max wage of €12,750 p/w for its highest earners (Currently Lasse Schone & Niklas Moisander). Any player demanding above that wage for renewal will be sold.

- In turn this will encourage the development of players in the Youth Academy, and I aim to be able field in the future a starting 11 consisting of 100% homegrown players.

- I will also set myself a strict transfer fund of €5,000,000 MAX per transfer, meaning I will not be spending more than €5 Million on any given transfer. This is also true of Ajax's real life transfer limitations.

- Only 3 Under-19 Youth Player's can be signed per season, forced a higher emphasis on the production of homegrown, Dutch players.

- From the Under 19's, to Jong Ajax, to the First Team, an attacking, possession based game will be played, and the players and team will be drilled into playing the world famous 'Ajax Way'.


Hopefully I have outlined the main unique points of my story, and in the next update will go through my Tactics, Squad Selection, Transfer Dealings, and Pre-Season Report!

Thanks for reading!

Keep checking back for more!

 

[Disclaimer89]

Looking forward to this, as I've mentioned on here many times, I am a huge fan of Ajax saves!

Great to see you have put rules in place to make it more interesting!

Good luck, will be following.

 

[jackstevens911]

Thankyou! Fantastic that your interested, I'll really be trying to make the story as realistic and enjoyable as possible !

 

[kitchin75]

good luck tryed something like this on fm13 sold every1 that did not come from ajax

 

[SamPeters]

Good luck with this mate!

 

[Bakestar]

£12,750 p/w!!!!!

better sign them up on long contracts then.

 

[Hireax]

Interesting stuff! Looking forward to see your progress mate

 

[jackstevens911]

£12,750 p/w!!!!!

better sign them up on long contracts then.

Yeah, in real life Ajax have been in some big trouble regarding the mismanagement of their wages, in the past few years (2010 and before) they've handed big contracts to expensive players and I didn't work out. Cruyffs 'Velvet Revolution' since 2010 meant because there so much emphasis on producing homegrown talent, the annual wage salary was capped at €5,000,000 per year! It's certainly going to be a challenge trying to get a good solid team going and progress in the champions league without losing all my players haha

 

[jackstevens911]

Pre-Season Report

Our preseason has been satisfactory and we have managed to pick up a couple of good wins against some of the lower teams, however the loss against Levante and Aston Villa were disappointing, however I was not to concerned about these games as they were preseason.

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Notable Pre-Season Performance

Overall the Pre-Season was good for what it was intended for, getting some match practice under the players belts and gaining some fitness before the start of the domestic season. Some notable perfromances include..

Jairo Riedewald

Jairo really stood out as a top performer pre-season, and I decided to begin training him as a Regista, as by playing the way I want to, possession football, I decided it would be useful to have a player who was able of holding down the midfield & being able to contribute to the possession game. I also see Jairo as a great replacement for Daley Blind, and he is freakily similar in his ability to play LB, CB and CDM. Below is a screenshot of a game where Jairo managed a fantastic pass success rate as a Regista.

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The game also managed to present the ideal way I want my players to position themselves, tight and compact in the centre, with my fantastic wide players like Schöne and El Ghazi providing the width accompanied by the on-rushing Van Rhijn and Boilesen. I also want my team to play a very high line and my centre backs demonstrate that.

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Transfer Dealings

So far I have signed noone however i have my eye on a few young player who I feel could add something to the team, as I will show them later.

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Moisander left due to my inability to renew his contract as he was already on the max wage I can offer a player. I managed to receive a decent fee for him and also managed to get a 30% next sale profit clause on him, so all in all very pleasing.

Sigtorssen (Cant type his name on keyboard ) left as i had two great prospects in Milik and Zivkovic and the opportunity to get £5+ Million for him was too good to turn down.

Tobias Sana was simply not good enough for my team, and despite shipping him for peanuts, I managed to get a 20% next sale profit clause on him, so in the future he could bring Ajax a bit more revenue.

Potential Transfers

Nicolaj Thomsen

The young Dane is looking very promising and is within my budget. I am currently scouting him thoroughly and i can see him as a player who will be able to help fill the Lasse Schöne shaped void next season that is looking ever more likely.

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Dragisa Gudelj

Dragisa is more of a target who will be integrated into Jong Ajax and has some fantastic potential to be a great asset for me in the future. I have some great centre backs, so if he is eventually unable to make it into the first team I should be able to make a healthy profit on him.

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Tactics

I have decided upon a 4-3-3, with Van Rhijn and Boilesen bombing forward and Andersen being allowed creative freedom in the centre. Klaassen will be an important player and enable us to possess a good driving force in the centre, and as mentioned Riedewald will add solidity and a good base in the midfield. Schöne will be good for us cutting in from wide and El Ghazi will be given a free pass to terrorise defenders with his pace and dribbling.

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Overall, that is our Pre-Season summed up! I have seen some very encouraging signs and I am very happy with my squad, I see no glaring weaknesses and without signing mature mediocre players to plug potential back up gaps, I will be able to give players like Riedewald, Van der Hoorn, and Abdel Malek El Hasnaoui. The only concern is Lasse Schöne. I feel he is too important to see however with my strict budget it will be unlikely i will be able to convince him to renew, so I have a big decision to make regarding my star player!

Thanks for reading, Ill update soon on the progress of my team in the start of the Eredivisie season!

 

[rawket]

Subscribed! Very intriguing challenge, especially with the finances.
All the best mate.

 

[LewLufc]

Great read man, will be following.

i'm currently doing an academy only career with them into the 5th season and its not going well, no world beaters to speak of. Good luck and as i said i will be following!

 

[Dodds]

Any more posts on this? Next season I'm Deffo doing a real time Ajax save!