Blind falls short of Ajax hopes

Danny Blind has been dismissed as coach of AFC Ajax despite winning the Dutch Cup and leading his side into next season's UEFA Champions League.

Board meeting
The coach was informed this morning that he and assistants Ruud Krol and Gerard van der Lem would no longer be required at the Amsterdam ArenA following a meeting of the club's board and management last night which discussed the 44-year-old Blind's 14-month tenure. A club statement said: "The Ajax first team has not reached the main goal - really competing for the Dutch title. The Ajax first team did not play the kind of football we wished for, namely an attractive, attacking and dominant style.

'Special thanks'
"The progress of the team as well as the individual players, with a few exceptions, has been insufficient over a period lasting more than one year," it continued before concluding: "The club would like to give special thanks to Danny Blind for all his years of effort at Ajax." Blind took over from Ronald Koeman last March, leading them into the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League and winning the Dutch Super Cup before earning a fourth-placed finish in the Eredivisie this season and leading his side to success in the Dutch Cup final.

Ajax career
He also earned his side a place in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League after winning the inaugural end-of-season play-offs. It was not enough to keep the former Ajax captain, who played 372 league matches for the club between 1986 and 1999, in his job. Blind won five domestic titles, four Dutch Cups, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Cup and the European/South American Cup during his time as a player before joining the club's technical staff. He became head of the Ajax youth department in February 2003 before becoming first-team coach.