Economy•15 Apr ’24 4:04 PM•Modified on 15 Apr ’24 5:35 PMAuthor: Thijs Baas
Michael van Praag, chairman of the supervisory board of Ajax, already had his shares in the club when he was chairman of the KNVB. This is evident from documents in the hands of BNR sports reporter Jaap de Groot. The regulations of the Football Association prohibit the ownership of interests in an organization that may harm the interests of the KNVB.
Van Praag himself was also at fault: ‘also owned shares during KNVB chairmanship’
4 min 31 sec Michael van Praag, chairman of the supervisory board of Ajax, already owned his shares in the club when he was chairman of the KNVB. (ANP / REX by Shutterstock)
It recently emerged that Van Praag had failed to report to the club that he also owned Ajax shares. That was already remarkable, because owning a share package in the club was precisely the reason for Ajax’s new general manager to be dismissed after just two weeks. Van Praag even accused Kroes of committing a crime through insider trading.
‘Many people have gotten the idea of a kind of settlement, and that feeling is becoming stronger and stronger’
Jaap de Groot, sports reporter
According to Jaap de Groot, it is particularly exciting that the KNVB would investigate Kroes’ share ownership when he was still technical director of Go Ahead Eagles. ‘That was the same period that Van Praag was chairman of the association.’
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This was reason for De Groot to contact the KNVB, which reported that these regulations did not apply to directors. ‘Then I decided to look up the regulations for association directors and Article 3.1 simply states that a association director may not have a financial interest in an organization that could possibly harm the interests of the KNVB. This was signed on November 8, 2018, with Van Praag’s signature underneath.’
‘Members on a collision course’
In response to these findings, the football association ‘does not make any statements about ex-directors’, says De Groot. ‘So yes, I am mainly trying to indicate that it is being downplayed when it concerns Van Praag.’ As far as he is concerned, the question is why share ownership is so heavily encouraged in Kroes’ case. ‘We are talking about Ajax shares, which everyone calls a kind of gun share. I notice that the members are really on a collision course, because there is a settlement when Kroes is suspended.’
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This may have to do with the fact that Kroes refused to take a positive approach to a KPMG report on the functioning of the supervisory board. ‘That is the impression that is becoming increasingly stronger within the club. It confirms that focusing sharply on Alex Kroes is a kind of political game.’ Kroes is said to have encountered incidents during his training period that indicate that the dismissed technical director Sven Mislintat had misinformed parties within the club.
A kind of settlement
Kroes seems to have intended not to keep certain matters within the club under wraps and certainly not to downplay them, which the supervisory board did not like at all. He was then allegedly offered not to become general manager but technical director. The issue could certainly have consequences for Van Praag. ‘Many people have gotten the idea of some kind of reckoning, and that feeling is getting stronger.’
De Groot understands that many members are really on a collision course because they believe that politics is being done. This creates the impression that pyromaniacs report to the fire brigade to put out the fire: ‘People who are part of the problem are now shouting that they are going to solve the problem. But then everything remains the same.’
