During the Velvet Revolution, Johan Cruijff put forward his former teammate Tscheu La Ling to put together a technical plan for Ajax. Following the model of AS Trencin, the Slovak club that Ling owns and is organized according to 'Old School Ajax'. Therefore, it is striking that Ling's name is not mentioned in Amsterdam. Especially now that Ajax has reached an all-time low and AS Trencin is booming. Jaap de Groot went to take a look in the Slovak provincial city and spoke with Tscheu La Ling about the current situation in both Amsterdam and Trencin.

Text: Jaap de Groot
Image: John van Helvert

The metamorphosis is impressive. When I first visited Tscheu La Ling's project in Trencin some thirteen years ago, the main road leading to the town barely contained cart tracks, and an average Dutch amateur club would have been ashamed of the accommodation. Now a four-lane road leads to the 60,000-strong town and a brand-new stadium looms on the River Vah. In it the colors red and white dominate. On the other bank is a sort of mini-Future, complete with fields, academy and hotel. It is Saturday, Sept. 30, four days after Ajax was humiliated 4-0 at home by Feyenoord. But in Trencin, it's party time. After more than three years of construction, the renovated Na Sihoti Stadium is finally opened. As the stands fill up for the AS Trencin - Dukla Banska match, club owner Tscheu La Ling addresses the sponsors and partners in a packed hall. Thanks them for the support they have given. Especially during the years when the club was ravaged by covid, a phase when the so spectacular upward trend suddenly seemed to snap.

Knockout

Since the former right-winger took over the club in 2008, there seemed to be a fairy tale in the town that no one outside Slovakia had heard of. It led to the first national title in 2015, which was prolonged in 2016. It also won the cup twice and knocked out Feyenoord 4-0 and 1-1 in the Europa League in 2018. All this time, the budget never exceeded 2.4 million euros. For the boost this would bring to the region, Ling was personally awarded by the Slovak president. He then decided on the next step: building a new stadium. It would become the nail in his coffin for three years. He explains: "Sporting wise things were going great and then you have a choice: are you going to cash in or choose the continuity of the club."With the sporting and financial growth we were making, it was decided to invest in infrastructure. The academy, including three artificial turf fields and a hotel, cost several million. The construction of the new stadium was budgeted at 28 million euros. That was two years before covid. When that broke out and everything ground to a halt, millions came on top. Because Trencin had financed everything itself, we ended up in a stalemate. And may you actually call it a miracle that we survived that. We have, since we started here, earned about 40 million in transfers. Money with which we financed all our projects, but suddenly everything stopped. While the costs continued, we were three years behind with the operation and revenue of the stadium. Covid almost killed us. Fair is fair: without the support of the friends of AS Trencin, it could have led to the bankruptcy of the club." Then pointing to the packed stands, "That's why this is a very special night. The stadium came after all and symbolizes the new beginning we had to wait three years for."

Audience favorite

Then the match. Trencin wins 1-0, making them leaders and emphatically beckoning for European soccer again. Even more important is the way it happens. The style of play is indeed "old school Ajax. With a left-legged left winger and a right-legged right winger, in a technically superior team that is on the offensive from the goalkeeper on. This makes the match very attractive and you don't have to be a great analyst to conclude that in the current situation mini-Ajax would be a size too big for the big example from Amsterdam. Unbelievable, but true. Yet Ling's name, who was the crowd pleaser at Ajax as a right winger from 1975 to 1982, is never mentioned in Amsterdam when solving the current problems.Notabene Cruijff's first choice and the man who in 2015 already pointed out to the rvc gaps within the organization that have now come to light. Commissioned by then board chairman Hans Wijers, Ling examined the implementation of the Cruijff Plan and reported, among other things, "There are no minutes of meetings, several transfers have been communicated via text messages, there is hardly any synergy between the various departments and there is a striking number of transfers of players who do not fit Ajax and have failed. It is bizarre to note that eight years later exactly what Ling reported then has surfaced. Indeed, vice chairman of the then rvc was Leo van Wijk, who has now been asked to smooth things over with Michael van Praag. So the director who let the problem run its course has now been asked to fix it. Ling breathes a sigh when Ajax comes up. "With Ajax I have no more contact. I am and will remain an Ajax fan, because of the club, not the people. I believed completely in Cruijff's vision, but unfortunately nothing of that remains. He was obsessed with the idea of making Ajax better again. At one point he asked me to make a technical analysis of the club based on the vision I had also applied at Trencin."

"I set out to put into practice the soccer I once fell in love with."

 

 So the Cruijff Plan is actually a blueprint of AS Trencin?

"And that is again based on 'Old School Ajax,' as Johan and I experienced it. A training club where people thought differently. Before he asked me, Johan had sent some people here to analyze Trencin. When he saw that the traditional Ajax vision still worked, he felt I was the right person to implement that at Ajax as well."

Little came of that, as attempts at character assassination towards Ling took place from within the club. The lowest point was a report in the Volkskrant, which even concluded that Ling's construction of a new stadium and an associated 350-million-euro urban development project would be hot air. Both have since been realized. When Cruijff resigned from Ajax in late 2015, Ling also decided to quit as an advisor to the rvc, especially since it appeared that the club management ignored the abuses he reported. Ling: "If you read that report from 2015, it is now extra painful how everything was left to run its course like this." At AS Trencin, that is anything but the case. Especially given the current situation at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, it is wry to note how the classic Ajax philosophy still works 1,200 kilometers away. Ling: "I was inspired at a very young age by the play of Ajax and then the Dutch team during the 1974 World Cup. I never had idols, I was touched by the way soccer was played. I therefore set out to practice the soccer I once fell in love with. That is what we are doing in Trencin. There is a clear vision, a way of playing on the basis of which players are scouted and trained, then using transfers to ensure the continuity and future of the club. Meanwhile, many player agents and soccer schools want to stable their talents here, because the chances of talents succeeding in top soccer are higher. Just as it is also striking that the type of player most in demand with us is the outfield player. Because we play and train from one vision, the talents on the wings are also shown to their best advantage. Last year our under-15, under-17 and under-19 youth teams became champions of Slovakia."

What does your master plan entail?

"The objective is to create something in today's international soccer that most clubs can only manage with more and more money. Almost everywhere they work according to a concept that eventually leads to bankruptcy. Money is always needed. According to our master plan, we train talents from a clear playing style, a strong attacking first team is put together and we cooperate with a number of clubs in various countries at different levels. In terms of content, it is a modern version of old school Ajax. I say that deliberately, because for years Ajax has been a buying club, where training is no longer a priority.While everywhere else in the world people are looking at today's result, I am working on what soccer I want to play in two or three years. Because we are still limited financially, I have to train to strengthen the team. If you know what style of play you are aiming for, you also know what quality you need for each position. So you train per position and after two or three years those players can be the basis for a spectacular team. That is building a soccer organization in a completely different way. Now clubs with the most money play at the top and with the least money at the bottom. When we started we had a budget of one and a half million and now it is three million. But in the first phase we even became champions and now we own a new stadium and an academy. By doing it differently than others."

After athletic success, you have now entered a second phase.

"With a three-year delay because of covid. When I bought the club in 2008, I gave ten percent back to the municipality and ten percent to the general manager, who was also a former player. I still remain a foreigner, while you can only realize a project like this together. The mentality of the region must be woven into it. That is why the distribution of shares was a very deliberate action. But the common thread is the soccer. The style of play. That is the most important thing. If that goes well, the successes and finances will come naturally.According to many insiders, professional soccer is not profitable, but Trencin has proven otherwise. We are still stuck with some down payments because of the extra costs of construction, but with the new operation and increased income from the stadium, we hope to draw a line under the consequences of covid soon."

In addition to your soccer vision, you work and think like an entrepreneur.

"We aim to be self-supporting. And want to avoid the club becoming dependent on hobbyists who have to keep pumping in extra money. There are already sugar daddies enough and it never actually produces results. Hence, we have very consciously created a sporting and business plan, with the goal of pursuing successes while being self-supporting. That is what the Trencin soccer company is based on."

MASTERS Magazine

Curious about the rest of the interview? This edition of MASTERS wíll have you. A milestone in print, the frontier stretched. Innovative. Surprising. Stunning. Including a most extraordinary guest editor. An interview with the man who, back in 2015, pointed out to the Ajax Supervisory Board gaps within the organization that have now come to light. Merijn Zeeman reveals how Jumbo-Visma has developed into a top sports company. Quoteman Paul van Riessen calculates how much you need to stop working. Sabine Riezebos explains what sets Bernardus apart from other golf courses. A look at the yard of Stratos Yacht, where the ultimate boat for carefree boating pleasure is built. And also, among other things, the rise of robots (where is the sex robot?), Fake News and, exclusively in MASTERS: the 'new Doutzen Kroes'.

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