When the half-time whistle blew at the Philips Stadion, the suffering Ajax supporters must have been in a positive mood. The worst start in their history saw them in the relegation zone, violence had seen the postponement of the De Klassieker against Feyenoord with the Amsterdam side 3-0 down, and €150m in player sales seemed not to have been reinvested particularly vigorously. But PSV – sporting a 100% record in the Eredivisie – looked vulnerable, and goals from Branco van den Boomen and Brian Brobbey either side of a Hirving Lozano leveller saw them lead. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, or so they thought. As it happened, that light was just another oncoming train.
Continue reading “‘No longer Ajax’: The Rapid Demise of the Dutch Powerhouse”