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Thomas van den Leeuwen - Making De Godenzonen The Kings Of Europe Again

tomtuck01

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - October/November 2015

Eredivisie

October

AjaxSave-EredivisieFixtures-Oct2015_zpsf8c8af90.png

A bit of a sticky month if truth be told, with us taking just eight points from a possible twelve.

The month started with a 3-2 home wi over Dordrecht, but we weren't at our best. Dordrecht went infront after just nine minutes, but early in the second half we had gone 3-1 ahead after goals from Lucas Boyé (18 & 46), and Lucas Andersen (36). However, instead of killing the game we let Dordrecht get back into just after the hour, meaning we had to see out a tough final period to take the three points. A trip to VVV-Venlo followed, and we again found ourselves having to come from behind to get something from the game. They went ahead after thirty-six minutes, but ten minutes into the second period Richairo Zivkovic levelled things up. Neither side really did enough to win the game thereafter, and 1-1 was a fair result. De Klassieker was next, and we again had to settle for a point. Viktor Fischer gave us the perfect start, firing home inside the opening minute. We failed to capitalise on th great start though, and Feyenoord had equalised before the break. Truth be told a draw was flattering for us, as Feyeoord bossed the second half and we had Jasper Cillessen to thank for the point. We got back to winning ways with our final game of the month, thumping Den Bosch 4-0 away from home. It took until close to the hour mark to take lead through Lucas Boyé and soon after Lasse Schöne doubled our lead. Boyé grabbed his second to make it 3-0 in the 82nd minute, and five minutes from time captain Schöne also got himself his second of the day.

November

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More points sloppily dropped, but we're still comfortably top.

We destroyed Zwolle 6-1 away from home at the start of the month, however, I wasn't totally happy by an stretch of the imagination. Anwar El Ghazi gave us an early lead but Zwolle soon equalised. With fifteen minutes to go it was still 1-1, but we won a penalty. Lasse Schöne saw his spotkick saved, but he tucked home to rebound, and in the end we ran out easy winners. ADO Den Haag then came to Amsterdam, and first half goals from Viktor Fischer, Richairo Zivkovic and Lucas Andersen gave us a comfortable 3-0 win. A disappoiting 1-1 draw at home followed as we struggled to deal with NAC's flat 4-5-1 formation. They deservedly went infront just after the hour mark, but an own goal from NAC's goalkeeper got us level twelve minutes from time. A winner didn't come, and both sides had to settle for a point.

Not a brilliant couple of months, but we're still top and hold an eight point lead over Feyenoord.

KNVB-Beker - 3rd Round

October

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Well, this was a horror show, and in truth has made me question some of the younger lads in the squad.

We didn't dominate the game as I felt we should have been doing, and also failed to take the chances we created. Late in extra time, (and I mean late - the 118th minute infact!), De Graafschap went ahead, and they then rubbed salt into the wouds by getting a second in the 120th minute.

Got what we deserved - nothing.

Champions League - Group Stage

October

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A stonking performance, and a handsome win that we thoroughly deserved. Lucas Andersen put us ahead in the sixth minute, and even though Plzeň equalised soon after, the result was never in doubt once Anwar El Ghazi put us back ahead just three minutes later. In the end we ran out 5-1 winners, and it was thoroughly deserved.

November

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A good away win, and a sloppy draw at home but job done - we're into the next round with a game to spare!

The trip to the Czech Republic produced a much closer game than the one in Amsterdam. We had more of the ball, but Plzeň the better chances. We defended well though, and Cillessen had little to do in truth. The only goal of the game came just after halftime, when Lucas Boyé fired home from Davy Klaassen's cutback to give us a sound away win. Qualification was sealed once and for all with the 2-2 draw at home to Zenit, but we threw the win away. Two goals in the space of a few minutes from Lucas Andersen out us 2-0 up, but Zenit responded with goals just before and just after halftime. Even after that we had chances to win the game, but our strikers again weren't "at it", and in the end we had to settle for a point.

Disappointed to draw with Zenit, but atleast we don't have to go to Bayern and get something!

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Just popping by to say this has been a highly interesting career to follow so far. :thup: I've been keeping an eye, and decided to copy/adapt some of your rules into my career as well (which is coincidentally also in Holland but I'm starting at a lower level with a smaller club).

I think you're already falling into that dreaded territory of "team that is too good for the league and too crap to challenge for the Champions League", though. That can be tiring/demotivating... hopefully the challenge of having to constantly rebuild the team will keep the game fun.

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Just popping by to say this has been a highly interesting career to follow so far. :thup: I've been keeping an eye, and decided to copy/adapt some of your rules into my career as well (which is coincidentally also in Holland but I'm starting at a lower level with a smaller club).

I think you're already falling into that dreaded territory of "team that is too good for the league and too crap to challenge for the Champions League", though. That can be tiring/demotivating... hopefully the challenge of having to constantly rebuild the team will keep the game fun.

Always nice to know there are more users following, especially those like you who are quite prominent in this area of the forum. :)

I do see what you're saying, but it's not all over yet this season - trust me! However, I'm sure that time will come, and that was why I introduced the rules. As you say, they'll help keep the save interesting as I'll have to keep rebuilding.

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Such a shame you threw away 2 goals lead against Zenit.

Interesting jobs offers.

Just one of those things. I don't see us getting even a draw in Munich, so even if we'd have beaten Zenit I'm fairly confident that second place was the best we could manage. Now I reckon it's nailed on that that's where we'll finish.

As for the job offers, yes interesting, but no chance right now.

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Spent 2 days reading your whole thread from last years version. Hope this is gonna be just as good. Will be following.

Hopefully it'll be as good, but it will of course be very different. Glad you like the journeyman save aswell. :)

Joao Pedro on the scoresheet, here we go again then. :D
TBH no one will ever replace him in Tom's heart :D

So much so that I'm renaming him Joãozinho Pedro. :D (Errr, that means "Little João Pedro", I think!).

Great read this so far, you're doing a great job :thup:

Have you got any idea how long you'll stay at Ajax for? Would be nice to see you do well with them in the CL before leaving.

I'll only leave Ajax if I lead them to back-to-back Champions League titles. :thup:

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - December 2015

Eredivisie

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More stuttering with two more draws in four games.

The month started with a draw away at FC Twente. We fell behind after half-an-hour, but we hit back four minutes before halftime when Lasse Schöne curled home a freekick. We dominated the second period with Schöne controlling the game, but our forwards had a nightmare infront of goal and we couldn't find a second goal; 1-1 the final score. Utrecht came to Amsterdam next and we got back to winning ways in good style. We took them apart in the first thirty minutes, racing into a four goal lead thanks to doubles from Anwar El Ghazi and Richairo Zivkovic. In the second half Utrecht got one back but we failed to add to our first half goals, meaning the final score was a solid 4-1 win. Four days later Herenveen came to town, and we again won by four goals to one. Zakaria Bakkali got us off to a great start after just five minutes, and then a double from Joël Veltman made it 3-0 before halftime. Anwar El Ghazi added another early in the second period before Herenveen got a consolation late on. We rounded the month, and the year off, with a poor draw away at Groningen. Like with the draw at Twente, we dominated throughout most of the match, but couldn't finish off our chances. A poor finish to the year.

Not a brilliant month, but we remain unbeaten and six points clear. After the winter break we face Sparta in the Amsterdam ArenA.

Champions League - Group Stage

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Well this was expeced, but still a bit disappointing that we didn't put up a better fight. It was 0-0 at halftime, but within fourteen minutes of the second half we were 2-0 down and it was basically game over. Bayern got another nine minutes from time to finish us off.

So second in the group, meaning we face a group winner in the next round. And that side is Internazionale.

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At least you're still unbeaten in the league ;)

As I always say, it's of no importance whatsoever to me.

VVV and Utrecht are doing well and good to see Feyenoord are able to some what keep up with you, seems like it could get interesting next couple of season with those three. You should be able to beat Inter could have been much worse of a draw.

The only thing with three is whether or not they can sustain it. I'm having trouble keepig hold of my players, so no doubt those clubs will struggle aswell.

As for Inter, they were champions of Serie A last season, but aside from them or Benfica all the rest of the clubs we could have drawn were the real top sides. So I agree, it was actuall a decent draw.

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - January 2016

Eredivisie

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Two impressive wins after the winter break as we maintain our six point lead at the top of the table.

We took Sparta apart, with debutants Alexandre Pato and Leandro Damião both notching goals. Davy Klaassen got us off to a great start firing us infront after just eight minutes. Stefano Denswil made it 2-0 soon after, and by halftime it was 4-0 with goals from first Pato and then Damião. The latter added a second in the final twenty minutes, to complete a 5-0 win. A trip to PSV followed, and we we did the business. Captain Lasse Schöne fired us ahead five minutes before halftime, and then Davy Klaassen curled in a superb second twenty minutes into the second half to seal the points.

February begins with a trip to AZ Alkmaar.

Transfers

What a busy transfer window. Four players came into the club to the tune of £9,275,000, with five leaving bringing in over £45million! Not all those who left I wanted to sell but our hand was forced somewhat by extravagant offers and demands to leave. Still, I can't complain with the money we've brought in.

Players Out

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We really got a sound fee for Sinan Keskin, a player I had barely used. He is a good player, but he just wasn't quite at the level required to have a future in the team. Richairo Zivkovic was a player I saw as being central to my plans over the next few years, but when Barcelona opened negotiations for him I immediately slapped a £30million fee on his head and evnetually they agreed to pay the whole fee. A great deal for us. The fee we got for Nick Viergever was very pleasing indeed. Good at everything but not exceptional at anything, and because of that he could never command a regular place in the team. We wish him well. Try as I might, I couldn't get Lerin Duarte to perform at an acceptable level last season. I tried all last summer to sell him and couldn't get any fee for him, so in the end we just took what we could in Janauary. Disappointing. The final sale of the transfer window came on transfer deadline day. Ricardo van Rhijn had asked to leave after getting word of Benfica's interest in him. In the end I decided to sell and the biggest offer came from Manchester United. £12million was a good fee, though it could've been better. I'm bitterly disapponted with how he engineered a move away from the club.

Players In

Nikolai Laursen - £2.3million

A good young player spotted by my scouts over in Denmark. The fee is quite hefty for a lad of his age, but he has some decent attributes in all thee areas, (Technical, Mental and Physical), and has so much time to improve further. Exciting future ahead I'm sure.

Alexandre Pato - £4.6million

Smashing signing if we can keep him fit. We've bought him out-right and and he's signed on until summer 2020. I have high hopes, but we've just got to make sure we manage his fitness properly with him being considered "injury prone".

Nicklas Røjkjær - £275,000

Another youngster found in Scandinava by the scouting team, and this one could be an absolute bargain. Massively excited about what he could turn into in the future.

Leandro Damião - £2.1million

With Zivkovic unexpectedly leaving, another striker was needed to be added to the squad, and I feel we could potentially have a bargain. He is on my maxiumum wage of £25,000 p/w and contracted until just 2018, meaning he'll have to be sold in just eighteen moths. Still, before then I hope he can fire in goals for us.

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - February/March 2016

Eredivisie

February

AjaxSave-EredivisieFixtures-Feb2016_zps24ad7f9e.png

Five wins from five, with a healthy amount of goals scored.

The month started with us putting four past AZ in their own backyard. After an hour it was 0-0, but two goals in three minutes from Lucas Andersen and Kenny Tete put us two up. AZ hit one back five minutes later but we immediately restored our two goal lead via Ricardo Kishna. AZ got another back, but with nine minutes remaining Leandro Damião wrapped up the points with his third goal in three games. 4-2 the final score. Go Ahead Eagles then came to town, and we just about got past them in what was a poor performance. We were 2-0 up at halftime thanks to Lucas Boyé and Lasse Schöne. In the second half though we got sloppy, and Go Ahead deervedly pulled a goal back to make it 2-1. We had to see off some late pressure, but we managed to do so and held on to take all three points. A trip to face Cambuur followed, and we eventually ran out easy 4-1 winners. Lucas Andersen fired us infront in the first half, but Cambuur pegged us back just three minutes later. It took us until after the hour mark to restore the lead, with Davy Klaassen firing home. Lucas Boyé added a second five minutes later, and with six minutes to go Boyé got his second to round off a 4-1 win. The very next game panned out in a similar way, with us hitting late goals to make the scoreline a touch more handsome than was really accurate. Leandro Damião fired us into the lad after just eight minutes, and just after halftime he got his second to double our lead. Vitesse got one back just after the hour mark, but goals in the final ten minutes from Stefano Denswil (81), Anwar El Ghazi (84), and a third from Damião (90+2), made the final score 5-1. We finished the month with a solid 3-1 win at Dordrecht, with Leandro Damião again among the goals. Lucas Andersen put us infront on the stroke of halftime, but only after Damião had missed a penalty in the eleventh minute. Eighteen minutes into the second period Damião did strike to double our lead, and after Dordrecht had got a goal back he fired home another to make the final score 3-1.

March

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Three wins from four, and the title is almost ours.

We weren't at all at our best against VVV-Venlo, but we managed to get the three points thanks to an unlikely hero. After labouring throughout the first half and very early in the second, Queensy Menig came on and within a matter of seconds fired home what proved to be the winner. We were much better against Den Bosch without being spectacular, but recorded a comfortable 2-0 win thanks to goals from Jairo Riedewald and Lucas Boyé. We suffered defeat in our next game, which was De Klassieker away from home. Feyenoord went ahead after just eight minutes, but Leandro Damião equalised just six minutes later. Both sides had good chances to add to the scoreline, but the winner came on the hour mark when Jasper Cillessen fumbled a cross over his own goal line to hand our great rivals the three points. We got back to winning ways in our final game of the month away to ADO Den Haag. The only goal of the game came after just three minutes. Ganso was fouled just inside the area and captain Lasse Schöne fired home the resulting penalty to ultimately give us all three points. We should have added more goals, but our strikers had an undoubted off day. Still, a win's a win.

Our next game is at home to PEC Zwolle as we look to all but wra up the title.

Champions League

February - 1st Knockout Round 1st Leg

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An excellent win, but the conceding of a late away goal makes things all the more tricky in the second leg.

Alexandre Pato slotted us infront after just nine minutes, latching on to a Leandro Damião flick-on from a punt upfield. Early in the second half Nicolai Boilsen was fouled in the area and Davy Klaassen doubled our lead. We had chances to further add to our lead, but we failed to do and ultimately we paid the price when Inter grabbed an away goal with just eight minutes remaining.

March - 1st Knockout Round 2nd Leg & Quarter Final 1st Leg

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Two super results in all honesty, even though we realistically have little chance in the second leg of the quarter final against Barcelona in the Camp Nou.

Leandro Damião fired us ahead in the San Siro just after twenty minutes, the first of a super hattrick. Inter equalised early in the second half, but responded immediately to go 2-1 ahead, again through Damião. With little over twenty minute remaining Inter made it 2-2 on the night, giving them hope. As they pushed late on in an attempt to turn the tie around we hit them on the counter, and a slick passing move led to Alexadre Pato playing Damião through on goal who slotted into the corner to seal his hattrick. A 3-2 win on the night, giving us a 5-3 victory on aggregate.

We drew perhaps the biggest side possible in the quarter finals - Barcelona. Understanably they totally dominated this first leg, and deservedly went infront after a little over half-an-hour. All in all though we defended resolutely, limiting them to efforts from outside the area, and even managing to attack occasionally ourselves! One of those rare forays forward came just after the hour, and led to the equalising goal. Ricardo Kisha found Ganso just inside the area, and his square pass found Lasse Schöne who tucked the ball away in the corner. Barca ramped up the pressure even more thereafter, but we stood firm, and atleast have a chance of progressing in the Camp Nou.

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Good win over Inter and Barcelona :thup: Just hope you can do it again in Spain.

Fully expect to go out in Catalonia, but I just want to give us a good account of ourselves.

Love the Damião signing so far!

He's been superb. Pato has done ok aswell, but just got to be careful with them both as they're described as beig "susceptible to injuries".

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - April & May 2016

Eredivisie

April & May

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A sound end to the season, taking ten points out of a possible twelve.

The month began with the visit of PEC Zwolle and because of Feyenoord drawing earlier in the day e knew we'd be champions if we won. Things however didn't work out as planned, with Zwolle taking the lead after just ten minutes. Chances came and went, but eventually we equalised through Leandro Damião with a little over twenty minutes to go. We sought a winner, but couldn't find one and confirmation of the title would have to wait another week. We did secure the title in our next game, winning 3-1 away at NAC Breda. We went infront in the 22nd minute via an own goal, and Alexandre Pato doubled our lead in the 69th. NAC pulled one back soon after, but Pato sealed the win and the title in the last ten minutes. Our final away game of the season was at Heerenveen, and we scored a comfortable 2-0 win thanks to goals from Joël Veltman (31), and Alexandre Pato (82). Nothing else to report, it was a fairly dull game overall. The final game of the season was at home to FC Twente, and it was real annoying affair. We were all over them in the first half, and 2-0 up inside the opening half an hour thanks to a Leandro Damião strike and a Lasse Schöne penalty. We threw all that hard work away in the opening twenty-three minutes of the econd period, gifting Twente two goals. With eleven minutes to go though we were awarded another penalty that Lasse Schöne tucked home to giv us all three points.

A good final four games, finishing fourteen points clear of second place.

Champions League

April - Quarter Final 2nd Leg

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Well we're out, but gave it a bloody good go!

We went ahead in just the fifth minute, and I won't lie - I went mad!! It didn't last long though, as Nemar hit back just a couple of minutes later, and just four minutes later they had turned it around when Messi fired home. The same player fired home a penalty early in the second half, and the game seemed all but over. e had other plans though, and Jairo Riedewald gave us a sniff when he pulled it back to 2-3 with fourteen minutes left. Messi finally seemed to kill us off though with four minutes to go, curling home a freekick to complete his hattrick. We wouldn't lie down though, and Leandro Damião got his second in the 90th minute to make it 4-3. We couldn't muster a final chance to draw the match and win the tie on away goals, but I couldn't be downhearted after that performance.

4-3 the final score on the night, with us exiting 5-4 on aggregate.

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Good news for the club. We need to make sure our facilities are as best as they can be to keep bringing on our own players.

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With Hennie Spijkermann retiring a new assistant manager was needed, and Jaap filled all the criteria I required. I'm looking forward to working with him more closely following his promotion from B Team assistant.

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Wow, great run in the CL though. :) Seems you're steadily making improvements overall and should do even better soon enough.

Yes and no I think. I mean this year we got less points in the lead than last, and went out of the cup really early again - even earlier than last year! Of course though it was a big thing to move into the quarter finals of the Champions League.

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AjaxSave-YearlyCommercialSummary-May2016_zps61418b6c.png

Very interesting stuff in here in my opinion - we're making gaines everywhere it seems! The increase from broardcasting and competition prize money really is something! Also, good to see two of the Brazilian investments, Ganso and Pato, helping our shirt sales along!

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AjaxSave-ElGhaziYPOTY-May2016_zps31bceb88.png

A second year in a row that he has won this award. Not quite as influential this season due to me rotating the team more than last term but still a very good campaign.

AjaxSave-vandenLeeuwenManagerOfYear-May2016_zpse9460e05.png

Very proud to win this award with it being voted for by my fellow professionals.

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - Season Review 2015/16

Eredivisie

Results 1 - Results 2

Final table - Champions

Well I can't complain with how we went along this season.

Yes we finished with fewer points than last term, (just the two, due us drawing a game more this year), but we were still champions by a hugely comfortable margin. We actually conceded nine goals more than last year, but scored a whopping sixteen goals more! Our start to the season was impressive again as we won our opening nine games to take huge early advantage. From the on the title was realistically over already, and we eventually secured it against NAC Breda in early April. Fair play to Feyenoord, they stayed in-touch with us more than any side last season and made us wait a bit longer before securing the championship.

Hopefully next season they can improve further and offer us even more of a challenge.

KNVB-Beker

Eliminated in 3rd Round

Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. We were poor enough in the second round against Heracles as we came from 1-2 down to win the game 3-2 in the final eighteen minutes. Agaisnt second division De Graafschap in the 3rd round we were horrible. Our finishing was dreadful, and two goals in the final few minutes of extra time did for us.

Really must do better next year.

Champions League

Eliminated in Quarter Finals

Superb in all honesty; we've progressed much quicker than I expected.

We were excellent in the group phase, even improving on last years two heaby defeats to Bayern to achieve a draw with them on our own patch! We also managed a 4-3 win in Russia against a good Zenit side, aswell as a cracking 5-1 home win over Viktoria Plzeň. We qualified for the group stage with a game to spare, and even went into the final group game in Munich with a chance of topping the group. Fair enough Bayern beat us 3-0, but I was still pleased with how we'd done overall. Internazionale were our opponents in the first knockout round, and we beat them 5-3 on aggregate after two cracking performances, the second of which included a 90th minute winner in the San Siro. In the quarter finals we faced Barcelona, and we gave it a good shot but ultimately were eliminated 5-4 on aggregate. We held them to a 1-1 draw in the Amsterdam ArenA, but they were, (just about), too strong for us in the Camp Nou, beating us 4-3 by and large thanks to a Lionel Messi hattrick.

Definite progress on last season - who knows what next term will bring!

Other Information

Squad Stats - Transfers - Finances

Many players used this season, and remember this screenshot doesn't include the players sold during the January trasfer window! Next term I really do aim to get more youngsters involved. This season Kenny Tete and Jairo Riedewald make big impressions on the first team, particularly in the second half of the campaign, and it's time that Riechedly Bazoer and Abdelhak Nouri were given more of a chance next season.

We had a marvellous year in the transfer market, bringing in a staggering £67million while spending just over £15million. Fair enough some of the player sales were enforced due to us recieving ridiculous offers (Zivkovic), and players wanting to leave for pastures new (Moisander and van Rhijn), but the majority of them were sold through our own volition. In terms of signings, Leandro Damião turned out to be a real bargain, costing us just £2.1million. Youngster Lucas Boyé also proved to be value for money after setting us back nearly £5million, and hopefully he will continue to get better as he devlopes further.

Financially we have done amazingly well this year due to extra Champions League revenue and TV money after getting further in the competition. We obviously also benefited massively from the player sales, as all of the big sales were for straight cash.

Player & Young Player

Of The Year

Joël Veltman

I could have picked from a few players for this award, but Veltman really was class this season. Aside from Stefano Denswil he played in the most games, and was just Mr.Consistent throughout the season. A real leader at the back.

Lucas Andersen

Superb campaign before injury curtailed his season. Whether in the wide areas or playing behind the strikers in my 3-5-2 system, he was brilliant, scoring and creating goals. He's tied down to the club for another four years, so I can't wait to see more of the same!

What Next

A tough summer ahead I expect. There are a few players who are wanting to leave to play in bigger leagues for bigger clubs, so we might head into next season with a very different team than what we finished with last season.

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Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - Season Preview - 2016/17

Board Expectations

Eredivisie - Win the title

KNVB Beker - Win it

Champions League - Not expected to progress past group stage

Johan Cruijff Schaal - Not important

Personal Expectations

Eredivisie - A hattrick for myself would be great

KNVB Beker - Need do alot better

Champions League - Just advance from the group again

Johan Cruijff Schaal - Always good to start with a trophy

Expectations exactly the same from the board, and mine very much the same aswell. We have to do better in the cup though, last seasons third round exit was simply unacceptable. As for the Champions League, anything beyod the 1st kockout round will again be a huge bonus.

Budgets

Transfer: £85,937,098

Wages: £704,448 p/w (Currently spending £481,699)

Balance: £99,761,187 (+£54,833,282)

Finances in a brilliant state due to player sales since the start of the year, (that does include some already this summer), meaning we have a brilliant transfer/wage budget to work with. Given my maximum spend of £5million however, I doubt much of the transfer budget will be touched!

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tomtuck01

tomtuck01

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I hope you managed to sell few of them for stupid prices :D

Not terribly stupid, but high enough for a Dutch club.

One inparticular hurt though, as I simply couldn't get him/his agent to agree to a higher buy-out clause, meaning he ended up leaving for just £13.5million - a clause I gave him upon taking over the club when I never expected him to play/progress aswell as he did.

Still, means I get to use more young players sooner rather than later!

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