John van ‘t Schip is happy that he has been able to fulfil the wish of his late wife by taking on the position as head coach of Ajax, Voetbal International reports. The new Ajax coach has spoken to her about this recently and knows that she wanted this.
Van ‘t Schip, 59, has taken on the role on an interim basis at the Johan Cruyff Arena after Maurice Steijn was dismissed from the role after the worst start in the club’s history since the start of professional football in the Netherlands in 1954.
His wife Danielle lost her battle to cancer last month and during her treatment, Van ‘t Schip spoke about him returning to work which is when his wife spoke about how he should aspire to return to Ajax – the club he spent a large part of his playing career at.
He said: “I communicated about this with my wife in a very good way. We discussed this very consciously and it was her fervent wish that I would get back to work.
“She was the one who said: ‘John, these are moments and opportunities that you have to seize. It is good for you to be able to give yourself completely in that process. You can do that. Otherwise you will be at home, does that make you feel better?’
“That’s why I was already considering that technical position in the first place.”
Initially, Van ‘t Schip was going to have a different role within Ajax, but with the departure of Maurice Steijn he was appointed as the new trainer.
“And we talked about that too. She has not experienced this, and unfortunately she will not experience it. But perhaps she had a major role in it from above, I like to believe that she did that.”
Van ‘t Schip signed as head coach until mid-2024. The former international will then take on a role in the technical management of the Amsterdam club.
