Thanks Rocky. Your comments are appreciated.
For some reason or another I assumed this was not your favorite team but you would know how significant their success has been. I think the Spurs have watered down Ajax's achievement a little.
At one time I was thinking of looking up payroll comparisons but I felt very few people here would understand and appreciate it.
It has been disappointing to read of all the transfer talk that's going on even before their run is over.
Originally Posted by: wpr
It is. And it's one thing makes me appreciate the salary cap in a lot of American sports even more. You have to keep rotating your roster, in a way, but a guy like Frenkie de Jong would play for Ajax for life, much like Rodgers won't leave the Packers. In reality, he's gone after one good year because the bigger fish noticed him.
Great for parity, as well. What Ajax is doing as an underdog in Europe is great, but purely from an Eredivisie standpoint... You can pencil either them or PSV in as champion nearly every year. Both teams go into Europe. Earn even more. Dominate the Eredivisie even more. It's snowballing out of hand.
The thing I also don't like is that football fanbases don't make sense geographically. Half of The Netherlands is fan of Ajax, not because they're from Amsterdam or the rest of North Holland, but because it's a winning team. Even people in Ohio stay Browns fans, because you know there's the chance that they'll bounce back eventually and win a championship. If you're a fan of FC Groningen, you're always fighting for a mid-table finish.
There's no way you could implement it anymore, though.
What's with the KNVB Beker? Playing in 2 competitions at one time seems like a little bit of a stretch but 3? It seems like it would be too much. Why not wait a few weeks before it begins?
That's pretty common in any league. It's quite low, even, when compared to England. The Premier League has:
- Two more teams, so 4 more matches.
- Two cups running alongside the competition
- Six or seven teams going into European competitions.
- And because the quality of players is so ridiculously high, their players are all playing for their national teams during the international breaks.
Ajax has is relatively easy, really.