Hans Kraay on Ajax under pressure - and his Brighton days

Good one. Total chaos more like.

But those Albion days have been in focus as Kraay, now big on TV in the Netherlands, sees his old club prepare to face the most famous outfit in his homeland.

Kraay came to England because he was banned back home and was a terrace cult hero among Seagulls fans in the mid-1980s.

Even though he only played 23 games for the club, he is still fondly remembered by those who were there at the time.

So he can tell the Dutch a bit about where Albion have come from.

But he is also well-placed to know how the pressure is building on Ajax after their dismal start to the season saw them slip into the bottom two on Sunday.

As you might imagine, he does not mind sliding in two-footed when asked for his opinions.

But he will also have had some sympathy for Maurice Steijn, the head coach who left by mutual consent on Monday.

Back in the mid-1970s, Kraay’s father – also Hans – was in the hot seat as the team which won three successive European Cups broke up.

Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens had already gone to Barcelona but the rebuild was not over.

Kraay said: “I was 14 years old and it is the biggest pressure for managers.

“It was a big chance for my father and they asked him, ‘Do you have the guts to take out two of the biggest names with Ajax because they are over the hill?’.

“My father made the biggest mistake by saying yes.

“They were Piet Keizer, a famous left winger, and Ari Haan, a famous midfielder.

“They had played a fantastic World Cup (in 1974) and my father was so eager to become manager of Ajax he said, ‘Of course I’ve got the guts to put them out’.

“We had people in our garden who were threatening him.

“People were banging on his car.

“It was a horrible time for our family and it can be a difficult club.

“It was not his best time. Afterwards he became manager of PSV and Feyenoord and he was a much happier man than at Ajax.”

Kraay puts a lot of the current woes down to director of football Sven Mislintat and his ten summer signings, including former Albion forward Chuba Akpom.

He said: “Mislintat spent £160 million on ten different players and really none of them are playing well.

“Steijn was involved in one transaction, (Croatian defender Josip) Sutalo.

“After two games, Steijn said, ‘This is not my team’.

“That led to a lot of rumours and people asking, ‘Why does he say that?’.

“He said that a little bit to keep his job at the time.

“All the players are making a terrible impression.

“Akpom, for example. He is what I call a one-day fly.

“He will never be good enough for Ajax.

“He had one good season (at Middlesbrough last year) and they spent £14 million on him.

“Even the Croatian internationals aren’t playing well.

“Ajax has always been the team that played the best football in the build-up, like De Zerbi does with Brighton.

“Even though the results are a little bit less now with Brighton, they play the best football in the Premier League along with Manchester City.

“When my friend Erik ten Hag was the manager at Ajax, they had Lisandro Martinez and Jurrien Timber in the build-up.

“They were fantastic and all the people in England will see just how fantastic Timber is at Arsenal when he is back after his knee injury.

“Now in central defence they have Sutalo, who plays every single ball to the wrong colour.

“In the Croatian team he played well and here it is a disaster.

“They brought a right full-back from Scandinavia.

“The only thing he does is play square balls, he never plays a ball forward, and every square ball is a danger for Ajax.

“It’s one big disaster and everyone is scared stiff of a hammering of four or five goals in Brighton.”

Louis van Gaal is now on board as an advisor and Kraay suspects his role will become more influential, which will result in several departures in January.

Albion fans will, of course, be wary of such talk.

AEK Athens were injury-hit and not in great shape when they played Albion and Marseille were in what on of the city’s main newspapers described as “a sporting and institutional crisis”.

But Albion did not beat either of them.

Though Ajax lost 4-3 at Utrecht on Sunday, there was a bright spark in the two-goal performance of Finnish teenager Kristian Hlynsson in the No.10 role.

Kraay said: “Hlynsson wasn’t in contention at all to be to be in the first team but (Steven) Berghuis, who is a good No.10, wasn’t fit.

“Hlynsson is a big talent. Everybody expected him to be ready in maybe a year-and-a-half but he scored two fantastic goals so he will probably play against Brighton.

“But I don’t think De Zerbi will be very nervous about anything that wears an Ajax shirt.

“In Holland everyone was always a bit jealous of the way Ajax played football.

“For decades and decades, they played the sort of football Guardiola plays with Manchester City.

“Even PSV and Feyenoord always looked at Ajax.

“But now Ajax is very jealous when they see Feyenoord, the champions, and it was very close that their coach Arne Slot was manager of Tottenham.

“He was nearly there to sign his contract and everyone in Rotterdam went to church to pray for him to stay for another two years.

“At Feyenoord, they play Ajax football.

“At PSV, they play Ajax football and Ajax is not Ajax any more.

“We think in the winter break van Gaal will be like a bulldozer.”

Speaking a few hours before Steijn left the club, Kraay suggested a big defeat at the Amex would be the final straw for him and even predicted a tactical move going against all Ajax’s attacking traditions.

Horror of horror, could they go five at the back?

He said: “Only two managers in Ajax history had been brave enough to play with five at the back and everyone hated it.

“But they conceded so many goals.”

Of course, we know the football the Dutch, especially Ajax, traditionally play.

Totaalvoetball. Total football. A style based around space and movement and players being at ease on the ball.

Some say the inventor of total football was former Ajax boss Rinus Michels, although Michels says that is just the work of journalists looking to put a tag on something that isn’t there.

Either way, we all thought we knew what Dutch football was all about.

Then Kraay appeared from Holland with his pogo jumping and crazy slide tackles.

“Hans is eeeeevil,” chanted the Goldstone crowd.

Joel Veltman tells of how, when he arrived in Brighton told people he was a Dutch footballer, some mentioned Hans Kraay.

The current defender was not initially sure who they meant because we say “Cray” when the correct pronunciation of his surname is “Cry”.

But he has certainly not been forgotten.

Kraay said: “Many people in Holland ask me about my Brighton time.

“With a smile I tell them I started all this.

“I started all this build-up from the back.

“Steve Foster and Steve Gatting gave the ball as quick as possible to Hans Kraay and then everything started.

“People in Holland are laughing at that: “They know I was slide-tackling Hans of the Goldstone Ground, not the fantastic player in the build-up under Chris Cattlin.

“We have a lot of fun in Holland about the fantastic football Brighton is playing.

“With a laugh, people say it all started with our Hans Kraay bringing total football to the Goldstone Ground.

“But please, please remember we say that with a big laugh!”