ON the weekend that was in it the appointment of former Danish international Marten Olsen as the next coach of Ajax Amsterdam could easily have gone unnoticed.
Chelsea's titanic comeback to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup, a hat trick by newly elected FIFA World Player Ronaldo in Barcelona's 6-0 win against Rayo and yet another setback for once mighty AC Milan, beaten 3-1 at Verona, were doubtless all more newsworthy happenings.
Yet, Saturday's announcement that Olsen (47) will take over from Louis Van Gaal at the beginning of next season came as a big surprise and could prove significant for a club which has always been a standard bearer for intelligent, attractive and open soccer.
In that context, perhaps Olsen's assessment of his own football philosophy this weekend is not irrelevant football should not be just result orientated ... the game has gone off at the wrong tangent in recent years with far too many trainers practising excessively defensive and cautious strategies.
"It is not just a question of winning, it is the way you do it. As a coach I want to be able to sit back and enjoy my team playing good positive soccer. I want to work with a club with the right philosophy, a place where football is alive."
Brave words. However, if Olsen sticks to his guns he will merely be carrying on a long established Ajax tradition.
Winners of the last three Dutch titles, of the 1995 European Champions Cup and 1995 Intercontinental Cup, Ajax have enjoyed huge success in recent years. However, in this first post Bosman season, player resources have been weakened and Ajax are currently only seventh in the Dutch League behind leaders PSV Eindhoven.
On the Champions League front, things have gone only marginally better. Ajax lost twice at home - to Grasshopper Zurich and Auxerre - and had to wait until the last round and a hard fought 1-0 away win against Grasshopper before clinching a quarter final tie against Atletico Madrid.
Van Gaal was due to leave at the end of this season anyway, but the disappointing results so far have no doubt helped make up his mind. When he announced he was leaving last autumn, immediate speculation looked to former Ajax stars, Marco Van Basten or Johann Cruyff, as the most obvious replacement.
Ajax have probably rejected Cruyff because of the inevitable difficulties posed by working with one of the most talented but demanding coaches in world soccer. Van Basten was clearly left aside for a much simpler reason - he has no experience whatsoever as a first class coach.
The curious aspect of Olsen's track record as coach, though is that he has not been a runaway success. It is true that he took Brondby to a UEFA Cup semi final, the best European performance by a Danish club side.
Since then, however, he coached his old Bundesliga club Cologne for four years without winning anything, and was finally sacked in late 1995.
Originally an amateur player with little known Danish clubs, Vordingborg and Nykoebing, Olsen broke into the big time when he moved to Belgium. Although he started off with Cercles Bruges and Molenbeek, it was with Anderlecht that his international career took off as he won two Belgian titles and the 1983 UEFA Cup with the Brussels side.
That success corresponded with the rise of Denmark, whom Olsen captained to their first European Championship finals, France 84.
A classically elegant and intelligent sweeper, Olsen went on to win 102 Danish caps, leading his country through the Mexico 86 World Cup finals and the Germany 88 European Championship finals in an unusually long career which saw him still playing division one soccer with Cologne at 39.
At a much changed Ajax, Olsen will need all his experience and enthusiasm. In recent months only four or five of the players who lined up for Ajax in their Champions Cup defeat by Juventus in Rome last May have still been available - striker Patrick Kluivert, goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Saar, defender Winston Bogarde and midfielders Ronald De Boer and Kiki Musampa.
Others have been injured or flew the nest last summer - Edgar Davids and Michael Reiziger went to AC Milan and the unfortunate heart victim, Nigerian Nwanko Kanu, to Internazionale.
Furthermore, Kluivert is already booked for Milan, while Bogarde could be Italy bound this summer. But Marten Olsen will not be worried as the Ajax youth programme continues to produce talent after talent, which should mean they do not lose their status among the elite.
