The appointment of Louis van Gaal as general director of Ajax should be put on ice pending approval by a special shareholders’ meeting, a court in Haarlem said on Monday.

Former international Johan Cruijff and 10 of the Amsterdam club’s youth trainers had gone to court in an effort to have the appointment overturned.
Cruijff, one of five members of the club’s supervisory board, was furious he had been sidelined in the decision to bring back Van Gaal. The move was made by the four other supervisory board members without Cruijff’s knowledge. The two men do not get on.
The court said the appointment of Danny Blind as technical director is in line with the law but the naming of Van Gaal and Martin Sturkenboom as interim director should be suspended pending shareholder approval.
Cruijff described the verdict as ‘fantastic’. ‘We are going to play football again,’ he told the Telegraaf. ‘Football has beaten the business.’ Ajax is the Netherlands’ only listed football club.
Ajax shareholders are holding a meeting on Monday afternoon but no vote will be taken then.