Former Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp has been sacked from his assistant coach role at Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam.
Bergkamp was sacked earlier on Thursday alongside Ajax head coach Marcel Keizer.
Another assistant coach, Hennie Spijkerman, was also “removed from active duty”.
According to the club’s General Manager (GM) Edwin van der Sar, the decision was taken after Ajax were knocked out of the Dutch Cup on Wednesday to further compound a poor start to the season that has seen the former European champions crash out of the continent.
Former Dutch international defender Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde have been appointed the team’s interim coach and assistant coach respectively.
Reiziger and Bogarde were head coach and assistant coach of the club’s reserve team until the new development.
the club’s reserve team boss, has been appointed interim coach, with Winston Bogarde his assistant.
Ajax are currently second on the Dutch Eredivisie league table, however, they were booted out of both the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and the UEFA Europa League (UEL) in the preliminary rounds.
They also lost on penalties to FC Twente in the Dutch Cup on Wednesday.
Van der Sar stated that the club “did not have the confidence that we will reach the levels we seek in the manner in which we have been proceeding” with the trio leading the coaching team.
Ajax further added that with Bergkamp “there is also a difference of opinion about the technical policy to be implemented”.
Van der Sar via a statement on the club website said: “We had a horrible summer and poor start to the season.”
“The elimination from European competition was the lowest point and with [technical director] Marc Overmars we have had many discussions in recent months over the ongoing ability of our first team.” the statement added.
Keizer was previously the youth team coach before being appointed in the summer as the replacement for former head coach Peter Bosz.
On his part, Dennis Bergkamp started his career at Ajax before returning as a coach in 2011.
