AZ Alkmaar has terminated Gertjan Verbeek from his post of manager. The owners of the club took this decision earlier today.
This is really surprising for everyone who follows Netherlands football quite closely. Verbeek had been doing fine as manager and just a day ago; his team had secured a win over PSV Eindhoven which is currently at the top position in the Eredivisie points table.
A statement released by AZ Alkmaar says, “Gertjan Verbeek is no longer the manager of the club. His chemistry with the players in the squad wasn’t that good and because of that, the board has taken the decision that he doesn’t need to carry on.”
Verbeek had been the manager of Alkmaar since the last 3 years. He had joined the club at the start of the 2010-11 Season after leaving Heracles Almelo.
Verbeek did a decent job during his tenure at Alkmaar. Under him, Alkmaar made it to the Europa League thrice including the last season.
In this season also, Alkmaar had been going well. They had moved up to no. 4 in the points table after their win against the table toppers Eindhoven yesterday.
Verbeek’s contract had been extended at the start of the last season and he was not supposed to leave Alkmaar in the near future. But, nobody knows what happened all of a sudden that the owners had to take this decision of sacking him.
It’s not clear yet who is going to succeed Verbeek. A press conference is scheduled to take place later today. May be, an announcement regarding Verbeek’s successor will be made by the club in that press conference.
Alkmaar’s next game is a Europa League encounter against the Greek club PAOK Salonika. That game will be played on Thursday.