CAPE TOWN – The name Duncan Crowie still reverberates with respect across every acre of the Mother City. In the days of segregated football, the former Santos midfielder was in a class of his own.
As a coach, he has always been passionate about youth development – and it is with this in mind that Ajax Cape Town have appointed the 54-year-old as the head coach of Young Ajax.
The name refers to the Urban Warriors’ Second Division team and the Reserve side which will play in the Diski Challenge. It is in keeping with the way Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam operates, in that their Reserve Team is known as “Jong Ajax”.
Young footballers making their way in professional football need more than just coaching to succeed. They need guidance and advice and, above all, they have to be handled with patience.
They have young, sensitive minds – and while they may play football like adults, they are, after all, just kids.
A wrong word here and there, and a coach could destroy a player’s promise and potential. And that is why it is so essential to have the right man in charge of the side that feeds the PSL squad.
When the senior team is in need of replacements with new energy, it is lower down where the head coach will be casting his eye. For Ajax, Crowie is that man. “I was happy with where I was at Ajax, coaching the club’s Under-18s,” said Crowie.
“But there are new things happening at the club and management spoke to me about their plans. They said they wanted me involved, and I accepted the job of being in charge of Young Ajax. It’s a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”
Those who were around to have had the privilege of watching Crowie as a player would know what all the fuss is about. In short, he was among the best the Mother City, and the country for that matter, produced.
Unfortunately, his best years came during the era of segregated football. But for those who know little about Crowie the player, let’s put it this way – in terms of the old days, he was as popular in the Cape and as good as Gauteng’s Jomo Sono.
In terms of modern football, he could dictate a game like Manchester United’s Paul Scholes.
Coaching has always been in his DNA. Even while playing, he would often act as a player-coach. He is passionate about youth development, and also had a stint in charge of the Santos youth academy during the club’s glory days.
Last month, Crowie’s Young Ajax squad played two tournaments in the Netherlands, in which they finished second and third.
In the first, the Terborg Toernooi, Ajax defeated Manchester United, De Graafschap, Flamengo and Club Brugge before losing the final 2-1 to Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro.
The second event, the ICGT Tournament, included a 2-0 win over Real Madrid. Crowie was understandably chuffed with the performances of his team.
Terugblik: in het rijtje mooiste momenten van de 38e editie van #TerborgToernooi⚽️
Oe aa @ajaxcapetown❤️🇿🇦🎵 pic.twitter.com/6LznxYt9ou
— Terborg Tournament (@TerborgToernooi) June 1, 2017
“The experience was great for the players,” he said. “The discipline was good, and they continued to learn and grow as players the more games they played. There were some really good clubs involved, but we held our own and I believe we were just as good as them.
“But there is a difference,” stressed Crowie. “I think technically our players are on par with the best in the world, but it’s tactically where we fall short. As the two tournaments progressed, we took the lessons from other teams in how to adjust our tactics, and it got better the more we played.
“And that is the problem with South African football – at youth level, we need to be playing against teams of similar strength more regularly. That is how you learn and improve.
"What’s the use of winning 8-0, it teaches the players and the coach nothing. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that for Safa as well, in that in order to improve our football, we need to be playing strength versus strength week-in and week-out.”
Wij wensen @AjaxCapeTown een goede terugvlucht naar Kaapstad! Genoten van jullie talent en Afrikaanse sfeer in #Terborg❤️🇿🇦 https://t.co/78m70ln8VT
— Terborg Tournament (@TerborgToernooi) June 5, 2017
Crowie is also fully aware of the critical role he plays with regard to ensuring that there is a regular supply of Ajax youngsters ready to make the step up to the PSL.
“I will be working closely with head coach Stanley Menzo, so I am aware of what he wants from the players,” said the Young Ajax coach. “I will be working with PSL squad players who are coming back from injury, as well as those on the fringes of the PSL team.
“I have to also develop the emerging youngsters at the club, so that when called upon, they are ready for Menzo to use.”
As football irony would have it, Crowie will steer Young Ajax in the regional Cape Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League), and there he will do battle against Santos, a club very close to his heart.
Having fallen on bad times, former PSL champions Santos have been relegated to the Second Division. The club was an integral part of Crowie’s career as a player and as a coach – and, needless to say, he is gutted.
“I am disappointed with what has happened at Santos,” he said. “If you look at the history of the club in the Cape, it doesn’t come bigger than Santos.
“If you look at what the club stood for, where it came from, and the nickname ‘The Peoples’ Team’, because that is how people felt about the club, then it is really sad to see how things have fallen apart.”