Treasure hunter
For some, football is a hobby. For others, it is everything. Inside one Amersfoort home, the history of Ajax is preserved in fabric, porcelain and gold
WORDS Michael Harrold | PHOTOGRAPHY Stanley Gontha
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Fans
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs, so I think this is OK.” Michael Snel is in an upstairs room in his home in Amersfoort, a city less than an hour’s drive from Amsterdam. He is surrounded, floor to ceiling, by the Ajax memorabilia he has been collecting for the past 30 years. Some pieces in his collection are truly historic – an Eredivisie winners’ medal from 1932, match-worn boots from Ajax’s 1994/95 Champions League-winning campaign, rare pennants from the glory days of the 1970s, and enough shirts and scarves to kit out the Amsterdam Arena on a matchday – well, I exaggerate a bit, but you get the picture. By profession, Michael is a binman, collecting rubbish during his working hours, but once he clocks off, he turns treasure-hunter, seeking out the gems that make his Aladdin’s cave sparkle.
Michael has donated the boots with which Dušan Tadić scored at Real Madrid in the 2018/19 round of 16 to the Ajax museum, as well as a pair Patrick Kluivert wore during the run to the 1995 final. By waiting patiently outside the training ground and meeting players at events, he has built up relationships with the great and good at the club, from the kit man and backroom staff to Jari Litmanen, the De Boer brothers and current interim coach Fred Grim. They are all generous with a signature and willing to push Ajax riches his way. Kluivert’s wife has even been in touch to get his help in tracking down some of her husband’s old stuff from his Ajax days.
Michael’s eight-year-old son Jason has already caught the collecting bug and attended his first Ajax game at the weekend, a 1-1 draw with NEC Nijmegen. Michael’s own first match was in 1993, when he was taken by his aunt to the club’s old Olympic Stadium. Already the squad was stuffed full of talent – Seedorf, Litmanen, Edwin van der Sar, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Marc Overmars, Michael Reiziger, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Danny Blind – and Ajax were about to embark on a dizzying era of success that would reach its apogee in that 1995 Champions League final triumph against AC Milan.
When I ask if there is anything missing from the collection that he craves the most, Michael’s mind turns quickly back to that famous night in Vienna when Kluivert’s 85th-minute goal clinched the trophy. “If I have to choose, it would be a shirt from the ’95 final against Milan, but it’s not possible,” he explains. “It’s almost definitely not going to happen. But that shirt and one from the final in ’96, when we lost to Juventus on penalties – I’m still searching for those.”
You get the impression there will always be something else. That the Holy Grail will never be found. At some point, Michael says, he’ll need another room in the house for all this treasure. I tell him I admire his wife’s patience. “She lets me do my thing. Sometimes she thinks I go too far and wonders if I’ll ever stop, but I tell her I won’t ever quit because there are always new shirts, new boots…
“But collecting is very, very expensive. And it’s not always possible to get every piece you want. I also have my son, my daughter and my wife to think about. I would never put Ajax before my family because my kids and my wife deserve the best. They are number one. If my wife or kids ever needed anything urgently, I would sell my stuff in a heartbeat.”
Speaking from the heart, Michael talks us through some of his favourite items in his collection.
“Growing up, everyone wanted to be like Jari Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him”
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots.
Best of the best
“This Frank de Boer shirt is fantastic. The number is stitched on the back, it’s got the Champions League patch on the sleeve and the logo watermark-detailing on the shirt. It’s hard to say, but I think it’s my favourite. It’s from the ’90s when I was growing up watching Ajax and I bought it from our current caretaker coach Fred Grim, who was keeper for us at that time. I’d asked him if he had any gloves and it turned out he had all these old shirts too, including this one which De Boer wore in the run to the 1995 final.”
Glory days
“This is a real collector’s item – you can’t find these any more. They used to sell these souvenir tiles at tobacconists and they have a hole in them so you can put them up on your wall. This is from the 1972 final against Inter, our second European Cup. I’ve also got one from the 1971 final against Panathinaikos with the stadium and logos on it. That cost me €250, which is maybe a little bit crazy, but I wanted it so badly that I worked Saturdays so I could afford it.”
“The pennant is the same sort of thing. I really love them. They’re so rare now. This one’s over 50 years old. You don’t find them often – sometimes online. I like to look for things on King’s Day, 27 April. It’s a celebration of the monarchy and people use the holiday to clear out their attic and then sell what they find on the street in front of their house. I always go out to see if I can find something. Sometimes you get lucky.”
If the boot fits
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots. Dennis Bergkamp gave him these in the early ’90s. He has 270 pairs from different players and I recently bought 30 off him. I have one or two pictures of Bergkamp wearing boots like these, but I don’t know if these are from a particular match. They’re so well worn. These days, when adidas or Nike bring out a new line, they give the players five or six pairs, maybe more, but not back then. This is Johan Cruyff’s own brand, but they don’t really do boots any more. It’s more of a lifestyle brand now.”
Golden memories
“This is Wim Volkers’ Eredivisie winners’ medal from 1932. It’s nearly 100 years old and was sold to me by his granddaughter Jessica. It’s priceless, really, a museum piece made of solid gold. Volkers spent his whole career with Ajax and won the title three times. He later became part of the club’s backroom staff and is a real Ajax legend. Jessica also had a shirt of his which is now in the official club museum. I’m a little jealous – I would’ve loved to have the shirt! But there is no better place for it than there at the stadium.”
Flying Finn
“This is Jari Litmanen’s shirt from 1995/96, but I can’t be sure from what game. Ajax definitely wore that kit against Real Madrid, but I don’t know if it’s that particular shirt. We beat them twice, and Litmanen scored the first goal in the 2-0 win in Madrid. For me, he is the best player Ajax have ever had. Cruyff was before my time. When we were growing up as kids, everyone wanted to be like Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him. I’ve also got two pairs of Jari’s boots and about 60 shirts – and he signed this one. He’s a really nice guy.”
Michael has donated the boots with which Dušan Tadić scored at Real Madrid in the 2018/19 round of 16 to the Ajax museum, as well as a pair Patrick Kluivert wore during the run to the 1995 final. By waiting patiently outside the training ground and meeting players at events, he has built up relationships with the great and good at the club, from the kit man and backroom staff to Jari Litmanen, the De Boer brothers and current interim coach Fred Grim. They are all generous with a signature and willing to push Ajax riches his way. Kluivert’s wife has even been in touch to get his help in tracking down some of her husband’s old stuff from his Ajax days.
Michael’s eight-year-old son Jason has already caught the collecting bug and attended his first Ajax game at the weekend, a 1-1 draw with NEC Nijmegen. Michael’s own first match was in 1993, when he was taken by his aunt to the club’s old Olympic Stadium. Already the squad was stuffed full of talent – Seedorf, Litmanen, Edwin van der Sar, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Marc Overmars, Michael Reiziger, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Danny Blind – and Ajax were about to embark on a dizzying era of success that would reach its apogee in that 1995 Champions League final triumph against AC Milan.
When I ask if there is anything missing from the collection that he craves the most, Michael’s mind turns quickly back to that famous night in Vienna when Kluivert’s 85th-minute goal clinched the trophy. “If I have to choose, it would be a shirt from the ’95 final against Milan, but it’s not possible,” he explains. “It’s almost definitely not going to happen. But that shirt and one from the final in ’96, when we lost to Juventus on penalties – I’m still searching for those.”
You get the impression there will always be something else. That the Holy Grail will never be found. At some point, Michael says, he’ll need another room in the house for all this treasure. I tell him I admire his wife’s patience. “She lets me do my thing. Sometimes she thinks I go too far and wonders if I’ll ever stop, but I tell her I won’t ever quit because there are always new shirts, new boots…
“But collecting is very, very expensive. And it’s not always possible to get every piece you want. I also have my son, my daughter and my wife to think about. I would never put Ajax before my family because my kids and my wife deserve the best. They are number one. If my wife or kids ever needed anything urgently, I would sell my stuff in a heartbeat.”
Speaking from the heart, Michael talks us through some of his favourite items in his collection.
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“Growing up, everyone wanted to be like Jari Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him”
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots.
Best of the best
“This Frank de Boer shirt is fantastic. The number is stitched on the back, it’s got the Champions League patch on the sleeve and the logo watermark-detailing on the shirt. It’s hard to say, but I think it’s my favourite. It’s from the ’90s when I was growing up watching Ajax and I bought it from our current caretaker coach Fred Grim, who was keeper for us at that time. I’d asked him if he had any gloves and it turned out he had all these old shirts too, including this one which De Boer wore in the run to the 1995 final.”
Glory days
“This is a real collector’s item – you can’t find these any more. They used to sell these souvenir tiles at tobacconists and they have a hole in them so you can put them up on your wall. This is from the 1972 final against Inter, our second European Cup. I’ve also got one from the 1971 final against Panathinaikos with the stadium and logos on it. That cost me €250, which is maybe a little bit crazy, but I wanted it so badly that I worked Saturdays so I could afford it.”
“The pennant is the same sort of thing. I really love them. They’re so rare now. This one’s over 50 years old. You don’t find them often – sometimes online. I like to look for things on King’s Day, 27 April. It’s a celebration of the monarchy and people use the holiday to clear out their attic and then sell what they find on the street in front of their house. I always go out to see if I can find something. Sometimes you get lucky.”
If the boot fits
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots. Dennis Bergkamp gave him these in the early ’90s. He has 270 pairs from different players and I recently bought 30 off him. I have one or two pictures of Bergkamp wearing boots like these, but I don’t know if these are from a particular match. They’re so well worn. These days, when adidas or Nike bring out a new line, they give the players five or six pairs, maybe more, but not back then. This is Johan Cruyff’s own brand, but they don’t really do boots any more. It’s more of a lifestyle brand now.”
Golden memories
“This is Wim Volkers’ Eredivisie winners’ medal from 1932. It’s nearly 100 years old and was sold to me by his granddaughter Jessica. It’s priceless, really, a museum piece made of solid gold. Volkers spent his whole career with Ajax and won the title three times. He later became part of the club’s backroom staff and is a real Ajax legend. Jessica also had a shirt of his which is now in the official club museum. I’m a little jealous – I would’ve loved to have the shirt! But there is no better place for it than there at the stadium.”
Flying Finn
“This is Jari Litmanen’s shirt from 1995/96, but I can’t be sure from what game. Ajax definitely wore that kit against Real Madrid, but I don’t know if it’s that particular shirt. We beat them twice, and Litmanen scored the first goal in the 2-0 win in Madrid. For me, he is the best player Ajax have ever had. Cruyff was before my time. When we were growing up as kids, everyone wanted to be like Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him. I’ve also got two pairs of Jari’s boots and about 60 shirts – and he signed this one. He’s a really nice guy.”
Michael has donated the boots with which Dušan Tadić scored at Real Madrid in the 2018/19 round of 16 to the Ajax museum, as well as a pair Patrick Kluivert wore during the run to the 1995 final. By waiting patiently outside the training ground and meeting players at events, he has built up relationships with the great and good at the club, from the kit man and backroom staff to Jari Litmanen, the De Boer brothers and current interim coach Fred Grim. They are all generous with a signature and willing to push Ajax riches his way. Kluivert’s wife has even been in touch to get his help in tracking down some of her husband’s old stuff from his Ajax days.
Michael’s eight-year-old son Jason has already caught the collecting bug and attended his first Ajax game at the weekend, a 1-1 draw with NEC Nijmegen. Michael’s own first match was in 1993, when he was taken by his aunt to the club’s old Olympic Stadium. Already the squad was stuffed full of talent – Seedorf, Litmanen, Edwin van der Sar, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Marc Overmars, Michael Reiziger, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Danny Blind – and Ajax were about to embark on a dizzying era of success that would reach its apogee in that 1995 Champions League final triumph against AC Milan.
When I ask if there is anything missing from the collection that he craves the most, Michael’s mind turns quickly back to that famous night in Vienna when Kluivert’s 85th-minute goal clinched the trophy. “If I have to choose, it would be a shirt from the ’95 final against Milan, but it’s not possible,” he explains. “It’s almost definitely not going to happen. But that shirt and one from the final in ’96, when we lost to Juventus on penalties – I’m still searching for those.”
You get the impression there will always be something else. That the Holy Grail will never be found. At some point, Michael says, he’ll need another room in the house for all this treasure. I tell him I admire his wife’s patience. “She lets me do my thing. Sometimes she thinks I go too far and wonders if I’ll ever stop, but I tell her I won’t ever quit because there are always new shirts, new boots…
“But collecting is very, very expensive. And it’s not always possible to get every piece you want. I also have my son, my daughter and my wife to think about. I would never put Ajax before my family because my kids and my wife deserve the best. They are number one. If my wife or kids ever needed anything urgently, I would sell my stuff in a heartbeat.”
Speaking from the heart, Michael talks us through some of his favourite items in his collection.
“Growing up, everyone wanted to be like Jari Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him”
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots.
Best of the best
“This Frank de Boer shirt is fantastic. The number is stitched on the back, it’s got the Champions League patch on the sleeve and the logo watermark-detailing on the shirt. It’s hard to say, but I think it’s my favourite. It’s from the ’90s when I was growing up watching Ajax and I bought it from our current caretaker coach Fred Grim, who was keeper for us at that time. I’d asked him if he had any gloves and it turned out he had all these old shirts too, including this one which De Boer wore in the run to the 1995 final.”
Glory days
“This is a real collector’s item – you can’t find these any more. They used to sell these souvenir tiles at tobacconists and they have a hole in them so you can put them up on your wall. This is from the 1972 final against Inter, our second European Cup. I’ve also got one from the 1971 final against Panathinaikos with the stadium and logos on it. That cost me €250, which is maybe a little bit crazy, but I wanted it so badly that I worked Saturdays so I could afford it.”
“The pennant is the same sort of thing. I really love them. They’re so rare now. This one’s over 50 years old. You don’t find them often – sometimes online. I like to look for things on King’s Day, 27 April. It’s a celebration of the monarchy and people use the holiday to clear out their attic and then sell what they find on the street in front of their house. I always go out to see if I can find something. Sometimes you get lucky.”
If the boot fits
“I sometimes go to the training ground to see if players have anything for me or to get things signed and I met this guy Frans who used to do the same thing back in the day. He’s 81 now and has a huge collection of boots. Dennis Bergkamp gave him these in the early ’90s. He has 270 pairs from different players and I recently bought 30 off him. I have one or two pictures of Bergkamp wearing boots like these, but I don’t know if these are from a particular match. They’re so well worn. These days, when adidas or Nike bring out a new line, they give the players five or six pairs, maybe more, but not back then. This is Johan Cruyff’s own brand, but they don’t really do boots any more. It’s more of a lifestyle brand now.”
Golden memories
“This is Wim Volkers’ Eredivisie winners’ medal from 1932. It’s nearly 100 years old and was sold to me by his granddaughter Jessica. It’s priceless, really, a museum piece made of solid gold. Volkers spent his whole career with Ajax and won the title three times. He later became part of the club’s backroom staff and is a real Ajax legend. Jessica also had a shirt of his which is now in the official club museum. I’m a little jealous – I would’ve loved to have the shirt! But there is no better place for it than there at the stadium.”
Flying Finn
“This is Jari Litmanen’s shirt from 1995/96, but I can’t be sure from what game. Ajax definitely wore that kit against Real Madrid, but I don’t know if it’s that particular shirt. We beat them twice, and Litmanen scored the first goal in the 2-0 win in Madrid. For me, he is the best player Ajax have ever had. Cruyff was before my time. When we were growing up as kids, everyone wanted to be like Litmanen. I even had the same mullet as him. I’ve also got two pairs of Jari’s boots and about 60 shirts – and he signed this one. He’s a really nice guy.”
