Ajax ahead of the cardboard curve as Everton get lost in the metaverse

On and off the field of play, Ajax have long been renowned as innovators who are invariably ahead of the curve. The Dutch club are generally credited with the invention of “total football” during the 1970s, while their home ground employs no end of eco-initiatives that make it one of the most environmentally friendly, sustainable stadiums in the world. Where Ajax go, other clubs often follow and it is to be hoped, in the wake of today’s announcement that fans have been banned from carrying cardboard signs pleading for shirts off players’ backs, every single other football club on the planet will quickly follow suit.

What began a couple of seasons ago as an innovative, faintly endearing wheeze from a couple of wide-eyed innocents in the crowd, has latterly been transformed into a widespread chiselling grift. So saturated has the demand for free “stuff” become, we have reached the point where it is no longer possible to sit beer in hand in front of the TV on a Super Sunday without having to bear witness to it. Dozens of entitled, grasping, young – and sometimes depressingly old – brats sitting close to the advertising hoardings and holding up twee, homemade cardboard rectangles bearing a written request for the soiled shirts from their favourite player’s back.

Ajax have reportedly told their supporters’ association that there is an increasing number of such signs at games, mostly being held by children, and it will no longer be possible for the players to accede to all the demands. They also suggested their players were getting fed up with being badgered and abused if they failed to spot or simply ignored these daubed requests. In order to avoid any potential loopholes that might involve requests for Davy Klaassen’s