A struggling team sitting 14th in the Eredivisie... what is going on at Ajax?

Amid the pyrotechnics that forced De Klassieker to be abandoned, it was tempting to wonder if Ajax's season has already gone up in smoke.

Furious supporters smashing up their own stadium and fighting police outside, their team left sitting just two points above the relegation zone, and the brutal axing of director of football Sven Mislintat made for an eventful Sunday in Amsterdam.

The pre-eminent club of Dutch football once again finds themselves in crisis and it isn't entirely clear how things are going to get better.

The dramatic scenes inside and outside the Johan Cruyff Arena on Sunday, when a barrage of flares forced the players back to the dressing rooms with Feyenoord winning 3-0, turned the spotlight on wider failings at the club.

Videos later on show mounted riot police charging at gangs of supporters on the approaches to the stadium, while firing volleys of tear gas.

Another clip showed a group vandalising the glazed frontage of the Arena's reception area, smashing windows and lobbing red smoke canisters.

A large clear-up operation was underway on Monday and the remaining 35 minutes of the match will be played behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon.

It's highly unlikely Ajax will find a way back from three goals down. They've won just one of their opening five Eredivisie matches so far and sit 14th in an 18-team league.

Tensions often run high in Ajax-Feyenoord encounters, hence a ban on travelling supporters, but the expression of sheer anger and frustration on Sunday was remarkable.

Ajax have won 36 Dutch league titles in their history, including three of the past four that have been completed, but things have fallen off a cliff in recent months.

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