Clubs need former players at the helm: Bergkamp

More clubs should follow the Ajax Amsterdam model of promoting former players to executive roles, according to the Dutch side's assistant manager Dennis Bergkamp.

"The best directors are the ones who worked on the factory floor," he told his former Arsenal team mate Martin Keown in an interview for Britain's Daily Mail on Friday.

"The ones who make the decisions should be the people who know what's really happening and how it impacts down below."

Dutch great Johan Cruyff, who died last month aged 68, was instrumental in putting that sort of system in place at the Amsterdam club he played for with such distinction.

Former Ajax defender Frank de Boer is the current manager and, along with Bergkamp, is assisted by another retired centre-back, Jaap Stam, while ex winger Marc Overmars is director of football.

Former goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar works on the commercial side as marketing director.

Former forward Bergkamp, 46, believes that helps continue the playing philosophy that Cruyff embodied in his 11 years as an Ajax player and three years as manager.

"He felt to win games without attacking football is boring but to play attacking football without winning is useless," Bergkamp said.

An English league and cup double winner twice with Arsenal in 1998 and 2002, Bergkamp still keeps an eye on the London club's results and believes his old manager, Arsene Wenger, will stay on if given the chance, despite criticism from some supporters.

Bergkamp, born in Amsterdam, is happy where he is for the moment, though, ensuring the Cruyff legacy endures.

"I feel I'm not finished here," he said.

"I want to be alert, now that Cruyff has gone, that it doesn't change.

"There are many people who would like to change it again and I want to make sure that doesn't happen."

Image: Dennis Bergkamp of Arsenal during the Barclays Premiership match between Arsenal and Middlesbrough at Highbury on August 22, 2004 in London

Photograph: Phil Cole/Getty Images