What’s the story?
Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has criticised Sir Alex Ferguson for his surprise departure from Manchester United in the year 2001-02. The Dutch defender who was imperious during his time at Old Trafford was surprised to learn from his manager that he had been sold to Lazio.
Stam received the news at the forecourt of a petrol station according to a recent interview published in the Daily Mail. The Dutch defender felt crestfallen about the news at the time and fans were shocked as well.
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Over the years, Ferguson has acknowledged his mistake of letting the defender go and recently even Stam concurred with it stating, “Well, of course, it was a mistake! I'm not going to deny that. I knew myself how I felt as a player at the time. And at that time you're not happy with it. But you know as well when you go into management that sometimes you have to make certain decisions.”
In case you didn’t know...
Stam since then has moved on to management and is currently the manager of Reading. The Dutch defender, after a successful playing career, moved into management and is aware of the difficulties associated with the job.
In his interview, he revealed his first foray into management with FC Zwolle. The Dutchman was on hand to answer an emergency from his first professional club about some 'on the pitch' problems. After resolving them, things rapidly progressed before he was promoted to the role of an assistant manager at FC Zwolle.
During his time with United, Stam won all the club honours on offer. He was a part of the treble-winning side in 1999 and won the title three times in his three seasons with the club. United fans even dedicated a song to the Dutchman named, ‘Yip Jaap Stam is a big Dutchman’ at the time.
And the Dutchman reciprocated the same feelings for the fans when questioned about them, stating, “I loved them as well.”
Stam reiterated that on his return to Old Trafford with Reading, as their coach, things would be much different stating, “I've been back before with charity games. But this is different, because of all the United fans who will be at the game. I still follow United. I still love the club. But now I need to play against them.”
Heart of the matter
Jaap Stam’s Reading side has been drawing praise for their improved style of play this season. And the Dutchman has led the club impressively to a third place after 23 games in the Championship.
The Royals will look to cause an upset when they visit Old Trafford next weekend for an FA Cup tie. Stam spoke glowingly about how the players have adapted to his methods stating, “We've asked a lot of the players, taking them out of their comfort zone, to do totally different things to what they've done. You can see that players like it, they improve.”
What’s next?
Stam will hope that his team have the nerve to continue playing football in the style he has instilled when they face a rampaging United team on 7th January. Reading has won their last two games and will be facing Bristol City on Monday.
United, on the other hand, travel to the London Stadium as they look to extend their unbeaten run to 14 games. United on Saturday, came back from a goal down to win the game in the last 10 minutes, with Martial and Pogba on the score-sheet as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1.
Sportskeeda’s take
The defender’s outburst is justified but over the years the relationship between SAF and Stam has become much cordial. The defender instead praised Ferguson’s mentality and his former manager’s team building skills stating, “I think Fergie was one of the best at building a team. It was how he got players into the squad that could perform straightaway with the right qualities but also the right mentality, which combined together to give him trophies. At United the mentality of the players was unbelievable. Every game we went for it.”
In fact, it will be interesting to watch how the match pans out. The Dutchman has ensured that his team is well organised and that has reflected in the results as well. Old Trafford is always a difficult place to visit for the opposition and will be a test of Stam’s managerial tactics against the Portuguese.
However, given the qualitative difference between the sides, one can expect United to dominate the game and anything other than a win will be considered a disappointment.
