Six Months After He Left United- Here's My Opinion (Jaap Stam)

Member Name: GLT1

Product:	Jaap Stam
Date:	08/01/02 (524 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Defender, Excellent Strength

Disadvantages: Is Serving A Long Ban After Failing A Test For Nandrolone, May Not Be What He Was Before Achilles Injury

Jaap Stam was, from 1998 until August 2001 my favourite Manchester United player. Of course, after that time he ceased to be a Manchester United player at all, but in his time at the Old Trafford club he proved to most people that he was, without doubt, one of the world's top defenders.

Signed in the simmer of 1998 from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of £10.5 million (a record at that time for a defender), Stam looked a true powerhouse, with his solid build and six foot, three inch frame, yet he took a little time to settle in the United back four.

His United career didn't get off to the best of starts- a 3-0 defeat in the Charity Shield at Wembley against main title rivals of recent years, Arsenal prompted much media criticism towards the giant Dutchman, which particularly centered on his ability to deal with Nicolas Anelka, the then-Arsenal centre-forward, who was impressive on the day.

As the season got underway, Stam still received the same stinging criticism(particularly when Arsenal repeated the same comprehensive victory in a Premiership match at Highbury), but slowly started to adapt to the pace of the English game. His strength was starting to show, as he casually brushed players aside, in order to win cruicial 50-50 challenges.

By the beginning January 1999, Stam was beginning to look like a dream buy. His strength was equalled by his reading of the game, and that coupled with the ability to make some wonderful tackles and headed clearances made United look as formidable in defence as they were in attack, and after the club had lost three league games by mid-December 1998, they lost no more in either the League, the FA Cup or the Uefa Champions League that season, and completed their remarkable 'treble' triumph.

Success continued for both United and Stam throughout the following two seasons, though not on the scale of his debut season (United continued to defend their Premiership trophy, bt couldn't
add more cup success).

Stam though, continued to look an excellent purchase for much of this time and scooped a couple of awards for European Defender of the year on successive occasions.

The criticism of his debut year was now a distant memory, and Stam seemed to be enjoying his time in the English game. He was now United's number one choice at centre-back, and the question for manager Sir Alex Ferguson was who to choose as his defensive partner as injuries hit the reliable Ronny Johnsen and promising youngster Wes Brown.

Stam had also established himself as a fans favourite during his three years at Old Trafford, with his all-action, tough-nosed performances earning him many admirers. He even had his own terrace chant which could regularly be heard from United fans, and he was starting to become a true Manchester Uited great in the eyes of many.

Early in the 2000/'01 season though, Stam suffered a series achilles injury, which kept him out until the following year, and though he returned to complete the League triumph of that season, it appeared that something may have been missing from his game. He was beaten for pace on a couple of occasions when perhaps before the injury he wouldn't have been, and rumours cirulated that the injury hadn't fully cleared up after the operation.

However the summer break came, and after much rest, Stam seemed to be back to his usual, imposing self on a pre-season tour of the Far-East.

However, as the 2001/'02 season opened, trouble again loomed.

United fell to a 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Liverpool in the Charity Shield, and suddenly the usually dependable Stam looked out of sorts, making a crucial error to allow Michael Owen to put the Merseyside team 2-0 up.

As was the case in his debut season, the media criticism again began, and it didn't become any quieter as Stam was again exposed by Louis Saha of Fulham in a close 3-2 home victor
y for the champions in the opening game of the League season against Premiership new-boys Fulham.

As all of this was going on, Stam caused controversy, when his (at that time) unreleased book, 'Head-to-Head', telling of his life at United was serialised by a National tabloid newspaper.

The serialisation extracts from Stam alleged that his manager Alex Ferguson had illegally approached him, and also seemed to criticise his Manchester United team-mates, in particular the Neville brothers.

Three days after the Fulham game, United travelled to Ewood Park to play Blackburn, however Jaap Stam was not even on the substitutes bench and again, rumours began to swirl.

Some said that Stam's achilles injury had flaired up again, others said that his manager, Ferguson had dropped him as a form of club discipline, in much the same way as he did to star player David Beckham two seasons earlier against Leeds United. However, the growing concensus was that due to the serialisation of the book, which the Manchester United players and staff apparently had no knowledge of, Sir Alex Ferguson had decided to dispense with the services of Stam altogether, rather than keep someone who had apperently upset some of his team-mates with his much-publicised criticism of them.

This appeared to be the case when Stam was quickly sold for just over £15 million to Lazio just four days later, as United played Aston Villa in the Premiership.

For one of the few times in recent years, this resulted in Manchester United fans actually questioning the decision of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Many saw Stam as a defensive lynchpin for United and although they felt he was wrong in what he said in his book, they felt that maybe a club ban or fine may have been more suitable than actually selling him to another club.

Stam, for his part seemed stunned by the speed at which he had been sold, and added that he felt that if the book had been r
ead as a whole, rather than in serialised parts, that the picture he painted of his now former club and team-mates was very different to what appeared in the newspaper in which it was serialised.

Sir Alex Ferguson on the other hand, dismissed the notion that Stam had been sold on the basis of what he had written, and said that he felt his form is not what it was before his injury and that it was time to freshen things up.

Few believed this, and 'Fergie' received some criticism from some of the national newspapers for this reasoning.

I on the other hand believe that Stam's departure was both a combination of his written words, and what could be seen as a definite dip in performance since his return from his injury.

Towards the end of the 2000/'01 season and at the start of the 2001/'02 season, he seemed to be beaten for pace far more often than in the previous two and a half years, and his strength and power seemed less effective than usual, and maybe Sir Alex felt that it was better to sell the player while he could stil attract a good price for the club, rather than placing him on the bench for a time.

However, I feel that the book must have played some role in Ferguson's thinking, as he is a man known to value the club as a whole, and would probably be intolerant of anyone within it who says and does things to upset the good harmony that he has created there between the players.

Looking back on things, it appears as though Sir Alex has made the right decision yet again, as the move seems to have worked out better in the long run for Manchester United than it has for Jaap Stam.

Stam's replacement at United, Laurent Blanc was originally the recepient of fierce criticism, from some sections of the Old Trafford support, and most notably from the media, after his 'settling in' period coincided with a woeful run of form by United in November and early December of 2001.
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However, the form of both Blanc and Manchester United has improved dramatically since a loss to West Ham in early December that sent them down to ninth in the league, and after losing only one game since out of their last twelve Premiership fixtures, the champions are on top of the table once again and in with a shout of retaining their crown come the end of the season.

Jaap Stam on the other hand, though still much-missed by some United fans, has not endured the greatest period of his career, since switching to Serie A.

Lazio aren't having one of their best seasons, and although Stam helped them to maintain a solid defense early in their Serie A campaign, his injury breiefly flared up again this season, before he was dealt the crushing blow that the Italian FA had found a random drug test showed him as testing positive for the banned substace nandrolone.

Stam has protested his innocence, and I was originally enclined to believe him, but subsequent appeals have all come to the conclusion that he was guilty, and my mind has changed somewhat as of late, and if he has actually taken banned substances then he is regretting it somewhat now, as he is banned up until the end of April this year (still- at least he won't have to worry about it affecting his World Cup prospects)

To conlcude my thoughts on this situation as a whole, I feel that by (maybe inadvertantly) crossing the manager at Manchester United, by seeming to make accusations towards him and insulting the players there that Jaap Stam made up Ferguson's mind to sell him after his form had already dipped prior to this.

All-in-all, and it's been said a lot before, no-one is bigger than the club, and no-one will tell you that more than Alex Ferguson. It is just a shame, for both Stam (who may not have been having the problems he's having now if he was still in England, playing for United)and for the fans of Manchester United that loved his styl
e, that Jaap Stam had to find that out the hard way.

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