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Full Name
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Jaap Stam
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Date of Birth
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17th July 1972
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Place of Birth
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Kampen, Holland
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Position
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Central Defender
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Height
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6ft 3
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United debut
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12/8/1998
vs LKS Lodz (H)
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.....
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Stam's United Record 1998-2001
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Appearances
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Goals
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League
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79
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1
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FA Cup
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7(1)
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0
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League Cup
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0
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0
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Europe
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32
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0
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Total
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118 (1)
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1
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Stam's International Record
1996-2001
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38 Caps for
Holland - 3 Goals
2001 F.A.
Premier League
2000 F.A. Premier League
1999 European Champions League
1999 F.A. Cup
1999 F.A. Premier League
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In
1994, Jaap Stam began his football career with Dutch club
Cambuur Leeuwarden. His home town of Kampen resides in a
very religious region of Holland that forbids sport on
Sundays, so Stam had to move from the area to FC Zwolle to
really kick-start his career.
A move later to Dutch 1st Division side Willem II was the
turning point of his career. Several brilliant performances
for them attracted the attention of Holland's biggest clubs.
In 1996, PSV Eindhoven bought him and he won his first
international cap in the same year. Stam was a regular in
the orange shirt ever since.
Europe's top clubs began to take notice of Stam and in 1998,
Manchester United paid a world record fee for a defender,
£10.6 million, to bring him to Old Trafford. This was a
dream move for Jaap, to the club he supported as a boy and
came just three months after he was named Holland's
Footballer of the Year. The year got even better during the
summer, as he played in the semi-finals of the World Cup,
although sadly the Dutch eventually lost to Brazil 4-2 on
penalties after a 1-1 draw.
After a shaky start, once he'd settled in at United, many of
his performances were pure class. Strong, powerful, a
brilliant ball-winner, at United Stam was one of, if not the
best defender in the world. He was, as Johan Cryuff once
described "a one man defence".
Stam could make the most vital of goal saving tackles. When
he went in to win the ball he did it 9 times out of 10,
probably because there can be few players in the world to
match his immense physical strength. A fantastic awareness
and reading of the game meant he could often break down
attacking threats before they became more dangerous.
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He had many great performances in the treble winning year
where he patrolled the defence with an awesome presence. In
short, Stam was a defensive giant and key to United's treble
success. The fans loved him too, he became very popular and
they made up a song "Jip Jap Stam is a big Dutchman". In the
following season 1999-2000 it is fair to say Stam's
excellence was somewhat hindered by incompetence not of his
own making. The United defence was unsteadied by the
continual interchanging of goalkeepers while Stam did not
have a consistent centre back partner all season and had to
make up for the errors of young Mikael Silvestre.
These uncertainties did make it harder for Stam and a bad
achilles injury meant he missed the middle of season
2000-2001. However, United's defence was much improved
throughout the year as the team became the meanest in the
Premiership conceding only 31 goals. In his time he had a
variety of players beside him, Johnsen, Berg, Silvestre,
May, Neville, Brown but as Sir Alex Ferguson once said "It
will always be Jaap Stam and AN Other".
Jaap Stam stood head and shoulders above the rest as the
best defender in the England.... that was until August 2001.
Stam published extracts from a his autobiography "Head to
Head" in which he criticised team-mates, accused Sir Alex
Ferguson of "tapping him up" while at PSV and telling United
players to dive in the penalty box. Sir Alex was said to be
"incandescent with rage" but few predicted what would
follow. Only a week into the new season Stam was sold to
Lazio for roughly £16 million.
Ferguson claimed Stam had not recovered from his achilles
injury, he had lost pace, mobility and that the money was
too good to turn down. Stam was totally stunned and bitterly
angry at what amounted to being booted out of the club. He
said the book was to blame for his exit. Fans divided into
those who backed Ferguson's footballing reasons and those
who claimed the Scotsman was reacting purely to the betrayal
of Stam's book. We perhaps will never know the truth, but
there might have been a bit of truth in both sides. Only
time will tell if Ferguson made the right decision to sell
Jaap Stam, but fans will prefer to forget the sour end to
his United career. The big Dutchman will always be
remembered as a superb player who played a decisive part in
the club's greatest moment. |
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All pictures in the
profiles can be enlarged by clicking on the smaller version.
Stats do not include friendlies, Charity Shield or World Club tournaments.
Number in brackets ( ) represents appearances as substitute in addition to
starting appearances.
This information is kindly taken from
McCleery's
Manchester United Zone
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