Jaap Stam: Head To Head

by Jaap Stam, Jeremy Butler (Contributor)

Now recognized as one of the best central defenders in the world, Jaap Stam was a huge influence in Manchester United's 1998/99 treble winning season and continues to earn the plaudits for his performances at both club level and for Holland.In this his first book, Stam reveals what it is like to play for the biggest and most famous football club in the world, sharing the limelight with the likes of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Roy Keane.On boss Alex Ferguson, he explores the myth behind the man and his methods, and talks about training and match preparation, dressing room secrets at the time of their Treble success, and the transfer saga involving his former PSV team-mate Ruud Van Nistelrooy.There is also the hitherto untold story of the problems he encountered when first settling in at Old Trafford, how he almost missed out on his dream move, and the way he was written off at the time as "a waste of money" by the press.

Genres: Sports, Football

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Jakob "Jaap" Stam (born July 17, 1972 in Kampen) is a retired Dutch football player who was twice voted best defender in the 1999 and 2000 UEFA Champions League. He currently works as a scout for his former club Manchester United, responsible for scouting in South America.

Stam spent three seasons at Manchester United, during which time United won three Premierships, one FA Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

During the 2001-02 season, Stam was controversially sold to S.S. Lazio in Italy, after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was reportedly furious with allegations Stam had made in his autobiography Head to Head about himself and the club. Stam made numerous statements in the book about his views on opposing players, and notoriously alleged that Ferguson's approach to buy him was done without the permission of PSV Eindhoven. Laurent Blanc was signed as his replacement.

However, Alex Ferguson has since described the decision to sell Jaap: "At the time he had just come back from an achilles injury and we thought he had just lost a little bit. We got the offer from Lazio, £16.5m for a centre-back who was 29. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. But in playing terms it was a mistake. He is still playing for Ajax at a really good level."

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly the worst book I've ever picked up. He was a great footballer but he really should have found a ghost writer to write this for him. I really wanted to get into this book because I really admired him as a player but eventually I gave up.

[Tim Cooijmans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never write a book during your career. It lacks self criticism a lot and did cost him his career at Man. Utd. Strange? No, if you ask me. Was meant to be positive to all mentioned, but that was a naive thought. Struggled reading it.