After taking Reading to the Championship playoff final should Crystal Palace and Southampton consider a move for Jaap Stam?
Reading manager Jaap Stam
Reading will be playing in the Championship for at least one more season after losing the playoff final to Huddersfield Town in a penalty shootout.
Yet should Royals boss Jaap Stam get his chance to manage in the Premier League in 2017/18 after an impressive debut campaign at the Madejski Stadium in which his team finished third?
Stam was given his first job in management in June last year and in the immediate aftermath of the Huddersfield defeat, pledged his future to Reading.
Reading manager Jaap Stam speaks with Tiago Ilori before extra time
“I’m still happy to be here, to work here, to live in the area,” the Dutchman was quoted by the BBC.
“I still have a contract at Reading, there’s nothing that’s going to take me away from the club.
“Of course you want to work at the highest level. You want to work at the absolute top eventually as I’ve played there myself as well.
“But it doesn’t mean, ‘OK we’ve achieved this, so next season I need to go away’. We just need to have a look at what’s going to happen in the summer.”
Madejski Stadium – general view
However, Royals co-chairman Sir John Madejski admitted that top flight clubs are bound to be keeping a close eye on Stam.
“Every manager that’s successful is always under the spotlight,” Madesjki told the BBC.
“I hope he will stay, he’s very happily ensconced in Berkshire, so it would be a pretty big tempting offer in my estimation to take him away from Reading.”
Reading manager Jaap Stam
As a former Manchester United, Lazio and Ajax defender Stam has played at the highest level across Europe and is now combining that experience with highly praised tactics that stem from the classic Dutch ideology of ‘total football’, which promotes possession and technique.
This is a style which could fit one side on the hunt for a new boss and one rumoured to be doing so in the near future – Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce
Palace need to replace Sam Allardyce in the dugout following his surprise resignation and with international stars such as Christian Benteke, Yohan Cabaye and Wilfried Zaha in their ranks, perhaps Stam could be the man to take them to the next level.
Meanwhile, the Saints are on the verge of sacking Claude Puel – according to the Sun – and have recently enjoyed great success under another Dutchman and contemporary of Stam’s in Ronald Koeman.
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