DROP THE PARACHUTE
Stam’s fears over bumper payments
CHAMPIONSHIP bosses fear it could be now or never for the EFL’s unfashionable clubs to win promotion to the Premier League.
Reading boss Jaap Stam,
inset, and Brentford counterpart Dean Smith have told The FLP that soaring parachute payments give relegated clubs a clear run at an instant return – and something needs to change.
Following the Premier League’s bumper £5.1bn TV deal, clubs dropping out of the top flight are now expected to pocket around £87m over three years. Before they were estimated to pick up £64m over four.
Stam said: “Do clubs like Newcastle coming down from the Premier League need this kind of helping hand? As a manager of Reading, I have to say no.
“I think it would be a good thing if they had another look at it. Before long, we may see the three teams that come down go straight back up.”
Smith added: “It’s a very important year. The longer it goes on, the harder it is going to be to get into the Premier League.”
JAAP STAM began his second coming into English football yesterday – and if it’s anything like his first then Reading fans are in for a real treat.
Referring back to that debut season with Manchester United in the late 90s, the 44-year-old smiled: “It didn’t go too badly!
“When I joined Manchester United it was never in my mind to win the treble. Not in my first year, me a European and Premier League champion? When you join a big club like that you want to win something, that’s for sure, but we achieved such great things.
“It’s a bit of a different level now, but hopefully this season as my first as a manager can go as well as my first as a player in England. It won’t go that well, but not many will!
Results
“Now that I’ve joined Reading I’m not thinking about getting promotion straight away. But the thing is I’m the type of person who likes results, who needs results. It needs to work.”
The unforgiving defender was seen as arguably the finest central defender in the Premier League era. Those characteristics will serve him well in a punishing league, one with a changing landscape.
Welcome to the Championship, Jaap. Things down here aren’t always as they should be.
The Dutch great’s mood was cordial, all things considered. Hours before he had received the news that arguably Reading’s best player, their classy playmaker Oliver Norwood, was being sold to Brighton two days before the start of the season. His frown said it all.
He put on a brave face but when even a man of his stature and standing is totally powerless, then you get the feeling things may get worse for Royals fans before they get better. The departures frustrating, incomings low profile. All except the new boss, that is.
“Yes, I am disappointed,” he said. “We were working on a certain way of playing and everyone knows Oliver is a very good, international player. I didn’t think he was going to leave, I didn’t want him to leave, and not at this point.
“I got the message there was a bid for him and he wanted to go – what more can I do? It’s not up to me to say no, it’s up to the club what they do. I told them I didn’t want him to leave because he is an important part of what we are doing. It’s a shame, you know my point of view.”
At the risk of poking a hungry bear with a stick, my questioning turns to the clubs who share the division with Reading, those in a position to shell out £12m, £11m or £10m on players this summer.
The three clubs relegated from the Premier League come with back-up in the form of ever-growing parachute payments.
Not before a warning and a reminder. This league has an unwanted habit of not giving its managers time; promised or not.
Time
“It’s not the Championship, it’s the owners,” he added. “It’s up to the owners to decide how long we get.
“All clubs will now need to have wealthy owners. Do clubs like Newcastle coming down from the Premier League need this kind of helping hand? As a manager of Reading, I have to say no.
“I think already it’s a wealthy club. If they get more and more money, they’ve got more money to spend. I’m not saying they are going to be winning every single game but they will be winning more games than the other clubs, that’s for sure. It makes it more difficult for the other teams.
“I think it would be a good thing that they have another
look at it. Before long we may see the three teams that come down go straight back up. I’m not saying it’s certain to happen but, yes, you can assume it will.
“It’s not straightforward to win the Championship of course but most likely it will be easier.”
He may not have had such issues to contend with if he hadn’t said yes to a friend.
Stam, the 31st Sir Alex Ferguson graduate to step into management, was contemplating the easy life. Holidays with the family and the occasional stint as a TV pundit after retirement came, but then came a phone call.
His first club PEC Zwolle put in a
chance request to see if their most decorated former player would help with some coaching. He said yes, and a bug was caught. Moving on to Ajax in 2013, it then got serious. Working below fellow former international team-mate Frank de Boer, he became Reading’s first ever overseas manager three years later.
“If you go into coaching, it grows on you – you get a certain feeling,” he adds. “Eventually you want to stand on your own two feet, as we say in Holland, and make your own decisions and see where you end up.
“With your ambition, hopefully you can do very well for the club. Working in England as a player was always my dream, and it’s the same now I am a manager. This is where I want to be.
“I like how the people think and work in the UK. They are always up for it. I want my team to follow this and surprise. I want to get the maximum out of the team, my staff, the people I work with and myself. Sometimes you can make decision that you can risk a lot, but I just want to win. We’re going to try and get the players. I don’t go for the easy way – I’m not one to say a draw is a good result somewhere.
Building
“We spoke about our aims. It’s not only about building and getting time, time and more time – because eventually everybody wants to see results. I think that’s fair and that’s normal.
“As a club you need to make choices. Can you compete financially with the other teams within the league? No. If you look money-wise – look at Newcastle, look at Aston Villa. These clubs are buying players for £10m, more sometimes.
“We can’t do that. We need to find a different way whilst trying to find a way to play and get the results.
“You can’t expect in one season to go from where we were to the top (Reading finished 17th in the Championship last season). Sometimes you can succeed, you need to have a bit of luck but it’s a small chance.”
He won’t be building his managerial style on Sir Alex, instead using bits of all the bosses he has played under to create his own individual style.
“I don’t want to compare myself to anybody,” Stam added. “From all the people I have worked with – players and managers – you try and take something away from them, something with you that can help your career.
“You need to stick to yourself as well, and believe in your own philosophy. Of course you don’t need to invent new things, but you do sometimes need to have a look at the experiences you have shared with other managers and take little bits. How do they react? How do they deal with certain situations? Use it, but be yourself.”