STAM OUT OF ROYALS
JAAP STAM has left Reading following a run of just one win in 18 league matches.
The Dutchman has been under increasing pressure during the wretched run, which began in November and culminated in a 3-2 defeat at Norwich City on Saturday.
That latest loss leaves the Royals 20th in the Championship, just three points above the relegation zone with only eight games to play.
It is a far cry from the success of Stam’s first season in charge. Joining Reading from his role in Ajax’s academy in June 2016, he guided the club to within a whisker of the Premier League last May, where they lost in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out against Huddersfield Town in the play-off final at Wembley.
Fast forward 10 months and the club’s owners Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li have decided now to act to try and stave off relegation to League One.
A club statement said that the Chinese pair, who bought the club in May 2017 and handed Stam a new contract last summer, “wanted to give Jaap every opportunity to turn around what has been a difficult and challenging Championship campaign”.
But that proved not to be the case and after discussions with Stam earlier this week, it was announced on Wednesday morning that the Dutchman would be moving on.
“Jaap has not wavered in the time, effort and sheer determination he has put in to try to steer the team away from the position we find ourselves in,” the statement continued.
“However, after careful consideration, the decision has been made that a change is now necessary.
“We would like to thank Jaap for his hard work and commitment to the club, in particular noting what he achieved in a memorable first season in club management and we wish him the very best of luck in his future endeavours.
“We will now focus on
identifying and recruiting the right person to take Reading Football Club forward.”
First team coaches
Andries Ulderink and Said Bakkati are expected to follow Stam out the door, although the club would not confirm that to be the case when contacted by The Wokingham Paper.
There is also no news on who will run the side in the interim until a new boss is appointed, although Reading have no game until March 30 due to the international break.
But they will want a new manager in place by then to try and save the season with Queens Park Rangers coming to town in the first match of a tricky looking eightgame run-in.
At the time of going to press, former Swansea City and Derby County boss Paul Clement was the strong odds-on favourites with the bookmakers to succeed Stam. Clement, who worked with Reading chief executive Ron Gourlay during the duo’s time at Chelsea, was sacked in December with the Swans in the Premier League relegation zone, having guided them to safety after his arrival in January the previous season. He is available at 1/10 while next on the list are Mark Warburton and
Steve McClaren, both available at 12/1.
Other names mooted have been former Royals Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty, both currently in work at
Bolton Wanderers and Rangers respectively, as well as ex-Ajax man Marcel Keizer and fired Birmingham City boss Steve Cotterill.
Royals players took to social media on Wednesday afternoon to offer their well wishes to the departing Stam, including Liam Moore, Callum Harriott and Liam Kelly while Garath McCleary simply said “we’re all accountable”.