According to Phil Hay, we came very close to bringing in Jaap Stam last summer as manager.
Of course, last year we had Garry Monk leave the club in dramatic circumstances and it certainly took a fair amount of time for the club to appoint his successor.
Eventually, TC was the man that came in but after a fan asked about Claudio Ranieri recently, Hay responded that Stam was the most likely to come in as an alternative:
there’s was a very brief bit of chatter about Ranieiri last summer but it was never happening. Stam was the one that came very close.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) May 22, 2018
The Verdict
Certainly, things could have been very different had he arrived after taking Reading to the play-off final.
Even so, the season just gone he nearly got them relegated and so maybe it is for the best that we avoided him last summer.
I also think we’d have got very bored of his playing style sooner rather than later.
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