Jaap Stam: Erik ten Hag was sacked too early
Ten Hag should have been given more time
If they wanted to remove Erik ten Hag as manager then they should have done it in the summer. When you’re looking for other managers and talking to other managers, I don’t think it’s good for the current one.
If you’re not sure about them the decision needs to be made there – but if you agree to a new deal and still want to go ahead with Erik then you need to follow through and support him in the long term.
The way it was done at this moment in time was a harsh decision and, for me, done a bit quickly. Only two months or so after signing a new contract seems a bit too early to me and I think he should have been given more time.
United would still have beaten Leicester with Ten Hag
I don’t think they played that well against Leicester, who were pretty poor and gave the ball away for fun.
I’m pretty sure United would have won that game if Erik had been in the dugout, so I don’t think the reason they won like they did on Wednesday night was because of removing the manager.
With all due respect to Leicester, Manchester United would be expected to beat them nine out of 10 times given they are a better side with more quality players.
Whole club as well as players need to do better
The United players clearly need to step up and they haven’t been performing at the level they should have been – but this is a whole club thing.
The manager should take responsibility as he’s responsible for the team but higher up things need to be better too; the recruitment and getting the right players in for the correct system and style of player has been lacking.
If you want to win trophies and challenge the best sides, you need to be consistent and these players haven’t been.
They are playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world and need to show it each and every week and challenge their team-mates to be better – but we haven’t seen that happen very much in recent years.
Fans want positive football; new manager needs to instil that
The fans want to see the team working hard and if they are then they’ll be happy. If the team is on the front foot and is positive in what it’s trying to do then the supporters will get behind it. The style and mentality under Ten Hag hasn’t been right but there is a long way to go this season and whoever the new manager is needs to bring those characteristics back.
They’ve still got to be looking to achieve European football. There is a lot of time left to pick up a lot of points and end the season well, which brings momentum for the next campaign.
Manchester United are still one of the biggest clubs in the world. Everywhere you go, there are United fans cheering your name and offering their support. They never give up and, while things might get bad, they won’t leave the team’s side. That’s what I found special as a player.
We all know they want to get back to where the club was under Sir Alex Ferguson: winning trophies and being the leading force in English football. It’s a difficult path and it won’t happen overnight, but that’s why the owners and those in charge of recruitment are so important because the players that are brought in need to have the qualities required to help the new manager and make a difference.
That 1999 Champions League final
It was an amazing night. To be honest, we didn’t play well and Bayern were the better side and created the better opportunities.
We always had that feeling, though, that we could score against anybody and make it difficult against every team.
When Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] scored the equaliser, you could see that the opposition were gone and we had them. We then scored the second goal and the feeling after that was unbelievable. You never think you are going to get close to winning a treble and to do it like that was, of course, amazing.
In the dressing room afterwards, I remember just feeling so drained and like all the energy had gone out of my body. You work so hard and put so much energy into it that when it was all over it was almost a bit of relief that we’d got it done.
When we went in at half-time, we spoke a little bit about tactics but Sir Alex spoke more about getting to that moment of winning a European Cup.
He said we might not get this opportunity again in our career and it was a very special moment so we had to show our true ability. He said while there was a chance of us still winning the game we had to take it and that’s what everyone started to believe.
That’s what happened throughout the whole season and that belief with a little bit of luck along the way normally serves you pretty well.
There was a big celebration after we had won and I remember lots of the team partying late into the night. I stayed up for a bit and had a few beers with everyone, but I ended up going to bed not too late as I was just exhausted having put in so much before and during the game.
Losing the 2005 Champions League final
We [AC Milan] played so well in the first half, scored three great goals and dominated Liverpool. We went in at half-time and I’ve seen stories that we were celebrating during the break, but that’s total nonsense.
Carlo Ancelotti spoke to us and said ‘if we can score three in one half, so can they’ so we knew we needed to be wary of them.
We had so much experience in our team but, after five or six minutes, all the organisation had gone and we were a bit frantic. All of a sudden it’s 3-3, they're on the up and we’re playing catch-up.
We actually created enough chances to win the game and it was just one of those crazy nights when the opposition goalkeeper made some amazing saves and it just felt like it wasn’t going to pan out as we wanted it to.
It was so frustrating. You could hear a pin drop in the dressing room after the game. Nobody really spoke to each other on the way back to the hotel. When you get back to the room, you just want the ground to open up and swallow you.
Those times of your career are really hard but I always tried to use them as a learning tool because those are the moments that make you a stronger and better player when you get into a similar situation in future.