When Jaap Stam looks at today’s Feyenoord, he sees a team that shows similarities with his football style. The now unemployed trainer was attracted by the Rotterdam club in 2019 as the successor of Giovanni van Bronckhorst because he put an attractive way of playing into practice at PEC Zwolle. That was lacking under the leadership of Van Bronckhorst, although many prizes were won. The marriage between Stam and Feyenoord lasted only a few months.
“I wanted and had to make that change in De Kuip. That takes time because players were sold, while adequate replacements were missing. Many players were not fit enough for that cover and the more intensive game”, Stam looks back on Saturday The Telegraph. Director Jan de Jong and technical director Martin van Geel left Rotterdam South in the summer of 2019 and Stam ended up alone at the club. “When the performance was disappointing, I felt the atmosphere around the club change towards me, making performing and getting time for the build-up difficult.”
His successor Dick Advocaat turned everything back. “I also knew that Feyenoord was vulnerable, but we had a vision. No, I didn’t want to go back to that old style. I don’t support that.” Stam sees that a lot has now changed within Feyenoord and the selection. “The realization has dawned that something had to be done in terms of playing style and reinforcements have been brought in, who have the qualities to play the way Arne Slot plays with Feyenoord. (…) You saw that everyone started to believe in the new way of playing because it enabled you to win matches, even those that you would not actually be able to win so quickly.”
Stam knows Slot from their joint stint at PEC between 2010 and 2013, when Stam was an assistant coach and Slot player. “He made up for his lack of speed with cleverness. Arne deserves all the credit for the steps that Feyenoord is making. It is not an incident, because he also managed to do that at AZ and before that SC Cambuur. Although as a trainer you always remain dependent on the qualities of your players and whether you get a chance at that level.”
With Erik ten Hag and Slot, the Netherlands seems to have two trainers again who can put the Dutch trainers guild abroad on the map again. Success in the Eredivisie offers no guarantee whatsoever, Stam emphasizes. “It also depends on which club you train, your way of managing and the quality of your players. You are also dependent on the managers around you. You get little time and immediate results are demanded.”