Sir Alex Ferguson famously ended Jaap Stam’s Manchester United career during a roadside meeting at a petrol station following a fallout over the defender’s autobiography, a move Ferguson later confessed was his “biggest mistake.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has long maintained that selling Jaap Stam was one of the few major errors of his legendary 26-year tenure at Manchester United.
Tensions between the pair erupted in 2001 following the publication of Stam’s autobiography, Head to Head, which included controversial claims about Ferguson “tapping him up” during his transfer from PSV.
Enraged by the breach of trust, the United boss took swift and ruthless action to remove the Dutch colossus.
The dramatic conclusion to Stam’s Old Trafford career took place unexpectedly at a local petrol station.
After a training ground argument, Ferguson tracked Stam down via a phone call and met him at the roadside.
Stam recalled: “Ferguson said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘Close to my house, at a petrol station.’ Ferguson said, ‘Wait there!’ He jumped in his car and came straight to me… He told me that I had to be transferred.”
Despite United’s continued success, Ferguson eventually admitted the haste of the sale was a tactical and personal blunder.
Speaking years later about the departure of the man who helped secure the 1999 Treble, the Scot confessed his remorse over the decision.
“When I think of disappointments, obviously Jaap Stam was always a disappointment to me,” Ferguson admitted in 2013. “I made a bad decision there.”