Jaap Stam becomes Reading manager

Championship side Reading has appointed former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam as its new manager.

The 76-time Netherlands international has been gaining coaching experience in his homeland with FC Zwolle and Ajax, and will now take the reins of a club that's looking to make a return to the Premier League after being relegated in 2013.

"I was looking for a team that wanted to achieve something," Stam said in his first interview as Reading manager. "When I got the invitation to speak to the owners of the club and with Brian Tevreden, the technical director, it was a very good conversation that we had."

Stam won the treble while manning the backline for Manchester United in the 1998-99 campaign, and also had notable stays with PSV Eindhoven, Lazio and AC Milan in a 15-year playing career.

"As a manager I've still got the same ambition and want to do that with the team that I'm managing as well," he continued. "It's going to be Reading and I'm very happy to do it with this club."

Stam is slated to make his debut in the Reading technical area during a friendly on July 9 in the modest confines of Borehamwood's Meadow Park.