I used to be Man Utd’s physio.. Jaap Stam performed a brutal WWE move on me at Gary Neville’s house party
BEING a football physio means having to deal with plenty of injured players.
But this former Manchester United physio ended up on the sidelines himself.
That’s after Jaap Stam performed a brutal WWE move on him while at Gary Neville’s house party.
Stam played for United between 1998 and 2001, making 127 appearances while winning a Treble and two further league titles.
The Dutch defender was famous for his no-nonsense reputation.
And he further cemented himself as one of the greatest centre-backs in history with strong spells at Lazio, AC Milan and Ajax.
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However, while Stam worked hard, he liked to play hard too.
Former Man United physio Rod Thornley can testify to that, having been ‘suplexed’ by Stam while at a house party hosted by team-mate Neville.
Stam picked up Thornley during the bash and began performing a wrestling move on him, leaving onlookers speechless.
Thornley told : "I think if you cross the wrong people in that dressing room you were gone very quickly.
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“I mean look at Jaap Stam. That's a big example of it. He said some bad things about the Nevilles and bang he's gone out the club.
“He was a great lad. I remember him f***ing picking me up at a house party once and suplexing me on the sofa. I was like: 'What you doing? We're in the middle of a house party!'
"(I did) Nothing! Just walked past him. It was a big house party at Gary Neville's house and he just picked me up and f**ing suplexed me onto the sofa... (I said) 'What the f*** Jaap!'"
Stam’s United exit in 2001 remains controversial, with Sir Alex Ferguson allegedly axing him for comments the ace made in a book appearing to criticise the club.
Fergie previously said: "When I think of disappointments, obviously Jaap Stam was always a disappointment to me, I made a bad decision there."
Stam himself opened up on the transfer in his autobiography, saying: "I soon realised the club wanted to get rid of me. They also needed the money.
“Very soon the book became an issue again. It led to a conflict between me and the manager.
"He told me that I had to be transferred. Then he said, 'Will you please move to Lazio quickly?' I agreed to do it. Right there and then.
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“One quick conversation in my car at a petrol station in Manchester was enough for me to leave that big club.
“When I think about it now, and I have never talked about it before, I find it unbelievable I let that, as a player, happen to me."