These cards are actually meaned for my cover cards when I play my Man United club. Since Surabaya only has 2005-06 version of WCCF, the cards that could be chosen are limited. So I chose Blanc and Stam as one of the defensive trio (Blanc-Ferdinand-Stam). So, here they are :
Jakob "Jaap" Stam (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjaːp ˈstɑm]; born 17 July 1972 in Kampen) is a retired Dutch football player who was twice voted best defender in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League. He played for several European clubs including PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, S.S. Lazio, A.C. Milan and AFC Ajax before retiring in October 2007. He was known for possessing "a rare combination of speed, strength and ball-playing ability". Stam is currently the assistant manager of Art Langeler at his former club FC Zwolle.
Stam spent three seasons at Manchester United, during which time United won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League. He scored his only goal for the club in a 6–2 away victory against Leicester City.
Early in the 2001–02 season, Stam was controversially sold to Lazio in Italy, after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was reportedly furious with allegations Stam had made in his autobiography Head to Head
about himself and the club. Stam made numerous statements in the book
about his views on opposing players, and notoriously alleged that
Ferguson's approach to buy him was done without the permission of PSV Eindhoven. Laurent Blanc was signed as his replacement.
However, Alex Ferguson has since described the decision to sell Stam:
"At the time he had just come back from an achilles injury and we
thought he had just lost a little bit. We got the offer from Lazio,
£16.5m for a centre-back who was 29. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.
But in playing terms it was a mistake. He is still playing for Ajax at a
really good level." On the financial report Manchester United announced the fee was £15.3 million.
Laurent Robert Blanc (French pronunciation: [loʁɑ̃ blɑ̃]; born 19 November 1965) is a French football manager and former player. He is the former head coach of the French national team, having replaced Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He was also previously the manager of Bordeaux.
Blanc played professional football for numerous clubs, including Montpellier, Napoli, Barcelona, Marseille, Internazionale and Manchester United, often operating in the sweeper position. He is also a former French international, playing in several international tournaments, which include the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, both of which France won. On 28 June 1998, Blanc scored the first golden goal in World Cup history against Paraguay. Blanc has the nickname Le Président, which was given to him following his stint at Marseille in tribute to his leadership skills.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson
had attempted to lure Blanc several times since 1996 and finally
succeeded in 2001. Despite his age of 35 years, Blanc was brought in to
replace the departing Jaap Stam. He was criticised for poor performances in the early months of his stay at Old Trafford. This was compounded when United suffered their first five losses of the season to Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Chelsea (coincidentally, the first letters of each team spell out "BLANC"; however, Blanc did not play in the games against Bolton or Liverpool.) He retired two years later, having helped the club to the 2002–03 Premier League crown. He scored four goals during his time at Manchester United. One of these came in the league against Tottenham Hotspur, and the other three all came in the Champions League in games against Olympiacos and Boavista (both home and away). During his time in Manchester, he was known by fans as "Larry White".
Enjoy ! Don't forget to give some comments and give me some suggestions !
