Dutch partner's VVV Venlo enjoyed a successful first visit to east London
West Ham United were delighted to welcome representatives from Dutch partner club VVV Venlo who spent a week at the Club’s Academy of Football.
First team manager Maurice Steijn, the ex-ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda midfielder, visited alongside Club Director Marco Bogers and Club Chairman Hai Berden, as well as members of the first team.
As part of the visit, they watched the Hammers’ first team triumph 2-0 over Liverpool before enjoying a night at the darts at the iconic Ally Pally.
On Monday evening, they were in attendance at the Development Squad’s 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Having enjoyed a weekend watching the best British sports has to offer, they got down to business with several training sessions at Rush Green, culminating in a friendly with the Dev Squad which finished 0-0.
Promising right-back Sam Westley was the first player to benefit from the partnership, swapping east London for southeast Holland on loan earlier this season.
This is the first of several planned visits between the two clubs, which could see further loan exchanges in the near future.
WINTER BREAK
VENLO’s first team manager Maurice Steijn decided to maximise their winter break by using the trip as a mid-season training camp.
Steijn’s charges have been in superb form of late, winning their last five matches. Their terrific run has seen them climb to second in the Eerste Divisie table, the second tier of the Dutch pyramid.
Speaking at the start of the week, Steijn said: “The first half of the season it was important to finish in the top seven so we qualify for the Play Offs, but now we are second, we believe that we can be champions.
“I like my teams to play a good possession based game. When we don’t have the ball we like to press and put our opponents under a lot of pressure. It is the Dutch way of playing football. I also think it is important that my players enjoy playing football.”
First team manager Maurice Steijn, the ex-ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda midfielder, visited alongside Club Director Marco Bogers and Club Chairman Hai Berden, as well as members of the first team.
As part of the visit, they watched the Hammers’ first team triumph 2-0 over Liverpool before enjoying a night at the darts at the iconic Ally Pally.
On Monday evening, they were in attendance at the Development Squad’s 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Having enjoyed a weekend watching the best British sports has to offer, they got down to business with several training sessions at Rush Green, culminating in a friendly with the Dev Squad which finished 0-0.
Promising right-back Sam Westley was the first player to benefit from the partnership, swapping east London for southeast Holland on loan earlier this season.
This is the first of several planned visits between the two clubs, which could see further loan exchanges in the near future.
WINTER BREAK
VENLO’s first team manager Maurice Steijn decided to maximise their winter break by using the trip as a mid-season training camp.
Steijn’s charges have been in superb form of late, winning their last five matches. Their terrific run has seen them climb to second in the Eerste Divisie table, the second tier of the Dutch pyramid.
Speaking at the start of the week, Steijn said: “The first half of the season it was important to finish in the top seven so we qualify for the Play Offs, but now we are second, we believe that we can be champions.
“I like my teams to play a good possession based game. When we don’t have the ball we like to press and put our opponents under a lot of pressure. It is the Dutch way of playing football. I also think it is important that my players enjoy playing football.”
IMPORTANT PARTNERSHIP
WITH Premier League clubs increasingly utilising partnerships with foreign sides to aid with the development of younger players, and this partnership is just another step in returning the Academy of Football to its former glory.
West Ham’s Academy Director Terry Westley said: “We handpicked Venlo after looking around for 12 months. We really did our homework and decided that Venlo is definitely the right club.
“They tick a lot of boxes in terms of the staff, the ethos, the way they do things, so we really feel that any of our players who go over there will really benefit and come back better players and professionals.”
Steijn echoed Westley’s sentiments: “We wanted to get two things out of this week. The first is to prepare my team for the second half of the season.
“The second thing is to be able to meet and learn from the people of West Ham, I think we can learn a lot from each other.
“West Ham is a very big club. They have a lot of history and a great tradition. It is very different to VVV, our stadium is not nearly as big and the facilities here are fantastic. Meeting the people, it is clearly a family club and very important to the fans.
“I hope that this is the first of many times that we get to meet each other and work together. We are looking forward to many more years like this.”
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
VENLO’s Director Marco Bogers also spoke of his delight at utilising the link: “The partnership is very important to both clubs. Both teams can certainly benefit from this partnership, and both sets of players and staff can learn a lot.
“At youth level we work in a very special way, we work very closely with our players to improve their technical ability.
“We hope to learn a lot at this great club, there is a distinctive philosophy at West Ham which we want to utilise. We can learn a lot at every level, from the Academy, the coaches, the media team, everything.”
WITH Premier League clubs increasingly utilising partnerships with foreign sides to aid with the development of younger players, and this partnership is just another step in returning the Academy of Football to its former glory.
West Ham’s Academy Director Terry Westley said: “We handpicked Venlo after looking around for 12 months. We really did our homework and decided that Venlo is definitely the right club.
“They tick a lot of boxes in terms of the staff, the ethos, the way they do things, so we really feel that any of our players who go over there will really benefit and come back better players and professionals.”
Steijn echoed Westley’s sentiments: “We wanted to get two things out of this week. The first is to prepare my team for the second half of the season.
“The second thing is to be able to meet and learn from the people of West Ham, I think we can learn a lot from each other.
“West Ham is a very big club. They have a lot of history and a great tradition. It is very different to VVV, our stadium is not nearly as big and the facilities here are fantastic. Meeting the people, it is clearly a family club and very important to the fans.
“I hope that this is the first of many times that we get to meet each other and work together. We are looking forward to many more years like this.”
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
VENLO’s Director Marco Bogers also spoke of his delight at utilising the link: “The partnership is very important to both clubs. Both teams can certainly benefit from this partnership, and both sets of players and staff can learn a lot.
“At youth level we work in a very special way, we work very closely with our players to improve their technical ability.
“We hope to learn a lot at this great club, there is a distinctive philosophy at West Ham which we want to utilise. We can learn a lot at every level, from the Academy, the coaches, the media team, everything.”