West Ham have announced the decision to bring a European scout to
work for the club.
Revealing the decision, Glenn Roeder says:
"We've decided to take on a very experienced man in Holland called Theo Vonk, who has coached at the highest level.
"He has got a lot of knowledge of football in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany, and he lives close to the border of Germany so he can reach all of these places very quickly for us.
"He has got many contacts in Europe; you have got to have this knowledge - it is absolutely vital in unearthing new talent.
"Theo has managed and coached in the top divisions in Holland; his last club was Twente Enschede and he is a very experienced football man.
"In fact his son Michael used to play for Manchester City."
Explaining the rationale behind the decision further, Glenn adds:
"We need to find some good young players that no one yet has really heard of; it is all very well going to the large clubs once these players have been brought in from smaller clubs and buying them - then it is easy to identify the talent.
"But we need to find players before they go off to the big clubs.
"Obviously we see ourselves as a bigger Premiership club, but if you look at a lot of top players in Europe they have come from smaller clubs originally.
"The only chance we have got of unearthing some of these players is having someone who is based in Europe, who has vast experience, and a vast bank of informants, if you want, that will tell Theo where he should be looking."
The initial appointment is until the summer, and Glenn adds:
"We are looking at it as a trial basis at first and we will review the situation at the end of the season.
"We will see what Theo has been able to bring to our club in terms of knowledge and what he has marked up as potential targets for West Ham.
"We look forward to working with him for the rest of the season when we will sit down, review it, and see how we want to take it forward."
Glen is excited about the partnership, which begins with immediate effect, and says:
"We are all looking forward to working with him; he has been over a couple of times and he has put some proposals forward about the way he would like to work and we have spoken about the way we would like him to work for us."
Glenn cites the example of Ipswich as being a good marker of how having a permanent scout abroad can benefit a club and adds:
"It is very promising; there are quite a number of Premiership clubs that have got full time scouts.
"Ipswich have had two that I am aware of for a number of seasons now: Romeo Zondervan who is also based in Holland, and Simon Hunt who is based in Scandinavia.
"And you have to say Ipswich is a side that has done particularly well in the transfer market; George Burley has done fantastic job in bringing in some unknown players who have done very well for them.
"We want to be in a position like that where we can call on the services of someone who is European, and living on the continent - and there is no better place than to have someone based in Holland."
Glenn emphasises that the search for players is a continuous process, explaining:
"I see identifying new talent as a very important part of any manager's job now, very important for the club.
"When you unearth players that do particularly well, if you are not careful they start attracting the attention of the really big clubs around Europe and sometimes you have difficulty keeping those players for any length of time.
"If you lose one of those big players you need to be able to replace him and unless you are constantly tapping into new talent you dilute the team."
Revealing the decision, Glenn Roeder says:
"We've decided to take on a very experienced man in Holland called Theo Vonk, who has coached at the highest level.
"He has got a lot of knowledge of football in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany, and he lives close to the border of Germany so he can reach all of these places very quickly for us.
"He has got many contacts in Europe; you have got to have this knowledge - it is absolutely vital in unearthing new talent.
"Theo has managed and coached in the top divisions in Holland; his last club was Twente Enschede and he is a very experienced football man.
"In fact his son Michael used to play for Manchester City."
Explaining the rationale behind the decision further, Glenn adds:
"We need to find some good young players that no one yet has really heard of; it is all very well going to the large clubs once these players have been brought in from smaller clubs and buying them - then it is easy to identify the talent.
"But we need to find players before they go off to the big clubs.
"Obviously we see ourselves as a bigger Premiership club, but if you look at a lot of top players in Europe they have come from smaller clubs originally.
"The only chance we have got of unearthing some of these players is having someone who is based in Europe, who has vast experience, and a vast bank of informants, if you want, that will tell Theo where he should be looking."
The initial appointment is until the summer, and Glenn adds:
"We are looking at it as a trial basis at first and we will review the situation at the end of the season.
"We will see what Theo has been able to bring to our club in terms of knowledge and what he has marked up as potential targets for West Ham.
"We look forward to working with him for the rest of the season when we will sit down, review it, and see how we want to take it forward."
Glen is excited about the partnership, which begins with immediate effect, and says:
"We are all looking forward to working with him; he has been over a couple of times and he has put some proposals forward about the way he would like to work and we have spoken about the way we would like him to work for us."
Glenn cites the example of Ipswich as being a good marker of how having a permanent scout abroad can benefit a club and adds:
"It is very promising; there are quite a number of Premiership clubs that have got full time scouts.
"Ipswich have had two that I am aware of for a number of seasons now: Romeo Zondervan who is also based in Holland, and Simon Hunt who is based in Scandinavia.
"And you have to say Ipswich is a side that has done particularly well in the transfer market; George Burley has done fantastic job in bringing in some unknown players who have done very well for them.
"We want to be in a position like that where we can call on the services of someone who is European, and living on the continent - and there is no better place than to have someone based in Holland."
Glenn emphasises that the search for players is a continuous process, explaining:
"I see identifying new talent as a very important part of any manager's job now, very important for the club.
"When you unearth players that do particularly well, if you are not careful they start attracting the attention of the really big clubs around Europe and sometimes you have difficulty keeping those players for any length of time.
"If you lose one of those big players you need to be able to replace him and unless you are constantly tapping into new talent you dilute the team."