Monday, November 8, 2021 at 07:10

Valentijn Driessen states that Feyenoord is now taking its ‘copying behavior’ towards AZ ‘very far’, he writes in his column. The Telegraph. The Rotterdammers took trainer Arne Slot, assistant coach Marino Pusic and club doctor Joost van der Hoek away from Alkmaar, while the current Head of Methodology Koen Stam had already made the switch before. Driessen warns Feyenoord that it would be unwise to ‘put the success ingredients of the Feyenoord training with the bulky waste’.

“Feyenoord is now taking its copying behavior very far. The AZ training served neatly as a blueprint for the new training vision in Rotterdam as presented last month by head of training Rini Coolen and Koen Stam. In reality, it was more a case of a copy-paste vision”, Driessen points out to the vision ‘manufactured by Stam’. He states that ‘someone then also conjured up an AZ scouting list from his bag’, with the names of Gernot Trauner, Fredrik Aursnes and Marcus Pedersen and Sam Beukema. He also sees similarities between the football visions, as Pascal Jansen elaborates on Slot’s philosophy at AZ.

“On the way to quick success, Feyenoord’s technical director Frank Arnesen will have thought: better stolen well than poorly conceived. Whoever follows, who copies and who does not innovate will never become a leader, but always remain a follower. A copy does not match an original. Hence it would be very unwise if the new technical policymakers in Rotterdam put the success ingredients of the Feyenoord training with the bulky waste instead of integrating them into the new course to be followed,” Driessen writes. He cites that the Feyenoord academy was chosen as the best education between 2010 and 2014, the the Dutch selection during the 2014 World Cup had nine players trained by the Rotterdam team and is now the main supplier of the the Dutch Under 14, Under 15 and Under 17.

“However, if the current copy rage at Feyenoord is at the expense of this vision, identity and culture of the club, then you have to wait for accidents,” Driessen warns. The chief of football of The Telegraph believes, however, that Feyenoord should copy the construction of a new stadium from AZ. Last week it was announced that the construction of Feyenoord City seems to be ending. “Without the AFAS Stadium on the Kooimeerplein in Alkmaar, the club would either no longer have existed or would now go through life as an average First Division club.”