West Ham kick off Perth visit with open training session

West Ham United got straight down to business following their arrival in Perth with an open training session in front of a healthy crowd at Macedonia Park on Thursday morning.

The school holidays ensured that there were plenty of youngsters in attendance as head coach David Moyes put his squad through their paces ahead of two games against Perth Glory and Tottenham Hotspur at Optus Stadium.

England midfielder Declan Rice is the notable absentee from the trip as he looks set to join Arsenal but fans were delighted to get up close and personal with the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Cresswell, Lukas Fabianski, Gianluca Scamacca, Pablo Fornals, and Danny Ings.

Tour ambassadors Carlton Cole and Richard Garcia were also in attendance and enjoyed mingling with the Perth-based Hammers.

The players all wore special training shirts featuring the DT38 Foundation logo on the front and ‘Tombides 38’ on the back, a tribute to Perth-born Dylan Tombides who came through the West Ham system and tragically passed away from testicular cancer in 2014.

A Welcome to Country celebration was observed by players and officials before training got underway with light running and activation exercises.

As the pace increased, balls were introduced for passing drills under the watchful eye of first team assistant coaches Kevin Nolan and Billy McKinlay, two former Premier League players.

Perhaps disappointingly, there was no shooting practice or small sided games to see more of the squad in action but the time spent signing autographs and posing for photographs more than made up for it.

The club’s new home shirt was on public sale for the first time, with a number of sizes selling out quickly as fans scrambled for signatures from their heroes.

With everyone in good spirits, there was time for a rendition or two of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” and a couple of chants aimed at rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

As well as the two games on Saturday and Tuesday, West Ham have set up a number of fan events across the weekend and will be out and about in the WA community.