This Is Guernsey

By Nick Mollet

LOCAL football needs urgently to look at the bigger picture and change its ‘tired and uninspiring’ current structure, warns the island’s assistant senior coach Tony Vance. He is fully backing the idea of creating a Guernsey United team.

‘We need to give the next generation of youngsters the chance to succeed. Football is still our number one sport in terms of numbers, just, and I’m concerned its popularity is diminishing.

‘I would urge local football to start looking at the bigger picture as soon as possible,’ said Vance, a former Manchester United triallist, who also played for Wycombe Wanderers and Enfield.

‘A long time ago people were desperate to play Priaulx and island football, but now I would seriously question whether the hunger is as it was. We therefore need to provide something to motivate budding footballers.

‘I fear we are not going to unearth another star in the Matt Le Tissier mould because of our current set-up. In a week when we have produced three world champions in different sports, with the current motivation levels due to the structure, I can’t see anybody coming close in football terms in the foreseeable future,’ said Vance.

‘I think the talent is there but the opportunities aren’t there for them to progress. You are only going to improve if you are playing regularly against better competition and trying to better yourself and that won’t happen with the current structure.’

He believes the objectives for Guernsey football and its best players are too insular.

‘If you created a nigh-on professional environment it would give them something to strive for and improve. The big fear is that when I went away for my trials at 18 that was considered an OK age, but now it has to be 10 or 11 years old or it’s too late,’ warned Vance.

‘Obviously there are exceptions but if we are going to produce someone on the big stage we need to improve our product and the competitiveness.’

Vance, pictured above, questions how much islanders would like to see a change in the current structure and fears that perhaps some people might prefer to win the Priaulx League rather than revolutionise the game and look at the bigger picture and seeing one of their former players playing professionally or for their country in future.

He is convinced the talent is here and that if a Guernsey team played in a national league on a weekly basis it could compete in the likes of the Blue Square Southern League division, which is one step below Conference level. That, he believes, would be especially so with a few of the current influx players and other locals playing for teams in the UK already.

‘If my son was equally good at cricket as football I would probably push him down the cricket route because they are competing on the world stage if they are good enough. That for me is disappointing,’ said Vance.