TRIM MORGAN is on the verge of quitting Sylvans. The player-manager, whose recent local career has been alternately dogged by controversy and rewarded with accolades, is as angry and demoralised as he has ever been at the St Peter’s club. He has given the westerners one last chance to buck up their ideas or he will leave, he said.

‘Our pre-season training was supposed to have started, all the letters were sent out and phone calls made, and do you know how many of them turned up for the last session? One – Carl Wallbridge,’ he said yesterday.

‘They haven’t got the decency to phone or even text me to say that they were not going to be there. They just wasted my time.

‘A couple of them texted the next day to apologise because they’d heard that I was hacked off with it all and maybe going to leave, but they couldn’t do it before the session.

‘They left the two of us standing out there like a couple of monkeys.’

Morgan is fuming because he had organised a tough training campaign aimed at getting the squad up to a level at which they could realistically compete again for the league title.

The proposed return of the Nobes brothers and a couple of close-season signings looked to have boosted the club’s fortunes.

However, Morgan is already demoralised.

‘I’d planned to start this season early after what happened last year and having picked up a couple of players. We had a session organised for last Sunday, before the [Euro 2004] final. When I got there, only Carl had turned up. So we did the 12min. run together.

‘It’s five weeks to the season. I just can’t figure it out; their commitment stinks. It’s just amateur, a totally unprofessional attitude. They are not going to take the [mickey] out of me.

‘What really annoyed me was that there was another squad member there in the bar, sitting down with a pint, and when I asked him why he was not training with us, he said that he

didn’t train on Sundays.’

Morgan has had his clashes with authority during his time in Guernsey, but there is no doubting his commitment.

Not all his club-mates share that determination, though.

‘Last season there were matches when I couldn’t get a kit man or a physio. Another time I asked them in the bar not to drink because we had a match coming up and five minutes later they all had pints.

‘I’m supposed to be the manager of the side and I’ve got no say, no control.

‘I’ve have been planning the pre-season for weeks: aerobic sessions, strength work. It’s wasted.’

He has raised his concerns with the club and is waiting for replies.

‘I’ve spoken with Peter [Roberts, Sylvans president] and Mick [Bachelet, club secretary] and they know that something pretty drastic has to be done immediately or I will consider my options.’

When pressed, Morgan admitted that a move to a club with more-committed players would be tempting and he admitted his admiration for the set-up at the Corbet Field.

He would not comment on whether that pointed to a return to Vale Rec, the club he helped to the Priaulx League title in 2002/3, the yellow-and-greens’ first title for 10 years.

‘Some of the Sylvans squad just want to go on the pop whenever they choose. If that’s the case, then performances like last season will be the highest they’re ever going to get to.

‘Players have been allowed to do whatever they want in this club for too long.

‘There’s a lethargy that has to change if they’re going to win anything.’