Sir Trevor Brooking meets Guernsey’s women footballers of the future. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0568057)

GUERNSEY’S new approach to youth football was yesterday endorsed by West Ham legend Sir Trevor Brooking.

The former England international, who is the FA’s director of football development, said the island was showing the UK the way to go. He was in the island to see the strides that the local set-up is making in improving the island’s game, particularly in terms of developing young players.

His visit culminated in watching last night’s Corbet Cup final between North and Sylvans. ‘The old-school guard may be reluctant to change, but you have to think about what is good in the long term and by making changes at the younger ages I’m sure we will see the standards, in five to 10 years, improve across the board,’ said Sir Trevor.

A revamp of the island’s junior set-up was announced recently as part of the Guernsey Football Association’s five-year plan.