Sylvans wait

TRISTRAM MORGAN has definitely been offered the Sylvans manager's job. Speculation surfaced early this week that the westerners were considering approaching Vale Rec's veteran playmaker, although Sylvans refused to comment on the matter.

But it is now clear that Morgan, Guernsey's player of the year, was offered the Sylvans job last week and is due to accept or reject their approach tomorrow, after returning from a trip to the UK.

Sylvans secretary Mick Bachelet contacted Morgan prior to last weekend and offered him the manager's post.

A small but influential group of senior players at the club are thought to have been behind the audacious bid to usurp incumbent manager Richard Packman and replace him with Morgan, but it is understood that the club's committee is not unanimous behind the attempted coup.

Packman was unaware of the amazing saga until journalists broke the news to him this week.

And he flew to the UK for a family holiday yesterday morning still completely in the dark about his future out west.

Despite spending the last 48 hours trying desperately to seek reassurances from the club, Packman still does not know whether the club's committee wants him to remain in charge.

Sylvans are expected to make a formal announcement regarding their manager's position tomorrow.

Despite rumours regarding Packman's future brewing as early as a fortnight ago, the westerners have been at pains to keep the summer's most sensational football story under wraps.

That, presumably, is in the hope of not losing Packman should Morgan turn them down.

But senior local football observers, some of them with Sylvans connections, have commented that Packman's position is now untenable regardless of whether Morgan heads to St Peter's.

Thus it is widely expected that Packman, if he is not fired in the meantime, will resign when he returns from the UK.

In a week when football's sizzling summer rumour mill has reached an intriguing pinnacle, it has been suggested that Sylvans have also approached both Colin Fallaizes with a view to replacing Packman.

Those rumours have apparently infuriated officials at St Peter's because there is absolutely no truth in them whatsoever.

On the player transfer front, Sylvans captain Joel Avery and his brother Jarrod, both veterans of several title-winning campaigns out west, are expected to quit St Peter's and sign for champions Vale Rec should Packman be deposed.

Meanwhile, the deadline for nominations for the post of island manager is midnight tonight and Guernsey Football Association chief executive Dave Dorey has still not received a formal expression of interest.

The possibility of Packman being put forward for the island job at the last minute now looks increasingly slim.

On the eve of departing for the UK, Packman said: 'I'm not getting into ifs, buts and maybes now. I'm going out of the island for a few days and I can't do much about anything until next week.'

However, the Londoner, a former semi-professional player and a title-winning coach with Sylvans the season before last, could still be installed as the next island boss, albeit on a one-year contract only, by the GFA's ruling council next month.