'Pull your weight' - Smith's rally call

VALE REC have denied they are a club in crisis, but a top official has called on its members and players to do more. The Guernsey football rumour mill had suggested two Vale players had asked for a transfer following their disastrous start to the season. They sit second from bottom in the Priaulx having lost three matches and won only one. They were hammered 8-0 by Bels on Saturday.

Morale is low at the club, with Jackson and Railway League players reportedly refusing to play up in the Priaulx.

It has even been suggested that long-serving general team manager Tony Smith had stepped down, dismayed at the present state of the club.

He vehemently denied that yesterday, but confirmed that things needed to change at the club.

Last year Smith celebrated 50 years of continuous service to Vale Rec.

'We feel that there's no commitment from the players so we're in the process of rectifying that,' he said.

'We're trying to push some of the players to do more. We're having a bad season.

'Also, quite a few people aren't pulling their weight. We're finding that things aren't going that well for us and we're having an upheaval at the moment. But I'm very proud of being the manager of the Rec.'

The club that was such a dominant force during the 1980s has fallen on hard times of late. With no new signings and an injury list that is almost as long as Grand Fort Road, they have had a disastrous start to the campaign.

But things came to a head on Saturday when they experienced an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of Bels in the Priaulx.

With their island goalkeeper and captain Jody Bisson out injured and with no other registered keepers available, Vale tried to get the match postponed.

In the end they walked onto the pitch with former island forward Lee Luscombe, who had signed up for them the afternoon before, wearing the keeper's jersey.

One player who is not happy with his lot at the Rec is Gareth Holden. Rumours had been circulating before the season that their star striker was going to join North.

That did not come to fruition but he has now confirmed that he is considering moving.

'I've not done anything yet but I've thinking about it for a while,' he said.