Priaulx preview: Romeril wants Rec culture change

The new first-team coach, who has made the move back to the Corbet Field from Manzur along with his assistant Malcolm Symons, says the backing he has received from the committee has been ‘fantastic’ as they start putting the building blocks in place that they hope will eventually lead to Rec being back among the Priaulx League front-runners.

However, he knows there will be no quick fix.

‘I’m always wary of setting targets in terms of points and league finish. I think for me this is a bit of a long-term project. We’ve got to realise what we are going into,’ Romeril said.

‘There were obvious problems – the team finished three from bottom last year. I think the target for us really is to change the things we can control. The culture is a big part of that.

PODCAST: Hear from all eight coaches on our FNB Priaulx League season preview

‘We need to professionalise the way we are doing things in terms of training, it’s controlling the controllables I guess, so a lot of it is the approach to things – the lads turn up to training in the right kit, just professionalising things, and eventually trying to achieve a mentality where we are going into games and we believe we can win because that’s probably something that has been lacking. So a lot of what we’ve been doing behind the scenes is working on the cultural side of things.

‘Also, pathway, which is really key and something that had been lacking with the club in terms of the fact that they have no under-18s this year, which is really disappointing and it shows that there’s been a problem, so we are trying to put in a pathway from youth football into senior football so that the lads coming through, when they get to 16 and become open-age footballers, generally have a pathway into the first team.

‘It is, without doubt, a long-term project, but hopefully if we can get the basics right, over the next few years we will start seeing the benefits of that.’

Rec have made several new signings over the summer, including a handful who have followed the coaching team from Manzur, and it is one of those players who Romeril is particularly looking forward to seeing progress further under his tutelage.

‘The player that I’m looking forward to seeing play for Vale Rec this year is probably Louis Travis,’ he said.

‘I think Louis had a really good season for Manzur last season. He is a centre forward who will run the channels, he works ridiculously hard, he scored two goals against St Martin’s on his debut in the Rawlinson, so I think Louis has to understand he is coming in to give the team and the club something they probably haven’t had for a number of years. It has been a while since Rec have had a player like Louis who will do that and I think he has grown over the last couple of years with us at Manzur and we are saying to him now, “you’ve got to believe in yourself that you can be one of the top strikers in the Priaulx League and your goal tallies need to improve”.’

Luke Gaudion and John Hunt also made the same transition, while Tom Martin and Rhys Jordan are two other newcomers who have played under Romeril before.

Meanwhile, Tiago Rodrigues has made the move from Sylvans and university student Harry Jones has joined from Saints.

‘We need to get Vale Rec into the top three or four as opposed to the bottom three or four – that’s absolutely the challenge.

‘But there’s a good group, we’ve been encouraged by the response we’ve had in pre-season,’ said Romeril looking at the long-term challenge.

Vale Rec will host Rawlinson Cup winners Rovers in their first league game on Saturday.