LISTEN: 'Games programme is needed at each level'
Guernsey's age-group sides need competitive games programmes if they are to turn their Muratti fortunes around according to under-21 coach Martyn de Garis.
‘Digger’ reported that he was proud of the character shown by his team in fighting back to score a couple of goals in Sunday’s Ambassadeur Bowl at Springfield, but he also admitted it was a ‘difficult afternoon’ and he could not disagree with his opposite number James Scott who alluded to ‘a gulf in class’ between the sides after the hosts won convincingly 4-2.
That spurred de Garis to emphasise that Guernsey football needs to come together to improve their performances as a whole.
‘Jersey’s production line keeps on turning out not just one or two, it’s 11 players at a time and they are getting stronger and stronger and stronger. We’ve got to try and match that,’ he said on the latest Guernsey Press Football Podcast.
Podcast: Listen to a full interview with Martyn De Garis on this week's Guernsey Press Football Podcast
‘All their players have been involved with the Jersey Bulls first team over the season, in their U23s and their U18s, playing games on the mainland.
‘We need to sit down and think how can we give these [Guernsey] boys more games, challenging games.
‘I think this should have been done around 15 years ago really. We started off playing in the South-West Counties and that was good, challenging football for our youngsters then – U16s and U18s – and you look at our Muratti results then… we had a period where we did really well.
‘We have taken our foot off the pedal, in my opinion, and gone backwards.’
De Garis added that he is as guilty as anyone at not looking at the bigger picture at times, ‘but we’ve got to’ he said.
‘The U21s have got one game preparation and that’s Charybdis week. That’s not good enough because then you get together again in February and you’ve got to try and get your players into training, but they’ve got games and training for their clubs and so on, so it’s hard to manage.
‘In an ideal world I’d like to have everyone there maybe once or twice a week, and some competitive games leading up to a Muratti.
‘But not just stop at the Muratti, other games going forward to get the lads together after the Muratti.
‘They need a programme, that’s the bottom line. Not just the U21s, the 18s and 16s, 15s, everyone needs a programme of good games.’
As for his own future, de Garis would like another crack at the Ambassadeur Bowl.
‘I’d like to carry on. It gives me my football fix. It’s just a few months, but hopefully next season it will be longer,’ he said.
‘I’d like to carry on and challenge myself… and hopefully get revenge.’
