Last season: 3rd
Which it is will depend on if they have their senior contingent fit and firing, according to Mark Romeril.
‘Being completely honest, we don’t know yet if we are going into this transition or to challenge for the title,’ said the Rec head coach.
‘If we have our best players I believe we can challenge, but if not we will be in the transition.’
Rec have made some good signings over the summer – a couple of high-profile top-flight regulars as well as several promising under-18s – and have experimented with some younger players starting during both the Spirit and the Rawlinson Cups.
‘Jason [Martin], Tyrese [Kelly] have settled in really well, Oscar [Leadbeater] has a bit of a problem with his foot so we lost him straight away really, but I am hoping he will be back fairly soon,’ said Romeril.
‘Jason is getting better each game we play.
‘We’ve taken both competitions as experiments really, we have about 10 under-18s properly immersed in the squad now, we’re in a position where we have a really good group of youth for the first time in a long time for Vale Rec, and they can play a big role this season – there is that sense of transition.’
The youngsters impressed in the Spirit Cup where they made it through to the final but were beaten by reigning Channel Island champions St Martin’s 7-2.
Vale Rec signed Kelly to add more strength to their attack while the returning Jacob Masterton-Pipet has made a few appearances up front in pre-season following a long-term injury.
However, the attack will be without Will Fazakerley, who has been playing with Guernsey FC recently, and Romeril said they are still in a position where they do not know whether Luke Gaudion will be fit to play this season.
Vale Rec finished third in the league last season, having won 11 of their 18 games, which came after they completed a quadruple the year before.
‘It was a disappointing season after that but what I think a lot of people don’t realise is we had a core group of 14 players and won the league, Upton, FA Cup and Stranger Cup, and in comparison St Martin’s had a full squad when they did the quadruple,’ said Romeril.
‘They gave everything they had, put their bodies on the line and that took its toll on them and they never recovered, so we ended up chasing our tail throughout the season.
‘It’s the price we paid for the season before.’
Vale Rec’s first league game is against Bels on 2 September at 7.30pm at the Track.
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