Richard Davey, new first team captain, says improvement will take time

Rovers Football Club hope a drastic revamp will set them on the road to success in Guernsey's top flight.

Last season they came bottom of Senior County Division One with no points.

Club chairman Brian Horsepool said: "We decided to form a football development committee to take everything apart and start afresh."

Captain Richard Davey, a new signing, conceded: "Things aren't going to just because we've got a few new players in and some new coaches."

But he added: "The club has a three-year plan, which is well structured.

"It's obviously a good starting point but we need to take each game as it comes and look to build on what has been done before."

Horsepool explained that, as part of the revamp, the whole club "from Senior Men's Division One, through the women, down to the youths and the minis" would receive a new kit with a retro feel and an historic club link.

Members of the 1974 Priaulx League squad

"This is the 35th anniversary of Rovers joining what was then the Priaulx League, so we have gone back - almost - to the kit they wore 35 years ago, all-blue," he said.

And 10 of the 13 members of that original 1974 squad were on hand to help usher in and celebrate the new era at the club.

Paul Newton, a member of that squad, said: "I'm still a Rovers boy at heart. Hopefully if they can get the right mental attitude this season, two or three good results may lead on to more."

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