THE NORTHWICH VICS COLUMN – By Ian Egerton, vice-chairman

STEVE Wilkes has had many challenges in his career in football management but this week presented a new one surrounding television programme Love Island.

The reality show has been dominating the chat in training and also in and around the club.

Wilkes’ eyes were opened wide when talk of the TV show during training led to a bit of banter spreading regarding the ‘fine book’.

A tongue-in-cheek threat of weekly fines was the outcome in order to get the lads re-focused.

Wilkes said: “I couldn’t believe my ears when we were doing a drill and a set of lads hadn’t picked up my instructions – and when I challenged what was happening, they were all talking about what was going to happen in Love Island that night.

“I must admit you have to have a chuckle at these things but I gathered them all in and jokingly issued the threat of fines to anyone that was to mention Love Island.”

Wilkes took to social media to have a bit of fun after the training session and just like Love Island has taken to the hearts and minds of the nation, the Twitter account of Match of the Day (2.8m followers) and Goal (1.1m followers) got in on the discussion with NVFC.

Many football fans, coaches and players around the UK messaged in support of Wilkes and his Love Island frustrations and quite possibly won over more Northwich Victoria supporters across the UK with his views.

It’s certainly times like this when even with a bit of banter, and when word spreads across social media like this, that there are still an abundance of fans across the UK that still associate with the name of Northwich Victoria Football Club.

As word spread following Wilkes’ actions, this wasn’t enough to stop the Love Island theme spreading into the boardroom with secretary Dave Thomas already ordering his Love Island water bottle, being their number one fan!

None of this of course will really matter this week as the Trickies head into a mouthwatering derby with 1874.

The two teams meet for the first time this season after Boxing Day’s washout and the fans of both teams will be looking forward to a contest that hopefully, with all the Trickies’ players now all re-coupled after Love Island, will be a fine game for all supporters to see.

Speaking with Steve Wilkes over the weekend, although the result was a little harsh against Charnock Richard on Saturday the performance and determination from the players was there for all to see and the much improved effort and desire is a real positive as the team look to finish the season on a strong footing.

As always, all our appreciation is offered from the committee to all our fans and followers for all your continued support for Steve and the team this season as you guys really do make the difference for this club.