TRY to contact the manager of Victoria Sports Club FC in Kendal and you can end up listening to a southern accent on the end of a phone in Romford, Essex.

Cockney Bill' Halstead has been in charge of the Vics for the past five seasons and he reckons they are the West Ham of the Westmorland League.

Bill, who has a home in the Lake District, travels up from Essex on Wednesday evenings to help run the club before heading back to the London area to work in the property business.

When Vics were in danger of folding-up Bill offered his services, having managed a few teams in the London area and taken the first part of the FA coaching course.

He has not regretted it, although he admits the Vics, who are in Division Two of the Westmorland League, have their own definite ideas about how to run a football club.

"We have a very relaxed atmosphere. Other clubs seem to think we are disorganised, can't get a team up and don't train. Maybe it was a case of the players turning up just on match-days in the past, but we do train and we play pure passing football. Once players have experienced playing at Vics, they wonder why they have never considered the club before!"

Bill said a lot of the credit for Vics' revival was due to Peter Clives and Mark Toal, who had done a lot of work ensuring that a side could be got together this season, along with the help of Paul Savage, from team sponsor, the GMB Union.