Vale of Leven kick off their packed pre-season schedule against Greenock this weekend, with the Millburn faithful set to return to see their side in action for the first time in almost 500 days.
February 15, 2020, was the last time Vale supporters were able to watch a game at Millburn Park, but after 484 days away, they will be able to return for Saturday’s friendly, the first of seven Vale will play over the next month before the start of the new season in mid-July.
And boss Brian Brown admits that he is as excited as anyone for a long-overdue first game of 2021.
He told the Lennox: “I can’t wait. It’ll be good to get the ball rolling again.
“The boys have been working really hard on their pre-season training, so it’ll be good for everybody to start getting some gametime to make things feel a bit more real again. You can definitely see the tempo in training increasing.
“The boys who have come back have been working really, really hard.
“They’ve missed it and now they are back they’re wanting to get playing again. It’s looking good.
“I wasn’t concerned about anyone in our squad coming back and lacking fitness after such a long time out.
“The boys train hard. They look after themselves away from football.
“When they came back we had a couple of break-in sessions and we were maybe going to go a bit longer with those, but to be fair the guys have came back like they haven’t been away.
“They managed to get straight back into things again after just a couple of sessions.
“It’s been full-steam ahead. The guys are looking really good.”
The Vale endured a difficult first season in the West of Scotland League, and gaffer Brown believes that the lengthy break from football has led to a number of his charges leaving the Alexandria side.
He continued: “Circumstances about having such a big lay-off and folk coming back, maybe the travelling side of it doesn’t suit some of the boys anymore.
“The new fourth division has seen some of the guys who stay in Paisley move to teams more on their doorstep.
“We’ve lost nine players now plus we have one who is going away with work for 18 weeks.
“It’s not been ideal but hopefully we’ll start getting some bodies in to bolster the squad up a wee bit.”
And with West Dunbartonshire moving into level one restrictions, it looks as if fans will finally be able to see the Vale in action once again.
Brown added: “It’ll be good to have the supporters back again after such a long time.
"We've missed the banter from the sidelines. It wasn't the same last year without them."
