Ian, Dave and Ben return this week for a long chat with Yeovil Town FC’s newest Director and Shareholder Stuart Robins.
Enjoy!
PS. Apologies if the sound is a bit iffy with Ian’s mic.
Yeovil Town 1 Fulham 0 – Monday 15th November 1993
To celebrate the return to Yeovil Town of green and white stripes for the first time in almost 30 years, we’re taking a look back at when the striped shirts of Yeovil were enhancing their FA Cup reputation in the early 90’s.
After the move to Huish Park in 1990, Yeovil found themselves embarking on a number of FA Cup runs despite the turmoil off the pitch. In 1991/92, they beat Walsall 1-0 in a replay after drawing 1-1 at Huish Park. The following season saw the epic run to the third round, despatching League sides Torquay and Hereford before bowing out at home to an Ian Wright hat-trick against Arsenal.
This was possibly what tempted the Sky TV cameras to come to Huish Park for the First Round tie against Fulham in November 1993. Sky had taken over coverage of the newly re-branded Premier League along with some FA Cup ties in 1992, so they were still the new kids on the block. This would be the first time that Yeovil were shown live on television, in front of over 6,000 fans. Fulham were on their way down at the time, in Division Two (now League One), from which they were relegated at the end of the season to play in the bottom tier for the first time in their history. After three years in the basement division, they were purchased by Harrod’s owner Mohamed Al-Fayed who led them back up through the divisions, appointing Kevin Keegan as manager along the way and taking them back to the Premier League in 2001.
In a slightly turgid game low on chances, Andy Wallace popped up with an inspired solo goal to settle the tie in injury time. Besides Wallace, the team at that time contained such well-remembered players as Paul Wilson and Mickey Spencer. Yeovil’s player-manager at the time was Steve Rutter, although this would be one of his last games in charge as he stepped down at the end of the year and was replaced by the returning Brian Hall. Despite the success of a 4th placed finish and FA Cup tie against Arsenal in 1992/93, the squad was ageing and there was no money to replace them. The return of Brian Hall was not enough to turn the team’s fortunes around and the Glovers were relegated from the Conference in 1994/95.
Although his last games for Yeovil came at a difficult time for the club on and off the pitch, Andy Wallace would end his time as one of the club’s top scorers with 61 goals from 298 appearances, a few places below his team-mate Mickey Spencer, who with 104 goals from 281 appearances is still at No. 5 in the list of post-war goalscorers for Yeovil Town.
Former Yeovil Town defender Nathan Smith has told the Gloverscast about his favourite ever goal in green and white – but it’s probably not the one you are thinking of.
The former Jamaican international scored a goal of the season contender in a 4-2 home defeat against Stockport County during his first spell at the club in December 2008.
Talking to us for the latest edition of the GloversPast, he revealed that goal was no fluke: “Andre McCollin can attest to it. The day before we were in training doing shooting and I think it was Jonesey (Nathan Jones) who said to me ‘keep working on your striking, put the ball down and strike through it.’
“That’s all I was doing and when I scored it I felt a relief knowing a bit of practice and seeing that ball fly like it did fly, it felt sweet.
“But the one that means more to me than the rest of them was against Plymouth in the cup because at the time my Mum was close to losing her life and no-one knew about that.
“So when I show a few of my goals, people always look at that screamer against Stockport as my favourite, but because of everything that was going on behind the scenes, it made that moment a lot more special.”
The goal against Plymouth Argyle came in a 2-1 home win in a League Two match at the end of January 2017, you can see it on a video shot from the Thatcher’s End – here. The Stockport goal is better though, see below.
Listen to Nathan talk to Ian and Ben about how becoming a professional player was “like going from a spoon to eating with a knife and fork” – here.
Yeovil Town manager Chris Hargreaves has said he will only bring in players who are “right for the club” as he continues his search to strengthen his squad.
The Glovers’ boss was speaking to the club’s YouTube channel a week ahead of the first pre-season friendly at Taunton Town next Tuesday, July 12.
He said: “I have spoken to a lot of people and we will come to a decision that is right for the club.
“It’s got to be right for the club going forward but there’s been some really positive discussions over the last 24-48 hours.
“I have spoken to a lot of people and, if they want to play for this football club, they are coming in and if they don’t, they’re not.”
Last week, the boss added full-back Jamie Reckord to the squad following his release by National League rivals Boreham Wood at the end of last season.
Hargreaves said the experience of the 30-year-old, who has more than 200 matches on his CV, would be a boost for the squad.
He added: “He’s a good age, very fit and he’s got the bit between his teeth. He trained yesterday for the first time which was good, so we are happy to have him on board.”
The squad is now in the second week of pre-season training under the watchful eye of the manager, his assistant manager Chris Todd and Marcus Stewart, Head of Player Development.
Hargreaves said: “The lads arrived back fit which is what we wanted. They have certainly done plenty of running, but they will have done before they came in, all footballers do now, don’t they?
“It’s so critical to your performance. I have been impressed with it and it’s been good for me, Marcus =and Toddy to see the lads perform and we look forward to the next few weeks because there’s a lot of work to be done.
“We want fitness from the lads over the next few weeks and continue getting strong and understanding more about them as a group and as individuals and what we can get out of them.
“As you do as a player, when it gets closer to the first game, you want to get in the team, so I want to see that from the players.”
The National League fixtures are out for the 2022/23 and much to everyone’s surprise Yeovil will play every other team twice, once at home and once away.
Chris Hargreaves‘ first competitive game in charge of the Glovers will be against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on August 6th.
Plenty of other key dates in the calendar including the traditional Boxing Day fixture, which this year will be against Gary Johnson’s Torquay United (or do we call them Chris Hargreaves’ former team?) at Plainmoor.
Torquay, the closest side geographically to Yeovil will visit Huish Park on New Year’s Day in a back-to-back fixture schedule.
As for Woking, (because you couldn’t help yourself from checking, could you!?) they, along with him, him and him will return to Huish Park on the 4th March.
The final game of the season is at Boreham Wood on April 29th 2023, with the details of plans for the Glovers’ National League trophy presentation still to be confirmed on that date. (Still got that open top bus on hold, Ben?)
All times and dates are subject to change once BT Sport pick and choose their favourites (or whoever Wrexham are playing).
All next season’s National League fixtures are now live on our webpage – click here.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
Former Glovers striker Adi Yussuf has signed for St Joseph’s in Gibraltar.
The Tanzanian forward is set to make his debut for his new side in the Europa Conference League qualifiers on Tuesday night against Northern Irish side, Larne.
Yussuf was one of a number of players released by new manager Chris Hargreaves at the end of his contract.
All the best in Gibraltar, Adi.
Thanks to the Gloverscast’s Europa Conference League correspondent Marcus Ducomb for the heads up.
The first ever Gloverscast End of Season Survey has closed and a huge thank you to the 499 (argh!) of you who took part.
Someone with much better numeracy skills has kindly offered to trawl through the data and make it digestible for our readers. The majority of the questions were statements on a scale of 1-7, giving participants the opportunity to score a 1 for ‘strongly disagree’ and 7 a score for ‘strongly agree’.
Here are Five Conclusions we’ve drawn from an early look at your answers.
Supporters don’t think there is a clear plan for the future of the club. With a score of 2.25 out of 7 and with 43.9% of respondents scoring 1 and 21.2% scoring 2, it is abundantly clear that supporters of the club don’t know what the plan for the club is. Granted, since the survey we’ve heard the goal is to get out of the National League, but what we’re putting in place to enable that, what the future of the land looks like, what the future of the facilities looks like is all a bit vague at the moment.
Supporters don’t believe YTFC will benefit from the SSDC deal. The SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park and the surrounding land remains controversial, and probably will do for some time yet. In response to the statement: Yeovil Town FC will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 2.59. To the statement: Scott Priestnall will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 6.0, with 52.9% strongly agreeing. In response to: SSDC will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 5.35 out of 7. There remains a demand for clarity and transparency about the shape of the deal and what the future holds, because as it stands, supporters thing the club is on course to lose out.
There has been quite the drop in season ticket holders over the last five seasons. Of the 499 responses, 59% have had season tickets in the past five years. 38% of respondents are currently season ticket holders. The trend is obvious, we’ve seen attendances dropping season on season since Darren Way was in charge. Personally, I think that final Way season was probably one of the most damaging in terms of getting people through the turnstiles. Last season’s challenge has been talked about ad nauseum, but something we’ve probably not spoken about much ahead of the forthcoming season is the cost of living crisis. People will be making decisions about their spending, especially come the winter and another energy price increase.
Communication should be a priority area. With a score of 2.01 on the statement: The Club has communicated with supporters well this season, there is work to be done to improve. This can be looked at in a couple of ways, a largely absent owner until April this year, with sporadic statements in between has left a feeling of disenchantment. But there are quick wins for the club to implement. To the statement: I know who to contact when I want to make my views heard the average score was 2.93. Give supporters an email address they know they can reach out to where they’ll be heard, because the survey shows us that most don’t feel valued as supporters.
The Supporters Alliance Group needs revaluating. With a score of 3.31, people slightly disagree that the SAG is effective as a means of communicating with the club. And if the SAG is the platform for supporters to make their views heard, most don’t feel they’re listened to and acted upon. Of the 499 responses we received, over 71% are not part of any of the organisations on the SAG. 22% are members of the Glovers Trust, and 7.6% are members of the Green and White Supporters Club. There needs to be room for more voices or a refresh which welcomes new people into the fold so that the group can be truly representative of supporters of the club.
While a professional crunches the data for us to share it, I’d like to say a big thank you to the readers of the Gloverscast for being part of our first survey of this kind. We’ll conduct another one at the end of next season so that we can continue to provide you with a platform for feedback.
Former Yeovil Town midfielder Ed Upson revealed he offered his services to Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves this summer.
The 32-year-old, who was part of the club’s League One play-off-winning side of 2013, was a free agent following his release by Stevenage at the end of last season.
However, despite having spoken with Hargreaves, who he knew from their time together at Bristol Rovers, an offer was not forthcoming and he chose to move to Isthmian League North side Stowmarket Town, where he began his career.
Speaking to us on a future episode of the GloversPast, he said: “I was away on holiday when Chris got the job and I text him and said ‘Congrats on the job, if you need a midfielder, let me know.’
“He rang me back the day he got the job and asked what my situation was and I told him I was a free agent and he said ‘I’ll be in touch’ but I never heard anything after that.
“I never turned down Yeovil, I never had the opportunity to turn them down, but it would have been a difficult decision for me because it was a time when I felt it was time to settle down with the family.
“I had a couple of offers in the National League and a couple of EFL clubs and it was the biggest decision I have ever had to make.
“If Yeovil had come in with an offer, it would have been a tough decision to make because they are one of the clubs that would have tempted me to be away from home again.
“I made a decision to be at home for the first time in my career, it was a human decision rather than a football decision.“
The dates for the FA Cup and FA Trophy in the 2022-23 campaign have been published.
Yeovil Town will enter the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round on Saturday 15th October, and enter the FA Trophy in the Third Round Proper stage on Saturday 17th December 2022, with no replays in this year’s FA Trophy.
Last season, we reached the third round of the FA Cup in last year’s FA Cup, putting out Stevenage before going out to Championship AFC Bournemouth.
In the Trophy, Darren Sarll’s Glovers eased past his current club, Woking, with a 3-1 third round win before going out on penalties at the hands of lower league Needham Market Town in the following round.
The competition dates in full for the 2022-23 season are:
FA Cup
Fourth Round Qualifying: Saturday 15th October 2022
First Round Proper: Saturday 5th November 2022
Second Round Proper: Saturday 26th November 2022
Third Round Proper: Saturday 7th January 2023
Fourth Round Proper: Saturday 28th January 2023
Fifth Round Proper: Wednesday 1st March 2023
Quarter-Final: Saturday 18th March 2023
Semi-Final: Saturday 22nd April 2023
Final: Saturday 3rd June 2023
FA Trophy
Third Round Proper: Saturday 17th December 2022
Fourth Round Proper: Saturday 14th January 202
Fifth Round Proper: Saturday 11th February 2023
Sixth Round Proper: Saturday 11th March 2023 Semi Final: Saturday 1st April 2023
Final: Sunday 21st May 2023
Former Yeovil Town midfielder Dale Gorman has joined National League rivals Barnet following his departure from Huish Park.
The Northern Irishman, who made more than 40 appearances for the Glovers last season, seems to have been in conversation with Bees’ boss Dean Brennan for some time.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the move is that it does not see him link up with former Yeovil boss, Darren Sarll, at Woking.
Speaking upon his arrival at The Hive, he said: “I will always give my all for the shirt and I like to get on the ball and make things happen.
“I cannot wait to get going now and look forward to being involved in some of the pre-season friendlies coming up soon.”
The former Stevenage and Leyton Orient player was one of five to depart at the start of last month having turned down an offer of a new contract.
