December 2022 (Page 2)

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Charlie Wakefield returns to the Glovers starting line up for the Boxing Day clash with Torquay.

Wakefield replaces Alex Fisher in attack with Ben Richards-Everton also coming into the side in place of Bournemouth loanee Owen Bevan.

Fisher drops to the bench, whilst Bevan misses out alaltogether.

Jordan Maguire-Drew also makes his first league start for the Glovers, with Grant Smith back between the sticks after sitting out the FA Trophy game vs Dorking.

 



 

Substitutes: Will Buse, Lawson D’ath, Andrew Oluwabori, Alex Fisher, Malachi Linton.

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper is hoping to get a solution to his side’s scoring problems in the coming months – either from the training pitch of the transfer market.

The boss said his side created enough chances created to have comfortably won last weekend’s FA Trophy tie with Dorking Wanderers, which was goalless after 90 minutes before they went out 4-1 on penalties.

The result means the Glovers have scored just three times in 450 minutes of football with two of them coming in the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup win over Taunton Town.

Cooper said: “We put an unbelievable number of crosses in the box and had some really good chances.

“I’m not sure in a game of football you will get as many as that, so it comes down to the quality of the (attacking) player to score the goal. As long as we are still getting in those positions I think we’ll be alright, I think we just need to relax, we’re snatching at things a bit too much.

“We put the players in the right areas of the pitch and in the right positions. Either we will start scoring goals really quickly or ideally you bring in people who can do it.”

Malachi Linton fires in an effort. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Asked by Three Valleys Radio’s Adi Hopper whether he had the budget to be able to dip in to the transfer market, he added said: “It’s not possible at the moment, but we are hoping going forwards that we will be in a position where we can.

“There’s no point bringing in players who are the same as you have got, if we are going to do it we need to bring people in who have a history and a record of doing it. It’s not always a centre forward, it’s sometimes the people who play that ball in.”

New signing Jordan Maguire-Drew, who arrived on a one-month loan from League Two Grimsby Town ahead of last weekend’s Trophy tie, is one player who will be looked to to create those chances – and score some of them.

That was the winger’s first action since October 22, when he came on for the final two minutes of Grimsby’s 0-0 draw with Bradford City, and Cooper admits he needs more minutes.

He said: “He is probably not 100% fit, but we will only get that fitness by playing games. The more he plays, the sharper he will get and that’s what his game is about, he makes intricate passes and crosses and finishes, so he’s not a worry about what he can produce when we get him in the right area of the pitch.”

Jordan Maguire-Drew. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Defender Owen Bevan, who is on loan from Premier League AFC Bournemouth, trained on Thursday having come off in the 41st minute against Dorking following a clash of heads with team-mate Morgan Williams. The boss said he was “very hopeful” the 19-year-old would be available for the Boxing Day visit to Torquay United.

Cooper said he was expecting an exciting match against Gary Johnson’s Gulls – who have scored 27 goals but conceded 46, compared to the Glovers’ 17 goals scored and 21 conceded.

He said: “They try and gamble a lot of players forward and try and score at every opportunity, take risks, so they leave defenders one-v-one at the back.

“We know we are going to have to be defensively sound. It is a team which can score a lot of goals against a team which defends really well – so it will be a classic 0-0.”

In a brief pre-match press conference, Cooper was asked his target for the remainder of the season.

He said: “The ultimate aim is to make sure we stay in this league first and foremost, hopefully we can attract a couple more quality players to the group which should help us. If we can remain defensively sound and keep working on the other end of the pitch, we will be okay.”

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The festive double header against Torquay United will cost £9.50 for Yeovil Town supporters to stream following the “full launch” of National League TV.

The price is double what it cost to witness the goalless draw at home to Scunthorpe United – although you may have felt cheated paying even that – when the service was in “a successful two-week beta test period“, according to the League.

The other Glovers’ game which could have been offered at the reduced rate was the midweek trip to Barnet which fell foul to the freezing weather. So, at full price, the trip to Plainmoor on Boxing Day and the return fixture at Huish Park on New Year’s Day will be served up to streamers.

If you are outside the UK, half-season and pay monthly options are available at £80 and £22.50 respectively, and wherever in the world you are you can sign up at www.nationalleaguetv.com.

National League general manager Mark Ives said: “Our goal is to give fans who can’t get to stadiums the ability to be part of the live match day experience no matter where they’re based around the world. The numbers have only endorsed the passion for football at this level.

“We didn’t want to limit supporters to just one match stream on the platform, our unique offering has been designed to allows fans to switch between matches to keep track of all the action as it’s happening live that day.”

Providing you declare the fact you are a Yeovil Town supporter when registering on the National League website – see here – then 60% of your fee will go in to the Huish Park coffers. A further 25% goes in to a pot which is distributed among the other 71 teams in the National League pyramid – yes, that means W*ymouth do get a bit of your money.

The other 15% goes in to another pot which the League says will be “retained by the league for reinvestment.”

We obviously look forward to hearing what that reinvestment looks like – we’re sure it will not be long before they tell us.

The National League has previously said the service would screen “non-televised matches” whilst “also respecting the need to comply with Article 48 restrictions.”

Article 48 is a UEFA regulation which prevents matches being televised in England and Scotland between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday, which presumably means the new streaming service will only cover midweek, bank holiday fixtures and any rescheduled kick-off times.

However, Article 48.2 (are you still awake?) states that there is no blackout between November 12th and January 14th – which enabled matches to be streamed during the World Cup.

After the Torquay matches, the rearranged fixture at Barnet on January 17th will be available on the service followed by the home match with Wealdstone on January 24th.

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Young goalkeeper Max Evans has joined Southern League side Bedford Town until January 19.

The 20-year-old, who impressed in his only National League appearance on the final day win at Altrincham last season, has been recovering from injury picked up whilst on Larkhall Athletic in October.

He has found himself third choice behind Grant Smith and on-loan Bristol City man Will Buse and has joined the Southern League Premier Division Central side looking for minutes.

Bedford sit six points off the relegation zone and face bottom club AFC Rushden & Diamonds at home on Boxing Day when Evans seems likely to get his debut.

The Eagles have had goalkeepers James Callan and Aymen Azaze on loan from National League Barnet in recent months, but both have returned to their parent club.

Good luck, Max!

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... can Yeovil do it on a Tuesday night in Wrexham (again)? Well, we will find out on Tuesday 7th February.

The Glovers have rearranged two games after postponements.

There’s a trip to Barnet on the cards on Tuesday, January 17th (19:45) and we’re off to North Wales once again on Tuesday 7th February also a 19:45, KO.

If you have a ticket for the original Barnet game, it’s still valid, if you want it to be.

Tickets were not yet on sale for the Wrexham game as that had been called off due to continued cup participation, there’s that is… not ours.

That just leaves one fixture left for rescheduling, Bromley away.

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Yeovil Town loanee Ollie Hulbert was part of the Plymouth Parkway side who lost in the FA Trophy to National League side Barnet.

A 90th minute goal was all that separated the sides with the game ending 1-0.

Hulbert came off the bench midway through the second half and had a headed chance shortly before the Bees grabbed the match winner.

Toby Stephens was an unused substitute for the Plymouth side too.

Plymouth Parkway face Truro City on Boxing Day, a game which could see the Parkway duo line up against fellow Glovers loanee, Ollie Haste.

 

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As Yeovil fell out of the FA Trophy at the first hurdle on Saturday, a total of 962 were in attendance at Huish Park to see the penalty shoot-out defeat by Dorking Wanderers. Given the circumstances around the club, that number was not totally surprising, but it has to be considered a disappointment.

Before recording Monday’s podcast, Ciderspace legend Huish Hugh asked the question when our last attendance for a first team fixture dropped below 1,000 and it’s actually pretty surprisingly rare to have less than 1,000 people at Huish Park for a first-team match.

Now, to clarify, this doesn’t include the Somerset (Men’s) Premier Cup, because the reality is that over the years we’ve used a mix of academy and first team players in the competition. Looking back over the years, including National League, FA Trophy, EFL, The League Cup, FA Cup, Johnstone’s Paint Pot Trophy (and it’s various guises) we’ve genuinely been well-supported.

Attendances below 1000

06.11.18 – West Ham United U21s – Check-A-Trade Trophy – 720
30.04.01 – Kingstonian – Nationwide Variety Club Trophy – 295
09.01.01 – Kettering Town – Nationwide Variety Club Trophy – 709
19.08.97 – Boreham Wood – ICIS Charity Shield – 873
26.11.96 – Yeading – Guardian Insurance Cup – 922
01.11.94 – Dagenham & Redbridge – Bob Lord Trophy – 719

Now, I think Saturday’s match with Dorking Wanderers was probably an anomaly. Given the cold weather, late notice of a pitch inspection, the festive period and the cost of living crisis, supporters will have certainly had a (not-so-difficult?) decision to make. However, aside from a cost-of-living crisis, these must have been factors the club have faced before. 

Malachi Linton fires in an effort. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

However, with supporters on Facebook deciding to boycott the FA Trophy fixture, and the growing unrest amongst sections of the supporters, there is a need to find a way to buck the trend of dwindling attendances. We’re currently on course to have our average attendance at the levels is was in the mid to late 1990s.

Average League Attendances

SEASONCOMPETITIONAVERAGEHIGHLOWPERCENTAGE CHANGE
2013-14Football League Championship661691084463+56
2014-15Skybet League One434668373509-34.3
2015-16Skybet League Two393660512954-9.4
2016-17EFL League Two356763062749-9.4
2017-18EFL League Two272137542205-23.7
2018-19EFL League Two295342232174+8.2
2019-20*National League295150562179-0.06
2020-21**National League149815001497-65.3
2021-22National League273839361260-7.4
2022-23***National League236028801906-14.8

*19/20 – season curtailed by covid
**20/21 – Covid season with two fixtures at limited capacity
***22/23 – Season so far (obviously)

Just how the club does it, who knows? Aside from the aforementioned SMPC, there’s no silverware left for the club to compete for this season. The tragic reality is that 2022/23 is now a battle for survival in the National League under Mark Cooper. The challenge for the club is how they can turn that into a compelling reason to get those undecided fans to part with their hard-earned cash to watch some gritty football for the rest of this season. We know there will always be a hardcore of supporters who will turn out regardless – but how do we attract others?

With the first annual rent charge due to SSDC in May (no-one is telling us how much that bill is – we’ve asked!), the club now need to find an extra wad of cash that they didn’t need to when they owned their home. The clock is ticking and for all we know (we’ve been told the square route of nothing), a few extra bums on seats – or feet on terraces – isn’t going to cover it. A sale of a contracted player might, mind.

There’s a difficult pattern re-emerging that were familiar with as supporters of Yeovil Town. After relegation from the Championship, attendances dropped, as we fell from League One they dropped, and as we circled the drain in League Two with uninspiring management and ownership the attendances dropped again. The result of this was less matchday revenue, less money to spend on players, lower-standard players, worse performances and relegation. 

the silent majority have been voting with their feet

After a season behind closed doors, you’d imagine a spike of people looking to return to a past time they loved pre-pandemic – things we’re pretty good before the season was curtailed in 2019/20. Alas, a fractured relationship due to broken communication and promises is resulting fewer people attending Huish Park. While there’s been little in the way of formal protest or action, the silent majority have been voting with their feet for many seasons now. 

Some will say there needs to be a change of owner. Some will say there’s not enough people in the town. Some will say people don’t have enough money to justify it. Some will say the matchday experience isn’t value for money. Some will say the football isn’t entertaining enough.

Perhaps is just a grim mash of all of the above. However you slice it, in 2023, something has to give.

Now, this has probably all felt a bit negative, such is the mood so let me try and offer a couple solutions which might go some way to helping mend fences.

  • I think a starting point would to give supporters the promised meeting and let them know what the future holds. Open the official, formal dialogue with the wider fanbase in an open setting. Broadcast it live on zoom, record it and make it 100% transparent for supporters who can’t attend as well. Only through this level of engagement will supporters feel they are listened to as a stakeholder of the football club.
  • Explain the nuts and bolts of the deal with SSDC. Who has the buyback? How much is the rent? If there’s nothing to hide, bring it out into the open. Bring the Chief Executive of SSDC or the Unitary Council along too.
  • Or for some, just sign a striker…

Note: After writing this, it was confirmed that the club had approval to move the marquee. A good step in the right direction for match day improvements for those who like a drink beforehand.

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Plans to relocate part of the Huish Park marquee have been approved by South Somerset District Council.

The plans for the change show the marquee will be located within the compound area behind the Thatcher’s Stand closest to the main car park in the south-west corner of the site.

The size of the new facility will be a “slightly reduced size” (in length by nine metres) and conditions placed on the club by the council mean it can only be open between 9am-11pm.

In its application, the club said: “The marquee has been on site since 2003. It has been retained as proposals for a permanent structure have not yet come to fruition.

“There is a clear need for this facility on site and it is considered reasonable that the club is allowed to relocate, retain and maintain the marquee structure until it is possible to bring forward a more permanent structure.

“The proposed layout will achieve a better, more functional location and does not require any changes to vehicle access or parking at the wider stadium area.”

A picture showing the location of the planned ‘new’ marquee at Huish Park taken from SSDC planning documents.
A plan showing where the ‘new’ marquee will be located – it’s the little yellow windmill in the bottom right.

The council – who are also the club’s landlord and owners of the land they are making a decision on, let us not forget – confirmed the club has temporary permission for five years. This would suggest that the hint at “a more permanent solution” is to come at some point in the next five years – or the can gets kicked down the road and a further ‘temporary’ permission request is submitted. We’ll hear in 7-10 days, no doubt…..

Such plans would tie up with previous comments made by director Stuart Robins a couple of months ago when he spoke about using the marquee to create “a fan zone behind the Thatcher’s Stand” at Huish Park.

Speaking to Three Valleys Radio’s ‘In Conversation With…..’ programme, he said: “In the short term we are trying to take part of the marquee and create a fan zone behind the Thatcher’s Stand.

“We still have to apply for a licence and then we can move part of the marquee to behind the Thatcher’s to create a better environment.

“It’s a semi-permanent structure, but it will be better than what we have at the moment. Our goal is to have some form of fan zone.”

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Yeovil Town’s FA Trophy campaign came to an end in familiar fashion with an exit after penalty shoot-out for the second successive season.

Last season it was lower division Needham Market, this time around it was Dorking Wanderers – who are at least in the same division – but the result was the same, it’s concentrate on National League survival and the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup for Yeovil Town.

Here’s how Ian saw it…….

 

It wasn’t a game of quality in the final thirds. Yeovil were defensively strong (as per usual) and were barely troubled by Dorking going forward, whilst at the other end, Will Buse had a quiet afternoon stepping in for Grant Smith. Josh Staunton had Yeovil’s first attempt on target in the 70th minute with a header that was straight at the keeper. The Glovers rallied for a spell in the final stages, and thought they’d got it through Staunton but for an offside flag. We probably deserved the win on the balance of the second half, but without finding a goal we are always at risk of defeat.

We don’t like a penalty shootout. It feels like it’s becoming a bit of a thing now. We scraped through in the lowest quality shoot-out ever last season again W*ymouth in last season’s FA Cup, lost horrendously to Needham Market and yesterday we struggled again from the spot. The early work Mark Cooper did with building confidence will have taken a bit of a hit yesterday off the back of this, but what surprised me was who stepped up. Our usual takers Alex Fisher and Matt Worthington were off the pitch, but we had attacking players Malachi Linton, Charlie Wakefield, Andrew Oluwabori on for the shootout – but Jordan Drew Maguire, Max Hunt and Jamie Andrews took them. 

I’m not sure where the goals are coming from. We tried another combination in the attacking areas yesterday, with Chiori Johson in at left wing and Maguire-Drew on the right. Maguire-Drew looked like a player who hasn’t played a lot of football and although he added quality with his set pieces, he needs match fitness. Is a one-month loan enough to get it in? Alex Fisher, a mainstay in Cooper’s side so far, didn’t have his greatest afternoon and I wonder at what point we start Louis Britton. He’s been billed as a goal scorer who gets in the six-yard box which was what we were crying out for as the game wore on.

Alex Fisher battles for the ball. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The attendance yesterday has to be of concern. It was our first sub-1000 attendance for a first-team fixture for years. If we disregard SMPC and friendlies, the last time we played a first team fixture with less than 1000 supporters was in November 2018 against West Ham United Under-21s in the Check-a-Trade Trophy which was in the thick of a boycott of that competition across the country. Before that, we played Kingstonian in the Nationwide Variety Cup in April 2001 in front of 295. In the same season and competition we played Kettering in front of 709 supporters. In 1997, we played Boreham Wood in the ICIS Charity Shield with 873. Last season when we played Woking in the same round of the competition there were 1493 at Huish Park. Obviously, there were circumstances which would have led to that, the freezing cold, the late notice of pitch inspection, the last weekend before Christmas, but the level of drop off is a damning indictment of the progress (or lack of it) at the club.

Survival is all that’s left to play for. With defeat yesterday and no FA Trophy run on the cards now, all that’s left to play for next season is survival. On Friday’s podcast we spoke about how a cup run would give us a lift and something to get excited about in a season which has provided very little in the way of excitement. Alas, the “drama” of the penalty shootout put an end to it in the first hurdle and all we have now is to hope we have enough quality to remain a National League club.