April 2023 (Page 3)

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said he knows nothing more than he did this time last week about any group looking to take over as majority shareholder of the club.

Speaking ahead of today’s 3-0 home defeat to Oldham Athletic, the boss had said his future at the club depended on “which consortium” was taking over at Huish Park. But speaking after the match he appeared to clarify that he is only aware of SU Glovers as the buyer looking to take control from owner Scott Priestnall.

Asked about his pre-match comments by BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, Cooper said: “I said that because there is always different people trying to buy a football club, whatever club that is, I have not heard anything different to what I was told last week. So we are just drifting along, we will take the flack and take the blame but there needs to be somebody steering the ship in the right way. I will take the blame for the results, but we need some help.”

On the pitch, it was another dismal display as Oldham cruised to a 3-0 win which meant Yeovil have now lost 19 of their 45 National League games, picking up the same number of draws and just seven wins, the second lowest in the division after bottom club Maidstone United.

They fell behind after just eight minutes when Devarn Green struck. Asked about that goal, Cooper said: “An experienced player not defending properly, it is just a by-product of where we are, people switch off and don’t do their jobs properly. Everyone is frustrated and angry, there was no clarity of thought.

“The season could finish now and I would snap your hand off and try and get ready for next year. The last six weeks have been horrendous we know that, as a club, as a group, we need to regroup, re-recruit and come back ready to go for the start of next season.”

Cooper saw midfielder Matt Worthington limp off with what looked like a serious injury which could rule him out of the final match of the season at Boreham Wood next weekend.

Asked what needed to happen ahead of that game, the manager added: “On the playing side, that is down to the players and individual’s pride, they have to go out and again we have three or four who ran their socks off and made good decisions. That won’t change going in to that Boreham Wood game. For the club and the supporters it is more important that they get some idea of where their club is going.”

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday, 22nd April, 3pm kick-off

Pitch: Slippy
Conditions: Dark clouds overhead which burst in the second half

Attendance: 4,016 (480 away supporters)

Scorers: Devarn Green 8 (0-1), Mike Fondop 74 (0-2), Mike Fondop 88 (0-3)

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Reo Griffiths 45, Charlie Cooper 78
Oldham Athletic: Liam Hogan 34, Nathan Sheron 45

Referee: Paul Johnson

Yeovil Town (4-4-2)

Substitutes: Max Hunt (for Jamie Reckord, 46), Zanda Siziba (for Reo Griffiths, 60), Young (for Matt Worthington, 64) Pollock (not used).

Oldham Athletic: Norman, Hogan, Sheron, Sutton, Reid (for Fondop, 58), Green, Kitching, Chapman (for Couto, 75), Yarney, Nuttall (for Sambou, 58), Gardner. Substitutes: Tollitt.


Match Report

Yeovil Town’s final home game of the National League season served up another dismal performance as they rolled over to gift mid-table Oldham Athletic a comfortable afternoon at Huish Park.

In front of a crowd of more than 4,000 supporters, an early goal from the visitors Devarn Green set the tone as an hopes of the players (with the usual honourable exceptions) playing for any kind of pride evaporated with a completely lacklustre performance.

In the second half, substitute Mike Fondop added two late goals to set the seal on a dismal day and a dismal season at Huish Park.

Here’s how it went down and kept dropping…..

 

First half

Yet again there was a changed starting XI named by manager Mark Cooper with first choice goalkeeper Grant Smith coming in place of Will Buse, who had appeared in the previous two matches, who had a heavily strapped hand ahead of the game.

You know what we’re going to say here, don’t you? The script was the same as almost every other one written from a Yeovil Town matchday this season and in the first minute a mistake by Miguel Freckleton gave Oldham a chance in the opening minute. Striker Joe Nuttall took up possession and fed Ellis Chapman, on loan from League Two Cheltenham Town, whose effort was deflected wide.

Six minutes later, the visitors were ahead. Try and act like you are shocked. A fantastic cross from the left hand side found Devarn GREEN on the back post and he fired home from close range. Good cross, good finish but non-existent defending from Yeovil. Captain Josh Staunton berated his team-mates, many of whom just trudged back to the halfway line. Same old, same old.

It took until 13 minutes for the first opportunity to fall the way of the Glovers. A mistake by Joseph Yarney gifted the ball to Matt Worthington whose effort was blocked by Yarney.

So we’ve had a slow start, a sloppy goal and very little going forward, what are we missing? Oh, a great save from Grant Smith. That came on 24 minutes when he made a smart stop to deny Oldham captain Liam Hogan, the ball looped up and Josh Staunton was there to clear it.

For the first half hour, there was no doubt which team was in charge of this. The visitors looked well-drilled, every player knew where their team-mates were and crucially they took their chance. For Yeovil, the passes were a yard short and there was no desire to make life easy for one another and there was zero going forward. Any kind of pride the home players were supposed to be playing for, it was sadly lacking.

To quote our very own Ian Perkins who was co-commentator for BBC Radio Somerset: “That’s why we are where we are and why we are going where we are going.”

Charlie Cooper had a couple of opportunities from free kicks. On 33 minutes, his ball across the box failed to find anyone in a green-and-white shirt and three minutes later after good play from Chiori Johnson saw Cooper attempt a shot – but it wasn’t on target. Sigh.

Cooper seemed to be on a mission to score against the club and on 43 minutes a good combination with Worthington presented him with an opportunity a fair way out. High, wide and not so handsome.

Going forward, the only piece of enthusiasm from Reo Griffiths, who appeared to be playing in behind Malachi Linton and Andrew Oluwabori, came when he squared up to an Oldham player and got his name taken by the referee.

 

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Oldham Athletic 1

Second half

Max Hunt replaced Jamie Reckord at half-time with a flat back four being retained (something to cheer about, at least) as Freckleton moved across to the right and Chiori Johnson shifted across to the left.

On 49 minutes, Cooper conceded a free-kick and Oldham took it quickly, despite referee Paul Johnson not sounding his whistle, and Smith had to scramble back as the effort from Mark Shelton looped over him and came off the top of the bar. A couple of inches lower that was 2-0.

A chance opened up for Reo Griffiths soon after but the on loan Doncaster Rovers man tried the delicate side foot rather than just putting his laces through it. Add that one to Yeovil Town 2022/23 Bingo card – anyone got a line yet?

If you wanted a bit of a sign there was some passion in this side, there was a bit of a dust up on the touchline when visiting boss David Unsworth and Yeovil assistant Chris Todd. That led to the pair of them being yellow carded before shaking hands.

On the hour mark, Zanda Siziba replaced Reo Griffiths with Malachi Linton moving in to the middle of a front three along with Andrew Oluwabori. Then two minutes later Matt Worthington went down – never a good sign – and was replaced by Jordan Young. Worthy walked past the Thatcher’s Stand on his way round to the Yeovil technical area. If that is the last we see of him at Huish Park, what a shame.

On 74 minutes it was absolutely over. A ball over the top of Max Hunt sent substitute Bassala Sambou away and he ran towards Smith before cutting the ball back and setting up strike partner Mike FONDOP-TALUM who slotted in to an empty net. Some home supporters headed to the exits at that point and it’s hard to argue with them.

Smith made a good save to deny Sambou on 87 minutes before FONDOP completed the rout with his second and Oldham’s third. The big striker side-footed in the third. So, so easy.

From the first minute until the last minute, it was another dire performance from Yeovil. Big changes need to happen in every department of the club before a competitive ball is kicked at the start of next season.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Oldham Athletic 3

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Goalkeeper Grant Smith returns to the Yeovil Town starting line-up for the final home game of the season against Oldham Athletic (3pm kick-off).

We understand that his understudy Will Buse, who impressed despite conceding three goals at league leaders Wrexham on Tuesday night, is out with a broken finger.

The other changes see Chiori Johnson come in for the injured Owen Bevan, loanee Jack Clarke replaces Scott Pollock in midfield and striker Malachi Linton is in for Zanda Siziba.

Siziba and Pollock are among only four substitutes named on the bench alongside Max Hunt and Jordan Young.

 

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Yeovil Town director Stuart Robins has said he is “working on taking the necessary steps to put this football club on the correct path” – but is still unable to update supporters on the future direction of the club.

The shareholder, who owns a 20% stake in the club alongside majority shareholder Scott Priestnall, apologised to supporters for a disastrous season which has seen them relegation to the sixth tier of English football, National League South, for next season.

Writing the matchday programme ahead of today’s final home game of the season against Oldham Athletic, he said: “Looking forward, we are working on taking the necessary steps to put this football club on the correct path. As soon as I am able to, I will provide a detailed update on club matters. I appreciate you have all been extremely patient over the past few years, and once again, I thank you for that.”

The comments following years of uncertainty about the ownership at Huish Park with Priestnall not seen at the club for almost a year and owner-in-waiting Matt Uggla on a self-imposed ban on speaking since his outburst against manager Mark Cooper earlier this month – see here.

We are now almost two months since the “stewardship” of SU Glovers, a company led by Uggla and his mother, Julie-Anne, supported by former England rugby player Paul Sackey, was announced and, despite repeated promises to the contrary, it shows no sign of being resolved.

Since relegation was confirmed in the week, a deafening silence was only broken by a statement from club captain (and the only true leader in the building) Josh Staunton – read that in full here.

In his pre-match press conference, Cooper referred to the fact there may be more than one consortium in the running to take Priestnall’s 72% majority shareholding. You can read more about that – here.

In his notes, Robins added: “I’d like to open my notes with a thank you and an apology. This season has been difficult, we can’t look at it any other way, but despite that your support has remained; I thank each and every one of you all. After the game against Eastleigh, I would never have thought we’d be in the position we are now. I realise I am privileged to be a shareholder and director of the club I love, and I take my responsibility to you all very seriously but firstly I’m a fan, and like it does for all of you, this hurts me deeply. It is now my responsibility to help build Yeovil Town back to where we all want it to be. 

“I want to publicly thank and commend Mark Cooper, Josh Staunton and the rest of the Yeovil Town players & staff for their conduct on Tuesday evening. In a night that was bitterly disappointing, both Mark and Josh stood up and gave powerful interviews which truly highlighted the feeling around the club. I can assure you they care deeply and their sentiment is shared by me. We have to be better as a collective to start rebuilding in the National League South next season.“

You can read the director’s statement in full – here.

From us here at Gloverscast, we appreciate Stuart making an apology and hope that whatever he is “working on” will lead to a better future at the club.

However, it is those in control of the majority shareholding – be that Priestnall or Uggla – that needs to speak and give answers on the direction of the football club they claim to care for.

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said that his future at Huish Park depends on “which consortium” takes control of the club.

The boss was asked about his future ahead of the weekend’s final home match of the season against Oldham Athletic tomorrow and indicated there was more than one group in the running to take charge.

Up until this point it appeared that only one group, SU Glovers led by owner-in-waiting Matt Uggla, was in the running to take over a majority shareholding from current owner Scott Priestnall, but Cooper’s comments suggest at least one other party is involved.

Asked if he had any news on the deal, he said: “We have not heard anything. When you get told it is done or that it is going to get done in the next 24 hours or 48 hours and that does not happen for another few months, there is going to be huge frustration.

“I just feel sorry that the club from where it was (in the Championship ten years ago) it is such a shame. We need to start planning now to get back and the first part of that is trying to build a squad that can win a lot of games in National League South next year.”

Then, asked about whether he saw himself having a future at the club, Cooper added: “That remains to be seen. I have two years left on my contract, but contracts don’t mean a lot, do they? So that will depend on which consortium gets the football club I would think.”

Now you are probably thinking, what question was asked next to clarify the comment around a new potential buyer. We’re thinking it as well. The Gloverscast has not been invited to a Yeovil Town pre-match press conference for a number of months.

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On behalf of Yeovil Town’s players, Skipper Josh Staunton approached the Gloverscast to help spread this message from the squad.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://gloverscast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/YTFC-relegation.pdf” title=”YTFC relegation”]

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Well, there’s no easy way to do this, but episode 250 is not the celebration we hoped it might have been.

Reaction from Ben and Dave to Yeovil Town’s relegation from the National League, we chat Wrexham (and say nice things about them) we chat Oldham and take your GCQs too.

At the start of the pod, we are also joined by former Yeovil Town Director, Steve Allinson to get his take on whats been a strange, chaotic and emotional few days, weeks and months.

Thank you as ever for you support over 250 episodes.

We really appreciate your supports as always, follow, like, give a good rating and all that other lovely stuff please.

You can also vote for the Gloverscast as the Non League Bible’s Best Non League Podcast… which we are, of course, you can do so by heading to…

LINK – https://nonleaguebible.weebly.com/nlbible-awards.html

Thank you for your continued support of the Gloverscast. Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news and views from Huish Park.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.

We’d love to welcome some local businesses into the Gloverscast family through advertising. If you’re a business that would like to speak to a dedicated audience of more than 1000 monthly listeners, please get in touch. Find out more about advertising with us here.

If you have an idea for the website, want to contribute or just want to send us a message, feel free to email ian@gloverscast.co.uk.

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So, we made it out of the division.

The supporters and staff deserve a statement today that clarifies the situation with the future of the ownership of the club, apologises for the way the club has operated this season and with those in role taking accountability for their actions or lack thereof.

There are no words that can make up for the total mismanagement of the club since the turn of the year. The open civil war between manager and stewards has been shameful and disrespectful to a club with over 125 years of history.

Josh Staunton should not be the man apologising to supporters. He is the epitome of leadership and the standard-bearer at Huish Park.

The ‘leaders’ at the club have treated supporters with contempt. Since the statement on 28th February before Altrincham and the subsequent press conferences, there has been no official communication regarding the takeover.

Our supporters groups have let us down too. Where are the Alliance meeting notes from the last 12 months? Where’s the evidence of supporters in a privileged position, holding club stakeholders to account. The Glovers Trust, which hasn’t shied away from trying to hold power to account previously, isn’t doing what it did before.

At Christmas, a decision was made to back SU Glovers as the preferred bidder. Evidently people think they’ve made a mistake and are now scrambling for a solution.

Two sliding doors moments have scuppered football experience from getting in the door and we now find ourselves at our lowest ebb since the middle of then ’90s.

We need clarity, today. Let the supporters know what the plan is, if there is a plan. There’s no doubt that administration will be on the cards if the deal collapses. Then what? Vultures will begin circling. It’s not inconceivable that we go the way of Bury or Macclesfield. How does the SSDC rescue deal look then?

Players, staff and supporters have a right to know what is happening.

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Venue: The Racecourse
Tuesday, 18th April, 7:45pm kick-off

Pitch: A light green turf carpet
Conditions: Bright, breezy with little cloud cover

Attendance: 10106 (217 away supporters)

Scorers: Anthony Forde 59, Jamie Jones 71, Paul Mullin 76

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Cooper 42, Freckleton 44
Wrexham: None

Referee: Michael Barlow

Yeovil Town (5-3-2)

Substitutes: Grant Smith, Jordan Young (for Siziba 69), Malachi Linton (for Bevan 23), Max Hunt, Chiori Johnson (for Griffiths 63)

Wrexham: Foster, Barnett, O’Connell, Tozer, O’Connor, Forde, J.Jones, Cannon (for Young 79), Lee, Mullin (for Palmer 87), Dalby Subs: Howard, Cleworth, McAlinden


Match Report

Yeovil Town’s relegation to National League South was confirmed emphatically this evening at the hands of Wrexham.

The Glovers performed admirably but the league leader’s quality shone through as they saw off Mark Cooper’s side 3-0. Goals from Anthony Forde, James Jones and Paul Mullin put Wrexham on course for promotion to the EFL.

Here’s how the match went…

First half

The opening exchanges were even, with Yeovil keeping some nice control of the ball. In the 8th minute when Freckleton was dispossessed the Glovers got their first taste of the Wrexham attack. Mullin drilled a cross through the 18 yard box and Anthony Forde’s shot was charged down by Yeovil defenders.

Yeovil had a couple of efforts from corners shortly afterward, with Charlie Cooper drawing ire from the Wrexham faithful for his placement of the ball on the corner arc.

Wrexham nearly opened the scoring in the 13th minute with Andy Cannon’s drilled effort going wide of the post with Will Buse well-beaten.

Yeovil were forced into a 22nd minute change when Owen Bevan injured after a push in the back by Paul Mullin saw him pull his thigh. Malachi Linton entered the fray at left wing back. Despite Max Hunt being on the bench…

Yeovil managed to carve out an opportunity in the 26th minute with Matt Worthington’s effort stinging the gloves of former England international Ben Foster.

Both side traded possession with Wrexham finding gaping holes on their spacious pitch and moving the ball around nicely. 

Wrexham had a half chance through a header in box after Ben Tozer’s long throw.

After the early efforts, the Glover did find themselves under the cosh and were only able to clear the ball long and invite Wrexham pressure.

Reo Griffiths was dispossessed in stoppage which allowed Elliott Lee to turn and escape Charlie Cooper and Scott Pollock. Lee found Mullin on the edge of the box but he fluffed his lines and skied the ball into the building site behind Buse’s goal.

Half time: Wrexham 0 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

After the half time break it was much of the same, with Yeovil trying to soak up pressure and hit Wrexham on the counter. 

It wasn’t until the 56th minute that something gave, with Cannon having another effort from outside the box that was deflected wide as Buse scrambled across his goal.

Just before the hour mark, a slip by Pollock on the edge of the box allowed Anthony Forde time to pick up the ball and work some space and fire a deflected effort into the bottom corner past Buse. 1-0

As a response, Yeovil introduced Chiori Johnson for Reo Griffiths, moving Linton to centre forward.

Wrexham came close to doubling their lead in the 65th minute after a collision in the box fell to Mullin whose deflected effort looped over the bar.

In the 71st minute the second goal came. A scramble in the six yard box just couldn’t be mopped up and JAMES JONES doubled the league leader’s lead. 2-0.

It was nearly a third moments later but for terrific save from Buse. A sloppy touch from Josh Staunton allowed Paul Mullin the chance inside the 18 yard box but the Bristol City loanee was equal to it.

PAUL MULLIN scored his 45th goal of the season in the 76th. A cross from Barnett on the right hand side found him unmarked to nod to the far post past the helpless Buse. 3-0

Former Yeovil man Ben Tozer did his best to get a fourth but Buse made yet another impressive save.

Wrexham’s substitute Young called Buse into action again moments later as the Glovers desperately sought the final whistle.

On the 87th minute, Paul Mullin was replaced by Ollie Palmer. Depth.

Foster was called into his first action of the second half in the 88th minute as Jordan Young spotted the goalkeeper off his line and fired in a testing effort.

Yeovil tried for a consolation goal but couldn’t break down Wrexham whose jubilation was matched with the despondence amongst Yeovil supporters.

Full time: Wrexham 3 Yeovil Town 0

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Yeovil Town have named an attacking line-up for their trip to National League leaders Wrexham (7.45pm kick-off).

Striker Reo Griffiths and winger Zanda Siziba are both in the starting XI after impressing in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Solihull Moors, in place of Jordan Maguire-Drew and Jordan Young.

The other changes see Scott Pollock and Andrew Oluwabori come in for Malachi Linton and Max Hunt. Young, Linton and Hunt are all named on the bench.