New Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley has said he wants to “excite” the club’s supporters as he begins life in the Huish Park hot-seat.

The former Chelsea and Fulham youth coach was unveiled as the club’s fourth manager on Tuesday replacing Richard Dryden who has taken charge of the first-team affairs since the end of September.

He takes over a side without a win in eight matches in all competitions ahead of the visit from Boston United to Somerset on Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s social media about his managerial style, Rowley said: “I want football to be played in the opposition’s half, I am a massive advocate of build-up play and controlling the game, but fans want to see goals, people shooting and running in to the box. One thing I really want to do is excite this tremendous group of fans and get some goals and hopefully that can start on Saturday.”

He added: “I just want the next few weeks to get the fans proud of watching the team play, play with a lot of energy and I want teams to come here and fear to play us for a few different reasons, what we do with and without the ball.”

The club’s announcement on Tuesday morning made no reference to the future of either Dryden or his assistant manager Jerry Gill, but Rowley said he had been told by the club’s owner Prabhu Srinivasan that he would be supported to bring in new players.

He said: “The aim is to get back in the Football League and both the owners and I believe this group of players are almost capable of that. I am looking forward to seeing the players up close and seeing what they are capable of. The owners have said they are happy to bring in some new faces, but I am a firm believer in providing a lot of clarity to players and giving them a real structure and identity of how to play.”

The Glovers’ rumour mill began linking the 43-year-old with the job after his departure from Southern League South side Walton & Hersham was confirmed on Monday afternoon. He has guided them to top of the Step 3 division, two below the National League Premier Division in the football pyramid, and earned high praise for his attacking style.

Walton confirmed an approach for their manager came whilst they were playing out a 0-0 draw at home to Hungerford Town on Saturday, at the same time as Yeovil were held to their own goalless draw at Morecambe. Rowley was handed a contract until the end of the 2027-28 season on Tuesday.

He admitted the rapid rise up the footballing divisions will be a learning curve, saying: “I am pretty sure we can start progressing up the table. It is going to be a challenge and I am going to have to learn this league and about this fan base very quickly. I feel I am a quick learner, I have experienced a lot of challenges in my time as a coach and manager, but the aim is to give these boys a real blueprint of how I want us to play, press and score and I look forward to getting out with them and helping to get us on an upward trajectory.”

He added: “I have been speaking to the owners for the past 24 hours and we very much aligned in everything I see and feel about football. It is a massively community-based club, the history of the club is incredible and I know a few boys that have played for this team down the year and they cannot speak highly enough of it. One of my best friends is from the town and he bleeds green-and-white, so it has been an incredible 24 hours and I am just looking forward to getting on the grass with the lads.

“I cannot speak highly enough of the people I have worked with at Walton, but when a club like Yeovil calls you up, it is incredibly hard to turn that down. When you pull up to the stadium you instantly get grabbed by the club and this is the type of team, club and ownership which I want to be a part of. I am excited and very humbled by this and I need to treat this job with an immense amount of humility but also with confidence in what I do and my management team can do.“

Yeovil Town have appointed Billy Rowley as their new manager on a deal until the end of the 2027/28 season.

The 43-year-old has guided Walton & Hersham to the top of the Southern League South division and earned high praise for building a youthful, exciting side and left fans shocked when the club announced his departure on Monday.

Later on Tuesday, the club confirmed Rowley’s assistant Darren Simpson would be joining him at Huish Park after the club agreed a release feel for the pair with Walton.

In a statement confirming the appointment on Tuesday, Rowley said: “It’s a massive community club. The history of this club is incredible, I know a few boys who have played for this team and they can’t speak highly enough of it. I’m just looking forward to getting on the grass with the lads. When a club like Yeovil call you up, it is incredibly hard to turn that down.”

On Tuesday morning, Glovers’ chairman Prabhu Srinivasan posted a video revealing a new boss was set to be announced.

In the club statement which followed, the owner added: “Our focus is clear: progressive, attacking football, a strong identity, and a commitment to developing players at Huish Park. In Billy Rowley, we found exactly what we were looking for. I’ve watched his Walton side firsthand, the quality of his setup, the clarity of his ideas, and the intensity of his football are unmistakable. Speaking with him only reinforced that he was the standout choice. Billy is the manager we wanted, and we are delighted to bring him to the club.”

The statement announcing Rowley offered no insight in to the futures of either Richard Dryden, who has been in charge since the shock exit of Danny Webb after just 11 days at the end of September, or his assistant Jerry Gill.

The Huish Park rumour mill was filled with talk of Rowley’s imminent arrival on Monday night after Walton confirmed he had departed the Step 3 cub after 18 months in charge.

In a statement on Monday, the Surrey side said: “Following an approach received during our fixture vs Hungerford on Saturday, Billy Rowley has left his position as First Team Manager with immediate effect to take up a new opportunity higher up the football pyramid after 18 months in charge at Walton & Hersham FC.

“He follows a number of individuals who, during their time at the club, have been able to develop within our environment before moving on to roles at higher-level sides in recent years.”

Rowley held coaching roles in the development squads at both Chelsea and Fulham before spending almost three years as an academy coach in California before returning to the UK in May 2020 to take up a coaching role at Walton.

Walton was taken over by a group of seven friends, all aged around 19 years old at the time of the takeover in 2019, and in 2020 they appointed Scott Harris as manager with Rowley taking a prominent role in his coaching staff.

The takeover both on and off the pitch proved successful as the club Rowley was part of the dug-out team as Walton & Hersham rattled through three successive promotions, climbing from Step 6 in the Combined Counties League Division One up to Step 3 the Southern League South Division. That’s two football pyramid steps below the National League Premier Division if you were wondering.

Harris stepped down as manager in April 2024 with Rowley taking interim charge at the Surrey club, whose very name will stir up memories of Yeovil’s FA Cup exit there in the mid-1990s for fans of a certain age. A month later, he was confirmed as manager and in his first season Walton finished third in Southern League Premier South and won the Surrey Senior Cup, beating National League South side Dorking Wanderers in the final.

This season, Walton are top of the league, two points clear of second-placed Gloucester City having played one game less, with 13 wins in their 16 matches.

In a feature on the Southern League website from February, Rowley spoke about the young side he had assembled saying: “We have a possession-based style here; it’s high energy stuff with plenty of movement on the pitch. I want highly intelligent players who are adaptable and give their all.” You can read that article in full – here.