Ben Barrett

Yeovil Town Under 19s had a positive first season in the National League U19 alliance system for the first time, finishing third in their league and seeing a number of players make the step into the first team set up at various stages.

The season had a managerial change, Matt Percival leaving in January to explore new opportunities. Jamie Phillip took over the reigns with former Glovers captain Josh Staunton joining the club as Under 19s Operations Lead. 

Finishing their 16 games in Division E, the young Glovers won eight, drew three and lost five; 59 scored with just 31 conceded.

Basingstoke have one game left in their campaign, so long as they don’t beat the Met Police by an eight goal margin or more, the Glovers are set to finish third in the table, 12 points off second and a whopping 16 points off Dorchester’s youth side who were almost perfect throughout their season.

Yeovil were one of the two teams to take points off the league leaders when drawing 0-0 back in October.

George Geraghty ended the season as the division’s second top scorer, his 21 goals just a couple shy of Eastleigh’s Ilya Ihnatenko who racked up 23.

Alec Thomas ended with 12, Ollie Hughes with eight.

Other notable milestones include a brilliant run to the Quarter-finals of the National League Alliance Cup, as well as a number of wins in the County Cup, however they did fall at the first hurdle in the FA Youth Cup.

The Francis Hillier Somerset Men’s Premier Cup gave a large number of Under 19s the chance to represent the Glovers in a first team atmosphere, in the end the Glovers lost 1-0 to Odd Down in the first round, but Blake Watts did break a record becoming the youngest captain of a Yeovil Town Men’s first team fixture.

Watts confirmed this week his time with the Glovers has come to an end after being associated with the club since Under 10s.

Three young Glovers made first team appearances in either the league or FA Trophy too, following in the footsteps of Corey Koerner who was the only academy graduate the season before.

Ollie Hughes, Liam Nardiello and Jaydon Biss all got plenty of time within the group including debuts for all of them at various times.

Hughes and Biss were named in match day squads more than dozen times each, with Nardiello included a couple of times too.

Hughes’ debut against Tamworth on March 3rd made him the fifth youngest Yeovil Town player to represent the Glovers in a league game.

The winger also got international representation with England Colleges receiving his cap just before Christmas.

As for Jaydon Biss, he made two appearances, once against Telford in the FA Trophy before making his league debut alongside Nardiello in the April fixture vs Eastleigh.

News will filter through over the coming days of players who have departed and those who will be with the group again next season.

Good luck to all those departing and here’s to another season of seeing the connection between the Under 19s and first team flourish.

THE GLOVERSCAST WOULD LOVE TO COVER MORE OF THE UNDER 19’S JOURNEY NEXT SEASON.
IF YOU ARE IN A POSITION TO HELP WITH IMAGES, MATCH DETAILS OR ANYTHING, PLEASE CONTACT BEN@GLOVERSCAST.CO.UK

Yeovil Town Under 19s captain Blake Watts has confirmed he is leaving the club.

The Youth team skipper played his last game in the midweek clash with the Met Police Under 19s.

Watts broke a Yeovil Town record when becoming the youngest player to captain the Men’s first team in the Francis Hillier Somerset Men’s Premier Cup earlier this season.

Posting on LinkedIn he said;

“After 9 unforgettable years, the time has come for me to say goodbye to Yeovil Town F.C. After a 6-5 win on Wednesday my time at the club has come to an end.

​From joining as a young player in U10s to captaining teams all the way through to the U19s, this club has played a huge part in my development both on and off the pitch.

​Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to experience so many special moments such as: trophies, memorable cup runs, incredible teammates and friendships and being written into the clubs history as well.

​A huge thank you to all the coaches, staff, teammates, supporters, and everyone connected with the club who has supported me throughout this journey. The memories made here will stay with me forever.

​Although this chapter comes to an end, I’m excited for what’s next and looking forward to the new opportunities ahead.
​Thank you for everything 💚”

Watts’ departure suggests that decisions have started to be made regarding those who are in the Under 19s set up and what their future might look like.

All the best to Blake in his future.

One for the calendars!

Yeovil Town have a pre-season match with National League North side Merthyr Town on Tuesday July 14th. With a 7:30pm kick off scheduled.

Merthyr have strong links to YTFC with Gavin Williams playing for and managing the Welsh side in the past and of course Yeovil bringing in… and sending back… Lewis Twamley from the club in the more recent past.

No sooner has one season finished, the next one starts getting put together.

Yeovil Town will head to Melksham Town of the Southern Premier League South on Saturday 11th of July – 3pm Kick Off.

A regular part of the pre-season schedule in recent years, including a 5-1 win in the summer of 2024.

No ticket news just yet, but get the calendars out, it’s time to start planning the 2026/27 campaign!

Yeovil Town have announced their released and retained list following the conclusion of the 2025/26 campaign.

A number of players are departing Huish Park including National League South Champion Alex Whittle, as well as other regular first teamers Aaron Jarvis, Harvey Greenslade and Finn Cousin-Dawson.

Kyle Fergsuson also departs after one full season as a permanent member of the squad whilst Josh Sims also leaves the club, the former Southampton winger scored the Glovers’ first goal of the season and notched up 35 league appearances.

Brett McGavin has been confirmed as staying for another two years whilst Matt Gould will continue in his dual role next season too

The midfielder ended the season as captain in the absence of Jake Wannell and Luke McCormick.

Both Wannell and McCormick remain contracted to the Glovers for next season as do Joy Mukena, Dan Ellison, Ryan Jones and James Daly.

The option attached to the contract of Jonathon Page has not been taken up and as such he will also be heading to pastures new.

Jacob Maddox, Charlie Cooper and Tahvon Campbell will leave after spending the latter part of the season out on loan.

Speaking of loanees, Jed Ward, Dak Mafico, Troy Perrett, Will Merry, Delano McCoy-Splatt, Terrell Works, Josh Tobin and Millar Matthews-Lewis officially see their temporary spells come to an end and we wish them well in their careers.

Two new deals in as mamy minutes at Huish Park.

Matt Gould, has penned a new deal with Yeovil to continue his dual role as player and Goalkeeper coach.

Gould has made two competitive first team appearances, one in the SMPC and the other coming on in the final minutes of the final game of the season against Solihull.

Yeovil Town midfielder Brett McGavin has signed a new two-year deal at Huish Park.

McGavin’s contract was initially going to come to an end this summer, but Billy Rowley has sought to extend the deal for the next two campaigns.

McGavin won the Glovie for Player of the Year in the 2024/25 season and finished this current campaign as captain with both Jake Wannell and Luke McCormick missing through injury.

The former Torquay man is closing in on 100 league appearances in Green and White and will surely cross that threshold soon enough.

Congratulations on the new deal, here’s to a few more worldies!

Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley has said he’s already looking to the future after the Glovers finished off their 2025/26 season with a 4-1 defeat at home to Solihull.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman, the gaffer wasn’t overly worried about the scoreline and instead wanted to look foward.

“It is a really disappointing [result]. I think we just spent 45 minutes with the supporters there and walking around and talking to so many. I just want to massively thank them again.
It’s been what, four or so months that Darren and I came in and yeah, the first day or so I felt a real, you get a real buzz when you come into Huish Park, it’s obviously a special place and and the supporters matched that. I’m massively thankful and grateful for what they’ve given us in terms of their support this season.

“But today, we’ll we’ll try and try and erase that from our memory really. We actually didn’t play as badly as the scoreline suggests, I don’t think.
Sam the analyst told me that they had five shots in the first half and scored four, which is a bit of a rare thing in football and then at the end of the game, I think we almost doubled their shot count and we’ve scored one, so, sometimes these results happen.

“A few weeks ago, I saw Hartlepool losing 7-0 to Wealdstone and you know, these freak games do happen. It’s just a real shame that we’ve received our one on the last game of the season in front of our supporters. So, it is what it is, we’ll try and erase that from our memory and just look into the future now.”

Speaking on the support from Yeovil’s supporters, Billy Rowley said thanks…about a million times!

​“It really means a lot to me. It’s so easy as a supporter, I’ve been there, where it’s easy now losing a game 4-1, you could stand there and maybe boo and and say some some bad things to players and and management and nobody did.

“They were clapping, they were beating the drum, they were asking for the lads’ autographs and it’s a very special special feeling to be appreciated, even though after such a bad loss.

“So I cannot commend them enough, you know, I’m giving them all a massive massive round of applause again and, just massively appreciate that.”

Rowley confirmed that discussions had already taken place with those who will be departing Huish Park this summer, but wanted to pay tribute to their efforts in a season of ups and downs.

“All of the lads that will be leaving us know now. I said pre-game to all of them and this will go on record, I have got nothing but positive things to say about all of the lads that I’ve worked with this season. I still have to take into account quite often that I’m the fourth manager that’s stood in front of them this year and and given them a different message and a different shape and a different this and a different that.

“I said it in front of the supporters a minute ago, what we’ve achieved here, getting 51 points is no mean feat. It’s not special, it’s nothing that we should be like hanging up on our trophy cabinet, but it gives us a chance to to go again.

“So I massively thank everybody that’s put on a on a shirt this year and given their all. And we’ve got to a stage now where, I think part of my job is to realise that I need to maybe rebuild and and introduce some new ideas and fresh faces. But that’s football, that’s nothing personal. That’s just part of my job and I need to do what I see fit. But again, I can’t speak highly enough of those boys that have that have run around this season and got us 51 points.”

Of course, thoughts turned to Jed Ward to cleaned up in the end of season awards, when asked if there was a chance we could see him back next year… it’s Huish Park or the Bernabeu!

​“Well it’s either us or Real Madrid I think, so hopefully it’s us. Jed is – I’m trying to think of a of a description for him really. He’s like the perfect model professional. The way he trains, he’s out early, he stays late, he eats right, he gets in early, he talks to everybody, he supports players, he gives great information, he’s intelligent and he’s an unbelievable goalie, so that tops it off really. I don’t know where Jed will end up in his career but I envision it will be very high.”

When asked to reflect on his time as Yeovil boss, Billy Rowley said that he was proud to be given the chance to lead this club into the future.

“I said this the other day. I’m very proud and honoured to work for this club, I appreciate Prahbu, Sahil, and Bhavna for giving me this opportunity.

And all I want to do for the supporters is give a display every Saturday here which which makes people proud. That’s going to be the aim. We’re going to be looking for players that fit our criteria and our and how we want to play and how we want to look on the pitch.

But most importantly, I want them to be, you know, proper good human beings and and all our supporters to be proud to be associated with these lads.

That sums it up, a whirlwind. I’ve gone from obviously winning most weeks to like struggling to score goals, in the same season.

I think it’s always difficult as well when you come into a team in the winter period, it’s something that I’ve heard on multiple podcasts and I’ve heard, top managers talk about this, world-class managers, when you come in November, December, January it’s it’s arguably the hardest time because you don’t get as much time to train as you want.

The pitches aren’t great. Probably the buzz to be out on the training pitch because of the weather is maybe slightly less than it would be in pre-season. You get less time with the boys. It was really hard to kind of effect as much as I wanted to from a playing perspective.

This gives us a real clean slate now. We’re safe, we’re up. We can now start really building a team and hand-pick players that we think suit our style and how we want to look on the pitch and then we’re going to have a good chunk of pre-season to really embed some of those ideas. And from experience, you can get decent work done in the first few months, but it will always probably kick in around November-December time. So, you know, that’s that’s going to be the plan. We’re going to try and build a squad and a team that can compete at the at the top end of this league.

We’re going to try and play a style of football which excites our supporters and players want to be a part of and by the new year we want to be we want to be in a good place and I think we will be.

​I’m going to put some put some music on now and have a beer with with some of the staff and and, just relax.