Ben Barrett (Page 116)

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Plenty of games took place on Monday 2nd of January will lots of Yeovil Town connections with no fewer than seven Glovers out on loan.

We’ll start at Sherborne who picked up a 2-1 win over Ilfracombe Town.

Last week’s goal scoring hero Benjani missed out on the match day squad with a slight injury, but Yeovil Under 18s captain Jake Graziano was spotted on the Zebra’s bench.

Next at Bedford Town, Max Evans completed his second 90minutes for his adopted side, unfortunately he and his side were on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline.

To Truro we go where Ollie Haste was back in the starting line up after missing out last time.

He played 90 minutes as the White Tigers picked up a vital win to keep the pressure on the league leaders Weston super-Mare.

Speaking of WSM, they scraped past Plymouth Parkway 1-0.

Both Toby Stephens and Ollie Hulbert started on the bench with Stephens introduced on the hour.

Finally, Stratford Town’s game was postponed today as the club continues to mourn the loss of their player Cody Fisher who tragically passed away last week.

We at the Gloverscast join the rest of the football world, in wishing Yeovil loanee Will Dawes, everyone at Stratford Town and Cody’s family and friends well at this difficult time.

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The Gloverscast understands that Under 18s defender Jake Graziano has joined Sherborne Town on loan.

Graziano, a regular for Matt Percival’s Under 18 side, has represented the Glovers’ first team in the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup and in pre-season friendlies has been named on the bench in their Monday game against Ilfracombe.

He joins Benjani Jnr at the Zebras, the striker has one goal in one game since joining the Toolstation Division One side on a short term temporary deal.

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It was a busy boxing day for the six Glovers loanees out and about.

Starting at the Bolitho Ground where ground-sharers Truro City and Plymouth Parkway faced each other in a game that ended 3-3 thanks to a 92nd minute Truro equaliser.

For Plymouth Parkway, Toby Stephens started and clocked up 68 minutes. Ollie Hulbert was used from the bench with just 5 minutes left, also.

Truro, have their own Glovers loanee in the shape of Ollie Haste, but he was left as an unused sub.

Next up a debut victory for Max Evans.

His Bedford side were 6-1 winners over AFC Rushden and Diamonds… and the eagles missed a penalty!

Up at our “close friends”, Stratford Town, Will Dawes started and played the full 90 in a 4-0 loss to Tamworth.

He may not have scored, but was awarded the sponsor’s Man of the Match award.

Benjani Jnr scores for Sherborne
? John Taylor / Sherborne Town FC

….but we’ve saved the best until last with our actual close friends Sherborne Town where Benjani Jnr scored the opening goal in a 1-1 draw against Street.

Well done to Benjani and all the Glovers loanees for a busy Boxing Day of action.

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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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At a time where there’s not much football on, only one of the Glovers loanees got some game time on Saturday.

Ollie Haste got 90 minutes for Truro.

They lost 1-0 to Dorchester Town with a first half goal the difference between the two sides.

All other loanees saw their games postponed due to the weather.

Toby Stephens and Ollie Hulbert were scheduled to be part of the Plymouth Parkway squad away at Barnet in the FA Trophy (note… Stephens has played in the Trophy already, but Hulbert’s participation wasn’t guaranteed – but we guess he can now become available as his parent club are out.)

Benjani Jr hasn’t yet kicked a ball for Sherborne, whilst Will Dawes return to Stratford town has been stalled by the weather.

Most sides have games midweek as the fixtures begin to pile up.

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Yeovil Town have been officially charged by the Football Association after the York City match in September was marred by an alleged incident of racism.

In the monthly list of FA charges for November, the Glovers have been hit with the following charge which dates back to the September 3rd fixture.

“INCIDENT OF MISCONDUCT – CROWD CONTROL
Yeovil Town FC, National League

Yeovil Town FC v York City FC
National League
3 September 2022

Breach of FA Rule E21.4 – It is alleged that during the fixture Yeovil Town FC failed to ensure that its spectators, and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers, conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and failed to ensure those persons did not use words or otherwise behave in an improper and/or abusive and/or insulting manner with either express or implied reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race.

Yeovil Town FC have denied the charge and request a personal hearing.”

You probably don’t need reminding that an allegation of racism was aimed towards the York City penalty taker Lenell John-Lewis in the build up to his spot kick.

The penalty was scored and was the only goal of the game, with Yeovil losing 1-0.

A police and internal investigation was launched, a number of people were spoken to in the local vicinity of the incident, but no culprit was found and the matter was considered finished.

Both Avon and Somerset Police and Yeovil Town have told the Gloverscast that anyone with any information can contact them, saying at the time that anyone who knows anything about the individual responsible for this disgusting act to contact them calling 101 and giving crime reference number 5222215076. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 55511

Whilst there is a dedicated Match Day Hotline for Yeovil fans to use if they hear anything untoward in the future, saying in a statement: “If you hear any form of discrimination inside or around Huish Park, we urge all supporters to report it on the day to our stewards or report anonymously on our designated matchday hotline – 07724 152 534.”

According to the Football Association’s own guidelines on sanctions, if found guilty, Yeovil Town could be asked to form an ‘Action Plan’ and/or suffer a fine, with other sanctions such as partial/whole stadium closure coming into play for multiple incidents of this nature.

The FA states:

“A Regulatory Commission will have due regard to the circumstances and seriousness of the incident when determining the appropriate sanction (to include the level of any financial penalty that may be imposed).

In so doing, the Regulatory Commission will consider a range of factors, to include the following:
1. The number of supporters involved;
2. The nature of the behaviour of those involved;
3. The duration of the incident(s);
4. Whether the Club (and/or its officers):
a. took all reasonable steps in its preparation and planning for the fixture in which the Relevant Breach occurred;
b. took all reasonable steps in dealing effectively with the incident, when it arose;
c. took all reasonable steps in identifying the supporter(s) involved;
d. took sufficient action against those supporters responsible where those individuals were identified;
5. Whether the Club cooperated in full with The FA;
6. The previous disciplinary record of the Club or its Participants in relation to Aggravated Breaches or Relevant Breaches;
7. In cases where an Action Plan has previously been imposed on a Club, whether the Club has complied in full with that Action Plan.”

No date has been disclosed for the hearing.

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Purefoy (right) with Gary Johnson in 2013
? James Purefoy Fan Facebook

Hollywood actor and Glovers’ fan James Purefoy has told an American movie podcast he has been asked about a potential takeover of Yeovil Town.

Speaking to ‘Beyond the Mic’ with Sean Dillon to promote his film ‘Fisherman’s Friend 2’ he was asked (slightly tongue in cheek) if he could… would he buy Yeovil Town to challenge Wrexham… his response was not all that positive.

The Taunton-born actor said: “Don’t scare the hell out of me, people have been asking me to put a consortium together to buy Yeovil Town.”

It was pointed out that Hollywood loves “soccer” now… but Purefoy was still hesitant.

“The idea of it, do I have time in my life, for Yeovil Town? Not in that way”.

Well James, if you ever change your mind… or just want to come on the pod and tackle the Fans Five questions… you’re more than welcome to.

Ryan Reynolds, you’re safe… for now!

 

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Well, streaming is here in the National League, and Gloverscast Ben has been exploring.

Ryan Reynolds and that other bloke who owns Wrexham, threw enough toys out of their pram and now, anyone in the world can dial in to watch their beloved National League side.

For the cost of a Motorway Services Meal Deal, I can, from the comfort of my own sofa, log into a site and watch the Glovers in action, and that’s exactly what I did on Saturday as Yeovil hosted Scunthorpe United.

I’ve long been a sceptic of streaming at this level, but I accept there are pros and cons to this, so I thought I’d jot a few down.

As ever, let us know what you think and how you think it’ll change (if at all) how you consume Yeovil Town matches.

The Pros

1) First of all, the entire process of signing up, pledging my allegiance to Yeovil and parting with my £4.75 via PayPal was all very easy.

2) The quality of image, audio and graphics were pretty good.

That’s a good start, we saw during the lockdown days that not every side has great coverage.

We at Yeovil had a ball tracking camera at one point which focused in on a bald lino’s noggin once or twice, but that isn’t the case here.

The camera operator might need a spirit level as it looked a little wonky at times, but there’s was some nice graphics, even a replay or two and at half time we were treated to an ‘as it stands’ table.

There’s clearly some sort of work going on externally, quite possibly a director and someone working on the games, which, is a pretty good effort from the National League.

3) I bought a ticket! That means that 60% of my £4.75 (£2.85) has gone into the club coffers. I wonder what they’ll spend it on?

In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have given the club a penny to consume that game before hand. All three Gloverscasters bought a stream. This will prove to be an extra revenue stream. (Hold that thought, we’ll come back to it later)

4) It got me thinking about who else might have purchased who may not have otherwise done so.

Friend of the pod, Elliot Watts said his grandad was set up with a stream, he wouldn’t have otherwise made the game and now he’s given the club £2.75.

How many grandads wouldn’t have fancied the cold today? How many are poorly and find mobility difficult? How many people miss out because of Somerset’s horrendous public transport systems in and around the towns and villages? How many exiles would have dialled in? How many people are working and finish too late to get to HP?

Those numbers might be difficult to quantify straight away, but I know those people listed above all exist and probably in not insignificant hoards.

Those people now need to be targeted, advertised to, helped, guided, shown how easy it is to access. For every Watts’ grandad, you need an Elliot to set things up. #BeMoreElliot

5) I was fearful of the audio. I didn’t know what we might get. Would it be something generic or just stadium ambience? It was actually really good to have BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins on commentary and ex-Glovers’ keeper Chris Weale summarising.

The audio was in sync too which was good.

I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the BBC Somerset team and both Ian and I know how much effort goes in to providing those without eyes on Huish Park good enough coverage on match days (and beyond).

It’s vital that a club like Yeovil has good local coverage from media outlets, we should protect it, support it and ensure we don’t let it become a secondary aspect of how we consume YTFC as a whole.

The Cons

1) I’m reliably informed it was really cold today. England were on the telly in the evening. Christmas shopping needs to be done. There was a chance the game might not be on. Fuel costs a fortune too.

That’s a lot of reasons to think…. nah, I’ll skip the game, watch online and go about other errands.

So if “Joe Bloggs” from just outside Yeovil likes to go to the game occasionally, but didn’t today… Yeovil Town have gone from getting 100% of an £18 ticket, plus maybe a sold programme, or a pie or a pint… old Bloggsy (as his mates call him) has now given the Glovers £2.75 rather than £27.50 ish… that’s quite a drop, multiply that equation by however many and that’s a massive shortfall.

It’ll take ten additional streams to make up for one Joe Bloggs…

That’s a massive challenge for every club at this level – what are you going to do to make a trip to Huish Park special?

Without trying to answer my own question (Hi CleaveO), the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust got 300+ kids at the game today, the England game was being shown in the Alec Stock lounge… there was a sense of ‘Match Day Experience’.

This has NEVER been more vital.

We can go deep into ticket prices, offers, loyalty schemes, quality of football, but, the crux of it is, should people stop physically going, this whole thing will be the end of football at this level.

I could ramble on here about people being physically present leads to a better atmosphere, a sense of belonging, helping your side earn a point, suck in the winner in the last minute, none of those things are tangible, but they matter.

What about getting volunteers? Who will volunteer to sell the programmes, or man the tea bars, or sell the golden gambles, or donate to the excellent Food Bank initiative if no one actually attends?

Physical presence matters. Big time.

2) Scunthorpe fans gave Yeovil Town next to nothing today.

The away crowds are an underestimated part of all this.

I’d bet that more Scunthorpe fans saw the game than would have done normally, ok, that’s cool. But how much easier do the excuses come for an away fan to not make the journey?

Scunthorpe is a long way from Yeovil. That’s a lot of fuel, a lot of time, a lot of effort… to watch a 0-0.

If even one Scunthorpe fan chose stream over travel, then Yeovil Town has lost out on 100% of that potential revenue. With just a tiny portion of a Scunny stream purchase going to be split among all 72 clubs.

Scunthorpe made their £2.75 (60% of the £4.75 stream fee), but with just 25% (£1.18) set aside for the big pot to be shared. And then taking that and splitting it 70/30 for National League/NL N&S… means Yeovil got… an equal share of 82 pence, which when divided by 23 other sides in the division gives Yeovil… 3.5 pence.

(I HATE MATHS)

Scunthorpe might be a long way away, but what about Torquay? What if they don’t sell 500 tickets, they only sell 400, because 100 would rather watch the stream?

I’m not going to do any more maths, but thats a lot of people to go from spending a minimum of £18 at Huish Park to 3.5 pence.

Now, this goes both ways of course.

I’ll watch the Barnet game on Tuesday, I wouldn’t have otherwise gone.

I’ll give Yeovil Town another £2.75. I’ll give Barnet 3.5 pence.

Will there be enough Gloverscast Bens to make up for the lack of Joe Bloggs? Only time will tell.

In conclusion

You can see the challenges that will occur, the pressure is now on clubs at our level to make sure the right people attend the game in good enough numbers whilst targeting stream viewers as extra revenue.

Can the club get a stream sponsor? Can they make sure those who have advertising boards REALLY appreciate how many extra eyes will see their product and their logo – look at the screenshots in this article, you can see, Westbury Packaging, Hellier Group, Garador, Jurrasic Fibre, Thatchers and more.

It’s worth noting that the stream figures above will double the other side of Christmas, the £4.75 fee is a half price offer to start things off.

It’s going to be a fascinating ride and I’m really not sure how it’ll all play out.

I’m fearful of the next big expected away crowd, if numbers start to drop, we could be in for a turbulent time, we’ve already heard the term ‘balancing the books’ from the manager.

The way the revenue is split, there are obviously a few clubs who will benefit more than most (Prynhawn da cefnogwyr, Wrecsam), the gap between top and bottom will only grow and those sides who get into the regional divisons below will have an even mightier task to provide a service.

There’s a huge lack of fairness here, especially half way through a season – I thought that every penny this season should have all gone into one pot to be split 72 ways.

If a side has already had its “big” days out away somewhere, those additional streams of fans who haven’t travelled have been lost.

How many Yeovil fans would have dialled into the game at Notts County for example, putting their couple quid into the pot at the same time?

Is streaming a good thing?

I’ll answer hypocritically – for me, yes, absolutely.

For Yeovil Town… I’m cautiously concerned.

 

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Yeovil Town have been drawn away at Paulton Rovers in the Quarter Finals of the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup.

There are still nine sides left in the competition with Bath City still to face off against Tickenham from the second round, the winner of that will face Larkhall Athletic.

Elsewhere, Bridgwater host Weston Super-Mare and Bishop Sutton will welcome Frome Town.

Paulton Rovers and Yeovil have previously met in the Competition in 2015, a very young Glovers side progressing 3-2 thanks to a brilliant all round performance from Ollie Bassett

Full date and ticket details are yet to be confirmed.

The full draw is as below.