Ian Perkins (Page 107)

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When Yeovil Town F.C. moved to their current ground, Huish Park, in August 1990, supporters assumed that the two open terraces that were at the two ends of the ground would eventually be covered. At the time, the message being spread by club officials was that the lack of a roof was merely only a temporary measure and that it had been a compromise taken in order to ensure that the ground could be opened for the start of the new season. As a sweetener to supporters, the Bartlett Stand was priced the same as the terraces and transfer was permitted between the two areas of the ground, allowing supporters to be protected from the elements if the weather turned bad mid-game. If you look at photographs in the early days of Huish Park it is amazing how many few people stood on the terraces, compared with those that do so now.

Over the passing of time, several events changed the situation for the club. Firstly, the club’s financial troubles as a consequence of the ground move made the building of the roof an impossibility. The supporters tolerated this without question as saving the club was far more important at the time.

As the club moved out of its financial troubles, difference pricing structures made the Bartlett Stand more pricey, and at the end of the 1995/96 season the club stopped supporters being able to change ends at half time or in bad weather. The official reason given was that new safety regulations depended on the four areas of the ground being sectionalised, although fighting between rival supporters on the last day of that season surely was a factor here.

So the terrace supporters were unable to move from their open terraced area, and this coincided with a drop in atmosphere in the ground, particularly when the home team attacked the “away” end, and led to significant drops in crowd figures during bad weather as supporters could no longer transfer to the stand.

With the club now more or less stabilised, and the terraces still proving popular amongst fans, dissatisfaction began to rise about the facilities at Huish Park and and above all the lack of a roof, putting pressure on the current board to take action.

In 1999, the current chairman John Fry, took notice of the situation by applying to the Football Trust for a grant for various enhancements to the stadium, including the covering of one of the terraces. The grant obtained some sort of approval but on the condition that the club had to contribute 30% – 40% of the cost of the roof. The club were unable to do this, and the Football Trust told them to concentrate on issues that they believed to be more geared towards health and safety. A roof was considered to be a luxury, not a necessity.

The media exposure of the Football Trust grant had provoked such interest amongst supporters that it clearly was not going to lie down. Supporters, in particular a group of regular fans known as the Away Day Lads (who Ciderspace will feature in the future) pressurised the board, and although the board were not prepared to contribute financially at this stage, they did agree that they would give their public backing to a fund-raising campaign if it was set up by supporters.

So, on Thursday 15th April 1999 an inaugral meeting was held at Huish Park where a committee was formed to drive the fund-raising and to give the campaign a public profile.

At this stage it is unclear as to exactly how much would need to be raised in order to build a roof over Huish Park. This is down to several factors.

Firstly, with construction engineering materials and costs volatile over time, it will be difficult to put an exact price on the cost of the roof until the fund-raising gets to a certain stage. Secondly, with certain Yeovil Town board members also being directors of building and construction companies, it is feasible that the building of the roof could be financed at a lower cost, although there has been no formal commitment by any directors so far to such a thing. Thirdly, it is unclear as to whether planning permission currently exists in order to build a roof. Planning permission has been sought in the past, but generally expires if the building is not commenced. This should not stop the building work, but may affect what sort of roof will be permissible once planning permission is obtained.

With all that in mind, in an interview between Martin Baker and John Fry in the Yeovil Town programme in April 1999 (details of which will be published in Ciderspace shortly) two figures were talked about. The first figure, 88,000 pounds, assumed that the roof could be built as a “self-help” project, at cost price, with help from various Yeovil Town directors’ companies. The second figure, which the Roof Committee are aiming at, is 150,000 pounds. That figure may well change by the time that sum is raised, and was for an “up and over” covering without corners being filled in and without seating being put into the terraced end.

And so the fund-raising began ……

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This post is from the Ciderspace Archives from 3rd June 2000.

When the club announced that we were to go full-time there were mixed reactions, but Ciderspace believes most saw it as a positive step forward. Going full time is certainly the trend being set by some of the more ambitious clubs in the Conference.

With promotion to and relegation from the League now a regular feature, and with the possibility of two or more up and down each season in the future, the number of fully professional teams in the Conference is only likely to increase.

Whilst understanding that this was a huge and radical step that would entail re-building and restructuring the club the majority of fans were probably prepared to go with the “no gain without pain” concept. The clear impression given by chairman John Fry was that the club had been thinking along these lines for some time and that the arrival of the new manager, David Webb, was simply the catalyst that put it in motion.

At the same time many fans felt that the publishing of plans for the new terrace roof (and the granting of planning permission) symbolised the forward progression of Yeovil Town into the new Millennium.

On the 4th of April the chairman John Fry went on YDR FM and stated, as part of a reply to a phone-in question, that the budget for the 1999-2000 season had been based on a figure of 3,500 average crowds. He said that the budget when the team went full-time next season would not be a great deal more than that.

The only surprise was the first part; no one could presumably have thought it likely Yeovil Town would average 3,500 over a whole season even if the club had managed to challenge for the title right to the end. Does this imply that the club has a problematic deficit that it is carrying forward?

The second part, that the next budget would be a little more, seemed reasonable (if tight, given the almost inevitable extra costs of full-time football) and tied in with the impression that had been given in previous press releases and interviews, including one conducted the day after David Webb’s appointment on the club’s Official Site.

A month later in the 4th of May edition of the Western Gazette, as part of an extensive series of comments including the position of the reserve side and a family enclosure, John Fry announced a new Three Year Plan. He said: “We have a Three Year Plan with a 1st June start date. We have a massive job to restructure the club for going full-time and developing the stadium.”

He was also reported as saying that the budget would be based on an average attendance of 1,800. The Western Gazette, in its inimitable style, completely missed the crucial import of this statement and chose to headline a supposed threat to watching the reserves!

In the four weeks that have passed no statement of any sort has emanated from Huish Park to refute this new position, or claim a misunderstanding: that the budgeting for the forthcoming season would be based on average attendances of just 1,800 and therefore the implication that the budget Mr Webb was working to was significantly lower than last season. Not only is this surprising when the increased costs of full time football are considered; it also heavily contradicts several statements made by Mr Fry in the past.

Alarm bells began to ring. Subsequently sources from within the club have suggested what this might mean in actual monetary terms. The budget set for the season 1999-2000 is claimed by these sources to have been around £350,000. This original budget was exceeded – Mr Fry has stated in public that this happened before Colin Lippiatt’s departure.

The budget for the season 2000-01 has, according to those same sources, been set at around £200,000. The proportions of these figures correspond closely to what one would expect from budgets based on 3,500 and 1,800 crowds given the rise in ticket prices across the two years.

Other circumstantial but telling evidence that has accumulated over the past several months supports the contention that the budget in ominously small. Ciderspace does not wish to publicly discuss the financial affairs of individuals but we will assert:

  • A number of higher-earning players would have been more than happy to discuss going full-time. They were not given the opportunity. In one case in particular, the club chose to give the impression that it was the player who was not interested in full-time football. That player has publicly denied that.
  • Several players whom the club wished/wishes to retain found that the money they were offered was no more than they were receiving part-time. Some signed, some didn’t.
  • A valued player would have gone full-time for what we consider to be a very modest recompense, hugely below what he would be giving up in alternative income. It became clear in negotiations that the money was not available.
  • Ciderspace has been led to believe that the sums quoted in The Clarion 2000 on April 19th as being offered to the younger players (150 pounds per week) are in fact pretty accurate despite many of us having a good laugh at Fat Harry’s expense at the time.
  • Dave Webb originally targeted five or six new players, and it was hoped to move for them quickly before the manager departed on holiday. There appears to have been little success on this front and the talk is now of half that number.

Unfortunately whilst the chairman is away no one seems to have been delegated to speak for the club. Manager David Webb also departs on holiday this weekend, and more than one journalist has told us they are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade him to speak to the media. Huish Park is therefore virtually “closed” as far as communication with the media is concerned.

What is left is leaks and rumour. One such rumour that has materialised recently, is that David Webb is no longer comfortable with the allocated budget Claims by the chairman in the past have suggested that he had agreed it, so if this is true, there must be a reason for the change of heart.

Despite being a man who keeps a tight lid on his transfer activities, names have been disclosed by various means, yet none have reached fruition. With Dave Webb now on a two or three week holiday, it seems unlikely that any dealings will take place until he returns. By that time we will be just a fortnight before pre-season training starts.

Leaving aside the number of young and inexperienced players and how they will cope with being thrust into the front line for an entire season, there is no cover in a whole host of positions. The cream of players who were in the Reserves last season have already been promoted to the first team, so there is little visible scope for recruitment from within.

One prominent person on the Huish Park payroll has recently told Ciderspace he is concerned that we may be building a squad of players fit for relegation, not promotion. Young players are inclined to be far more vulnerable to dents in team morale, and lets not forget that the Huish Park crowd are hardly the best for supporting their team through the bad times – that’s where experienced players can help the youngsters ride the storm.

Having a youthful team can act as a good investment for the future, and that is what we hope Yeovil Town Football Club invests in. However, being forced to over-do the “youth” factor, due to budget constraints, could have the same consequences as asking a group of university economics students to run the government. They might know the theory, but when problems arrive, do they have the support of more experienced people that will help them get themselves out of trouble? But what if Dave Webb can’t afford to get those people in?

Ciderspace feels that there is a huge amount of disquiet amongst officials, employees, players and supporters alike at the way things appear to be going. The issue of the budget needs to be addressed.

If the assertions above, which stem from a reported statement from the chairman made a month ago, are erroneous then the club should quickly make that clear.

If the above assertions are close to the truth, then the chairman, board and manager should talk as soon as possible and frankly appraise whether these projections are in fact realistic, and can meet the requirements of sustaining a full-time team that will survive in the Conference. And once they have reached a way forward, then it should be made clear to all concerned.

June is the month when many season tickets are bought. How many people are delaying their renewals because they don’t know what sort of a team they will watch next season?

We are into the third day of the Three Year Plan. We would like to have faith in it. Knowing what it actually is would be a good start. At the moment all the supporters of Yeovil Town Football Club perceive is an apparent gap between aspiration and reality.

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Darren Sarll said he was mentally exhausted during Yeovil’s defeat at Solihull (last Saturday) and that some of his players were feeling the same way.

Speaking after the 3-0 win in the return fixture on Tuesday evening, Sarll said: “I stayed pretty quiet about it on Saturday, but the mental drain that these players have all gone through and are still going through now, makes it hard to get any joy even out of tonight. On Saturday, everything about our attitude and what we think we have come to know about these players (was challenged). I can only speak for myself, but I was mentally exhausted and I know that some of the players were feeling the same way. We did not come out and say that because we did not want to be excuse makers.”

Yeovil made four changes for the midweek fixture, including starts for Chris Dagnall and Joe Quigley, and Sarll explained his reasons behind the decision.

“We were able to brighten everyone up on Monday, and I thought some changes to the team might change the dynamic and freshen things up. Some of these lads had not had the chance to play for Lee since he passed, especially Dagnall and Quigley whose attitude through their periods out of the team has been so good. I wanted to do that anyway because I felt they deserve that chance. I don’t think Reuben (Reid) and Rhys (Murphy) were not deserving of the chance to play, I just felt (Dagnall and Quigley) needed that opportunity to go out and play for Lee.”

The manager also acknowledged, as is totally understandable, that the whole club is still in the process of healing following Lee Collins’ tragic passing.

“They were wonderful tonight and they were wonderful on Saturday. Just because we went down the tunnel once the week before (against Borehamwood) does not make us robots, it doesn’t mean the world is okay, nobody has stuck a bandage over this situation, we are still very much healing. The fact that they go out there to play (says everything you need to know about them). I don’t think anyone would have been complaining if we had cancelled these last three games, people would have supported us and stayed with us, so we did well to get out there on Saturday and we did well tonight.

“Looking back, I probably should have more of a point of that on Thursday (before the game at Solihull) when I did the press, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? We are all macho men and we don’t like telling anyone how we feel.”

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Yeovil Town recovered from Saturday’s drubbing at Solihull as a Joe Quigley treble saw the Glovers return the favour last night.

Following Quigley’s perfect hattrick in the 3-0 win, it was announced that he’d signed a new contract to remain with the Glovers for the long-term.

Speaking after the match, Darren Sarll said: “We’re at a good point with Joe. It’s probably a good a time as ever to let everyone know that he’s with next year. He’s with us for the long haul, which is nice. Obviously with the last couple of weeks we didn’t want to release anything disrespectfully. Joe’s part of our long-term plans and my long-term plan.”

The former Dagenham striker was also on media duties last night. Of his contract he said: “There was no doubt at all. As soon as I spoke with the gaffer about it I was buzzing and really pleased to get it done. He’s brilliant here, the gaffer. I love working for him and I love the lads here so it’s perfect. It’s a great group of lads but I think it comes down to the gaffer working with me. He’s worked a lot of hours with me over the time I’ve been here and I really appreciate that.”

There was widespread derision from fans of Dagenham when we announced the signing of Quigley in October, but the striker has now reached double-figures in his first season.

Darren Sarll added: “We’ve tried to uncoach Joe. Joe’s had lots of clubs, so in every club there will be a manager and he’s probably had 24 different ways of playing. We’ve tried to reset him to what we think he is and to try and get away from some of the caveman techniques that maybe were being drilled into him in the levels he was playing at. He’s taken his time to accustom himself to get back to what he’s great at.”

During the match commentary, Josh Staunton also announced he will still be at Huish Park next season, having signed a two-year deal when he joined last summer.