Ian Perkins (Page 2)

We are delighted to announce that The Gloverscast, the only independent platform totally dedicated to providing news and views for Yeovil Town FC supporters, is now officially registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC).

Since our inception in 2020, The Gloverscast has been dedicated to providing an engaging space for Yeovil Town fans to connect, share their passion, and stay informed about the latest club developments. Over the years, we have worked both tiredly and tirelessly to offer insights, coverage, interviews and generally shine a light on the football club we love. 

The transformation into a CIC reflects The Gloverscast’s ongoing commitment to our community of supporters. By becoming a Community Interest Company, we have taken formal steps to ensure that all donations are used to directly improve The Gloverscast and benefit Yeovil Town FC fans. The CIC status will further empower us to expand what we do to serve you.

The Gloverscast has always been driven by the support of the Yeovil Town fanbase, who have generously donated time and resources to help the platform grow.

With this new status, we will be able to expand our initiatives, improve its content offerings, and foster an even stronger sense of community among Yeovil Town FC fans. We are committed to working alongside supporters to ensure the platform continues to evolve in line with the needs and interests of the Yeovil Town fanbase.

We’ve always believed that The Gloverscast is for the community, and this transition allows us to be even more transparent and accountable to the supporters who make it all possible. We’re incredibly proud to be part of this passionate and dedicated fanbase.


How the Gloverscast gives back to the YTFC community

  • In-Depth Analysis and Insight
  • Fostering Community Connection
  • Support for Fan Voices
  • Accessibility of Information
  • Celebration of Club Culture
  • Engagement Beyond Matchdays
  • Encouragement of Grassroots Support

The January survey results are in and Yeovil Town supporters have that mid-table feeling at the moment.

We asked you, the loyal readers of the only independent website totally dedicated to Yeovil Town FC, the usual five questions to get ourselves a benchmark of the mood among the Huish Park faithful. (Out of 7, of course.)

Those questions are:

  1. How do you think Mark Cooper is doing?
  2. How do you think the players have performed?
  3. What would you score the ownership/board?
  4. What would you score the communication from the club?
  5. What would you score the match day experience this season?

We also asked you whether you agreed or disagreed with the following statement: I am supportive of YTFC hosting a fan forum

As you can see on the graph below, everything is pretty middle of the road – much like the Glovers. Mark Cooper scores a 4.12, the players a 4.16, the ownership a 4.47, communication 4.45 and match day experience is 4.40.

With regards to the Fan Forum, there was overwhelming support for it with a 6.2 out of 7 score.*

Graph showing results from latest YeoGov survey.
*241 responses

For the full picture of the YeoGov tracker since we started it in August 2022 (minus the gaps last season) take a look at the chart below.

The departure of Matt Worthington came has quite the shock on Friday afternoon. No sooner had we finished recording Thursday’s episode of the Gloverscast than the rumours started to circulate in a couple of Whatsapp groups and on Facebook. The speed at which it went from all very quiet to Worthy’s departure shows the speed at which football moves. Yeovil’s skipper, who made his 250th appearance the week before was gone, out of nowhere.

Matt Worthington leads the team out
📸 Gary Brown

There’s not a lot more to say about Worthy that’s not already been said. I’ll miss his desire and athleticism and I think his teammates will miss him too. Speaking before the Rochdale defeat, Mark Cooper said that Yeovil would “never ever” have been to get to the deal that Oldham offered. Obviously Worthy’s contract was up in the summer and my gut tells me that chances are he would have left anyway, but it’s further evidence of the disparity between the top teams in the league and the middle pack. The former skipper led Yeovil to National League South glory last season, and he yet another departure from that team that clawed Yeovil back to the National League. Of the squad who won the league just Morgan Williams, Jake Wannell, Alex Whittle, Frank Nouble, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Charlie Cooper and Michael Smith are left. I totally understand the reasoning behind it, but I am disappointed that our winning squad was dismantled so quickly after clinching promotion.

The partnership between Williams and Wannell has been a key part of success this season. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Following the Rochdale defeat, Mark Cooper alluded to more departures and arrivals planned in the coming days. I don’t think it would be at all surprising to see Nouble, Lo-Everton or even Smith move on. If it is another couple of experienced heads on their way, the recruitment of leaders has to be a priority. With Worthington gone, Smith and Williams struggling for fitness and Nouble struggling for form, there’s a real lack of characters at the moment, in my opinion. There are different types of leaders on the pitch. Those who lead by example with their performances and those Terry Skiverton types who drag everyone up by the scruff of their neck. I think we need some more of them. Now, I know they don’t grown on trees, especially at this time of the year and for a reasonable price but if Yeovil are delving into the market in the coming weeks, I think we’ve got our fill of young loanees.

Huish Park (Pic by Gary Brown)

Last Tuesday, we were given some insight into the situation with the future of the land and stadium. Sold for £2.8m by ‘You-Know-Who’, the value is Index-linked by the council and will see the cost go above £3m if it is ever to return to the club. The exclusive buyback of the land expires in May 2026, leaving not a lot of time. We all dream of self-sustaining football club, enabled by the real-estate which surrounds the stadium. Hearing Mark Cooper talk about training facilities as a leaving a legacy that will attract players to the club is an idea that I don’t remember anyone talking about before. It’s always been about retail or houses, so the idea of something that will make a long term material difference to Yeovil Town FC is appealing. 

Yeovil Town hosts a fans’ forum tonight for the first time in as long as I can remember. Aside from sporadic Supporters’ Alliance Group meetings (which are a thing of the past now as far as I understand) and You-Know-Who’s infamous meeting with supporters once our open letter (with 1,500 signatures) forced him to resurface, we’ve not really done this. So, credit goes to the club for inviting supporters in at a time when the discourse on social media sites has been highly critical in the wake of recent results and performances.

I don’t think its unreasonable to suggest that the commentary on social media has led to tonight’s forum, that both chairman and owner Martin Hellier and manager Mark Cooper will attend to answer supporters’ questions. This type of engagement has been long-coming and will hopefully be the first of a regular structured two-way conversation with supporters. But, it has to be constructive and respectful to be worthwhile.

The early scores on YeoGov survey that I threw out on Saturday suggest that the vitriol online doesn’t necessarily match with mood in general – a shock I know! In what will be a surprise to some, the 140+ respondents, on average, have scored above the middle score of 4 across the board for how they’re feeling right know. Maybe, we’re a fairly rational bunch on the whole after all?

I was reflecting on Friday night’s stalemate with Gateshead and the future of our attack. With top scorer Aaron Jarvis out for the next three months, Yeovil had to change the approach going forward with Ciaran McGuckin leading the line in a very different way to Jarvis. We’re not going to be tossing the ball up for defenders to battle in the air with McGuckin up top and as a result a decrease in those grappling-induced decisions which have frustrated players, staff and supporters might just help with our on-pitch discipline and keep heartrates down in the stands.

Ciaran McGuckin in the thick of it against Gateshead. Courtesy of Gary Brown

I’m not a huge fan of gambling on balls down the channels but with our patient possession we can draw defenders out (as we tried on Friday) there could he plenty of space for the speedy McGuckin to capitalise on. Defenders will have a much different task on their hands with him up front than Jarvis in these next few weeks. The misfortune of Jarvis injury means we’ve potentially found a Plan B (which will be Plan A for the foreseeable) but also leaves me wondering what could be with a classic four four f**king two!

Football’s heart is in the community that it serves in our part of the pyramid

If ever you needed a reminder as to why supporting a club that needs you trumps all, the alleged story emerging from Manchester United on X is that clear reminder. A dementia-suffering season ticket holder of 45 years has had his season ticket cancelled after not scanning the QR code for the last five matches because of helpful stewards letting him in with his paper copy. There’s plenty of top-flight football bollocks which is off-putting and this yet another example of it.

There’s an easy PR win for Manchester United here. But based on the new regime’s track record, it’ll stay on course while alienating local supporters to make that money on the tourist supporters. The COVID pandemic took the shine off of the Premier League for me. While clubs like ours suffered and had their property sold off, the big boys continued to rake it in and pay out to millionaire footballers (and even tried to break away to cash even further). Football’s heart is in the community that it serves in our part of the pyramid. The corporations and states might pretend to understand it, but they’ll never embrace it.

Our YeoGov standards have slipped this season, and for that I apologise. We know how important it is to gather the views and opinions of supporters and this is the reboot of the YeoGov poll to get us a benchmark and back in the rhythm.

Ahead of the Fan Forum on Tuesday, I’ve put together the below YeoGov survey on Google Forms to gauge the views of our loyal readers and listeners.

So, please let us know your scores on the survey below and any other thoughts or suggestions in the final comment box.

Yeovil and Gateshead played out a goalless draw under the Huish Park lights on Friday night. Here are my Five Conclusions.

Ciaran McGuckin holds off the defender. Picture: Gary Brown

It was an improved performance. I thought we played with a lot more purpose and intent last night, especially in the first half. There was a concerted effort to get the ball forward more quickly and I enjoyed the way our defenders hassled Gateshead when they started knocking it around in our half. We enjoyed plenty of possession as well against a side who normally likes to have the ball themselves, but the visitors were set up to be defensively sound and get away with what they could and could have nicked it late on.

What a difference with a left-back. Oh how we’ve missed Alex Whittle. It’s quite the unlock having the left-back return from injury. Mark Cooper was able to return to a back four (prompting celebrations in Perkins HQ) and I thought we looked much more assured. There’s a place for the back three and wingbacks, we made it work for a bit when we needed to but I’m back four kind of guy. I thought our structure looked better and everyone knew what their job was. Charlie Cooper and Matt Worthington made it difficult for the Gateshead midfield giving Brett McGavin that deep playmaker role and in Sims and McGurk we had genuine width. Give me wingers!

Alex Whittle returned to the starting 11. Picture: Gary Brown

The Wright Stuff. Ollie Wright, take a bow for that save in the closing stages. That will be on the lad’s show reel for years to come. Moments after being saved by his post, Wright had to deal with a tremendous effort from McGowan to tip wide of his other post. The growth we’ve seen in Wright through the season has been great to see. He’s comfortable with the ball at his feet and in recent weeks has started to dominate from crosses and corners.

We need to build on this performance. The next match is a trip to seventh-placed Rochdale, which won’t be easy. There were still groans in the stands at full time, but this wasn’t Woking or Ebbsfleet levels. With the recent additions of Twamley and Maddox and the injury to Aaron Jarvis, we’re inevitably going to see a different kind of attacking play from here on out. I feel like I’ve said this before, hopefully it clicks and we start putting teams to bed.

Mr 250, Matt Worthington. I can’t finish without mentioning Matt Worthington. Back into the team and giving his typical performance in midfield. It’s a remarkable achievement at our level to reach 250 games and Worthy has seen it all. He joined us when we were an EFL club and has seen some dark days in between lifting the National League South trophy last season. I’ve no doubt the opportunities to leave Huish Park have come his way through the years but he’s stuck by Yeovil, and Yeovil by him. He has always given everything in a Yeovil shirt and is the standard-bearer with his work-rate. Congratulations Worthy!

Matt Worthington in his 250th match for Yeovil. Picture: Gary Brown