We were meant to be speaking with Yeovil Town FC’s owner and chairman Scott Priestnall on this episode. Unfortunately Scott wasn’t able to speak with us but has promised to come on next week.
So you’re stuck with Ian, Ben and Dave winging it and talking about Saturday’s fixture against FC Halifax Town. There are a few laughs along the way!
Last week we broke the news that we understood that representatives of SSDC and Scott Priestnall were working on completing the proposed deal from December 2020. You can read about it here.
Let us know if you support the proposal, are against it, or don’t know enough about it on the poll below. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below too.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Ian, Ben and Dave are back as a trio for the first time in a couple of weeks to talk about the brilliant 2-1 victory over top of the table Stockport County.
Obviously there’s other stuff to talk about too!
Not many would have thought that Yeovil Town would complete the double over National League big-spenders Stockport County. But that’s exactly what Charlie Lee’s Glovers managed yesterday. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from an excellent game at Huish Park.
It was another match which showed how crazy our season has been. I said before the match that it wouldn’t have surprised me if we nicked the game given some of our results against the better sides this season. And boy did we. It felt like Stockport were banging the door down for the entire first half, but we held firm and after a slick bit of skill from Tom Knowles (#DFILWF) he finished brilliantly just before half time. His goal was the springboard which seemed to galvanise the Glovers and Charlie Lee’s side grew in confidence as the match progressed.
It was amazing to finally see a Josh Neufville goal at Huish Park. A quick break and our lockdown hero was in behind the Stockport defence. He showed
the calmness of a seasoned striker and coolly sent Hinchcliffe the wrong way to send those that were at Huish Park wild. He’s had to play a different game than he did last season. Yesterday he was starved of the ball at points and really had to make the most of his own possession and when it mattered he made it count.
We didn’t let Stockport’s changes count. Dave Challinor made a double substitution at half time and before Crankshaw and Hippolyte has a chance to settle into the game and make a difference, we were 2-0 up. Another change followed swiftly and although Hippolyte scored against his old club, the red card of Will Collar two minutes later meant they had another on-pitch change to make. It felt like Stockport never managed to get going as cohesively in the second half as they did in the first, and we managed to deal with most of their threat comfortably.
Stockport’s own supporters took their side’s momentum. After Hippolyte’s goal a blue smoke bomb was thrown into Grant Smith’s six yard box. County players had swiftly grabbed the ball to force a quick restart, but their momentum was totally lost as a stewards had to wait for the smoke bomb to extinguish before they could safely remove it. Collar’s deserved red card for a dangerously high foot on Dale Gorman shortly after the delay just exacerbated things for County’s evidently frustrated players. Dave Challinor thought the same:
Dave Challinor says #stockportcounty gave themselves a lifeline but “shot ourselves in the foot”.
On the red: “fans have been brilliant but a flare going on & delaying the restart kills any momentum – WC will be punished for a moment of stupidity, but we don’t need that either.”
— Sam Byrne (@_SByrne) April 23, 2022
Max Hunt stepped back in supremely. You wouldn’t have known it was Hunt’s first game back after months out injured. The centre back was dominant against the National League’s lethal pairing of Paddy Madden and Scott Quigley. The deadly duo had moments of freedom in the first half, but Hunt was a man mountain, winning everything in the air and throwing himself in front of efforts at goal. His confidence shone through and was clear to see when he executed a textbook Cryuff turn on the halfway line before getting Yeovil on the attack. It was the kind of performance from Hunt which hammered home the urgent need to secure the futures of some of these players.
Representatives of South Somerset District Council and Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall are working on completing a deal to buy Huish Park and land surrounding the stadium.
The deal would then see the council rent the land and stadium back to the club.
As the ongoing uncertainty over a takeover by Simul Sports continues, the deal with the council is seen as one which secures the future the club, the only professional football club in the county.
Due to the local elections taking place on May 5 2022, SSDC is currently in a state of purdah. This means that no announcements can be made by the local authority regarding any major decisions. However, proposals can be completed during purdah.
Gloverscast understands that if the deal is not completed by the end of May 2022, the ability to complete the transaction will becoming increasingly difficult. SSDC merges with other councils to become one new unitary council and there is draft legislation which could prevent deals over a certain value being completed without a new approval process. The Glovers Trust can also activate the Asset of Community Value held on the site from May 26 2022.
We have approached Scott Priestnall for comment and, at the time of publication, have not received a response.
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The deal was approved by SSDC’s District Executive Committee on December 3 2020. In the aftermath of the decision, Council Leader Val Keitch said: “The decision to approve this proposal was made today following a detailed and thorough debate which was quite right given its importance.
“We have agreed to make an investment that will not only benefit a football club which has such an important role to play in our community but one which will also benefit our residents.
“It is our responsibility to ensure we offer any support where we can to businesses big and small, which we have done before and throughout this pandemic, and we will continue to do so.”
Speaking at the time, Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall said: “I would like to thank the officers at SSDC for their time and effort in putting together the proposal to buy the stadium and land at Huish Park.
“Being a chairman and owner of a football club is very different to operating other businesses and as a custodian of this fantastic club, I feel it is my duty to not only ensure its survival during these difficult times but also to give it the future the community and the supporters deserve.
“I would finally like to thank local councillors for their time and support today and I look forward to moving forward with SSDC and working with our supporters’ groups to deliver the best possible future for Yeovil Town Football Club.”
On January 2 2021, the Glovers’ Trust activated an Asset of Community Value held on the site, putting a pause to the deal for six months. A statement from the Trust said: “The Board recognises that the proposed sale of Huish Park and the surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) is a pivotal moment in the history of Yeovil Town Football Club. With the ACV, the Board has the ability to enable a pause on the deal with SSDC, and consider putting together its own bid.”
The pause was to give the Trust time to raise the cash to make an offer to rival the council’s. It did not manage to do that but, during the moratorium period, it began conversations with Simul Sports, a group led by former Cardiff City commercial director, Julian Jenkins, which has subsequently publicly confirmed it is interested in buying Yeovil Football & Athletic Club Ltd..
Upon the expiry of the six month moratorium period, the Glovers’ Trust released a statement, including the following: “Without the delay, the proposed deal between owners of Huish Park and SSDC would have been rushed through by January 2021, long before any reasonable scrutiny could have been conducted. The delay has also given others the chance to reflect on the scheme and for the cultivation of a belief that a better route can be found to secure the long-term security of our club. The provisional plans shared with us by the SSDC may bring a limited short term financial boost, however there is no legal framework to guarantee that YTFC benefits from the scheme over the longer term. We believe that under this proposal the future of YTFC is in jeopardy.”
When SSDC announced the proposal in November 2020, at the height of the pandemic, it said: “Yeovil Town Football Club is the only professional football club in Somerset. As such, it contributes to the local economy and contributes more widely in terms of community, education and local civic pride. The COVID-19 pandemic has directly caused the loss of virtually all spectator revenue for the club. The club has sought to reduce its cost base. Overall, the remaining costs will cause the club to run out of money within a short period unless it is able to secure a substantial financial injection. The proposal is for the Council to purchase the main property and land asset of the club at Huish Park and lease it back to the club.”
Obviously, the situation that the club finds itself in now is different. Supporters have been able to attend matches all season and from the matches at Huish Park so far, the average attendance is 2355, (down from 2951 in 2019/20). The relationship between the owner and supporters has eroded over the course of the last 12 months with signs of ‘Priestnall Out’ appearing amongst supporters in the stadium and online.
On November 24 2020, a statement on YTFC.net announcing the deal included a plea regarding the ACV from Priestnall saying: “Simply put, we cannot wait six months to complete a deal with SSDC given our current financial position.” 18 months later, with nearly £1m in loans from Sport England held against the club (in fairness, Che$terfield have taken on more than YTFC), the club is still standing, however, rumours swirl about unpaid bills with local businesses.
As before, an aspect of this deal which is concerning, is that taxpayers’ money will be going to an un-ringfenced pot that is entrusted to an owner who has rarely been seen in public at Huish Park this season. If this deal is completed it appears that the immediate future of the land and football club will remain in the hands of Scott Priestnall.
There is a determination from SSDC to get this deal completed before the end of May and a belief that this protects the long term future of football in Yeovil, be that in it’s current form or in the form of a phoenix club.
In an open letter to Scott Priestnall from the Gloverscast team on 4 April (signed by nearly 1,500 people), we asked for answers to questions and following a conversation with Priestnall, we arranged an interview to be conducted on April 28 for an episode of the Gloverscast.
In a new weekly feature on the Gloverscast, we want to get your views on topics. Some serious, some silly, some hypothetical, but all Yeovil Town related.
In the first of our weekly polls, we want to know who YOU think would win in a match between Gary Johnson’s 02/03 Conference winning team, and Russell Slades’ 06/07 League One Playoff Finalists.
Cast your votes below!
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
After another draw against the seagull botherers, Ian reflects on an afternoon at The Bob Lucas Stadium…
The first half was a non-event. Weymouth definitely took the Derby Day feeling in their stride and it wasn’t until the second half that Yeovil found their rhythm. We kept bypassing out midfield with long balls up to Reuben Reid which always expose his weaknesses. For whatever reason we couldn’t get any passing game going and Weymouth had a comfortable first half from a defensive perspective and but for a couple of offside flags, they could have gone into half time with a lead.
This was our final big opportunity to get another moment out of the season and we couldn’t manage it. It was another game where we’ve not got a result against a side that everyone else seems to. Weymouth’s form has been dismal as of late and the 1300 expectant travelling Glovers anticipated a positive result. We conspired to not win, yet again, and we’ve failed to beat Weymouth in 90 minutes in four games this season.
It wasn’t quite the same old story. Yes we struggled going forward, especially in the first half, but I thought we looked vulnerable in defence where we haven’t previously. Barclay and Wilkinson were given a difficult afternoon by Weymouth’s harassing forwards. The wingbacks nullified the threat of Barnett and Knowles in the first half and put pressure on Williams and Little going forward too.
The YTFC faithful turned out in force. It was great to see such a strong following at The Bob Lucas Stadium. They were quietened by the performance of Weymouth in the first half but they found their voice again and helped create an electric atmosphere. If we can replicate that passion and that noise at home, our results at Huish Park might have been a bit different this season. But, we know what needs to happen there.
I won’t miss Weymouth. We’ve had a dull time against our old foes this season. While we have the stress of an awful penalty shootout in the eye of a storm in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, we’ve not been able to dispatch them over 90 minutes. As a supporter who hasn’t experienced that rivalry with Weymouth, I’ve found it difficult to haven strength of feeling about them, other than annoyance that we couldn’t beat them this season and begrudging acceptance of our plight.
Dave, Ben and Ian are here to bless your Monday morning with some chat about the Glovers 2-2 draw at relegation threatened Kings Lynn Town.
Ben and Dave are joined by Marcus Duncomb to chat about another YTFC week! And Ian speaks to Ollie Keable about Kings Lynn Town.
Mr Priestnall,
What is happening to our football club?
For more than 125 years, Yeovil Town FC has been at the heart of the community. Under your custodianship, our beloved community club is falling apart and dying in front of our eyes.
We deserve answers as to why, under your leadership, the club is on the brink.
What is your plan for the future of the football club? On 5 December, you gave prospective bidders a seven day deadline before you would unveil your vision for the football club. It’s April and we’ve seen no sign of this vision.
This season we have lost Terry Skiverton and Darren Sarll. Two men who carried the club and its players through one of the darkest moments in the history of the football club. How do you plan to replace them?
Heading into next season, we have one contracted player and an interim manager for the ‘foreseeable future’. Have you begun discussions with any of the players, who have performed admirably this season?
You can cite the ongoing takeover situation as a reason for the uncertainty, but you are the owner of Yeovil Town Football Club.
You are the individual who bears responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the football club. As the Chairman of the club, your neglectful ownership is destroying the only professional football club in Somerset.
Is that something you really want to be your legacy as a businessman?
As Yeovil Town Supporters, we implore you to tell us what is happening with our football club, please.
Yours faithfully,
The Supporters of Yeovil Town FC
