Ian Perkins (Page 97)

As it’s Christmas tomorrow we thought it would be nice to share with you what we’d like for Christmas this year. As regular listeners to The Gloverscast will know, there’s three of us who like to chew the cud about our beloved football club and each of us have shared what we’d like left under the tree this year.

Ian: After a largely torrid couple of years as a Yeovil Town supporter 2021 is shaping up to finish rather well. The turnaround since October’s dismal run at Huish Park is a distant memory and our excellent form has given us a rather odd feeling of comfort and confidence. I don’t think I can recall feeling this way since the run in of the 2012/13 season – and we all know what happened there.

So, on tomorrow I would love to wake up to a carefully, extravagantly wrapped present containing more of the same please! Darren Sarll has worked miracles in spite of the off-pitch situation and has made this team one to be proud of. Keep it up lads, and let’s dream the impossible dream!

Dave: One of us had to take it off the pitch, so I would love to see a second half of the season where every fan wants to go to Huish Park.

We go in to Christmas Day with talks about takeover still bubbling, still concerns about the financial situation of the club, and still silence from those involved in these discussions.

So, rather than sending a letter to Santa this year, I would love to see one from someone in charge of our club with passion, a plan to improve the supporter experience and plot a course for further 125 years of a football club at the heart of its community.

Ben:

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a very good boy this year. Could I please ask for some nice things, not for me though, for my friends.

Can you please help Darren, Terry, Josh, Charlie, Tom, Grant, Max, Luke, Jordan, Adi and others get new contracts at Huish Park.

They’ve all worked so hard to bring joy to Glovers fans and I would like to see them rewarded.

I have such fun watching these players and would like the chance to see what this group can build not just for the remainder of this season but beyond. I’d hate for us to fall just short of our targets and not get the chance to see what they could achieve if given the chance to grow as a unit. I don’t want this squad picked off by other teams? I don’t want my friends to get broken up, we all have so much fun together.

Can you also ask if our new friends, Dan, Sonny and Jack can play with us a bit longer please? I know their parents think a lot of them, but they really do make things better.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas
Ben, age 33 ¾ 

We’d like to wish our Gloverscast listeners and readers a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2022.

Good morning,

We’re now on day 18 of Scott’s seven day deadline.

The problem is we’re getting news, that’s not actually news. Another article appeared this week, saying the takeover was going to be done on the 21st. Here we are on the 23rd. We’ve been here before a few times.

It’s frustrating and disheartening to keep reading the nonsense, based on rumour and conjecture, repeated and taken with such credibility. Throw a dart at the calendar and hope it sticks.

As we’ve said before, the only people who know exactly what’s going on are at the heart of the deal – the individuals at the table. Everything else is noise and misinformation. Despite how it’s dressed up.

Terry Skiverton is taking the “gaffer’s presser” today in a bit of a switcheroo. I always think it’s interesting to hear from Skivo every now and then. As a bonafide club legend, his take on the situation at the club he’s been at since 1999 is always worth listening to. Plus, we’re up against another legend in Gary Johnson on Boxing Day – we hope.

The less said about our last trip to Plainmoor the better. This could not be a more different Yeovil Town heading to the English Riviera than last December. 

There’s a good interview with Grimbsy’s owner, Jason Stockwood on Grimsby Live, where he talks about governance within the National League and refers to Wrexham and Stockport County.

“The downside is the people who can come in and spend disproportionate amount and underwrite losses through advertising revenues that others don’t have access to.

“It completely distorts the wage structure and the expectation of fans if you can sign a player from a top team and spend over 5K a week.

“That makes it impossible for teams like Grimsby. It is outside the constraints of what is sustainable within our budgets and it would upset the wage structure within your organisation.”

“All power to the Wrexhams and Stockports. It would be disingenuous to say you wouldn’t want someone to invest at that level in your club. It’s just the potential consequences I worry about.”

He goes on to talk about Fair Game and Tracey Crouch’s review, as well. 

I’m just jealous of a local news outlet sitting down with the owner of the local football club for a multi-part interview. What a novelty.

Keep an eye on the website for all the latest news from the press conference. We’re recording tomorrow’s podcast at midday today so if you have any questions get them in early!

Morning readers!

It’s a weird feeling this isn’t it? Unbeaten in 12 (the Somerset Premier Cup counts dammit!) and confidence is running through these players. You have to go back to 2012/13 under Gary Johnson to remember a spell where we exuded such swagger on the pitch which was felt in the stands. The dark days of October are well and truly forgotten and it’s actually quite nice going to Huish Park at the moment – quagmire behind the Thatchers aside.

In my Five Conclusions yesterday, I wrote that Adi Yussuf changed the game when he arrived. He did, but those conclusions were written before undertaking Gloverscast Rule #2 (sleep on it) and it’s fair to say all three of the subs made a difference. Critics will say Sarll got his selection wrong, but he had to give time to Reuben Reid, Alex Bradley and Max Evans. With the little depth we have at our disposal, they deserved a chance. In the case of Reid and Bradley, those two need to get some proper match fitness as we need to take advantage of the limited bodies we have.

Yussuf made the most obvious impact with his two goals, but Josh Staunton was calmness personified (as always) when he was introduced. When we lost Luke Wilkinson against Chesterfield we fell apart but that fear of a team without Wilkinson wasn’t there on Saturday. If and when Luke Wilkinson feels his time at Yeovil Town is up, we have a ready-made leader to take the armband. I think we can all agree that we need this lot all signed up as soon as possible though.

Jaheim Headley enjoyed a strong start to his loan spell in green and white, but it wasn’t until we brought on Jordan Barnett that we saw the best of Headley. Headley’s cross for Yussuf’s first was inviting but the decoy run of Barnett allowed him the time and space to deliver. The on-pitch chemistry he and Barnett seem to have already is surprising given he only trained with the Glovers on Friday.

Today we’ll see the FA Trophy 4th Round draw take place. It’d be good to get a draw against a lower level team, just to keep things interesting more than anything. But with fixtures scheduled for January and with cases of covid rising, it feels like most fixtures the other side of Christmas will be in jeopardy.

At the top of the game, the Premier League are talking about having a round of fixtures off between the 28th and 30th of December. These are clubs with multi million (and some billion) pound assembled squads who have ridiculous depth and talent at their disposal. It’s hard to feel sorry for them when we’ve had four on the bench this season, including Ollie Haste and a keeper. Clubs in our position, especially with our off-field situation, don’t have the luxury of being able to take a game off. If our fixtures against Weymouth and Torquay, which should be box office, are postponed, that’s a massive hole in the finances of the club. Let’s hope we, and our opponents do the right thing and we get to enjoy some festive football.

Have a good Monday and try and hold onto this weird winning feeling!