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Green and White Radio’s Tom Bailey was in the stands on Saturday, as Yeovil Town defeated Maidstone United on penalties to progress in the FA Trophy. Here are his conclusions from the victory.

Cup progression at last!

For the first time since the FA Cup journey to Wrexham during the title season in 2023/24, Yeovil Town have progressed in a cup competition!

Fans have been clamouring for a cup run of some kind, and while we have no idea where we may go on this run, it’s giving us all some further hope, and further reason to buy-in to the Rowley regime.

Billy Rowley watches on | Pic by Gary Brown

Substitutions were played to perfection

Okay, maybe not the Michee Efete introduction, as that was clearly unplanned following the injury to Alex Whittle (he still played very well) – but Tahvon Campbell being brought on for a booked Aaron Jarvis, who seemed on a collision course for a red card on Saturday, was the smart call to keep 11 men on the field.

Clearly bringing on Josh Tobin was a great move, given he scored the goal that almost put Yeovil in the hat within 90 minutes, while Andrew Oluwabori gave Maidstone defenders some extra problems to handle on the right hand side.

All in all, Rowley and Simpson read the game well, and responded accordingly; proactive subs to finish the stubborn opposition off is so refreshing to see, long may it continue!

Michee Efete | Pic by Gary Brown

Leo Ramirez-Espain is real… and he’s good!

I think I was among many in raising my eyebrows when I saw Leo Ramirez-Espain’s name in the starting XI for Saturday’s game.

None of us have had any idea on how good (or bad) he may be, considering he’s only made two benches since he joined on loan from Watford in November.

As it turns out, we have another talented midfield option to add to our rotation, as he moved the ball nicely throughout his hour on the field, linking up with McGavin effortlessly.

Knowing we have McGavin, McCormick, Cousin-Dawson, Jolliffe, Tobin and Ramirez-Espain, with Cousin-Dawson as another option if required, is a great sign of the strength in depth we possess in midfield now!

Leo Ramirez-Espain on his debut. Picture courtesy of Tom Bailey.

Penalty shootout? Never in doubt…

Okay, I say this in jest, of course when the final whistle blew, every Yeovil fan naturally feared the worst, considering our recent history with penalties – the Campbell miss at Morecambe, the losses to Taunton and Needham Market to name but a few… and yet, every single player stepped up when it mattered most.

Most plaudits deservedly went to Jed Ward, who made two fantastic stops to give Yeovil the advantage, but all four takers (Brett McGavin, Luke McCormick, Tahvon Campbell and Andrew Oluwabori) deserve their flowers too for their courage to step up, and coolly slot home four spot kicks.

Jed Ward saves | Pic by Gary Brown

Who do we want next?

It’s a great feeling to not dread whatever is next, isn’t it?!

Nearly half of the National League sides have already been knocked out, and I’d fancy us against most opposition with the way things are going thus far with Rowley and co.

With the draw taking place on Monday evening, Yeovil fans will be sat eagerly anticipating whoever is drawn against the Glovers!

Josh Tobin celebrates with the fans | Pic by Gary Brown

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Gloverscast Ben was on BBC Radio duty on Saturday afternoon as Billy Rowley’s Green and White (well, red and black) army won their second game in a row. Here are his five conclusions.

“Luke McCormick, you little dancer”

There was so much to like about the performance on Saturday, but Luke McCormick stood out for me in every single sense.

McCormick is, probably, just a bit too good for this level. These players don’t come around all that often, the ability to look effortless in control of the ball is a joy to watch. 

He made the first goal, out on the left did all the hard work for a Jarvis tap-in, hit the post, forced the keeper into the save and right at the death turned a time wasting burst to the corner into a lovely finish into the far corner.

Everything Yeovil do well goes through him and Billy Rowley has clearly given him the freedom to be creative. 

Now, about that contract….

Luke McCormick celebrates his goal with the away supporters.

We did the ugly stuff

The wonderful play from McCormick and Co going forward will take the headlines and that’s fine, but let’s not take away from the rear guard action at the other end.

Make no mistake, Hartlepool are a good side, lots of very exciting players but Jed Ward in goal, the three in front of him and wing backs dealt with plenty of crosses, passes and waves of attacks and yet at no point did I ever really fear that they’d score.

A word for Finn Cousin-Dawson who did really well keeping Jamie Miley quiet and Alex Reid is, in my mind, one of the smartest forwards in the division and he didn’t have a sniff. 

Finn Cousin-Dawson. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Glimpses of Rowley-ball

It’s still early days of course, but we’re starting to see what Billy Rowley is going to ask of this team.

We’re going to have to have our hearts in our mouths a few times when we play neat little passes in defensive areas, but we’re also going to see the ball move quickly. We’re going to see little neat triangles used to get us through our phases of play and we’re going to play the brave passes forward.

Not all of them will come off, but I cannot knock a team trying something brave, something we haven’t seen, arguably, for years.

I don’t think Yeovil fans want perfection, but they want us to have a go, play the conditions and make brave decisions, we did on Saturday, and that worked wonders.

Billy Rowley | Photo by Gary Brown

I really enjoyed it – so did the 98.

That feeling! Those pre match butterflies were in hope rather than fear. I saw us win at Solihull – same outcome, worth the same number of points to the season’s tally – but this FELT different. 

Maybe it’s the simple words of confidence from the manager or how other fans feel around us, but it was a genuine joy to watch the game. To see players playing without weight on their shoulders allowed the fans to follow suit. I said that the players ‘need to go first’ in the chicken-and-egg battle between supporters upping their support and players giving them something to support, and they have in these last two games.

I feel it, I’m in, hook, line and sinker! I’m prepared to be patient, prepared for imperfection, but the players have now gone first and given us all something to support, so the least we can do is follow suit. 

The scenes at the end were a disgrace.

Morgan Williams and Jermaine Francis both saw red for their part in a post-match melee, just about every player and staff member were involved in the fracas and quite who was or wasn’t in the wrong doesn’t really matter, but what followed from a home-end supporter has left me seething.

Players and supporters have back-and-forth moments at every ground, every weekend and there’s always passion and emotions run high, but one thing remains constant; the barrier between players and fans.

That barrier was breached on Saturday with someone charging out of the crowd towards the crowd of players. Some quick thinking by Finn Cousin-Dawson probably stops the supporter from reaching his intended target at full throttle before others – including home players – usher him away, But the fact he got a far as he did, unchallenged is a disgrace. Players should feel safe on the pitch, as should fans in the stand. 

I hope that Hartlepool will engage in a proper investigation, not just into the individual, but into their own practices on match day. Every person I dealt with was brilliant on the day, but one idiot has ruined it for the whole club. The FA charges will surely follow in the new year. 

Other than that one idiot, a near perfect away day for the Glovers

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Another new era began at Huish Park yesterday. Ollie Marsh was in the Thatchers Stand and here are his Five Conclusions from the Glovers’ 2-1 win over Boston United.

We saw a glimpse of the standards we can hit. While the opening 45 minutes were certainly nothing to write home about, the first ten of the second half showed what this team is capable of when they’re firing on all cylinders, which hopefully Billy Rowley can get us doing. It’s been a while since we’ve seen it (Sutton away was almost two months ago!) but we were popping the ball around, finding pockets of space in the final third and – get this – we actually scored a couple of goals!

Michee Efete changed the game. Ironically, Josh Sims had been one of our brighter sparks in the first half, but Efete made things happen as soon as he was introduced, helping us really come out of the traps after the break – and it was his cross that lead to the opener. We haven’t seen Efete since Scunthorpe at the start of the month, but considering how well he slotted in today, it would be surprising if we didn’t see more of him under Rowley.

Michee Efete | Pic C/O Gary Brown

There was a touch of class about Luke McCormick’s two goals. They won’t be Goal of the Season contenders by any means, but the composure showed on both occasions – especially when confidence across the squad has looked low – was more impressive than it seemed.

Jake Wannell could be indispensable. If Saturday was anything to go by, playing out from the back is firmly in Billy Rowley’s footballing philosophy – from what I’ve seen, it’s not something our ever-changing and confidence-devoid defence particularly excels at. With a hungry looking Boston forward line looking to pounce on every opportunity, it was often the composure of Wannell that dug us out of trouble. The Somerset Cannavaro’s assured approach acted as a calming presence on more than a few occasions, something we’ll need.

It felt good today. It was important to get the three points for myriad reasons – to get the new gaffer off to a good start, to lift the increasingly flat mood from supporters, and of course because we’ve been looking over our shoulders more and more in recent weeks. Yeovil fans have welcomed Billy with open arms this week, and there were signs in those post-match celebrations that there’s a relationship there waiting to be formed between the new boss and the Glovers faithful. Let’s harness that feeling, get a bit more positivity running through the squad, and see how far that can take us. Billy Rowley’s green and white army!

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The appointment of manager Billy Rowley as Yeovil Town manager on Tuesday morning probably took a lot of fans not plugged in to the Huish Park rumour mill by surprise. Dave gives his thoughts on what at least appears to be a man with a plan.

What a difference 24 hours makes. On Monday morning we were all feeling down in the dumps after a drab goalless draw at Morecambe last weekend stretched our winless run to eight matches in all competitions.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning and the appointment of Billy Rowley as manager has lifted the mood at Huish Park. In a way he didn’t have to do anything except be himself – energetic, excited about the challenge he’s taken on, and with a clear vision for what he wants to do.

The echoes of Danny Webb’s first interviews as manager are unmistakable. The face may be different, but the vibes are undeniable and you only have to look through fans’ comments on social media or even this website to see it’s changed perceptions in a stroke.

Let’s give it 11 days though just because……well, you know? But seriously, if vibes are the only difference between Tuesday morning (before 10.25am) and now, that feels a darn sight better!

What do we know about the new man? Honestly, unless you have been paying close attention to the Southern League, not much. But, from what I can see, Rowley has built a reputation of practicing what he preaches – he’s built a good, young squad there and they are playing good, attacking, winning football. He leaves them two points clear at the top of the Southern League South with 40 goals in their opening 16 matches of the season.

The Rowley revolution begins this Saturday.

Yes, it is two steps below the National League Premier Division and, as he says himself in his first interview, he is “going to have to learn this league” and there’s no doubt he will make mistakes. But, this feels like a direction of travel which simply has not been there – except for maybe 11 days in September – for a long time. 

I hope he is given time – by supporters (yes, the Gloverscast included), by the ownership and by his players – because if it comes off, it could be exceptional. A gamble, undoubtedly, but it feels a lot better than it did 24 hours ago – and vibes will have to do for now.

The video update from the owner Prabhu Srinivasan posted just half-an-hour before the announcement of Rowley’s arrival was made was interesting as well. He spoke about how his family had been reactive rather than proactive since taking over in May, something he says they are not used to being. This does feel like a proactive move rather than a reactive one. 

One of Walton & Hersham’s co-owners posted about Rowley’s departure on social media

In their short time in charge, the owners have made mistakes as much as they have been hit by bad luck, but credit where it is due for a thoroughly ballsy move. The future of Richard Dryden, who I still believe to be a thoroughly decent bloke put in an unenviable situation, and Jerry Gill remains to be ironed out following the arrival of Darren Simpson, Rowley’s assistant as Walton & Hersham.

For us as supporters, we need to carry the optimism we are feeling in to this weekend’s home game with Boston United, a team who are level on points with us in the table. Every minute, hour and day between now and then will be learning curve for the new manager as he meets his players, and this Saturday will tell him even more about the group he’s taken charge of and the club he’s at – let’s do our part to make it as positive an experience as we can.

Welcome to Huish Park, Billy, give us a reason to dream and we’ll be with you every step of the way. Up the Glovers!

Former Yeovil captain Josh Staunton posted about the arrival of Billy Rowley on social media on Tuesday.

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Yeovil Town either ended their run of three straight defeats or extended their run without a win to eight matches with a goalless draw at fellow strugglers Morecambe on Saturday. Regardless of your perspective, the Glovers created enough chances to have come away from the gloomy Lancashire coast with three points and instead had to settle for just one. Dave was among the 110 supporters in the away end and here are his conclusions.

What’s the definition of insanity again? Turns out it wasn’t Albert Einstein who said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result“, but Yeovil Town fans were left wondering if it was an accurate description having seen the starting line-up. The same eleven which failed to get a single shot on target against Southend United seven days earlier were starting again with strikers Tahvon Campbell, Harvey Greenslade and the forward-thinking Andrew Oluwabori left on the bench. Now, I may not have the coaching badges of Richard Dryden or Jerry Gill, but I have seen enough football to know James Daly is not a number nine. Yet he was expected to play it and, guess what? It was not until a change of shape and the introduction of Greenslade and Campbell that we really started to press Morecambe.

The first half was utterly forgettable. Those supporters in the away end who paid for the privilege climbed aboard a coach at 6.45am on Saturday morning must have been questioning their own sanity when the half-time whistle sounded. That said, I ‘only’ travelled 45 minutes each way and I began to question my own. It was the answer to the question we raised on Friday’s podcast of what would happen when a team which can’t score meets a team that concedes a lot. The result? Not very much.

110 fans were in the away end at Morecambe.

The second half was better – just. I have to add some kind of a positive (yes, this is the positive one), we did create more in the second half. The introduction of Greenslade in particular and Campbell to an extent had an impact and we created opportunities, but could not take them. That said, I could not believe I was seeing us pick up two yellow cards for wasting time over throw-ins when we were going for three points against a team below us in the table which had only kept two clean sheets all season before this match. Ah, I ended the positive one with a negative. Sorry.

Relying on a lottery. Tahvon Campbell will make the headlines for his second half penalty miss, but it is unfair to put the blame solely on this moment. Junior Morias, Luke McCormick and Josh Sims all had great opportunities to test Morecambe keeper Jamal Blackman with efforts and were off target with every one. It was difficult to judge whether it was a poor penalty or a good save from the angle the away fans were in at the Mazuma Arena on Saturday but, having seen it back on a replay, I’m going to give the credit to the keeper. 

If not now, then when?: This feels like we are sleep walking in to a real problem. Listening to Richard Dryden speak after the game and saying that “it’s not the end of the world” if we don’t get three points at home to Boston United next weekend, I feel very nervous. Is he doing what he can to take the pressure off his players or is he really naive enough to not realise the seriousness of our situation. Yes, it is only November, but if we don’t wake up to the problems we are seeing, we could do it in March and wonder why we didn’t act sooner. I have said on the podcast before that I am sure Dryden is a great coach but for me he is not a manager. Owner Prabhu Srinivasan was at Morecambe and at the home game against Southend United and if he is not starting to wonder if something needs to be done, I have to ask, when is he going to think that? If this is “all part of the blueprint“, I think we need a new plan!

The pie was decent – there, there’s a positive!

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There was yet more disappointment at Huish Park yesterday with a late goal consigning a much-improved Yeovil to defeat. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions.

Luke McCormick goes down in the penalty box | Photo by Gary Brown

We improved – again. After the Carlisle draw I wrote: That was just the tonic the supporters needed after the poor run. Many – me included – feared a bit of drubbing at the hands of a team that is unbeaten in October but we really showed that there’s more to this team than what we’ve seen of late. The same applies this time, but it’s an unsustainable way. The longer this run goes on, the more those three wins in September look to be a postive reaction to the chaos of Danny Webb’s departure. Things have ‘calmed’ down since then and while Yeovil keep turning a corner to improve the performance, Dryden’s men just can’t get a win. 

It was an entertaining game. I thought both sides competed well in a fairly even affair. There was spirit in both teams and it didn’t feel like 18th vs 7th for a lot of the match. Mistakes at the back allowed Southend to spurn some glorious chances but we stuck with playing out (which I’m okay with) and when got through the lines we did create moments. Once again though, we tired towards the closing stages where other teams seem to find another gear, or their substitutes make an impact. Their late winner was a real kick in the knackers but I don’t think many will argue that Southend didn’t do enough to get all three points.

Jed Ward
Pic Gary Brown

Where would be without Jed Ward? The glove man was imperious – again – in the Yeovil goal, keeping out a handful of efforts and saving his teammates bacon on more than one occasion. It’s not the first game (but it would be nice if it’s the last) where if were not for the Rovers loanee, Yeovil would have been on the end of a cricket score. As it was, he pulled off some blinding saves to keep the Southend attackers stumped.

Chances are hard to come by. If you don’t make the goalkeeper make a save, you can’t expect to get anything and that was the story yesterday. Southend’s keeper didn’t have a shot to save. Yeovil worked openings and got shots away that were charged down by defenders, but we’re back to “bits and pieces” around the box being called chances. We tried something different with the front three I thought it looked okay in the first half. Morias, Sims and Daly had energy, pace and fluidity that caused some problems when the wingbacks got involved too. Despite the attacking options on the bench, I don’t think Oluwabori or Jarvis improved us when they came on for the tired legs. We’re dangerously closed to lauding final third entries as our ‘Special One’ once did, but if we dont start testing keepers we’re not going to get points.

The echoes of 2022/23 are ringing. Sadly, I think we’re in a dog fight and I’m worried. That miserable relegation year is not a distant memory and there are parallels from that season. Changing manager early in the season, struggling to hit the back of the net, patching up a team until January. This time, however, we have committed owners who, I believe, genuinely have the best interests of the club at heart. Prior to kick off yesterday, Prabhu Srinivasan talked to BBC Somerset about the ambition to reach the EFL by the end of next season. I have no doubts that the new owners have invested in the club. Before selling the club, Martin Hellier said how the club was costing £200,000 a month to run and that number will not have changed – it will probably have increased. The problem is that on the face of it – and on the pitch – that investment is just enabling the club to stand still/regress. We really need to hope this ‘blueprint’ starts bringing results or we’ll be back to regional football.

Not pretty reading | Photo by Gary Brown

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Yeovil Town went down to a 1-0 defeat at Scunthorpe United yesterday, a result which stretches their run without a win to six matches and pushes them in to 18th place in the National League Premier Division table. Dave was among the Glovers’ fans who made the trip to Lincolnshire and here are his conclusions on the match.

It was an improvement on four days earlier…..: Admittedly it is a very low bar after the team were booed off the pitch following the 2-0 home defeat to Wealdstone, but there was some improvement. Four days earlier, there was very little effort and even less quality from Yeovil and in this match you could not fault the effort the players put in. It was a stupid mistake which led to goal and we simply did not have the quality to get the breakthrough at the other end. In the second half, I was torn between thinking we were taking the game to Scunthorpe and that the hosts were just keeping us at arms length. We have seen a lot of the top sides in this division by this stage of the season and there was not much difference between us and Scunthorpe – but they are fourth in the table and we are 18th.

We huffed and we puffed, but (again) we could not blow the house down.

….but we still came away with nothing: I realise I just said it, but saying we put in the effort does not change the fact that we still came away with nothing. In his post-match interview, Harvey Greenslade said that the players and the management would “not paper over the cracks” with this thought and we absolutely cannot. The truth is that our league position is unacceptable for a club which should be pushing towards the top end of the table. That is not ex-EFL arrogance, when you look at the size of our crowds, the stature of the club and the quality we undoubtedly have in the squad, we should be doing much better than we are. Stating the obvious I know, but focusing too much on being a bit better than absolutely useless is not the way to change things.

Can’t fault the desire to change it: Having left it too late to make changes to tackle the poor conditions against Wealdstone, you cannot fault Richard Dryden’s desire to change personnel at Scunthorpe. Kyle Ferguson, who I had spoken about deserving an opportunity on the podcast the previous day, and Josh Sims, presumably still working his way back from injury, got hooked for Alex Whittle and Aaron Jarvis at half-time and then Junior Morias, Tahvon Campbell, James Daly and Dan Ellison all appeared in the second half. But, see next conclusion….

There were a few words exchanged between manager Richard Dryden and a couple of supporters after the match at Scunthorpe.

We have to admit that there’s some players who are just not good enough: The simple truth is that there are some players in our squad who are simply not good enough. Not every player, but when you come away from as many matches as we have over the past season-and-a-half empty handed, the facts do not lie. We have a squad which can probably muddle through until the end of the season and retain our league status, but is that really the ambition of the now not-so-new ownership? We were promised competitiveness – not a revolution, but a competitive squad – and yet today we lie exactly in the position where we finished last season. And we can all agree that was not good enough.

The supporters deserve better: Again, Harvey Greenslade said it in his post-match interview, the 93 supporters who travelled all the way to Lincolnshire deserve better. Actually, make it 92, I only travelled two-and-a-half hours across the country to get there and when I arrived home, the supporters’ coach was only halfway home. There were a few who voiced their opinions towards Richard Dryden at the end of the game and got a few verbals back from him. I understand that it comes at a very raw moment literally minutes after a defeat and I am sure the way their arguments were constructed were not the most nuanced, but that is not a good look. These people deserve better, listen to them, nod and say ‘I know, thankyou for coming’. The credit is not in the bank to be getting in to arguments.

93 Yeovil Town fans made the trip to Scunthorpe – they are not all in this picture!

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After 10 days off, it was not a happy return to Huish Park for Yeovil Town. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from a miserable night under the lights.

Where was the intent? From the kick off Wealdstone seemed to show all the intent, energy and desire. They controlled the ball – albeit it was Cooperball-esque – but we were never able to keep it and build our own pressure. Every scrap of something we had was a ball out to Oluwabori or Plant and hoping they could make something happen. All over the pitch we were sloppy with our passing and I thought, tactically, we had no answer to the visitors. Even if you take the conditions into account, Wealdstone had no problems and we cannot use it as an excuse. Wealdstone looked the like the home team last night [insert jab about training in Bristol] and that’s pretty damning.

Aaron Jarvis’ effort goes inches wide. Picture courtesy of Debs Curtis.

One step forward, two steps backwards. The improved performance against Carlisle United gave supporters a nugget of hope. We appeared to have turned a corner and the hope was to build some momentum. Maybe get some players back in and fit. Sadly, Sims and McGavin weren’t ready and yet again we still looked leggy. Oluwabori had little impact, Morais made no difference from the bench and Jarvis and Campbell were feeding off scraps. Even the Efete and Nurse, who I though looked good in the last outing, barely completed a pass to a teammate. Maybe the Carlisle draw (only our second all season) papered over the cracks, but our next two are even more difficult against Scunthorpe and Southend.

Goals goal goals. Nine matches at home this season, nine goals, three of which came against Gateshead. 25 goals at home last season, 18 at home in 22/23, 20 in 21/22.  Bar the National League South season (46), we’ve not had many chances to cheer during League matches. It feels like a tale as old as time in the National League, we struggle to created chances for our strikers. Last night was no different, Jarvis nearly got on the end of a cross in the 2nd half, but he and Campbell spent so much time coming deep to get the ball and bring others into the game but they get zero service. Oh for a Sonny Blu…

Mussa ran the midfield. Wealdstone’s number four seems to love Huish Park. Back in October 2021 he pulled the strings for W*ymouth in Yeovil’s 1-1 FA Cup draw and he did it again last night. Cool on the ball, fancy feet get out of tight spots – which set them on their way to a second goal – and read the game expertly. With McGavin and Maddox to return from injury to add to Joliffe and McCormick in the midfield, I really hope we can see some of that in our midfield. Or maybe, we can sign him in January? It’s not always raining sideways Omar.

What’s left this season? We’ve not even reached firework night and I feel like the reasons to believe this season are ebbing away. The minor momentum and good-will from Carlisle vanished last night with boos ringing around Huish Park on full time. Hopefully the FA Trophy draw is kind to us and we get can get a decent run in that. But, I’ve not seen enough consistency to think we can achieve anything more than mid-table this season. I hope I’m wrong on that and hope that preparation for 2026/27 is going on in parallel because, if the attendance is going to stay over 2,000, we need something to believe in.

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Yeovil turned their dreadful October form around to earn a point against high-flying Carlisle United but probably deserved more. Here are Ian’s Conclusions from Huish Park.

For the love of god, please can we stick with the back four? There’s irony in the fact that we are healthily stocked at centre back but, once again, look so much more comfortable with two rather than three. The Wannell and Williams combination returned and we looked immediately more calm, composed and controlled. I thought that was Wannell’s best performance of the season and he was every bit the Rolls Royce centre back we’ve enjoyed over the last two campaigns. George Nurse looks the part at left back – although he understandably tired towards full time and Michee Efete had a good game on the other side up against one of the league’s best players in Regan Linney. 

Jake Wannell. Pic: Gary Brown

Max Jolliffe had a great debut. We debated throwing him in Friday’s podcast, but based on that small sample size, he’s more than ready. We’ve been crying out for mobility in midfield and Jolliffe gave the Glovers that in abundance. He’s keen in the challenge and showed some real quality on the ball. He deserved the standing ovation he received after his substitution and credit goes to the club for spotting a real gem.

The front two were a handful. I think that was probably the best we’ve seen of Aaron Jarvis this season and he and Tahvon Campbell were a real nuisance for Carlisle’s back four. So often this season we’ve seen Jarvis get embroiled in wrestling with defenders to no avail, but I think he got the better of Carlisle’s’ centre backs and we got to see some more of him with the ball and bringing players into the game. I thought Campbell put in a good all-rounders performance too. He had to do the work in between midfield and attack and did the hold up play too, whilst making life awkward for his opposing defenders.

They all count, Tahvon. Pic: Gary Brown

That was a reassuring performance. That was just the tonic the supporters needed after the poor run. Many – me included – feared a bit of drubbing at the hands of a team that is unbeaten in October but we really showed that there’s more to this team than what we’ve seen of late. There were good performances across the pitch and that should be reassuring for supporters who, understandably, have felt miserable following 3-0 defeats to Boreham Wood, Rochdale either side of the dire FA Cup loss at Hemel Hempstead. 

Let’s get some bodies fit! With no match now until the 4th of November we’ve now got a good chunk of time to get some players back fit and firing. Five out of the six outfield substitutes were defenders with the sixth being the returning James Daly who’s been out since August through injury. When Wealdstone come to town on November 4th, there’s a possibility that we have Brett McGavin, Junior Morias, Josh Sims and even Jacob Maddox back available in some form which would turn that ‘small squad of quality’ to a medium-sized squad of quality.

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Yeovil Town owner Prabhu Srinivasan interviewed during a visit to Huish Park.

On Friday 15th October, we broadcast a long interview with Nicholas Brayne, Chief Strategy Advisor at Yeovil Town FC, which went on for almost two hours and covered a huge range of topics which we at the Gloverscast felt fans wanted answers on. Since the interview was broadcast, there have been a wide range of opinions (both positive and negative) about some of the things which Nicholas said and  a request for a transcript of the interview to be made available.

You can still (and forever) listen to the interview in here – click HERE is you want to do that – and here the unedited, unfiltered words which Nicholas spoke. However, to try and make it easier to understand and digestible, we have broken this down in to sections which cover the wide range of topics which were discussed.

In this second posting, we bring you Nicholas’ comments on off-the-field matters including the investment under owner Prabhu Srinivasan, the latest on the ownership of land at Huish Park and his thoughts on the club’s community outreach since the takeover.

Investment by the ownership group

“I have heard people say a few times ‘why doesn’t Prabhu put money in to the club?’ That one irks me a little bit because we are losing a significant amount of money every year, I know how much money he is pumping in to this club. If anyone does not think it is significant, please turn up at Huish Park and we will talk about investment. The elevation on the budget is sizeable in terms of what he has put forward. That went forward under Danny (Webb), but he obviously did not have time to spend it so we are investing it now, so there is a lot of money going in to this club. The question is are we spending it properly. I know what Halifax’s budget is, I know what Barnet’s budget was last year, I know what people are spending.

  • Energy: I have become an energy expert because of these price rises. We had a five-year locked in contract and we are facing a cliff edge in November, so I have been working to get us a better deal in terms of energy and a better mix. We are looking at a situation where our energy prices are going to double. 
  • Sport England Loan: Under <NAME OF FORMER CHAIRMAN REDACTED>, a loan was taken out with Sport England, but to the best of my knowledge not a single penny has been paid off that loan until last month when we put down £117,000. To try and eat in to that capital, we paid £117,000 off the loan. There are twice a year payments which we pay. There is a payment plan in place for a period of time to take that away. I have to be fair to Sport England and where we are at the moment, we will be paying that off for a considerable amount of time. There are things we would like to do to make that more manageable, but we are facing two very sizeable payments every year that are just shy of £100,000 each, then they peter off.

Now we are dealing with a cocktail of crap, but we knew we were going to have that. We went in to it with our eyes open.

Yeovil Town owner Prabhu Srinivasan interviewed during a visit to Huish Park.
Yeovil Town owner Prabhu Srinivasan.

Q. We know of Prabhu, his wife Bhavna and son Sahil, executive chairman Stuart Robins and yourself, is anyone else involved in ‘the ownership group’?
A. “No, that is everyone. There are no other investors other than Inflection Holdings (the company which Prabhu Srinivasan used to take over the club in May), we are pumping the money in. This is all coming from Prabhu, Bhavna and the family. Most owners value a football club at how much money they have put in over the years and how they want to get that back which is the easiest way of it. Most people know they are pumping money in knowing they are not going to get that money back. You would potentially make money out of promotion to the EFL and perhaps Yeovil returning as a League One club. You can look at cultural factors of football becoming more sustainable, the academic perspective is the appetite for debt is lessening because there are fewer investors coming forward. Whether that is true or not is an interesting debate. So, to answer the question, this is money going in to keep the club going rather than an investment where you are seeking a return.

“There is no-one else, there is no-one in the wings. We have not had this conversation, but that is not to say if someone rocked up and said ‘I have got transformative money that could do something amazing for the club’ I am sure we would want to have that conversation. I talk to people all the time who have an interest in football. 99% are there to waste our time, 1% may come and have a meaningful conversation and 0.5% might transact, so it’s a low conversion rate. But we have not had any of those conversations at Huish Park and nor have we introduced anyone like that in to the conversation or sought to have those conversations. I am leaving the opportunity open for future years, but it is not something we have done up until this point.”

Q. We have not seen or heard much from Prabhu since he was last in the UK, why have they not been back?
A. “It is difficult for the family when they want to be there to provide support. Bhavna and Prabhu are mainly in the United Arab Emirates (specifically Dubai) and you have Sahil who is in New York, so it is challenging for them to do this from afar. What prohibits them from being here more is that their visa allows them to do 90 days in the UK and they are now around 55 days each and we have only had the club three or four months. They want to be in the country as much as possible, for example, they are coming over for the Mayor’s Ball (held on Saturday 15th November). They have to look at when something significant is going to happen and leave something in the bank for unforeseen circumstances.”

 

Companies House filing

A little extra context on this point because those supporters not on social media may have missed it, but on October 9th the Companies House listing of Yeovil Town Holdings showing the allotment of £500,000 worth of shares in the business. We asked Nicholas about what it means.

“We have a holding company that owns the football club and we are pumping money in through Yeovil Town Holdings Ltd to flow down and meet the challenge of running the football club. The difference in the costs are variable, for example, if we have more home games in a certain month the difference will be less, so what you are retrospectively seeing is the mechanics of the money coming in and how it has been allotted in terms of shareholding in the company as it filters down.

“This is an injection of capital coming in. Nick Crittenden (the club accountant) will do a forecast of what we need every month and we will pump the money in and it falls like rain in to the football club. That is how we keep it funded. Football clubs make a significant loss, a fantastic month for us would be writing a cheque for under £200,000 to keep it going, we have been writing cheques north of that for quite some time.”

The filing posted to Companies House on 9th October.

Ownership of the land at Huish Park

“If you knew what the council had done in terms of the transaction to keep the football club going, their adaptability with the current group, they have been fantastic. It has always been our extend the terms of the buy-back option, we wanted to push that back to give ourselves a bit of breathing space. The question is ‘why don’t you just buy back the site?’ The truth is when you are looking at a site like that and the amount of money it would cost to buy it back, it is right to put in place an assessment of what you can do with it. It is also important when you consider other partners who may come in and, for example, build a hotel, paddle courts or a wonderful trampoline park! We are working with and have had detailed work done with one particular party about what could be done on the site, and that helps us with where we go with the council and how we then bring Huish Park in to the ownership of the club. If we rushed out and did it overnight, it is no advantage to the club or the ownership group.

Q. Would supporters be consulted on any future development of the site?

A. “There has to be an element of consultation with reality underpinning it. We are open to creative thoughts, but there has to be reality in how we actually operate it. When there is a plan in place we have to have engagement because why would we want something in place where people turn up and say ‘that is just ghastly!’? As a slight caveat, there will have to be a statutory consultation and I don’t people to think their criticisms or support have not been heard because we have run a pseudo consultation, not the official one. So within the parameters of doing things properly within the parameters of planning law, I cannot see why we would not be talking to supporters. You would have extensive consultation, that would be communicated widely, and it is in our interest to run a public event where people can come and see the plans.

“On the site, there will need to be an element of residential development. The reality is to develop that site there are things you are able to do and things you are not able to do. Let us say we want to build a destination there, there would be objections there on a major scale because you are sucking business out of Yeovil town centre. What is needed at the moment is housing, but it doesn’t need to be the whole site. We could put forward a mixed development where you have some residential, maybe a hotel, some kind of leisure development which would make Huish Park a community focus point. There are certain boxes which have to be ticked and at the moment that work is being done and scoped by quite sizeable people who work in that area. We would then have to work with partners because as an ownership we do not know the first thing about building houses, for example.

“Will we see change at the football club? Absolutely. How will that change benefit the club? It will draw capital in to the football club, but the bigger challenge is how does that capital keep benefiting the club by having a residual tail on it? Because it could just come in to the club and it just gets burned because in football we burn money for fun. So we have to think how we do it cleverly, that is the conversation and that is why we extended the buy-back option. Those are the conversations we are having now. Long term sustainability is what we are talking about. For example, if you developed a hotel, there are lots of ways to do it. You could bring in a firm and buy in to that brand and the club runs the hotel as a number of clubs do or you could sell to an investor. This is not as simple as just throwing up a hotel, but there has to be a mixture of things that brings money in to the football club and things that may give us a one-off hit and gives us the money to invest in other things. At the end of this, I need to be able to point at things which have made us more sustainable than when we had this conversation on 15th October 2025.

“What looks like successful ownership? Reuniting the club with the stadium is massive and if we came out of this and we are still in the National League but the club now owns the stadium, that would be frustrating but it does add a pillar of sustainability. These are the real things we feel we can do which is away from sporting jeopardy.”