Gloversblog (Page 2)

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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.

This first posting will cover on the field matters including the sacking of Mark Cooper as manager, the arrival and sudden departure of Danny Webb, the decision to appoint Richard Dryden as manager until the end of the season, and the challenges of player recruitment.

The appointment and departure of Danny Webb

Richard (Dryden, manager) is a coach which I know three other clubs were in for in the summer when we took him, he has a reputation for improving players and a lot of managers that have worked with Richard who will tell you that how he works is impressive. When we decided we were going to call time on Mark (Cooper), it was a short week and we felt Richard was the best option (as interim manager) with Chris Todd as number two. Richard showed ambition from the start, he wanted the job and he had a very clear plan about how he was going to go about it. We saw an improved performance in those matches he took charge of as interim manager and I thought he did well.

“In the background we were speaking to a number of people and I travelled with Stuart (Robins, executive chairman) and Sahil (Srinivasan, the son of owner, Prabhu) and we spoke to a number of managers, two in particular and there were a huge number of other calls. There were a number of managers that I would have loved to have got to Huish Park, but they had aspirations in other directions and a couple of others were in the mix and there was a shortlist.

Danny Webb’s time as Yeovil Town manager lasted just 11 days.

“But, Danny was a charismatic character with a good track record and he hit the ground at Huish Park and people liked his open approach, he was very different to Mark Cooper, there was a lot to like. We backed him financially and in terms of his plans prior to him coming through the door. Then what happened, happened and he had that moment of realisation and he decided to stand down for family and personal reasons which was quite extraordinary to deal with. That whole period felt like a whirlwind and that is why we wanted to go back to a period of stability and calm by appointing Richard as manager until the end of the season.”

Q. Have you reflected on the process you undertook to appoint Danny Webb and do you think there is anything you would have done differently?

A. “We have reflected and learnt from that process. But how do you do due diligence about someone’s state of mind. There is a remit about how far I can go because I have to be respectful of someone’s actions about their decisions. But, I know we did a very thorough assessment and spoke to a number of people and there were not a single red flag. Stuart went back over everything we had done to see how we got to this point and the assessment was that it was difficult to say ‘we should have seen this coming.’ I cannot honestly pinpoint a moment.

“For someone who was inside the process it still feels bizarre. Let me be clear, I am not insinuating Danny Webb has mental health issues, but you do not always know what someone is thinking and feeling, the personal challenges they face. When we knew Danny came to a decision, we wanted to make sure he was okay on a human level. I thought we had made the right decision, we obviously did not because what happened, happened. I would love to be able to pinpoint the things that went wrong, but I genuinely can’t.”

Q. Danny Webb has subsequently spoken to an interview with the Derbyshire Times – read more HERE – and said that the decision was down to ‘football and non-football reasons’ – what are the football reasons he is talking about?

A. “I have not got a clue. I am acutely aware it has been suggested he was not allowed to bring he was not allowed to bring players or staff in and I understand people have a desire to know more, you can’t turn that curiosity off, it’s what brings people to this club. But, he could have brought in the players he wanted, that is why Andrew (Oluwabori) joined, I worked with Danny to bring Andrew down working with Marcus (Stewart) and Exeter. There was money, quite a bit more, and in terms of changes to the backroom staff, those changes had started. I can put my hand on my heart and say we gave Danny everything he asked for. If anyone feels differently, come out and say it.”

Richard Dryden’s appointment

“One of the reasons we did not give Richard the job when we appointed Danny was because the feeling from everyone was that we wanted to go in a different direction, we were looking at a more youthful approach and Richard was not that. Let’s be honest, Richard was Mark Cooper’s man, so from a PR perspective that did not feel the right fit. It was not personal, some of it was based on that he was not the right man.

“He had a 50% win record in the games he took charge of as interim manager, we wanted stability and we recognised that we had to bring players in. If we were looking for a new manager in a month’s time, it is difficult to bring players in. We wanted to support the players who were in a state of flux, we had the situation with Chris Todd who had said he wanted to go to Eastleigh. So there was a number of things we were dealing with and it felt like we should back Richard until the end of the season.

“I walk around Huish Park and I meet hundreds of Mystic Megs who all have this wonderful ability to fortell what would have happened if it had not been Richard. Come forth Mystic Megs and tell me what would have happened, what would you have done in my position?

“When we have the ability to brings someone until the end of the season, look at Jerry (Gill, assistant manager) and look at a different way of doing things. Richard does have a contract until the end of next season, so if you say we are going to do this until the end of next season and it does not work out, the pay out is going to be sizable. We had a pay out when we got rid of Mark Cooper. So to protect the club, we said we would hedge our bets and see if we could make it work.

“Richard is a very good coach and he had a two-year deal with us as a coach and we have stepped him up as a manager. He will be here and is part of our long-term thinking, but there is a balancing act to do here in terms of supporting him and making sure he has a place to go back to if things do not work out. At the moment we are trying to find the right pathway forward and be analytical in how we do that but also to protect the club’s position rather than saying ‘we have a crisis on their hands, let’s go and get the next person.’

“The reason the plan changed from wanting a more youthful approach was down to circumstances and knowing what managers were out there. We went through the process and exhausted down to Danny, Richard and a couple of others that we liked and those couple of others we did not think were better than Richard.”

Director of Football

“People often think money is always the solution, but if money is the solution please explain Barnet or Halifax to me. To talk about a Director of Football or a Head of Recruitment, someone who is looking at things in a more analytical way, that is something I find very interesting and conversations have been had in that direction. That is not something that happens overnight, that is a structure.

“That is a project where you are buying players in to the football club for the club, not the manager which is something I favour and there are several examples of where that has brought great results. Gateshead is one example over that period of time where they were doing very well, they took a bigger picture view as to how they were recruiting. That is another reason why we did not want to jump in again and that is what we were looking at under Danny Webb. But it takes time to get that structure in place.

“I understand everyone wants things yesterday and they have seen an ownership group based in Dubai and think they must have loads of money. We took the club over in the middle of the summer and did not have the benefit of planning in the Spring regarding player recruitment. We had a manager in place in Mark (Cooper) who has a much more traditional view in terms of how the club should be managed, but going forward we are at a point where we feel we can do things in a more dynamic, modern way. I am not going to say you are going to see great results and changes overnight.

“Jerry and Richard have both been in this situation before and are well versed in bringing players in. The rest of us, our role is transitory in terms of the help we are offering. Every single person who is helping would benefit from someone who could help with recruitment, we have a couple of scouts we have taken on board to look at players. So if we like the look of someone, we have to watch them a few times, that kind of stuff is happening. But some of those may not come good until the end of the season, some of them may come good a bit sooner, but I think most will come good towards the end of the season. Why would you pay quite a chunky fee now when you can wait until the end of the season when you can get them free. Those conversations are being had all the time.”

Player recruitment

“We are trying to add pieces of quality to the squad, I felt the squad was too small. I still buy the idea of a manageable squad size, but the squad size going in to the season was too small. We needed coverage and that is what we were going to ask. The biggest hurdle in signing players is geography and managers. Geographically it is a challenge because you are often talking to young men with families and for them to move their kids down is challenging when they are looking at a one or maximum two-year contract.

“(The decision to move first-team training to) Bristol has made that challenge easier, I can pick out one or two players who would not have come if we were not training in Bristol. When you have players who are free agents now, you have to look at are they fit, why are they free agents now, what is the truth about why they have not been picked up? So we are doing a lot of work to look for people and then getting them to come and spend time with the squad, train with us and then we will make a decision.

“We have improved what we are doing with strength and conditioning and bringing in a new, very talented individual who has been helping us there, so there are things happening behind-the-scenes.”

Left back George Nurse, who has been signed on a one-month loan from Shrewsbury Town, speaks to the media after the 3-0 defeat at Rochdale.

Q. Who has been helping support the management team in player recruitment?
A. Stuart has been helping, I have been helping, Sahil has been helping. (On Wednesday) night we were trying to sort Michee Efete out and talking to one other who we would like to progress, so we has been a real team effort by the ownership group to try and help. Richard (Dryden, manager) and Jerry (Gill, assistant manager) have been phenomenal in terms of how they have gone about this and we are working all hands to the pump. People have been magnificent in terms of what has been happening.

 

The dismissal of Mark Cooper

“I knew there was a sense of apathy towards Mark when we got to the club. There were issues around the scenes which meant it made sense to look after Mark in the summer and go in to the new season, some issues we inherited which would have put us in a compromising position if we had not taken that action.

“He had a marginally increased budget so he was going in to the season with a strong hand and he had the strategy with moving the training to Bristol which was inherited, so it felt at that time that was the right course of action.

“It felt inevitable after the fragility we saw at the beginning of the season. If you cast your mind back to the game at Braintree, we peppered the goal but we lost 1-0. It just felt inevitable that we were going to play like that and come away with a 1-0 loss. I didn’t come away when we were 3-0 up at half-time at home to Gateshead thinking we were going to lose 4-3, but when the first and second goal went in you were just like ‘I know what is coming here.’”

Mark Cooper was sacked by Yeovil Town on August 26th. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

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Have we all taken a breath and calmed down a little bit? Nope, Gloverscast Ben hasn’t either. It wasn’t Yeovil’s finest hour and a half of the season up at Spotland, Ben was on BBC duty, here are his Five Conclusions.

It was just too easy.

Not sure I need to say any more do I? It’s just not acceptable to allow the best team in the league to have the time and space we did on Saturday afternoon.

In too many key areas, too many of their key players had the freedom of Lancashire to pick their pass and dominate from start to finish. 

A couple of crunching tackles from the likes of Ferguson and FCD and a little hustle and bustle from Aaron Jarvis up front pretty much all the Glovers had going for them. You can’t stand off the best in the league, and expect anything other than a rout. 

I’m not entirely sure how much of a gulf in quality there is between the two sides – and I mean that – but the gulf in confidence, direction and plenty more intangible qualities was there for all to see. It could have been a cricket score. 

In a midfield muddle.

So, what are we doing in the middle of midfield then? FC-D, a central defender with all the effort and desire in the world. But he’s not a midfielder. I like FC-D, I think he’s way better than the universal square peg role. 

But he got pulled out of position by his far more dynamic opposite numbers, and that gave the likes of Devante Rodney so much space and time. It shouldn’t be on him to play that role, it’s not fair anymore.

Luke McCormick has probably got the most class and quality on the ball in the side, but his head looked to drop. He didn’t chase the play for the second goal, and was desperately looking for help around him. A free-to-roam McCormick is one of the best we have, we just cannot give him that security.

So, will Jacob Maddox fill that void? Probably not. It’s not worth rushing Brett McGavin back from a back problem that’s clearly causing more problems than first thought? Definitely not. Then there’s the Charlie Cooper shaped elephant in the room doesn’t seem to have an end point either.

We need a Matt Worthington/Charlie Lee/Dale Gorman/Paul Wotton [delete as appropriate]. A proper breaker upper that will allow those around him to be at their best. 

Confusing calls.

Anyone else surprised to see the new left back, George Nurse given the nod over Alex “79 YTFC Appearances and very, very few poor ones” Whittle? I was. 

“Welcome to Yeovil, mate, here are some of the finest attacking wing backs the league has to offer.” – For what it’s worth I thought he grew into the game and will be an asset for the next month or so, but give the guy a chance to get his feet in the door. 

I think Josh Sims has, overall, had a positive season, but on body language and early misplaced passes alone, I was surprised at the fact that he wasn’t sacrificed at the break as opposed to Oluwabori. 

I don’t know why Kyle Ferguson was the central defender sacrificed with 20 to go, I think he possibly thought similar as he begrudgingly sat down. He at least stuck his head in where it hurt a few times and clearly had his heart on his sleeve throughout.

New signing George Nurse talks to Josh from BBC Somerset.

Unused and unrequited?

We only used three subs again and I think we should note that in Junior Morias and Tahvon Campbell, two of the summer’s more ‘high profile’ signings didn’t get a look in. 

Would their relative experience have offered something a bit different in the front line? The ability to get within the same post code as Aaron Jarvis? Maybe, we don’t know – but like the Whittle thing, (who himself only got 12 minutes) – that’s a lot of ‘been there and done it’ not getting game time whilst new lads, young lads and out of position lads look a bit lost.

Surely time is up on Ben Wodskou too, nothing against him but since scoring against Brackley he’s played just about as many minutes for Birmingham Under 21s (170ish) than Yeovil (200ish). He’s taking up a loan spot and that’s something we need to use effectively with a thin squad. 

Which direction are we going?

I think the one thing that came out of it was I just didn’t understand what the idea is right now on the pitch. We look rudderless. I wasn’t sure of the game plan or even how we were looking to make an impact on the game after the goals. 

There were times that players even looked like the message wasn’t getting out there. When Whittle came on he passed on a word or two and both Luke McCormick and George Nurse looked a bit… “Who, me? Where? In there? Errr….okay“.

Byron Pendleton was our furthest man forward at points, and I couldn’t help but feel like it was all getting a bit too complicated.

I hate the fact that I’ve named names in these conclusions, because I actually don’t think we have a bad squad – in fact, I know we don’t – but something has to change to restore some confidence, belief and direction.

I think a return to some simple football, some simple tactics, (4-4-2, anyone?) is a way to resolve the current chaos.

We could be competitive with top six sides, but right now, simplicity is key. It might take some tough calls – three central defenders into two doesn’t go, for example – but we’re 6-0 down across the last two league games without really landing a punch and we’ve been dumped out the FA Cup by 10 part timers.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Plenty of the 107 fans at Spotland would be forgiven for thinking they’d gone insane on Saturday.

Jed Ward about to save another Rochdale attack.

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Yeovil Town’s FA Cup dream came to a premature end at the first hurdle for the second successive season yesterday. The Glovers were beaten by a Hemel Hempstead Town side which played for more than an hour with ten men. Dave was among the travelling contingent and here are his conclusions.

 

Out fought. Out thought. Out. We were simply second best in every department and I have to say right off the bat that Hemel deserved their win. From the opening whistle, they simply wanted it more and we never seemed to have a plan to counter them. You can put a misplaced pass or a scuffed shot down to the surface, but time and again we were pulled apart and gave them time and space to run. At the risk of sounding like the old man (I know, I am), but I miss us the Cup giving our players the hunger and desire I saw from Hemel. 

How it was not 2-0 at half-time I will never know!

Are we sure they had ten men? An extension on Conclusion #1, but two occasions in the second half I had to count Hemel’s players to be sure. Aside from a few moments around the time we scored, they never looked like they were a man down. You can see why they are in the form they are in the National League South. Defensively they were outstanding and we simply could not find a way through. 

Where did our desire to attack go? If I had not seen highlights of the games at Aldershot and Sutton, I would have believed they were AI inventions. In the first half, it was only when Andrew Oluwabori got on the ball that we ever had any purpose going forward and in the second only when Byron Pendleton came on did we look to get balls in from wide positions. There is quality going forward in this team, but we simply did not show it.

What are we doing here? Hearing Richard Dryden say we had tried and failed to attract players to strengthen the squad is a major red flag. But should we be surprised? We’ve heard about ‘The 3 Cs’ from our owners -calmness, competitiveness, community, in case you forgot. But it’s not easy to stay calm with no obvious plan about how we’re going to be competitive. A manager who feels stop gap no matter how much we’re told he’s not, players signing on 12-month deals, what are we selling people here? It feels like we’re living hand to mouth waiting for……what? 

Rochdale next. Gulp. Next up, top of the league Rochdale away from home. That one speaks for itself. Another clear week, another chance to take a breath and I hope the pain we all feel – and yes I include the team, they must feel it – gets a reaction.

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It was a big old bump back to reality yesterday as Boreham Wood put Yeovil Town to the sword in a 3-0 defeat for the Glovers. Mike Hudson was at Huish Park and here are his Five Conclusions.

It was always going to be a tough one. Boreham Wood have readjusted to this level as if they never left, with Luke Garrard’s side scoring plenty of goals and winning plenty of games since returning to the National League. Meanwhile, we’ve been recovering from a turbulent start to the season with impressive wins against struggling Sutton, Altrincham, and Aldershot. This recent form has rightly created a lot of positivity over the last ten days. However, Saturday was always going to be a much bigger test, and give us a much clearer picture of where we are as a club. The answer was humbling. In truth, at times it looked like we were playing a club a level higher than us, rather than a few places in the table at the start of play. There was plenty of fast flowing, attractive and attacking football at Huish Park on Saturday, but it was coming from the away team.

Jed Ward
Pic Gary Brown

We had our backs to the wall from the outset. The warning signs came fast and early as we struggled to deal with the Boreham Wood press and attack. The boys in Green and White struggled to keep hold of the ball for any length of time, and we spent a lot of the game penned in our own half as a result. While there is much to say for not changing a winning formula, after the shift these players have put in of late, this game was probably the time to add some freshness. Of course hindsight is 20-20, but in a game in which we were always likely to spend large periods without the ball, legs were going to be important and unfortunately I think we were lacking them. As we neared half time, the huge positive was that we had somehow stayed in the game, but as the stormy conditions continued, their second goal on the stroke of half time knocked the wind out of our sails completely.

Too many players were off it. I’ll say it again… Boreham Wood are a good side. They are playing the type of football I dream that we one day might. But we won’t get anywhere by just admiring them as a superior team. We have to reflect on our own performance, and the reality was too many players weren’t at it. There were mistakes and poor decision a-plenty. It would have been a tall task with everyone firing at 100%, but with a lot of players below par and a few really struggling it was mission impossible. That’s not a criticism of this squad, who have been unreal of late. It was an almost an inevitable outcome of lots of games, lots of turmoil, a small squad, and two teams with seemingly different ambitions. They kept battling to the end, and we arguably had our best period in the last quarter of the match.

Jed Ward is ridiculous. I know it’s nothing new, but what a keeper we have between the sticks. It’s rare that you lose 3-0 and your keeper wins Man of the Match, but he deserved the accolade. Three goals did not flatter Boreham Wood at all, and without some brilliant stops and quick thinking, it could easily have been six. We were humbled at home, but Jed stopped it being an humiliation.

Jed Ward
Pic Gary Brown

This team need help from above. The games are going to keep coming thick and fast, and if we have any intentions of a much needed cup run, alongside remaining competitive in the League, this team will need some help. Charlie Cooper, Jacob Maddox and James Daly getting closer to a return, may just feel like new signings. The board tried to dampen the fan noise after Danny Webb’s departure by promising increased funds, but so far we haven’t seen that turn into scarf based social media posts. It would be good to see some fresh bodies through the door soon, especially with bookings piling up, and a couple of players picking up knocks on Saturday. We saw how quickly a season can ebb away in the second half of our last campaign, and we are going to be asking a lot of our paper thin squad to keep going through a busy winter period. More than that, it would be good to see some sign of intent from this new ownership, and plans that extend beyond the end of the season. Huish Park crowds are not growing back to the 3000 number at the moment, although they were in fine voice considering. Also I do have this nagging feeling of discomfort …  Yes, context is very important, and there is lots of that, but personally I don’t want this club to get too used to being content with home losses to ‘better teams’ at a level we should aspire to be getting out of. Not for long anyway.

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Two Three wins on the bounce for Yeovil Town. Tom was there for Green and White Radio on Tuesday, here’s what he saw from behind the mic.

Andrew Oluwabori. Wow. Wow wow wow. What a player we’ve got on our hands, even if he isn’t actually ours. The birthday boy ran riot on Tuesday, dancing past players like they were nothing. He reminds me of that kid at school who was so obviously better than everyone else cos he played outside of school too… he’s just mint! If I’m being super critical, his end product still needs a bit of work, but at just 23, there’s still a lot of time for that to develop. Late birthday wishes to you Andrew, and topping it off with a tidy finish was the best way to celebrate!

It’s early days, but we may have been wrong about Dryden. It’s three wins on the spin for the former assistant-come-interim-come-assistant-come-interim coach now, and I’ll be honest, I scoffed when I heard the words “attacking style of football” on the webpage of the statement following Danny Webb’s departure and Dryden’s subsequent appointment. I’m eating my words now, he has managed to turn the ship around very quickly, and employ a brand of football that Yeovil fans will actually want to come and watch! Of course we’re still early into this experiment, but I’m beginning to believe again!

We need to talk about Finn Cousin-Dawson. I want to start this point by stressing that Finn is a fantastic player, I’ve really enjoyed watching him settle into his spell here, and leading the backline last season through an injury crisis was admirable at such a young age. That being said… the “can FCD play in midfield” experiment has run its course for me. I lost count of the amount of times he was caught flat footed and out of position, and he just doesn’t have the awareness to play in that position for me, following a clumsy performance in which he worked his way into the referee’s book. Swap him and Wannell if you’re going to experiment again, but Finn is definitely a defender in my books.

Three in a row! It’s the first time we’ve won three National League games in a row since March 2022 (0-2 vs Dover, 2-1 vs Bromley, 2-0 vs Southend) – that’s a mind-boggling stat for a club the size of Yeovil, and now it’s time to try and make it four on the spin for the first time since September 2019. The performances are beginning to match the results, and I’m starting to feel that familiar tinge of excitement in my belly!

Let’s dare to dream… I know, I know – don’t get too far ahead of yourself Tom. But I think I can safely say that Yeovil fans are tired of not looking forward to anything. Let’s dare to dream, let’s look up the table and feel some kind of optimism now – we’ve got a talented, albeit thin, squad that will surely be strengthened in the coming weeks, a coaching setup packed with experience and new ideas, and a fanbase capable of powering the squad through any situation. Roll on Boreham Wood, it’s gonna be a tough one, but let’s dream of those three points…

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Two wins on the bounce for Yeovil Town. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions after a breathless afternoon at Huish Park.

There’s something about Richard Dryden. Clearly it helps winning back to back matches (and let’s not forget the Woking win too) but there’s something about Richard Dryden that I’m finding quite endearing. He talks plainly, there’s a touch a humour to him and I think – alongside the stress – he’s enjoying it. There was a moment towards the end of the match, when we were backs to the wall where he turned around to the supporters behind them and urged them to up the noise and the crowd responded to it. He may not have been anyone’s first choice, but in a short time he’s built a spirit amongst a squad that crumbled against Gateshead, and picked up four wins from six.

Andrew Oluwarbori was the spark. He’s probably the first player we’ve had that gets people on their feet the second he gets the ball since…himself. You could sense the fear in the Altrincham defence every time Oluwabori got the ball yesterday. His direct running kept the visitors backpedaling and it was a matter of time until he made an impact. His super strike cannoned of the bar (and was so close to sneaking under the bar) and he should have doubled the lead when he was through on goal. But, his deft cross after standing up an Altrincham defender was perfect for Morgan Williams to nod the Glovers ahead. A constant threat and he’s getting closer to scoring each time.

We defended for our lives. After a really exciting end to end first half, the second was very different. After Junior Morias and Josh Sims spurned chances to make it 2-0, Altrincham upped the tempo and started to knock the ball around as we know they can. Richard Dryden had to make changes with tiring legs and the players showed unbelievable spirit to dig in and repel wave after wave of attack by Altrincham. With the supporters roaring every clearance and singing in unison, when that final whistle finally blew the sense of relief was huge.

We still need reinforcements. These two wins have shown the quality of this group, but for the last half an hour yesterday there was only one team with the legs to attack. We looked dead on our feet by the final whistle even with the subs entering the fray. We had a genuinely strong bench yesterday and with Cooper and Maddox still to come back there’s will be even more available eventually, but we still need more. I still worry about our lack of depth at fullback/wingback. If there’s few suspensions or another run of injuries we could quickly be very light again.

You can feel the spirit in this team. After the most ridiculous of weeks, this group of players and staff has shown unity and character in spades. They have a point to prove after this week and appear to have really galvanised around Richard Dryden and Jerry Gill. With Sutton, down amongst the relegation zone, on Tuesday there’s a great chance to take another three points with this momentum.

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Yeovil Town pulled off a scintillating performance at Aldershot Town last night to pick up a vital three points just over 48 hours after the club was rocked by the news now former manager Danny Webb had quit after just 11 days in the hot seat. Here are Gloverscast Ben’s conclusions on a magical evening at The Recreation Ground. 

Where did that come from?

If ever there was a game the team could be excused for having a stinker this was it. The carnage of this week (see month, year or decade) would have seen lesser people throw the towel in and just write off a performance with a more than fair reasoning to go with it.

We could probably write 100 conclusions on the last week, but I really don’t think we should understate just how impressive it was for that group of professional footballers to put it aside and cut an Aldershot side open time and time again and do it with a massive smile on their faces. You’re a credit to yourselves, the football club and those who follow it. Thanks lads, we needed that.

Andrew Oluwabori during his first spell on loan at Yeovil Town. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Oluwabori has grown up

He is a different lad this time around isn’t he? We spoke on the podcast about how he was exciting and energetic but in the two boxes he lacked that extra bit of quality in his first stint, but with plenty of National League games and a few in the EFL under his belt, it does feel like we have got a slightly different player this time around.

He is making better decisions in key areas and has retained that eye catching ability to turn the edge of our box into the edge of theirs in a flash. He looks desperate for his first goal of his second stint and I feel like its not far away.

Penalty options

Remember when Yeovil getting a penalty meant fearing we wouldn’t have anyone capable of slotting a ball home from 12 yards?

Well, yesterday, with Messrs McGavin and Morias off the pitch, I was delighted to see not one, but two players race to grab a ball and march towards the spot.  Tahvon Campbell eventually got the nod after a little mediation from Luke McCormick to Oluwabori who looked just as eager to take it. 

Campbell scored, to make it 4-0 and put even the most tiniest Gateshead-based PTSD to bed. I like knowing we have spot kick options. 

Kyle Ferguson. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The Kyle Ferguson conundrum

The simple act of showing Aldershot fans the four fingers as he waits on the sidelines, might have just tipped me over into DFILWF territory.  But here’s the thing, just about no Yeovil fan likes having a back three. So, how do you navigate this?

You can’t drop or shift either Williams or Wannell to a full back to accommodate, and you sure as anything can’t drop Ferguson right now. He’s playing as well as anyone in the team at the moment. Maybe… maybe we like wing backs now? *shudders* 

Avoiding an after the Lord Mayor’s Show

It’s been a frankly ridiculous (and yet somehow relatively normal) week and that response was absolutely brilliant. 

The 200 Yeovil fans there (and the rest watching on via the DAZN stream) are going to go home and tell people it’s excellent again. That might put some more bums on seats for the visit of Altrincham to Huish Park on Saturday, but whilst I’m reluctant to ask even more of this group, a home win to back that up would feel like it counts double.

We’ve done a bit of win one-lose one a bit recently, turning one of those into a positive run of form would do so much to alleviate some of the anxiety and worry the fan base has right now. 

We don’t do normal, do we?

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A stuttering start to the Danny Webb era for Yeovil Town, a scrappy 1-0 defeat at the hands of Tamworth.
Our resident artist, Alex “Distant Glover” Russell was in the ground for the game, here are his Five Conclusions.

Set-piece Fest
Maybe I have seen games where the opposition got more corners or throw-ins in the final third, but I don’t remember them.

However good you are at defending set-pieces, if you concede that many, the opposition will take advantage of one. And they did.

At the other end, our ability to make good passes seemed to diminish the nearer we got to Tamworth goal. Their defence seemed fairly comfortable dealing with long balls, but when we picked up the pace, hit an easy-on-the-eye shorter pass or took a player or two on, they looked more wobbly. Oh, and this isn’t just Yeovil, but older fans may remember a thing called crosses. They’re a bit like a set piece, but you don’t have to wait for the ball to go out of play, the defence don’t get time to turn the box into a mosh-pit and every now and then a goal happens.

Patience
As a famous man once said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end”. And let’s face it folks, it’s just the beginning of the beginning. (That last sentence might not be word-for-word.)

Much as we’d all love it if Danny Webb could flip a switch and make everything Championship again by next week, Prabhu’s team are playing the long game and the appointment of Webb is part of that. There is lots of unwelcome stuff that needs changing: training near Birmingham, not owning Huish Park, maybe the crossed-out names and numbers on the back of the home kit. The proof will be in the pudding, but it looks like there’s a far more open approach to communication in place. Being open and honest with fans on a regular basis will make it so much easier to understand why we should be patient. Although we may be stuck with the ropey graphics.

What’s the story? (Nearly)
To paraphrase a slightly less famous man, that was nearly the best ten seconds of my life. Andrew Oluwabori’s previous stint with us wasn’t all that notable, but he fell into the category of “got a load better after he left us”. Webb has faith in him, and his return was nearly marked by what might have been a goal of the season contender. Nearly. Yes, he looked like a player who was having to find his way in a new squad in an actual match. But there was a mazy run past nearly 400 Tamworth players that hinted at the sort of quality that can change games. Nearly.

Them and us
Tamworth may not play pretty football and they have a terrible excuse for a pitch, but ten games in, they’re in the play-offs and ten places above us. Their rise has been remarkable and it’s all down to Andy Peaks, a manager who’s eked out something really special out of very limited resources. It was interesting to hear their fan Stuart on yesterday’s “Foot in the Opposition Camp” (look Ben – a plug).

The Tamworth model is to stay part time, and use their middle-of-the-country location to attract the cream of the want-to-keep-another-job crop of players. We’re not in the middle of the country and we’re full-time (thanks, Webb Senior), but we get waaaaay more than 1,199 (at least a quarter of whom were in green). This might sound like some dreadful corporate away-day workshop cliché, but I’d like to have a clear vision of what our model is now. Why are we special? What makes us unique? (Apart, you know, from all loving cider and the Wurzels.)

Weighing up walls
Webb is obviously assessing what he’s got to work with, and from his post-match interview, is going to shed players as well as bring them in. Time will tell if the small squad he’s inherited will favour the latter rather than the former, but he’s going to have to make some hard decisions as well as some canny signings.

(Can someone have a word, though, and tell him never to use the “worked their socks off” phrase again?) I always struggled with Cooper’s seemingly disposable approach to squad building.

Good teams are always more than the sum of their parts, characters who want to run through walls not just for the gaffer, but for each other and the club. Yes, there’s a balance – you can’t wait forever to see if the lummox actually is David Silva – but it’s hard to build that with a revolving door policy. If you want Huish Park to be a fortress, build a squad of regulars who make it impossible not to get behind. We won’t even mind if they demolish a few of the fortress walls.

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Yeovil grabbed their second home win of the season against Woking yesterday. Here are Ian’s conclusions from the Huish Park press box.

Huish Park needed that. After all the turbulence of the last few weeks the unveiling of Danny Webb before the match set the tone for what (eventually) ended up being a memorable afternoon at Huish Park. Richard Dryden said it in his post-match interview, and he’s right, the whole club needed that win. The players ran themselves into the ground and they earned it. The coaching staff who’ve been able to steady the ship and maintain morale amongst players earned it. The supporters who, especially at Huish Park, have been starved of moments. Luke McCormick’s late winner was one of those moments that will live long in my memory and can hopefully be the catalyst for this season under Danny Webb.

Trialist Luke McCormick runs past a Bristol Rovers player in a pre-season friendly match.
Luke McCormick on the move. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

Don’t fall in love with footballers. It’s a risky business having a favourite, they inevitably leave and break your heart. The performances of Luke McCormick in recent weeks have been the kind that make you catch feels. He had another good game yesterday and his stoppage-time goal was well-deserved for those recent performances. He’s built a great partnership with Brett McGavin in midfield and, to me, comes across as a real organiser on the pitch, looking for runs, making runs and playing positively with intent. After the match he said how he ‘loves the club’ and if he continues to play like this, we’ll love him too.

The first half was poor. It was, as the cliche goes, a game of two halves. Woking had the best of a very poor first half. I didn’t think either side was particularly brilliant but the visitors had a bit more control albeit with chances from outside the box. Woking couldn’t handle the second half reaction from the Glovers who, by the full time whistle, we were well worth the win. I thought the subs made an impact on the game, Tahvon Campbell could have got the winner himself, Aaron Jarvis was the disrupter-in-chief making the Woking defence (and keeper) as uncomfortable as possible.

Thanks to Richard Dryden. In the last couple of weeks I feel like we’ve got to see more of Richard Dryden and get a sense of what he’s about. He and Chris Todd have kept this group motivated, happy and working hard. Off the back of Mark Cooper’s departure I think it was generally expected that Dryden would follow, but he’s kept morale high and while results haven’t been amazing, you can’t say the players have downed tools while the managerial situation has been in limbo. There was a sense of relief with Dryden yesterday with Danny Webb taking the reins now and you have to give him  some credit for keeping things steady.  He deserved the win yesterday.

That was a great result going into the new era. This squad of players, united in victory, goes into a full week of training with a new manager with new ideas. There is a feeling of freshness, optimism and energy about the club and, I think, a manager that everyone will unite behind. Danny Webb got a good ovation before the game, was scribbling notes throughout the match and was in the tunnel waiting for his new players after the game. It’s exciting to see what’s next and it all starts with Tamworth next weekend.

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Better late than never as they say. Ian was at Huish Park on Saturday and here are his Five Conclusions from a difficult afternoon in the sun.

We were outclassed. The gulf between two sides couldn’t have been more obvious. York’s squad has been very expensively assembled and the way they controlled the game was impressive. The way they passed at pace with one and two touch passes is everything we should aspire to be. We had no response for their runners as they methodically pulled green and white shirts out of position.

James Plant needed help. I get the back three with our current availability, but poor James Plant was left on toast by Joe Felix all day. It wasn’t until it was probably too late that Josh Sims moved over to the left to offer more protection than Junior Morias. Felix had the better of Plant repeatedly and Plant’s afternoon was summed up with the conceding of the penalty. Would we have been better as a back four with a left midfielder to double up on Felix? Probably. Would that have taken an attacking threat away? Probably. Would it have made any difference? Probably not.

James Plant
Pic – Gary Brown

We look tired. Clearly having a small squad with injuries to key players increases the work load on these players and its showing. I thought our substitutes looked like they’d played the full 90 when they were on the pitch. With no back up in the fullback positions we’re asking a centre-back to come in do a job at right wing back, we’re asking Josh Sims – our most impressive attacking player this season – to cover off defensively when we need his impact higher up. Without Alex Whittle, Charlie Cooper and James Daly, this small squad of quality needs a top up sharpish.

Luke McCormick is quickly becoming my favourite. Since moving to centre midfield we’ve seen what a player we have in McCormick. Energy, running with the ball and a brilliant finish on Saturday shows he has goals in his game too….ahem. We need to protect him though, because if he has to come out of the team our midfield really is weakened. With Charlie Cooper still out and Finn Cousin-Dawson in the unenviable position of utility man, there is a lot of pressure on McMidfield to play the full 90 if matches are in the balance.

Luke McCormick scrambles the ball home against York
Pic – Gary Brown

We need to get this appointment sorted. I am all for patience. Hell, I was waiting two and half years for us to produce the kind of football we saw undo us on Saturday. But these players need direction, new ways or working and a bit of a rocket to get out of this funk. The next three matches are what I would consider winnable. We won’t just these players on York and Forest Green Rovers but if we’re going to be looking up rather than over our shoulders, Woking, Tamworth and Aldershot are the teams we must be competitive against.