Gloversblog (Page 34)

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Every week (well, every time we don’t forget!), the Gloverscast pens a column for the Western Gazette giving our views on ongoings at Huish Park, here’s the one which appeared in the edition on January 20:

As we come towards the end of what might be one of the most tumultuous weeks in Yeovil Town’s 125 year history, it has almost gone under the radar that the Glovers have a league game this weekend… a pretty big one at that.

How we’ll all remember Skivo – in a green-and-white shirt.

You’ll have read the tributes to the departing Terry Skiverton this week, you’ll have taken in the fall our to the dramatic and disappointing FA Trophy exit at the hands of Needham Market, but much like what’s left of the Glovers’ management team, the focus had to once again turn to Saturday.

The show, as they say, must go on.

I won’t disagree that the form since Boxing Day has been nothing short of terrible, and the context around the double defeat to Torquay, the losses against Southend, Bournemouth and of course Needham Market need no repeating.

Do you think Darren Sarll has spent the week sulking? Nope, me neither, then maybe we shouldn’t either.
The mind is cast back to the magical win over Wrexham back in November, a result which looks more and more incredible with each subsequent passing game.

I am reminded that on that day, much like now, the build up has been less than perfect. There were only four subs named that night, of which only one was really an option.

Luke Wilkinson wasn’t really available (despite making a cameo late on when he really shouldn’t have done) and much like now, Wrexham were coming off the back of a brilliant run of form.

A week is a long time in football, but you can bet Sarll and his players will be working their hardest to turn our run of form around.

It’s been tough on us all, and the best way to move on, is to send the Huish Park home with a performance to be proud of and three all important points.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog

An exit from the FA Trophy at the hands of Needham Market, a team two divisions below us in the football pyramid, had Yeovil Town supporters with their heads in their hands.

Couple this with the exit of Terry Skiverton, whose legendary status needs no further introduction, and the seemingly never-ending wait for a final answer over the club’s off-the-field situation, and you could be left asking – has it ever been this bad?

I’d offer up the suggestion it has and to be exact as to when it was – Tuesday, October 25, 1994.

Three days earlier Yeovil Town had gone out of the FA Cup in the fourth qualifying round at the hands of Walton & Hersham, the ninth consecutive game they had failed to pick up a win.

The infamous fixture which saw Yeovil Town dumped out of the FA Cup at Walton & Hersham. Picture courtesy of Tim Lancaster.

Their opponents that day were actually only a division below them, but such was the significance of the competition to the Glovers, it felt wounded.

Andy Wallace and Neil Cordice were on target that day but a 3-2 defeat saw them go out of the competition, and there were angry exchanges between manager Brian Hall and his players and travelling fans.

Then-chairman Bryan Moore, a former chairman of the Green & White Supporters’ Club and Yeovil Town to the core, described that day as “one of the worst days of my entire life.”

In the midweek fixture that followed, GM Vauxhall Conference relegation rivals Merthyr Tydfil beat Yeovil 3-1 and the atmosphere was beyond toxic.

Fans who had vented their anger at the Cup exit the weekend before gathered outside Huish Park calling for the dismissal of Hall, to the extent that mounted police were called in to disperse the crowd at around 11pm with Chairman Moore ‘speaking’ to them via a megaphone from the Board Room.

As the club’s history, Hendford to Huish Park, recalls: “A beleaguered board stated that they would happily hand over should a consortium with money come along.

“They could not afford to sack Brian Hall but conversely, they could ill afford to see the situation continue.

“There were soon a number of faces mentioned with regards to take over the running of the club, among them Brian Hillier, formerly in charge at Swindon Town.

“John Fry who was already on the board and had recently sold his business interests would be available almost full-time and (former chairman) Gerry Lock who had continued to follow the fortunes of his former club from afar had hot a consortium together who expressed an interest but nothing further was heard from them.”

There were a couple of wins in the weeks which followed, but plenty of defeats including a 5-0 thrashing at Stevenage Borough with the history books reporting that ex-Tottenham player Graham Roberts “ran the show” for them.

Having been told his budget would be cut further, Hall lasted until the first week of 1995 when he was sacked and, after a few games with players Tiv Lowe and Paul Wilson in temporary charge, his replacement would be none other than Roberts, who also counted Chelsea, Rangers and (say it quietly) W*ymouth among his former clubs.

Off the pitch things were changing as well with John Fry coming in as Chief Executive and despite the fact relegation was almost a certainty, there was a sense of optimism about Huish Park not felt in years.

Roberts’ team took it to the final game of the season which ended in a 4-4 draw with Northwich Victoria when their fate was sealed.

But rather than spilling on to the pitch to get angry, Yeovil supporters chanted “we’ll support you ever more” and they did.

In 1997, Graham Roberts led Yeovil Town to promotion to the Conference after two seasons. Picture courtesy of Tim Lancaster.

Two seasons at their lowest ebb, the ICIS League, saw the Glovers challenging for promotion whilst off-the-pitch Fry and his fellow directors, notably Fred Lewis, got things back on to an even keel.

More than a quarter-of-a-century has passed since then, we’re a full-time team now, we’ve had 15 years as a Football League club, and the debts the club is saddled remain a millstone round the club’s neck which (for his many faults) John Fry would never have allowed to happen.

But, we’ve undoubtedly got a more competitive team that back in the mid-1990s, we just all hope that off-the-field there are people willing to put in the hours and the finance.

There’s some similarities between then and now but my point is, the darkest hour is often before the dawn.

As a wiser man than me once said – Keep the faith, bruvvers!

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Gloversblog

To try and put into words the impact Terry Skiverton had on Yeovil Town Football Club is really quite a challenge.

For 23 years, London born Terence John Skiverton was a part of the furniture at Huish Park – in fact, he was so much more.

He signed for the Glovers from Welling United back in the Summer of 1999 and departed this past week.

We’ve seen tributes pour in from players and fans and quite frankly we’re not sure just how much more we can add.

But, what we can do is try and reignite some memories.

Skivo, played 383 competitive games for the Glovers, scored 44 goals and would go on to manage 157 more, overseeing two spells in the managerial hot seat.

He was an assistant to Gary Johnson and to Darren Way, lead the Glovers’ academy for a time and did just about every job going at one time or another at Huish Park.

From the bottom of all our hearts, thank you Skivo.

Words might not do your time in Somerset justice, but maybe pictures will.

We are proud to be working hard to save whatever we can from the now defunct Ciderspace archives and are delighted to be able to share these pictures spanning just about every one of the 23-years that Terry Skiverton was part of Yeovil Town Football Club.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil whimpered out of the FA Trophy at the hands of Needham Market yesterday. I soaked it all in and fortuitously managed to condense it in five conclusions.

Well, that wasn’t very good was it? It goes without saying that losing to a team in the Southern League Premier Division is unacceptable for Yeovil Town Football Club. The game should not have reached a penalty shootout and we should have had enough about us to put them away. But, as everyone knows and Darren Sarll said, on the day it’s 11 men vs 11 men and Needham Market’s 11 men earned victory. Too many players performed far below the level expected and we were the ‘giants’ that were killed on this occasion.

It’s blindingly obvious but we’re horribly out of form. We’ve gone through this pattern before. A good run of form followed by a rough patch of form. We need to get out of this patch sooner rather than later if we’re going to keep within touching distance of the play offs. How we get it back, who knows? Darren Sarll didn’t seem hopeful of any additions any time soon, which we obviously need. Once again, we’re round to talking correlation between what happens off the pitch and how important it is to what happens on it. We’ve gone from nine subs to four in seven days and the manager needs reinforcements.

Oh, Reuben. This wasn’t a performance of the rejuvenated Reuben Reid we’ve been anticipating. This match was Reid’s return to Yeovil in a nutshell. Loose touches, misplaced passes, a lot effort but a lack of quality. His penalty was disappointing and summed up his afternoon. This isn’t the Reid who was training almost immediately after the 2020/21 season finished. This is an experienced pro, at the latter stages of his career recovering from a serious hamstring injury having to start from square one again and get himself match fit in a side which is on a bad run. And instead of being able to be eased back into it, we’re reliant on him to come back into the team and drag us out of a mess.

There was a feeling of deflation around Huish Park. Perhaps it was the contrast of 8,000 last Saturday versus 1600 yesterday, but the rumours circulating before kick-off about Terry Skiverton’s departure (coupled with his notable absence during the warm up) certainly took the wind out of my sails. To lose a legend like Skivo in the middle of the season, without a proper send off is really sad. It’s not how I thought it would happen and I daresay it’s probably not how he thought it would happen. His departure is sad for supporters and also the players he works with on a daily basis and the staff he’s worked with since joining Yeovil in 1998.

Darren Sarll cut a frustrated figure. It felt like Darren was on the cusp of saying what he really felt about the situation after the match yesterday. That’s not to say he doesn’t normally, he clearly does. But, what must have been a highly emotional week for him has ended in, probably, his worst defeat as Yeovil manager. He’s lost his assistant (and friend), he’s lost his captain to injury and the team he’s worked miracles with so far appear to be in a rut. Next weekend we welcome Wrexham to town which will undoubtedly demonstrate the gulf in resource, but we did ‘em last time didn’t we?!

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog
Yeovil players celebrate Charlie Wakefield’s FA Cup winner in Round 2

Here’s a conundrum for you.

How do you cope with the injuries and illness that the Glovers have had this mid-season, in ‘COVID World’ whilst having a squad as small as Yeovil Town’s, and yet at the same time have multiple selection headaches with multiple options in different positions?

That’s exactly what manager Darren Sarll has not just up front with Joe Quigley, Reuben Reid and Adi Yussuf seemingly vying for one spot, but also now in goal.

First choice Grant Smith has been nothing short of fantastic between the sticks this season, and his post-match red card at Torquay on Boxing Day threw a spanner in the works for the upcoming games including last weekend’s FA Cup tie against Bournemouth.

With the greatest of respect, the loan keeper from QPR, Dillon Barnes, was far from an adequate replacement. The 87th player to take his place between the posts for us since the end of the Second World War (we think) but not one to stick in the memory.

Dillon Barnes vs Bournemouth

Errors against both Torquay and the Cherries at key moments were killer blows in big matches and the team suffered.

Barnes is not a bad ‘keeper, far from it in fact, he has played plenty of EFL games and a contract at a Championship club is a clear sign that he has qualities.

But he was clearly rusty, thrown into two big games with players he’d barely met and maybe, couldn’t quite get up to speed in time.

The Glovers’ regular back-up keeper Max Evans, with not a lot more than a single FA Trophy game behind him, had the potential to be a rabbit in the headlights in those games too, and I totally understand Sarll’s choice to get in a loan keeper.

Max Evans

Evans will get his chance against Needham Market, but I am sure glad Grant Smith is back. A reliable pair of gloves has been the mainstay of successful Yeovil sides, see Tony Pennock, Chris Weale, Steve Mildenhall and Marek Stech in previous years.

We’ve had some great on loan goalkeepers – Begovic, McCarthy, Henderson, Steer – and some high quality back-up keepers down the years, haven’t we? Gareth Stewart, Ben Roberts, even Wealey himself for a time. Malcolm Rigby, anyone?

Grant Smith might need to keep his composure and his hips slightly less thrusted at times, but his absence has only solidified his value to the group. 

Check out the Gloverscast Column in the Western Gazette every week and come back for more daily Gloversblogs here on Gloverscast.co.uk 

 

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog

Alex Bradley in conversation with manager Darren Sarll.

Have you seen Alex Bradley?

The former Finland youth International turned a loan deal from Lincoln into a permanent one back in January of 2021.

It’s probably safe to say the next year hasn’t quite been what he imagined.

At the time he said; “My ambitions for the rest of the season are to play as many games as I can to the best of my ability and to help the team achieve what we are all capable of.”

“To reach the play-off spots is doable and it’s up to us as a squad to make that happen. I hope we can have a very successful remainder of the campaign and get this club back to where it belongs.”

Those play off spots of course never materialised, and the reasons for that are complex and in no way, shape or form down to Alex.

In total, the defender/midfielder played 24 times in the 2020/21 season for Yeovil, mostly from the start and mostly at right back.

He was rarely absent through injury and only got sent off once right at the end of the season away at Aldershot.

Alex Bradley is sent off at Aldershot Town

Now, this season feels a very different story.

He has played in nine league games so far.

That’s less than half of the matches, what’s more alarming is that’s he started NONE.

Using Soccerbase as a guide his nine sub appearances in the league have come in the following minutes of matches; 89, 76, 89, 86, 87, 88, 75, 81 & 89.

He did get nearly half an hour vs Yate Town in the FA Cup and started the Trophy game against Woking but was taken off after 73 minutes.

All of this means his last completed match was the defeat to Stockport on the final day of last season.

I’ve been scratching my head as to what’s changed and why Bradley has been left out in the cold so often.

…and before you all start screaming “he’s clearly fallen out with the manager”…

I’m not going to putting that forward as an argument, there’s no evidence to suggest that and there might be more to it.

Yeovil signed Mark Little and then Dan Moss both would have been ahead of him in the pecking order for the right back shirt that he occupied so regularly last season.

But at Lincoln, he was predominantly a midfielder, playing as such in an EFL Cup game against Liverpool shortly before heading to Somerset.

The Glovers have moved to a 4-3-3 system this campaign for the most part and with the success of Gorman, Staunton and Worthington as a trio there means there has been little need to tinker with that – despite the little Mitch Rose experiment of which we shall not mention again.

It was suggested that he might be more suited to a standard right side of midfield position, recent talk of a return to 4-4-2 might have fuelled some excitement in the 22-year old of a potential return, but suggestions after the Southend loss are that a tactical switch might be on the scrap heap already have probably quashed that.

Alex Bradley. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Has he just been unlucky then?

He’s done nothing wrong in his mini cameos, but even then he came on in multiple different roles.

He played left wing at Stockport replacing Tom Knowles, he played on the right of the front three for a few seconds against Stevenage in the cup tasked with just killing time and being a nuisance.

He went into a defensive back line made up of about 7 players at Solihull and at Wrexham too.

Maybe he has just been biding his time, a little like Morgan Williams who had to snaffle a chance as an emergency left back when the opportunity came.

Others, like Matty Worthington have had unexplained time out the side and come back to be a mainstay in the team, so I don’t think his time at the club is coming to an end either.

It’s all a bit confusing and this weekend’s game against Needham Market might show us exactly where he stands in the respect of his involvement.

Despite Darren Sarll suggesting not much will change, he’d likely make a slight alteration or two.

We still expect Max Evans to play in goal (well, we don’t think Dillon Barnes is going to play) and with a potential reshuffle of putting Staunton in defence and with Worthington recovering from illness it might give Bradley some space in midfield.

Or will the early departure of Moss and the slow integration of Little back into the side offer him the chance back on the right side of defence?

What do you think? Has Alex Bradley been unlucky? Will he get a chance this weekend? Let us know!

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

It was another defeat for Yeovil Town on Tuesday night as we went down to our fourth loss in a row at Southend United.

Here one-time Gloverscast quiz champion and Glovers’ supporter Ed Turnbull was among the 80 hardy souls in the North Stand at Roots Hall, and here are his five conclusions:

Unfortunately, the most obvious takeaway is the performance level was substantially lower (at least for the first hour) than what we were treated to during our stunning 12-match unbeaten run. The first half in particular, we had very little fluidity in attack and invited Southend onto us, struggling to get anything resembling a foothold in the game. To make matters worse, our defence seemed nowhere near as solid as the backline that stood firm to bombardments from the likes of Solihull, Bromley and Wrexham in previous away games this season – Southend could easily have scored more than two. Various wise heads including Darren Sarll and Ian Perkins have referred to the team looking tired of late, and this was further proof. Mind you, it must be said that Southend seemed a lot better than a team that has spent most of the season battling it out with W*ymuff for 20th place.

Joe Quigley battles for the ball.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Things improved significantly with the introduction of Joe Quigley and Reuben Reid (if you ignore for a second the fact Southend made it 2-0 right after they came on!). Adi Yussuf very rarely, if ever, got the ball to stick to him, and nobody was surprised when the fourth official’s board went up with a red 23 next to a green 10. I think getting the ball under control back-to-goal isn’t one of Quigley’s strengths either, but he’s negated that possible weakness by instead looking to win flick-ons for team-mates to run onto (take his assist for Yussuf’s goal against Eastleigh as a perfect example). Last night I was very impressed how he seemed to win every header against big centre-halfs, and it gave us (often Reuben Reid to be precise) a platform to work off, that saw us become a lot more threatening and gave us a fighting chance of getting something from the game. Quigley was also unlucky not to score himself when he did brilliantly to make space for a shot, which was excellently saved. I’ll be picking Joe ahead of Adi in my next FanHub line-up predictions in the future, for sure (unless Quigley get’s injured, I suppose). 

Luke Wilkinson. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Ordinarily, you’d probably say that the phase of play which ended with us scoring our only goal was the best 15 seconds of the match from a Yeovil point of view. But on this occasion I would argue it was the worst, and that’s because Luke Wilkinson went down innocuously immediately before we scored. I didn’t see whose shot it was from the edge of the box (sounds as though it was Wakefield’s) that wasn’t gathered by Southend keeper Steve Arnold, and Reid nudging in the rebound was only in my peripheral vision, because I was more focused on our captain clutching his leg in obviously severe discomfort. If you look at our record in National League games this season, I make it now W7 D1 L2 when Wilkinson has played the whole match, compared to W2 D3 L6 when he hasn’t – I think that’s enough said about how big a miss he’ll be. If anything, I was relieved to hear Sarll’s prognosis of “a good six weeks“, because I feared it could have been even worse.

Rhys Murphy did not get a welcoming reception from the Yeovil fans, it’s fair to say. Perhaps it’s understandable after his absence at the end of last season which did leave a sour taste in the mouth. Murphy later stated this was “due to some personal issues“, and given we’ll probably never know what he meant by that, one could argue he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Personally, I’d rather remember Rhys for his incredible return of 34 goals in 65 games, and for memories such as Torquay away (the 2-0, not the 6-1, if that wasn’t clear). The bloke literally scored a hattrick against W*ymuff, after all! He certainly showed enough quality last night to remind us what we’re missing.

Lastly, and most importantly, I think it should go without saying we need to stick by these players. Yes, it’s four defeats in a row, but it’s also four defeats in our last 16. I fully agree with Darren Sarll when he says this young group needs to be positively supported rather than have fans on their backs if we want them to perform to the really high bar they’ve set in November and December as frequently as possible. These players seriously care about Yeovil Town FC, and that was shown again last night in the way we kept trying our socks off for an equaliser despite being visibly shattered and ending the game with 10 men after Wilkinson went off. On another day, the ref might not have penalised Max Hunt for a hand ball, Reid’s goal would have been an equaliser rather than a consolation, and the lads would have secured a heroic comeback for which we’d be singing their praises.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog

It’s Day 36 since the passing of the seven-day deadline to complete a takeover of Yeovil Town set by Scott Priestnall, our chairman, owner and even more shockingly spectator.

We’re all bored of hearing the ‘in the know’ anonymous social media accounts (I always preferred Rocky) tell us what’s happening or when it’s happening, we all just want some kind of certainty, don’t we? Let’s not go back over the reasons why.

Could it be magic……?

But, if Mr Priestnall was present to see the best part of 8,000 people inside Huish Park (with thanks to the couple of thousand making the trip up from the Dorset coast) for Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie with AFC Bournemouth, I wonder what he thought.

We tweeted some pictures of a packed Thatcher’s stand after the match and made the point the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup may have brought them here, but it really doesn’t need magic to achieve this, does it?

In the summer, Scott Priestnall promised “a more inviting a more inviting and entertaining offer” for supporters; it’s an obvious improvement, but it’s one he’s failed to deliver.

There’s a group of hard-working staff behind the scenes who are doing everything they can, often with their hands tied behind their backs, and then there’s a group of volunteers without whom the operations of the club would literally grind to a halt.

If you don’t know who they are, they will be the people selling the lottery tickets and programmes, sweeping the stands, handing out cans from the makeshift bars.

There’s a lot of things which need to change from top to bottom, but here’s a few things that could make things better pretty quickly…..

  • Give the place a tidy up: Behind the Thatcher’s terrace looks like a dumping ground with landfill strewn all over the place, but the entrance to Huish Park is like an assault course – water hazards, little lighting, plastic drums blocking the entrance/exit nearest to Abbey Manor. It’s a bad look, potentially very dangerous and could be fixed. Hire a skip (or three!), mobilise an army of volunteers and make the place look a bit tidier. Yes, there will be things which require more permanent work – but there’s a few things which can be done to make things look better quickly.
  • Keep the doors open: The opening of the Alec Stock Lounge for supporters has been a good move (we assume the marquee has been left to rot?) but surely keeping it open longer would pay dividends. There was a captive audience of nearly 8,000 people there on Saturday, if you can keep even a small percentage of them after the game – it will begin to pay for itself. In the temporary bar behind the home and away terrace (presumably the bright vision of a “new bar area” the Chairman promised in the summer) staffed by volunteers, why isn’t there pints poured or cans available at a reasonable price ready to go? Again, not a criticism of those who are doing something, they are doing the best with what they have.
  • Contactless payments: The past two matches have seen long queues at the ticket offices and yet there’s no sign of any kind of e-ticket offer from the club – unless we’ve missed it? Surely the cost of printing thousands of tickets season after season must be greater than getting some QR Code scanners for each turnstile? And while we’re at it, why is there no card payments in the tea bars? Even a sole trader can get a simple, cheap card payment service – so why not for the tea bars?
  • Communicate better: It sounds like the simplest thing to do and you’ll never please all the people all the time, but regular communication with people is a great place to start. We’ve all spent the last 18 months communicating virtually with people and this would be a great way to get started and then commit to a regular forum for doing it.

Of course there are other things, like helping out the dwindling members of staff on the club’s books right now, getting some of our star players tied down to new contracts, there’s lots more than can be done and these are just a couple quick, free (or inexpensive) fixes.

For too many years we have got by doing what we always did off-the-field whilst exceeding expectations on it, but if our dream of a return to the Football League is to become a reality, we have to do things differently.

None of this is rocket science and you could probably all think of many other simple fixes; they won’t achieve getting us back to the League, but they might encourage a few hundred floating fans who turned up on Saturday to return.

If they do, that’s a step in the right direction and a direction we should be travelling.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t quite a magic night at Huish Park, but there is always something about Yeovil Town in the FA Cup. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from the 3-1 defeat.

It was fantastic to see a crowd. Not since Manchester United’s visit in 2018 have we had such a turnout. Despite Bournemouth not being a ‘superclub’, Huish Park was packed and full of anticipation of more FA Cup history. While the result wasn’t what we’d have wanted, seeing supporters in their volume to watch the match was a pleasant remind of what Yeovil Town FC can be on its day. Let’s just hope the mud bath surround the stadium didn’t put people off attending less glamourous matches in the future.

Bournemouth’s quality was clear to see. But for the keeper’s mishap, we didn’t cause them any major issues. Their technical prowess allowed them to totally control the game and keep us at arm’s length. Emiliano Marcondes was everywhere for the Cherries and he earned his hattrick with his clever runs and positioning. Jamal Lowe showed what a talent he is with his dizzying runs and electric pace. We performed admirably, but Bournemouth showed why they are three points clear at the top of the Championship.

Max Evans should have got his chance. Dillon Barnes has had two disappointing performances in his loan spell for us. The corner at Torquay was bad and I felt he had another poor game in the FA Cup. He pushed the ball back into the middle of the goal for Bournemouth’s third goal and he seemed to struggle with crosses and corners again. There’s a lesson to be learned for Grant Smith, don’t mouth off at officials again. He’s missed two big games for Yeovil and we’ve really suffered for it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think giving Max Evans an opportunity in these two games would have been a good thing. It couldn’t have gone much worse.

We looked tired. Playing against Bournemouth is totally draining, obviously. But we looked like a side which hadn’t had a proper week of preparation. Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield aren’t at the energetic levels they were, Matt Worthington isn’t getting forward like he was and our threat was diminished. I’m not sure having Worthington and Dale Gorman on yellow cards for the majority of the match made it trickier for us to take any risks. On the plus side, we had nine substitutes and seem to have some genuine depth in positions. Without downplaying Needham Market, we could do with playing Needham Market after these last three games. Instead, we’ve got a quick turnaround and a trip to Southend having not left the South West since November.

Scott Priestnall decided to grace us with his presence, albeit under the radar. That there’s even speculation about whether or not the owner of the football club will attend a match is appalling enough in itself. We can only guess as to the reason why this match was worth a visit, perhaps it was to see what a proper occasion at Huish Park can look like. Perhaps it was to sort out some contracts for players and the manager. Maybe we’re days away from seeing his long-term plan. Hopefully he was there to clear out his desk. Plenty on the terraces let him know their feelings last night.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Come the end of this season, there are just two Yeovil Town players still in contract.

Let that one sink in for a minute. We could legitimately be left with defender Morgan Williams and striker Joe Quigley by the time we reach the end of the current campaign.

Now we are into 2022, the situation becomes even more hairy with the possibility of clubs sniffing around some of our crown jewels with the form of Charlie Wakefield, Tom Knowles, and others unlikely to have gone unnoticed.

Even manager Darren Sarll only has six months left on his contract and, in the words of the manager himself last week, it’s down to “a level of uncertainty” which hangs over Huish Park.

The uncertainty exists because of the off-the-field situation with a ‘will they-won’t they?’ situation around a possible takeover.

Assuming the situation is not resolved between the submission and publication of this column, we will be just shy of four calendar weeks since the expiry of a seven-day deadline to complete a deal was set by chairman and owner Scott Priestnall.

For supporters that is frustrating and concerning, but let’s take a step back and think about what it means for those people employed by the club.

The vast majority of players and coaching staff are without any certainty. As Darren Sarll said last week: “Do I have to tell the people living in my house to find somewhere else to live? Do I have to start looking for new schools for my children?”

And it’s not just those involved on the pitch, there is an ever decreasing number of people employed to ensure the off-the-field operations at the club as well – what of their futures?

For many of us, football is a passion, but for many others it is literally their lives.

For their sakes as well as ours, let’s hope the “level of uncertainty” which has hung over our club for months does not remain much longer.cts