Forest Green Rovers has been confirmed at Yeovil Town’s latest pre-season opposition with a match scheduled for Saturday, July 31, 3pm kick-off.
The League Two play-off semi-finalists are the first pre-season friendly match confirmed at Huish Park for pre-season.
The club has already confirmed trips to Taunton Town on Tuesday, August 3 and Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, August 7.
Former Yeovil Town loan midfielder Josh Sheehanhas confirmed he is leaving Newport County after their failure to make it out of League Two.
The 26-year-old is reportedly set to sign for Bolton Wanderers who were automatically promoted back to League One this season.
Sheehan had two spells at Huish Park on loan for Swansea City, playing 13!times in the season we were relegated out of League One in 2015.
He then had a second spell at the club the following season,
Manager Darren Sarll has said he is “determined to do the right thing” by Yeovil Town as he prepares to rebuild a squad ready for next season.
Speaking after a 1-0 defeat to $tockport County on the final game of the National League season, which saw his side finish in 16th place, the boss said he will “shut down” and return a week on Monday to look towards the next campaign.
He told BBC Somerset: “For the first time, I am looking for a break, I am going to shut down for a week and then we will start talking to the players a week on Monday.
“Them we need to rebuild around a completely different budget, against a different thought process.
“We need to use the resilience we have built this year because things like we have all been through this year give you such a strong bond and we need too go again.
“I am determined to do the right thing by the supporters, by the club and by the big man up there (club captain, Lee Collins).”
He said the club now needed to remove a “dark, grey cloud” which has been over the club this season when they have suffered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, an extended run of poor form, an injury crisis and the death of Lee Collins, which shook the club in March.
The manager added: “We need time off to break up that dark, grey cloud over us and start again. We need to rebuild the enthusiasm and energy of the team, and reinvigorate those lads.
“No-one knows what it is like to be in our shoes, no-one except us and that is what connects us so tightly.
“I loved that at the end there, I thank every supporter from the bottom of my heart, because that is like fuel for me to try and do them justice next year.”
Sarll was joined for his post-match chat with the media by Amelia, the daughter of the late Lee Collins, who was in attendance at the game with her sisters and Lee’s partner, Rachel Gibbons.
The boss thanked supporters for the warm reception they gave the family, himself and his team at the end of the game when supporters on the Thatcher’s End terrace serenaded them with the now famous ‘Allez, Allez, Allez’ chant.
Sarll said: “It was tough at the end, but I think we did everything we had to do in the right way and conducted ourselves in a really graceful manner and did the right thing.
“We know the season has been really poor, we can all talk about availability and COVID and no fans, but the fact of the matter is we have dipped below expectation and I am sorry for that.
“It was unbelievable and the girls which is what it is all about, they need to experience the connection and what it was like and why it was so important. and they got that feel of that connection between the players and the supporters.”
The Glovers Trust has warned the future of Yeovil Town is “in jeopardy” if a deal to sell Huish Park to South Somerset District Council goes ahead.
In a statement to members, sent on Monday night, the Trust said it had been contacted by “several groups” and was “aware parties have reached out to intermediaries at the club” about buying the club.
On Wednesday, May 26, a six-month moratorium preventing the deal approved by the council’s executive last December expires, leaving the authority apparently free to conclude the deal confirmed by Chairman Scott Priestnall.
The moratorium has been in place since the Trust activated an Asset of Community Value (ACV) which it holds, giving it six months to make a bid for Huish Park and surrounding lands.
In its statement to members, the Trust claimed the pause had “given others the chance to reflect on the scheme and for the cultivation of a belief that a better route can be found to secure the long-term security of our club.”
It added: “The provisional plans shared with us by the SSDC may bring a limited short term financial boost, however there is no legal framework to guarantee that YTFC benefits from the scheme over the longer term. We believe that under this proposal the future of YTFC is in jeopardy.”
It added: “We acknowledge that from Wednesday 26th, the owners are free to continue with the proposal from SSDC or to affect a sale to whomsoever they choose.
“The Glovers Trust Board’s stance remains unaltered with regard to the SSDC proposal in that we retain major concerns. This proposal was championed as ‘the only option’ but this has been proved to have been only one of the options available.
“The Glovers Trust Board hold serious reservations as to whether the monetary figures involved add up. Will a tenant YTFC ever be in a financial position to own Huish Park again?”
In the minutes of the council’s District Executive Committee on December 3, Mr Priestnall said “the finance would help the club to survive and thrive in the future to retain football league status and have a club which the local community could be proud of. “
The minutes added: “He (Priestnall) confirmed that he was not seeking to recoup any of his personal investment in the club through the transaction.”
In his last public statement published on February 24, Mr Priestnall said he was “still exploring” the deal and had “kept dialogue open” with the council.
In that statement, he added: “We also have offers to sell the land when the moratorium period ends. A decision will be made once the Sport England loan position is finalised as to our next step with regards a full planning application.”
For more details on the history of the SSDC deal and the Glovers Trust’s ACV, read our Gloversblog – here.
Goalkeeper Adam Smith has been released by his parent club Forest Green Rovers following a season on loan at Huish Park.
The 28-year-old was confirmed as one of four players being released after the Gloucestershire club’s failure to make the League Two play-off final on Sunday.
Defender Chris Stokes, who trained with Yeovil Town for a spell in January 2015 before moving on loan to Coventry City, has also been released along with midfielder Scott Wagstaff and forward Shawn McCoulsky.
With Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll without a recognised goalkeeper, it would be a surprise if he was not interested in bringing Smith to the club permanently.
Congratulations to Sutton United who were today crowned National League Champions for the 2020/21 season.
A 3-0 win over Hartlepool United was enough to put the table toppers five points clear of second place Torquay with just one game remaining.
There are not too many links between the champions and Yeovil Town except winger Rhys Browne, who spent two years at Huish Park, and joined them from Port Vale at the start of the year.
Congratulations to everyone at Sutton United… we’re not jealous at all, one bit… not in the slightest. Nope.
It’s fine, we’re fine.
Yeovil Town boss Darren Sarll has said next weekend’s final game of a turbulent National League season against $tockport County will just be a case of strapping up his battered and bruised side.
Speaking after the 4-3 defeat at Altrincham on Saturday, where the Glovers saw loanee Josh Neufville ruled out with a broken ankle, the manager said the return of Alex Bradley from suspension was the only positive ahead of the return of Paddy Madden to Huish Park.
Sarll told BBC Somerset: “There’s nothing to do other than to try and get them fit and ready to go down the tunnel (against Stockport next weekend) and ready to go, there is no training to be done because in many ways the preparation is irrelevant because of the changes to (the position players are playing in).
“We had nine injured today and two suspended and that will be ten injured and one suspended with Alex Bradley back, and we will have to see if we can roll a few of them out.
“But that is to say that Lawson (D’Ath) recovers, Charlie (Lee) recovers, (Carl) Dickinson recovers. Dicko was running around like he was on a pogo stick at the end there and I have great admiration for that group of players that put themselves in harm’s way again.”
As well as those named by the manager, there are injuries to Jimmy Smith, Josh Staunton, Rhys Murphy, Matt Worthington and youngster Alex John whilst defender Luke Wilkinson will be missing through suspension.
Academy graduate Toby Stephens, Under 18s regular Adam Heaton and young goalkeeper Max Evans were the only three options to Sarll on the bench at Altrincham once Emmanuel Sonupe had replaced the injured Neufville.
“In Goes Stewart… THEY’VE ONLY GONE AND DONE IT”
Where do you even begin?
As a Yeovil Town supporter of 21 years, the emotions of that night on the side of the River Trent will live long in the memory.
2-0 down from the first leg in Somerset, how could Yeovil go to the City Ground and over turn that deficit?
The myths and stories are legendary, the Forest players had already had their suits fitted for Wembley, the cars parked around the city were already plastered with adverts asking fans to book their travel and their hotels, but Arron Davies, Chris Cohen and Co had other ideas.
It was magical, something I’ve been lucky enough to write about before, including in Martin McConachie’s excellent book ’10’ documenting the Glovers first 10 years as a football league club.
I’ve tried to write this On This Day a few times, and never felt I’ve done it justice.
So i’ll leave it to Ben Barrett from 2011 with the YouTube highlights (below) still a regular clip on the play list in my house.
1095 fans made their way to the City Ground knowing turning over a 2-0 deficit might be mission impossible.
Being in that away end for the two and a bit hours that I there was remains the most incredible few hours of football I have ever witnessed.
The pattern of play was the same, Yeovil were probably the better side for most of the game, but the way the match flipped and twisted a thousand times and the stories that unfolded on the side of the River Trent couldn’t have been written.
Arron Davies made the tie interesting in the first half, a brilliant solo goal got the atmosphere bubbling nicely, even at 2-1 things were going to be difficult.
“Paul Smith in the Forest goal pulled off a double save worthy of the Champions League final before Marcus Stewart flashed a shot over.
That’s probably everything you need to know about the first half, it was that kind of game.
The second half started with a bang. Scott Dobie wrote his part of the script by scoring to level things up.
An ordinary goal to break an extraordinary barren spell, it was his first goal in 21 months. They say timing is everything.
As far as my memory serves me, nothing happened between the 48th and the 80th minute.
Neither side wanted to make a mistake, everything bounced around in midfield and no-one wanted to cost their side at a crucial time.
The next chapter belongs to Chris Cohen, the man who had masterminded Yeovil’s success by pulling the strings in midfield was injured, he would play at Wembley but as he left the field we knew he was off for good. We didn’t expect him to move to Forest however. Still, the £1million helped.
Anyway, I digress, Cohen was off, but Jean Paul Kalala was on, JP was a tackler rather than a play maker and yet it was he who fired a shot in from 25 yards just as it seemed all hope had gone.
That shot didn’t go in, it struck the post before rebounding to Alan Wright, the Sheffield United defender had been released by the Blades before playing for his loan club that night.
His day went from bad to worse as the rebounded shot hit him square in the face and trickled over the line.
3-2 on aggregate, Yeovil had 8 minutes to find one last goal for extra time.
It has taken me a while to get there, but my play off memory is this.
Andy Lindegaard, a full blown Yeovil legend picks the ball up on the right hand side, he delivered a cross, Paul Smith didn’t come out and Marcus Stewart jumped.
Stewart’s forehead met the ball with perfect timing, the ball hits the net and we in the away end all go ballistic.
My memory is played out to the sound of the Sky Sports commentator saying six magical words…”
“They’ve … only gone and done it”
Of course, that line sticks long in the memory of Glovers fans, but it was by no means the end of the game.
Extra Time loomed, Lee Morris put us ahead after *that* Wes Morgan backpass, Grant Holt tried to throw a spanner in the works, David Prutton was a spanner and got send off and then Davies once more… a drop of the shoulder, a momentary pause… then, well back to past me….
“I was singing yet I was silent, I was happy yet there were tears, I was dancing yet I couldnt move a muscle”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen, we stayed in the away end until the stewards had to go home, we sang in the car park and in the services on the way home”
Yeovil were on their way to Wembley for the first time in their history thanks to a night, no Glover will ever forget.
On May 26, the measure which has stopped the sale and lease back of Huish Park from owner Scott Priestnall and South Somerset District Council (SSDC) comes to an end.
The pause (or moratorium to use the correct term) was brought about by the decision of the Glovers’ Trust to activate an Asset of Community Value (ACV) it holds on the land, which has given it six months to make a counter offer to that proposed by SSDC.
It activated this option about six months ago and in an email to members on May 10, the Trust said it was “serious talks with parties who are keen to form a consortium and put together a credible bid.”
That and a statement from the owner – see here – on February 24 is pretty much all we have heard from either party in recent months. However, with the clock ticking down to the end of the moratorium we can only assume things are happening in the background.
So, here’s a look at what we (think) we know….
On November 24, Scott Priestnall confirmed he had approached SSDC to “buy Huish Park freehold land including the stadium, as well as the long leasehold parcel of land to the east of the site.”
In this statement at the time, the owner laid out the reasons why he felt the deal was necessary “in order to avoid serious financial distress in the coming months”.
On December 3, the council’s Executive District Committee met to approve the deal to “purchase and lease back property owned by Yeovil Town FC” including the Huish Park stadium.
In its press release following the decision, the council confirmed the deal would extinguish a 999-year lease between the council and the club and replace it with a new 30-year lease for the stadium and the land around it.
The full terms of the deal have remained confidential, but the authority confirmed it would be renting the site back to the club for a profit “of around 7%” per year.
It added the deal would also secure “the release of restrictive covenants” on the land which prevent its development of land at Huish Park.
The council added it would not be becoming the owner or a shareholder of the club, but recognised the value of the club to the community.
In 2016, the Glovers’ Trust took out an Asset of Community Value (ACV) on Huish Park which gives it the right to make a counter offer if anyone sought to buy the stadium and surrounding land.
On January 2, the Trust’s board confirmed it would activate this option and had until May 26 to make an offer counter to that proposed by SSDC.
Importantly, as Scott Priestnall pointed out in his November statement, the ACV only dictates he must consider the bid and he is not under any obligation to accept it.
So, what has happened since activating the ACV? Well, we don’t actually know, but the Trust’s most recent statement suggests it has been having conversations with people interested in backing them to make a counter offer.
In their email to members on May 10, the Trust said:
“We would like to assure you that we are in serious talks with parties who are keen to form a consortium and put together a credible bid. These are early days in the discussions and we will update further in due course.”
If you do want to get in to the detail of the ACV, the Trust has published a document which attempts to make the mind-bogglingly complicated see simple – see here.
Well, the only party interested in owning the club that we can talk about with any certainty is the current owner Scott Priestnall and his fellow director Glenn Collis.
As mentioned before, we have not heard much from the owner on this subject since his update statement on February 24 , however, Glenn Collis has been more vocal on his social media – albeit not on the subject of the land deal.
Although his posts did including this cryptic tweet a few days ago though….
So, with SSDC making it clear it has no plans to become owner or even a shareholder, we’re all really guessing about who else might be interested and who the Glovers’ Trust could be speaking with.
Scott Priestnall has poured cold water on some speculation of entrepreneurs interested in a buy-out, and the only person who has made any positive noises about the club is former director Andy Rossiter,
The well-known supporter and local businessman was quite publicly part of a consortium which held talks with then-owners Norman Hayward and John Fry back in May 2019, when the club was sold to Scott Priestnall and his then-business partner Errol Pope.
There’s no suggestion that same consortium is ready to bid again, although on one of the virtual Q&As held by Scott Priestnall has said he “knows where Andy (Rossiter) is” which suggests the door may be open for the possibility – but doesn’t go as far as saying it.
Hopefully that’s given you something of a summary of what I think we know, so the only thing left to give you is my opinion on what I would like to see come of it all.
Here we go…..
And that’s about it for my ‘demands’.
So, if Scott Priestnall and Glenn Collis, a consortium aligned to the Glovers’ Trust ACV, or anyone else out there interested in doing what is best for our club, our community and our supporters can deliver that, I’m confident you’ll find the support of almost all of us who call this club ours.
Two-goal Tom Knowles has been named in the National League Team of the Day for his performance in the 3-1 home win over King’s Lynn Town.
The forward is listed in a front three alongside Rhys Oates of Hartlepool United and W*ymouth’s Andrew Dallas, who scored twice in their 2-1 home win over Altrincham.
Oates got one in Hartlepool’s 3-1 win at Aldershot Town.