Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 332)

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Yeovil Town Head of Player Development Marcus Stewart has announced he has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The former Glovers’ striker joined the coaching staff in a part-time capacity at Huish Park upon the arrival of manager Chris Hargreaves in the summer and has been on the touchline for a number of matches this season.

Having been diagnosed following a year of testing, the 49-year-old has made it clear he intends to continue his role in football.

Yeovil Town’s Marcus Stewart celebrates the 87th minute equaliser which took the League Two play-off final second leg in to extra time at Nottingham Forest in 2007.
Picture courtesy of Len Copland.

In a statement on Thursday, Marcus said: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank those closest to me for their unwavering support since my recent diagnosis.

“As I take the time to adjust, my intention is to continue to enjoy my work in football and spend time with my family.

“In the future, I would like to use my platform within football to help raise awareness around MND, but in the short-term, I would like to ask for privacy on behalf of myself and my family.”

The statement added: “Everyone at Yeovil Town and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is committed to supporting Marcus and his family in whatever way we can. We know the same will be true of fans of Marcus’ previous clubs and the wider football family.”

Marcus and his wife, Louise, have set up a JustGiving page for people to be able to donate to the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, set up by ex-Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City player Stephen Darby and RAF veteran Chris Rimmer who both live with the condition.

The Foundation aims to raise awareness and funding to assist research in to the illness and raise funds to support those with MND.

The Stewart’s fund-raising page is available here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/louise-stewart254

In his playing career, Marcus Stewart spent nearly two years at Yeovil Town scoring 12 times including the memorable strike which forced extra time in the unforgettable League One play-off semi final second leg at Nottingham Forest in 2007.

He played for more than two decades making over 650 appearances for clubs including both Bristol clubs and Exeter City, scoring more than 250 goals.

 

What is Motor Neurone Disease or MND?

The Motor Neurone Disease Association describes the condition as:

MND is the short term for motor neurone disease, which affects the nerves known as motor neurones. These nerves are found in the brain and spinal cord and they help tell your muscles what to do.

With Motor Neurone Disease, known as MND, messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles.

This leads the muscles to weaken, stiffen and waste, which can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. Some people also get changes to their thinking and behaviour, but the disease affects everyone differently.

Not all symptoms will affect everyone, or in the same order. Symptoms also progress at varying speeds, which makes the course of the disease difficult to predict.

MND is life-shortening and there is no cure. Although the disease will progress, symptoms can be managed to help achieve the best possible quality of life.

For more information about MND and the Darby Rimmer Foundation, visit:

Motor Neurone Disease: https://www.mndassociation.org/
Darby Rimmer Foundation: https://darbyrimmermnd.co.uk/

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Avon & Somerset Police has launched an appeal for witnesses of an incident where York City striker Lennell John-Lewis was racially abused at Huish Park.

The police has confirmed it is reviewing a recording of the incident which says was “posted online before being removed” although is still available on the match highlights on both club’s YouTube channels.

Lennell John-Lewis issued his own statement on his Instagram account.

It follows an internal investigation launched by Yeovil Town on Monday after the footage came to light and the FA has confirmed to the Gloverscast that it is also investigating the incident.

In a statement, Avon & Somerset Police said: “The player at which the abuse was directed at will be spoken to by officers and offered support.

“Anyone who was in the Screwfix Stand during Saturday’s game and saw or heard anything which could help is asked to get in touch.”

If you can help, please call 101 and give the call handler the reference number 5222215076, or complete the police’s online appeals form.

You can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers 100 per cent anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their Anonymous Online Form.

No personal details are taken, information cannot be traced or recorded and you will not go to court or have to speak to police when contacting Crimestoppers.

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We’re launching a monthly tracker of fan opinion. This is for the month of August, so up until our 0-0 with Wealdstone.

Give each question below a score out of 7.

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Yeovil Town have launched an investigation after match highlights including “discriminatory chanting” from the weekend’s defeat to York City was published.

The highlights from the game at Huish Park published on the YouTube channels of both clubs including monkey noises coming from the stands as visiting striker Lennell John-Lewis prepared to take a penalty after 70 minutes of the match.

In a statement issued on Monday night, the club said: “Yeovil Town can confirm we are aware of audio which contains discriminatory chanting from Saturday’s game against York.

“An internal investigation will take place into the matter and we will work with all the relevant authorities.

“Yeovil Town continues to stand against all forms of discrimination. We will make no further comment at this time.”

The noises are clearly audible after around four minutes of the highlights footage when John-Lewis, who scored York’s winner in the 1-0 win, stepped up to the spot. His effort was saved by Yeovil goalkeeper Grant Smith.

York City also released the following on their Twitter account:

 

Here at Gloverscast we are sure we speak for all decent supporters when we say there is no place for this behaviour in our club and hope the perpetrators are identified and given lifetime bans from Huish Park.

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Finley Craske (R) warms up ahead of the Barnet game with Olivier Hulbert (C) and Matty Grivosti (L)

Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher has told the Plymouth Herald that he and first team coach Kevin Nancekivell have been in regular contact with both Finley Craske and Yeovil Town regarding the defenders progression and have said that they are “quite happy” with his progress.

Schumacher told reporter Chris Erringtond: “I would like him to play but at the moment he’s not getting in their team. Nance (Kevin Nancekivell) is in touch with Chris Hargreaves, who says he’s doing okay.

“It’s a big step up the National League to what Finley played last year so he’s probably just getting used to it, but they are quite happy with how he’s training and he’s not far away from getting in the squads and in the team, so we will leave him where he is for the time being.”

Craske, who has joined for the entirety of the 2022/23 season on loan from our Devonshire friends, is yet to make an appearance for his new side and has only been seen once on the bench, when as an unused sub on the opening day at Scunthorpe.

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How long ago does Alty feel now?

Man of the Match for the 42 who voted was Lawson D’Ath with 40.5% of the vote. In 2nd place was Malachi Linton and in 3rd place as Gime Toure.

The team performance was an average of 4.8 out of 7 so above average and entertainment value was 5.1, so those who went had an enjoyable afternoon, up until stoppage time!

 

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Yeovil fell to a dismal 1-0 loss at the hands of York City at Huish Park yesterday. Here’s how Ian saw it from the press box.

We didn’t compete in the midfield battle. For a lot of the match it felt like we were playing with seven at the back and three up front. The gap between the midfield was so large that it was no wonder we resorted to playing it long from back to front and exposing our deficiencies. York City’s centre midfield were finding pockets of space (much like Dagenham’s did last weekend) and kept possession effectively. I can’t recall Sam Perry or Lawson D’Ath grabbing the game or getting us a decent few minutes of possession once. We missed Matt Worthington in their for sure, but our focus on recruiting attack-minded players and centre-backs has left us short in centre midfield.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

I think it’s time to try something different tactically. The 3-5-2 worked well against Wrexham and was effective in holding firm against Dagenham but we really didn’t look comfortable with it at all yesterday. Alex Fisher isn’t the kind of striker who’s going to hold up the ball and bring others into it. Charlie Wakefield isn’t a wingback and, although I like Josh Staunton at centre back, yesterday wasn’t his greatest performance. I would have liked to have seen him brought forward into a deep midfield role yesterday to help us compete in those areas and switch to a back four. We tried to build up from the back, but it just didn’t happen. If we conceded the ball cheaply once, we did it a thousand times. Max Hunt and Ben Richards-Everton struggled to get us moving forward but they weren’t helped by their teammates offering to get the ball from them and had to resort to lumping it down the channels forcing our strikers to feed off scraps.

We looked tired. That was one of the managers observations yesterday adding that he’d review what they did in the week following the Bank Holiday double header, suggesting the preparation hadn’t been right for yesterday. We didn’t keep the ball, we weren’t offering to get take it from each other, we felt overrun on numerous occasions and we didn’t play like a team. Maybe we missed the legs of Matt Worthington in midfield, but it felt like most weren’t at the races at all yesterday. That fatigue led to poor decision making, a lack of willing runners and no execution of the manager’s plan. We can’t criticise these players for not looking fit, because we know they are, but yesterday something was off. 

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Credit has to go to York City, they played like a team that’s been at this level for a while. The Minstermen looked comfortable on the ball and didn’t give us a look-in in the second half. Lenell John-Lewis gave a complete strikers performance, winning aerial duels, getting into dangerous spaces in the box and causing our three centre backs problems all afternoon. John-Lewis was thwarted from the spot by Grant Smith, but he deserved his deflected winner. The pressed our defence and goalkeeper when the time was right and were really well organised. But for a couple of saves from their keeper, they rarely felt stretched by our attacking play.

We said last week had to be the low point of the season, and now THIS has to be the low point of the season. Boos rang out at Huish Park yesterday following the final whistle, whether you agree with that or not, the performance was straight out of the Darren Way-era so you could understand the frustration in the stands. It has to be an off-day. Although there’s more certainty off-the-pitch this season than last, the clouds from the climax of last season are still there and it feels like they’re gathering quickly again. People won’t forget about the talk of plans for new investment and concrete frameworks from April and here we are five months later with one additional director. If there are repeats of yesterday, the pressure will be on the owner again.

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Toby Stephens in action for Truro City. Picture courtesy of Cameron Weldon/Truro City FC.

Only one of Yeovil Town’s loan duo was in action on Saturday as Toby Stephens completed his first 90 minutes for Truro.

The Cornish side were dumped out of the FA Cup by Merthyr Town losing 5-2 in the First Qualifying Round.

Paul Wotton‘s side were depleted through injury and availability naming just five subs on the bench with a full seven allowed.

Ollie Haste was not involved in the squad with Wotton saying post match that two of his loan signings – one of which was presumably Haste – was “not eligible to play in the FA Cup”.

We can assume then that Haste had not been given permission to play to avoid the youngster being cup-tied should the Glovers require him later on in the competition.

The White Tigers next fixture is… almost inexplicably… away at Merthyr Town again, this time in the league next Saturday.