Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 350)

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Mr Priestnall,

What is happening to our football club?

For more than 125 years, Yeovil Town FC has been at the heart of the community. Under your custodianship, our beloved community club is falling apart and dying in front of our eyes.

We deserve answers as to why, under your leadership, the club is on the brink.

What is your plan for the future of the football club? On 5 December, you gave prospective bidders a seven day deadline before you would unveil your vision for the football club. It’s April and we’ve seen no sign of this vision.

This season we have lost Terry Skiverton and Darren Sarll. Two men who carried the club and its players through one of the darkest moments in the history of the football club. How do you plan to replace them?

Heading into next season, we have one contracted player and an interim manager for the ‘foreseeable future’. Have you begun discussions with any of the players, who have performed admirably this season?

You can cite the ongoing takeover situation as a reason for the uncertainty, but you are the owner of Yeovil Town Football Club. 

You are the individual who bears responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the football club. As the Chairman of the club, your neglectful ownership is destroying the only professional football club in Somerset. 

Is that something you really want to be your legacy as a businessman?

As Yeovil Town Supporters, we implore you to tell us what is happening with our football club, please.

Yours faithfully,

The Supporters of Yeovil Town FC

We must unite as supporters if we want to get answers. Please add your signature to this letter here.

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Tom Knowles turns home the second in the 2-0 home win over Southend. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

In perhaps the least surprising news of the week, Tom Knowles has been named in the Vanarama Team of the Week.

Knowles has been performing well for a while now and bagged another goal in the 2-2 vs Barnet.

Don’t fall in love with footballers.

Full team below.

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A football finance expert has said he believes Yeovil Town’s future is secure – if the club’s owners have a long-term interest.

Kieran Maguire, who co-hosts the Price of Football podcast, spoke to us on the latest edition of the Gloverscast podcast after the publication of the accounts of Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, the business which runs the club’s football operations.

It showed that during the 12 months to June 30, 2021, the club lost just under £400,000 which takes the overall losses of £2.22m.

Scott Priestnall, left, alongside now former Glovers’ manager, Darren Sarll. Priestnall and fellow director Glenn Collis are the only directors of the companies against which the club’s loans have been charged.

However, there nine months have passed since the period these accounts cover, and we know that the club has loaned an extra £309,000 from Sport England since then taking the amount it owes up to almost £1m – read more here.

Summarising the accounts he has looked at, Kieran said: “It’s not in a great position, it’s not in a terrible position necessarily, but things have happened since these figures which go up to the end of last June.

“If you look at the accounts, it owes a lot of money to the parent company (Yeovil Town Holdings) and if it asks for that money back, we have a problem because the money is not to pay that back.

“However, reading the small print of the accounts, the directors say that the parent company is not going to ask for the money back until the football club is in a strong enough financial position to do that.”

Of the loans which have been taken out from Sport England, he added: “Presumably Sport England has done its due diligence and is happy to lend, those loan facilities were close to a million pounds one or two weeks ago.

“When you take a look at the details, a lot of the money is owed to Yeovil Town Holdings who say ‘we aren’t in a hurry for that money’, Sport England are the same.

“Worst case scenario, if Yeovil Town were to cease trading today there could be an issue but that’s not going to be the case.”

Kieran also explained what he meant when he described the club as “technically insolvent“, meaning that the money it owes is more than it has. “It’s negative equity to use a term people are more familiar with,” he explained, “we did a recent study and found 52 clubs in the Premier League and EFL are technically insolvent and no-one is saying they are all going to go bust.”

The ‘parent company’ referenced here is Yeovil Town Holdings, the business set up by former owners Norman Hayward and John Fry to own the land around Huish Park back in 2010 – and both companies have the same directors, chairman Scott Priestnall and fellow director Glenn Collis.

So, technically the club is lending to itself and has been for the past 12 years albeit with Messrs Hayward and Fry footing the bill up until 2019 and now Mr Priestnall is doing so.

There are further complexities thrown in by the fact that the money borrowed by CV Leisure, the business Scott Priestnall used to buy the club, being secured against the clubs assets – namely its stadium and the land around it.

But, the bottom line is, as long as there is an owner in charge who has a long-term interest in the club.
Last December, the chairman issued a long statement – read it again here if you are feeling brave – where he said: “Selling this club has never been my desire.”

You can listen to our chat with Kieran in full – here – which starts about 30 minutes.

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On this episode of the Gloverscast, we’re delighted to welcome Kieran Maguire from author of The Price of Football and co-host of The Price of Football Podcast, to tell us what the some of the stuff on Companies House actually means. Kieran give is us a great insight into what could be happening and why, but kind of put our minds at ease too.

Before that though, Ian, Ben and Dave waffle about Charlie Lee’s Green and White Army’s trip to Barnet, and the small matter of a cup semi final this Tuesday.

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After the past seven days at Huish Park, there was talk from the Barnet side of convincing victories coming their way but did we expect anything other than this Yeovil Town side to turn up at The Hive?

Goals from Tom Knowles and Reuben Reid earned a 2-2 draw in North London at the weekend, and here are Coatesie‘s conclusions on what he saw from the away end….

After the week they have had with the exit of Darren Sarll and remembering former captain Lee Collins a year after his death, Yeovil Town’s players could have found an excuse for sub-par performance. But, this group of players never fail to give it everything they’ve got and they did that once again.
If this was a ‘dead rubber’ match between two mid-table sides with little threat of troubling the top or bottom of the division, get me along to more of them because it was thoroughly entertaining and that was down to the desire of both sets of players.
Glovers’ caretaker manager Charlie Lee has promised that he will make sure his players give absolutely everything in every match he is in charge of and after his first 90 minutes there can be no questioning the commitment of this squad.

However, this was not the vintage performance we have seen in our last couple of outings against Southend or Bromley.
Reuben Reid summarised it perfectly when he spoke after the match and said that the start and the finish from his team-mates was on the money, but the bit in the middle needs some working on.
Both goals conceded will have been a disappointment to both Charlie Lee and his players as on both occasions Barnet seemed to waltz through out midfield without too much challenge.
For the first goal, Morgan Williams was at fault against a very good player in Ephron Mason-Clark, and for the second there were multiple guilty parties for not stopping the hosts’ attack.

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Remember when scoring more than one goal was a problem? Nope, me neither. These last few games have seen us reborn in an attacking sense and seeing Tom Knowles’ desire to win the ball after just nine minutes, then tear forward and smash home the opener was fantastic.
Where does he get his energy from? All through the match he was a constant thorn in Barnet’s side.
And, yes, I have said I will judge Reuben Reid on goals this season (well, I did last season as well) and with two in his last two games, there’s nothing more I can say than – keep it up!

Perhaps one of the reasons for the reigniting of our attacking play is the arrival of Josh Neufville and Olufela Olomola and surely it’s time we saw Neufville and Fela given a start.
Charlie Wakefield looks to be trying so hard and it’s just not happening for him at the moment, so why not take him out of the firing line and give one of the loanees a start against King’s Lynn next weekend?

Josh Neufville. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Lee spoke after the game about how Luton has told us to be careful with Josh and I am sure Hartlepool would not thank us for breaking Fela, but both feel like they need more opportunities to show what they are made of.

Finally, on Monday’s podcast I said the one thing supporters can do to help in these worryingly uncertain times was to turn up in numbers and make a racket and boy did we.
Every single one of the 288 fans in that away end did everything they could to show Charlie Lee and his players exactly what their efforts and this football club means to us.
I suspect we don’t need to tell show them, but at a time when these players who have put in so much effort appear to be being shown so much disrespect by others at the club – see here if you don’t know what I mean – it was great that we did.
And for those who either are or seek to be the custodians of this club, I hope you witnessed exactly what it means. History will judge you for your actions. Do not fail these people.

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Reuben Reid opens the scoring in the 2-0 win over Southend. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town goal-scorer Reuben Reid has said there was a tinge of disappointment not to get caretaker boss Charlie Lee a win in his first game.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, the striker said that there was plenty of positives to come out of the 2-2 draw at Barnet, but he felt it was another ‘what if?’ story for the Glovers.

He said: “We were good in parts, from minute one to ten, we looked red hot, with Knowlesy who is in a run of form – he’s in a good moment – I thought then we would be runaway winners, it wasn’t to be.

“We then went to looking like a group of players who hadn’t played together or trained together, we didn’t stick to what our principals were in the formation we were playing,

“It wasn’t so much Barnet being good, it more us being maybe not on it'”

Tom Knowles’ ninth minute opener set the Glovers on their way, only for the hosts fought back to retake the lead, before Reid grabbed a late equaliser with his second goal in as many matches.

There were chances for both side to win the game, most notably a header from on loan defender Ben Barclay, but Reid felt the second half was as patchy as the first.

He added: “We came into the second half and for blocks of the game, it looked like we had cracked it and we looked like a good team.

“We’ve had chances, I’m just disappointed for Charlie Lee really, it was a great opportunity to get him up and running as a manager, I think we didn’t really capitalise on the opportunity”

“It’s not all doom and gloom, we came on strong… as the game started it was a strikers game, thinking ‘fill your boots’, … as I said at the start, it shows how frustrating it is, it shows what could have been, but also it shows what it is.”

“Everyone is in there, head in their hands, like I say disappointed for Charlie Lee, it would have been nice to get the win”

Reid stated that the standards would remain high between now and the end of the season, despite the mid-table position.

He said: “I don’t think you become a professional player without having your own standards within you, our old manager has gone, you don’t down tools.

“I know people are saying, we can’t get the play offs and we can’t get relegated, but that’s irrelevant, as a player you’ve got a duty to come in and perform in training, and there’s certain characters in the group, that won’t allow you to come in (and down tools) because certain people will be onto you.”

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Charlie Lee spoke of his pride in his Yeovil Town players who fought back to earn a point at Barnet in the caretaker manager’s first game in charge.

The Glovers took the lead after just nine minutes when Tom Knowles robbed the hosts from a free-kick, burst forward and smashed home the opener, only to go 2-1 behind before Reuben Reid grabbed an equaliser eight minutes from time.

Lee was assisted on the touchline by injured midfielder Josh Staunton as the post-Darren Sarll era got underway in North London.

Charlie Lee speaks to the BBC ? YTFC

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, he said: “It’s been such a tough week with everything that has happened. To come out with a new person in charge, I am so proud of them.

“Everything about the day was brilliant including the fans, we sold so many tickets there, it’s just unbelievable. Stuff like that people don’t know what it means to me and the players.

“We were trying so hard to win for them and it just would have topped off an unbelievable week.”

The 288 travelling supporters at The Hive left the former midfielder in no doubt about their feelings towards him with “Charlie Lee’s green and white army” ringing around the ground from the first whistle until the last, something which was not lost on him.

He said: “I tried to concentrate on the game but when you hear the name singing your name it’s a very proud moment.

“I have loved playing for this club, every minute and to get my first chance of managing, I will do the best I can.

“I promised in my press conference on Friday that these players will work until the last game, they showed it today.

“You had 14 players today trying everything to win for those fans and when you get support like that, I promise you the players will give everything they have.”

Lee could not hide his disappointment at not winning match with a number of golden opportunities to grab three points after the equaliser, not least a header from defender Ben Barclay which went wide.

He said: “We started unbelievably well and looked a threat in all aspects, but in two spells were a bit sloppy and ended up going 2-1 down.

“As they always will, the boys were fit and will always go to the end and we just thought (the winning goal) was coming.

“We were gutted we could not get there in the end, but really pleased with the way they worked.”

Josh Neufville appeared as a 72nd minute substitute in place of Charlie Wakefield with Olufela Olomola replacing goalscorer Reid with four minutes to go,

Josh Neufville. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Neufville immediately showed his quality linking up well with fellow substitute Sonny Blu Lo-Everton to carve out a chance moments after his arrival.

Lee admitted he is having to restrain himself from throwing the Luton Town man in to the fray, but said he is getting closer to a start.

The caretaker boss said: “We were told when we got him to be careful and we took him earlier than Luton would have expected, but they knew we would manage him well and when you have a player like that it is hard not to rush him back in.

“But the boys have been good, I thought Sonny  looked excellent when he came on as well and Fela and that’s been the story of the last few weeks, it’s been the boys who have come on and made an impact as well.

“So we have people really pushing for a start next week (against King’s Lynn).”

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Venue: The Hive
Saturday, 2nd April, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: All four seasons in one
Pitch: “Crumbly” – Reuben Reid.

Attendance: 1,393 (288 from Yeovil)

Scorers: Tom Knowles (0-1) 8, Ephron Mason-Clarke (1-1) 23,  Adam Marriott (2-1_) 70, Reuben Reid (2-2) 82.

Bookings:

Yeovil: Wakefield ’30, Gorman ’36, Gorman ’85, Wilkinson ’90
Barnet: Beard ’26, De Havilland ’29

Referee: Tom Bishop

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)

Ted Cann

Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams

Matt Worthington, Dale Gorman, Lawson D’Ath (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 62), Tom Knowles

Charlie Wakefield (for Josh Neufville, 72), Reuben Reid (for Olufela Olomola, 86)

Substitutes: Jordan Barnett, Alex Bradley.

Barnet: Askew, Richards-Everton, Hall, Marshall, Mason-Clark, Marriott, Greenidge, Fonguck, Beard, Woods, Grego-Cox. Subtitutes: Howe (for Hall 82) Walsh (for Marshall 87) De Havilland (for Woods ‘3), Granville, Azaze.

Charlie Lee’s first game in caretaker charge of Yeovil Town saw him earn a point after an action-packed draw at Barnet.

Having taken the lead when Tom Knowles robbed the hosts from a hapless free-kick, burst forward and smashed home an eighth minute opener, only for Ephron Mason-Clark and Adam Marriott to put the Bees ahead with a goal in each half.

But, with just eight minutes remaining and the visitors finishing strongly, Reuben Reid grabbed his second in as many games to grab a well-earned point.

The travelling contingent from Somerset were in fine voice at The Hive and our own David Coates (who didn’t travel from Somerset, of course) was among them – here’s how he saw it…..

Match Report

Caretaker boss Charlie Lee changed absolutely nothing about the line-up – and why would you after three wins in your last three? – and stuck with the same squad which beat Southend United seven days earlier.

He and his ‘assistant’/injured midfielder Josh Staunton arrived on the the touch line to chants of ‘Charlie Lee’s green and white army’ from the away end, and the players he put out showed from the off that they were picking up where they left off.

Matt Worthington burst forward from the kick-off and within seconds of the start and testing Barnet keeper Jake Askew with an early effort.

If that was a signal of intent that Yeovil Town were not changing, Barnet boss Dean Brennan’s frustration will have grown after seeing Sam Woods limp off after just three minutes. Brennan had vented his anger at the number of players in the treatment room in his pre-match interview and there was another.

Tom Knowles scores v Southend. Pic: Mike Kunz.

Six minutes later he had even more to complain about as Yeovil took the lead. Barnet made a complete hash of a free-kick and Tom KNOWLES’ pressure saw him win the ball, burst forward and smash a beautiful angled shot home for the opener.

On 15 minutes, Luke Wilkinson headed wide from a Dale Gorman set piece before the centre half was the vital at the other end clearing, off the line as Barnet began to turn up the pressure.

It was a Gorman who had the next effort with a trademark free kick from range, albeit he forced Askew in to a smart stop after 22 minutes.

But two minutes later, a quick Barnet break led by Rob Hall saw the ball drop to Ephron MASON-CLARK who smashed a ball home off the underside of the bar to draw the hosts’ level. Morgan Williams was certainly struggling with the pace and trickery of Mason-Clark, so it was no surprise the see a goal come from that side.

Adam Marriott flashed a shot just wide shortly after and from there the game became a lot more even with Yeovil’s best opportunities coming on the break.

On the stroke of half-time, a set piece found the head of Ben Everton-Richards whose effort was easily stopped by Ted Cann in the visitors’ goal. It seemed both teams were waiting for a offside flag which ultimately never came.

But, the final chance of the half fell to Wakefield. Following good hold up play by Worthington saw him find Mark Little who broke in to the box and his shot was deflected out to Wakefield whose effort was tipped over the bar.

Half- time: Barnet 1 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The second half started with Knowles, the highlight of the first half, having a shot just wide before having another blocked.

But, as the game progressed, neither side did too much to threaten with an effort wide from Knowles and one over the bar from Marriott the best the game had to offer.

If a goal was going to come, it would be a mistake and that was how it proved with the Bees taking the lead on  70 minutes. A loose ball in midfield gave Hall the chance to break forward and, having been allowed to walk through the Yeovil midfield, the ball broke to  MARRIOTT who shrugged off Mark Little to fire Barnet in front.

The response from Lee was instant sign was instant with Josh Neufville coming off the bench for Wakefield.

Within minutes of coming on, the Luton Town loanee was involved breaking forward and playing in Reid whose laid the ball off to Gorman whose effort was turned aside well by Askew.

From the resulting corners, Luke Wilkinson appeared to take at least two arms to the head, but referee Tom Bishop was unmoved.

Reuben Reid scores v Southend. Pic: Mike Kunz.

But on 82 minutes Yeovil drew level after constant pressure saw the ball ping-pong around the box before Gorman’s ball in from the left break to REID who smashed it home.

Three minutes later the striker found himself in a great position again but took one touch too many and opportunity disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Great play by Neufville moments after let substitute Sonny Blu Lo-Everton who jinked his way past two defenders but his shot came back off the post.

Moments later Ben Barclay rose highest from a corner and inexplicably headed wide with the goal at his mercy.

If there was a team who was going to win it at the end it was Yeovil, but a point a piece was probably a fairer result.

Full time: Barnet 2 Yeovil Town 2

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Reuben Reid opens the scoring in the 2-0 win over Southend. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Charlie Lee has named his first starting XI as interim manager and has made a grand total of… zero changes.

Hardly surprising given the Glovers are on a three match winning streak though.

There’s no return to the squad for any of the injured cohort with Grant Smith, Max Hunt and Jack Robinson continuing their comeback.

The only alteration sees Josh Staunton miss out on the squad after having a scan in midweek on a hernia problem, Sonny Blu Lo Everton is back among the subs.

Team in full.

Ted Cann

Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams

Tom Knowles, Dale Gorman, Matt Worthington, Lawson D’Ath

Reuben Reid, Charlie Wakefield.

Substitutes: Barnett, Bradley, Lo Everton, Olomola, Neufville.

 

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Listening to Josh Staunton talk to the ‘Football, Bloody Hell’ show on 3 Valleys Radio this week was not easy.

Here we have a 26-year-old man with an injury which, in any other walk of life would have been operated on weeks ago, saying that he and his (in many cases even younger) team-mates have absolutely no idea if they have a job at the end of next month.

Any Yeovil Town fan knows all about the ‘will they? won’t they?’ situation with the takeover of the club, the apparent complete absence (at least publicly) of chairman and owner Scott Priestnall and a rudderless ship at Huish Park which has allowed manager Darren Sarll to walk away and join a rival club – and who can blame him?

Just read this that Josh told Adi Hopper at 3 Valley Radio:

Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

“We are surrounded by uncertainty now and it is disappointing when you get to this stage of the season and you don’t know if you are wanted or unwanted.

“That is not just me, that is every player that is out of contract, we would like some sort of clarity of whether we need to look elsewhere or are going to be offered something.

“One of the benefits of having a younger team, that blind loyalty is there. If we had a group of older players who were more family-orientated, I think it would be a lot more toxic around the dressing room.

“Especially at this time of year when people are worrying about their futures.”

Now the first thing to say is to praise Josh for his honesty and openness. There are few players in our squad – or indeed any squad in recent years – that clearly have the best interests of the club at heart more than Josh, so this is clearly something he has deep concerns about.

You can read more of what Josh said here or if you want to listen to the full show – try and skip the bits where Adi talks about things vibrating on his thighs (!), you can do that – here.

Now, I know that a footballers’ career is naturally more transient, but, even if you justify this situation that way, what of the other people who are employed by the club? The people looking after the stadium, running our community organisation, doing the finances, the media, all the other things that keep our club going.

Yesterday we paused and reflected on the tragic death of former captain Lee Collins and read heart-breaking tales about the demons which tormented him off-the-field.

As you will have heard Ian say on the latest podcast, we need to make sure the memory of Lee’s story stays with us as a football club – in our thoughts and our actions.

Lee’s concerns included about his future. Yet we have young people who find themselves with the same concerns and yet this seems to be happening. I ask again – how is this being allowed to happen?