Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 350)

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Former Yeovil Town defender Nathan Smith has told the Gloverscast about his favourite ever goal in green and white – but it’s probably not the one you are thinking of.

The former Jamaican international scored a goal of the season contender in a 4-2 home defeat against Stockport County during his first spell at the club in December 2008.

Nathan Smith tussles with Manchester United’s Ander Herrera in the FA Cup third round tie in January 2015. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Talking to us for the latest edition of the GloversPast, he revealed that goal was no fluke: “Andre McCollin can attest to it. The day before we were in training doing shooting and I think it was Jonesey (Nathan Jones) who said to me ‘keep working on your striking, put the ball down and strike through it.’

“That’s all I was doing and when I scored it I felt a relief knowing a bit of practice and seeing that ball fly like it did fly, it felt sweet.

“But the one that means more to me than the rest of them was against Plymouth in the cup because at the time my Mum was close to losing her life and no-one knew about that.

“So when I show a few of my goals, people always look at that screamer against Stockport as my favourite, but because of everything that was going on behind the scenes, it made that moment a lot more special.”

The goal against Plymouth Argyle came in a 2-1 home win in a League Two match at the end of January 2017, you can see it on a video shot from the Thatcher’s End – here. The Stockport goal is better though, see below.

Listen to Nathan talk to Ian and Ben about how becoming a professional player was “like going from a spoon to eating with a knife and fork” – here.

 

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Yeovil Town manager Chris Hargreaves has said he will only bring in players who are “right for the club” as he continues his search to strengthen his squad.

The Glovers’ boss was speaking to the club’s YouTube channel a week ahead of the first pre-season friendly at Taunton Town next Tuesday, July 12.

Chris Hargreaves talks to the club’s YouTube channel.

He said: “I have spoken to a lot of people and we will come to a decision that is right for the club.

“It’s got to be right for the club going forward but there’s been some really positive discussions over the last 24-48 hours.

“I have spoken to a lot of people and, if they want to play for this football club, they are coming in and if they don’t, they’re not.”

Last week, the boss added full-back Jamie Reckord to the squad following his release by National League rivals Boreham Wood at the end of last season.

Hargreaves said the experience of the 30-year-old, who has more than 200 matches on his CV, would be a boost for the squad.

He added: “He’s a good age, very fit and he’s got the bit between his teeth. He trained yesterday for the first time which was good, so we are happy to have him on board.”

The squad is now in the second week of pre-season training under the watchful eye of the manager, his assistant manager Chris Todd and Marcus Stewart, Head of Player Development.

Hargreaves said: “The lads arrived back fit which is what we wanted. They have certainly done plenty of running, but they will have done before they came in, all footballers do now, don’t they?

“It’s so critical to your performance. I have been impressed with it and it’s been good for me, Marcus =and Toddy to see the lads perform and we look forward to the next few weeks because there’s a lot of work to be done.

“We want fitness from the lads over the next few weeks and continue getting strong and understanding more about them as a group and as individuals and what we can get out of them.

“As you do as a player, when it gets closer to the first game, you want to get in the team, so I want to see that from the players.”

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The National League fixtures are out for the 2022/23 and much to everyone’s surprise Yeovil will play every other team twice, once at home and once away.

Chris Hargreaves‘ first competitive game in charge of the Glovers will be against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on August 6th.

Plenty of other key dates in the calendar including the traditional Boxing Day fixture, which this year will be against Gary Johnson’s Torquay United (or do we call them Chris Hargreaves’ former team?) at Plainmoor.

Torquay, the closest side geographically to Yeovil will visit Huish Park on New Year’s Day in a back-to-back fixture schedule.

As for Woking, (because you couldn’t help yourself from checking, could you!?) they, along with him, him and him will return to Huish Park on the 4th March.

The final game of the season is at Boreham Wood on April 29th 2023, with the details of plans for the Glovers’ National League trophy presentation still to be confirmed on that date. (Still got that open top bus on hold, Ben?)

All times and dates are subject to change once BT Sport pick and choose their favourites (or whoever Wrexham are playing).

All next season’s National League fixtures are now live on our webpage – click here.

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Adi Yussuf in action for Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Former Glovers striker Adi Yussuf has signed for St Joseph’s in Gibraltar.

The Tanzanian forward is set to make his debut for his new side in the Europa Conference League qualifiers on Tuesday night against Northern Irish side, Larne.

Yussuf was one of a number of players released by new manager Chris Hargreaves at the end of his contract.

All the best in Gibraltar, Adi.

Thanks to the Gloverscast’s Europa Conference League correspondent Marcus Ducomb for the heads up.

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The first ever Gloverscast End of Season Survey has closed and a huge thank you to the 499 (argh!) of you who took part.

Someone with much better numeracy skills has kindly offered to trawl through the data and make it digestible for our readers. The majority of the questions were statements on a scale of 1-7, giving participants the opportunity to score a 1 for ‘strongly disagree’ and 7 a score for ‘strongly agree’.

Here are Five Conclusions we’ve drawn from an early look at your answers.

Supporters don’t think there is a clear plan for the future of the club. With a score of 2.25 out of 7 and with 43.9% of respondents scoring 1 and 21.2% scoring 2, it is abundantly clear that supporters of the club don’t know what the plan for the club is. Granted, since the survey we’ve heard the goal is to get out of the National League, but what we’re putting in place to enable that, what the future of the land looks like, what the future of the facilities looks like is all a bit vague at the moment.

Supporters don’t believe YTFC will benefit from the SSDC deal. The SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park and the surrounding land remains controversial, and probably will do for some time yet. In response to the statement: Yeovil Town FC will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 2.59. To the statement: Scott Priestnall will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 6.0, with 52.9% strongly agreeing. In response to: SSDC will benefit from the SSDC deal to purchase Huish Park, the average score was 5.35 out of 7. There remains a demand for clarity and transparency about the shape of the deal and what the future holds, because as it stands, supporters thing the club is on course to lose out.

There has been quite the drop in season ticket holders over the last five seasons. Of the 499 responses, 59% have had season tickets in the past five years. 38% of respondents are currently season ticket holders. The trend is obvious, we’ve seen attendances dropping season on season since Darren Way was in charge. Personally, I think that final Way season was probably one of the most damaging in terms of getting people through the turnstiles. Last season’s challenge has been talked about ad nauseum, but something we’ve probably not spoken about much ahead of the forthcoming season is the cost of living crisis. People will be making decisions about their spending, especially come the winter and another energy price increase.

Communication should be a priority area. With a score of 2.01 on the statement: The Club has communicated with supporters well this season, there is work to be done to improve. This can be looked at in a couple of ways, a largely absent owner until April this year, with sporadic statements in between has left a feeling of disenchantment. But there are quick wins for the club to implement. To the statement: I know who to contact when I want to make my views heard the average score was 2.93. Give supporters an email address they know they can reach out to where they’ll be heard, because the survey shows us that most don’t feel valued as supporters.

The Supporters Alliance Group needs revaluating. With a score of 3.31, people slightly disagree that the SAG is effective as a means of communicating with the club. And if the SAG is the platform for supporters to make their views heard, most don’t feel they’re listened to and acted upon. Of the 499 responses we received, over 71% are not part of any of the organisations on the SAG. 22% are members of the Glovers Trust, and 7.6% are members of the Green and White Supporters Club. There needs to be room for more voices or a refresh which welcomes new people into the fold so that the group can be truly representative of supporters of the club.

While a professional crunches the data for us to share it, I’d like to say a big thank you to the readers of the Gloverscast for being part of our first survey of this kind. We’ll conduct another one at the end of next season so that we can continue to provide you with a platform for feedback.

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Former Yeovil Town midfielder Ed Upson revealed he offered his services to Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves this summer.

The 32-year-old, who was part of the club’s League One play-off-winning side of 2013, was a free agent following his release by Stevenage at the end of last season.

Ed Upson in action for Yeovil Town. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

However, despite having spoken with Hargreaves, who he knew from their time together at Bristol Rovers, an offer was not forthcoming and he chose to move to Isthmian League North side Stowmarket Town, where he began his career.

Speaking to us on a future episode of the GloversPast, he said: “I was away on holiday when Chris got the job and I text him and said ‘Congrats on the job, if you need a midfielder, let me know.’

“He rang me back the day he got the job and asked what my situation was and I told him I was a free agent and he said ‘I’ll be in touch’ but I never heard anything after that.

“I never turned down Yeovil, I never had the opportunity to turn them down, but it would have been a difficult decision for me because it was a time when I felt it was time to settle down with the family.

“I had a couple of offers in the National League and a couple of EFL clubs and it was the biggest decision I have ever had to make.

“If Yeovil had come in with an offer, it would have been a tough decision to make because they are one of the clubs that would have tempted me to be away from home again.

“I made a decision to be at home for the first time in my career, it was a human decision rather than a football decision.“

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The dates for the FA Cup and FA Trophy in the 2022-23 campaign have been published.

Yeovil Town will enter the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round on Saturday 15th October, and enter the FA Trophy in the Third Round Proper stage on Saturday 17th December 2022, with no replays in this year’s FA Trophy.

Last season, we reached the third round of the FA Cup in last year’s FA Cup, putting out Stevenage before going out to Championship AFC Bournemouth.

In the Trophy, Darren Sarll’s Glovers eased past his current club, Woking, with a 3-1 third round win before going out on penalties at the hands of lower league Needham Market Town in the following round.

The competition dates in full for the 2022-23 season are:

FA Cup

Fourth Round Qualifying: Saturday 15th October 2022
First Round Proper: Saturday 5th November 2022
Second Round Proper: Saturday 26th November 2022
Third Round Proper: Saturday 7th January 2023
Fourth Round Proper: Saturday 28th January 2023
Fifth Round Proper: Wednesday 1st March 2023
Quarter-Final: Saturday 18th March 2023
Semi-Final: Saturday 22nd April 2023
Final: Saturday 3rd June 2023

FA Trophy

Third Round Proper: Saturday 17th December 2022
Fourth Round Proper: Saturday 14th January 202
Fifth Round Proper: Saturday 11th February 2023
Sixth Round Proper: Saturday 11th March 2023 Semi Final: Saturday 1st April 2023
Final: Sunday 21st May 2023

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Former Yeovil Town midfielder Dale Gorman has joined National League rivals Barnet following his departure from Huish Park.

The Northern Irishman, who made more than 40 appearances for the Glovers last season, seems to have been in conversation with Bees’ boss Dean Brennan for some time.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the move is that it does not see him link up with former Yeovil boss, Darren Sarll, at Woking.

Dale Gorman. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking upon his arrival at The Hive, he said: “I will always give my all for the shirt and I like to get on the ball and make things happen.

“I cannot wait to get going now and look forward to being involved in some of the pre-season friendlies coming up soon.”

The former Stevenage and Leyton Orient player was one of five to depart at the start of last month having turned down an offer of a new contract.

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Last week the financial accounts for Yeovil Town Holdings, the company which owned the land around Huish Park (before we flogged it to the council), were published.

However, the accounts relate to the 12 months up to the end of June 2021 which is almost two months before the club registered that it had loaned £689,538 from Sport England at the end of August.

Huish Park, owned by South Somerset District Council.

For this reason, the accounts do not feature any of the almost £1m in loans from Sport England or the sale of the club’s stadium and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council for £2.8m.

YTFC Holdings, which lists chairman Scott Priestnall as its only director following the resignation of Glenn Collis at the end of May, owns shares in Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (YF&AC), the company which (until the sale to the council) ran the football operations and owned the Huish Park stadium site. Still with us?

As we know, YF&AC was heavily loss-making in the same period – the year up to June 2021 – due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic keeping fans out of the stadium and therefore the shares YTFC Holdings held in it were worth considerably less.

How much less? I hear you cry. Okay, you probably didn’t think that, but in case you did it were interested, it appears they went down £707,214 in value to just £1m. As ever with the club’s accounts, the details are very scant and (even with a little assistance from those who understand balance sheets) there’s not a lot of insight we can draw from them.

So, in terms of what new we can tell from these latest accounts – very little. We already knew that the ongoing viability of the club as at June 2021 was a serious concern, so whether the company owning the club decided it was worth £1, £1m or £100m it doesn’t impact on the club itself.

Add to that the fact we’ve piled on nearly a million in debt and sold Huish Park and surrounding land in a deal worth £2.8m, we won’t know the impact of this on the balance sheet of YTFC Holdings until around this time next year.

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It’s the summer and what’s a summer as a football fan without a bit of rumour and speculation?! Yeovil Town boss Chris Hargreaves has started to add to the solid base of retained players with the additions of strikers Malachi Linton and Ollie Hulbert and most recently experienced, Jermain Reckord.

But with attacking options and defenders still at a premium in his squad, we asked Joseph Pope from the Off The Line Blog to take a look at who else could be on the target wall which Hargreaves keeps at Huish Park….

 

There has been a noticeable trend thus far with the signings that Yeovil Town have made, with both players having quite strong ties to Chris Hargreaves, something which I think sets a fairly accurate precursor to the rest of the business that we may see this summer.

Malachi Linton was playing at Kings Lynn Town under a coach in Tommy Widdrington who was with Hargreaves at Bristol Rovers, while Linton was playing alongside Hargreaves’ son Cameron.

Ollie Hulbert, on the other hand, used to play for Chris Hargreaves in the youth team at Bristol Rovers, and last season enjoyed a loan spell at Gloucester City under a manager in Lee Mansell that Hargreaves used to partner in midfield at Torquay United.

As such, it is quite clear – to me, at least – that Chris Hargreaves is going to look to sign players whom he is able to get a proper inside track on. Finances are already strapped at Huish Park, with the bulk of the recruitment likely to take on a younger look.

Therefore, he cannot afford to make many mistakes in the window and as such I expect him to tend towards players who he has either coached before, or have played under people that Hargreaves has a good report with, such that he can get assurances as to their qualities.

Here’s some I think will be in his thoughts…..

Lucas Tomlinson (Bristol Rovers)

One deal that looks increasingly likely to be coming to fruition is Lucas Tomlinson. The skilful, tricky winger was released by Bristol Rovers at the end of the campaign, and is a similar profile to new signing Ollie

Hulbert

He is young, hungry and eager to do well at this level, with an energy and pace to his game that can make him a real threat. He spent last season at Gloucester City, and so Hargreaves can get a good report on him, with assistant Chris Todd formerly of The Tigers and so will no doubt still have contacts there.

Hargreaves has managed him before and so will no doubt know how to get the best out of him. With Wakefield and Knowles re-signing, he may not be a starter, but as someone to develop long-term and have as an option, he’d be a good signing.

 

Chiori Johnson (Torquay United)

One player that I think Yeovil Town would be worth having a look at during the summer is former Torquay United man Chiori Johnson, after he was released at the end of the campaign.

He provides Hargreaves will good versatility, given that he is adept at playing in a full-back role, in a central midfield role or indeed out wide, and so with a small squad likely and finances stretched, that could be crucial. He is a player that Todd will know, having coached him during his time with The Gulls last term.

An intricate player that is comfortable with the ball at his feet, can pick a pass, is not afraid to get stuck into the tackle and has the low centre of gravity to power away from players. He carries the ball well, and I think he’d be a good signing for The Glovers


Shamir Fenelon (Horsham)

An option that Yeovil Town could well take a look at, someone that is a bit of an outside shout for The Glovers to consider, is former Torquay United and Aldershot Town forward Shamir Fenelon. He is another Hargreaves managed during his time as Gulls boss, and he could relish an opportunity to play for The Glovers.

Shamir Fenelon playing for Maidenhead United at Huish Park in 2019. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Kept on by Horsham at the end of the campaign, he would perhaps require a fee to obtain his services, however given that they did not stand in the way of Sam Howes and agreed to cancel his contract, they could do the same for Fenelon too.

At 27, he is coming into the prime of his career and I think this could be the perfect springboard moment to get his career going again. Versatile to play as a winger or indeed a striker, I think that he has the athleticism and running power to also play as a wing-back if required, thus gives Yeovil Town good options.

He has experience of playing in the Football League, and I think that he could actually bring to the party the qualities Town are looking for. He is big and strong, with a yard of pace, good work rate, is hungry to succeed, and is the sort of committed team member that you need. Equally adept at running in behind or receiving to feet and taking on his man, he could be a useful pick-up from Non-League.

 

Byron Moore (AFC Telford United)

Another player that I think Yeovil Town could have a look at to provide the versatility to be able to play in a number of positions is former Plymouth Argyle man Byron Moore from National League North side AFC Telford United. He was offered a new deal at the end of the season, but is yet to sign, and The Glovers could well chip in to seal his signature.

Byron Moore tussles with Ed Upson whilst playing for Crewe Alexandra in 2013. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Moore is capable of playing on the wing, at full-back, in the centre of midfield or indeed through the middle, and so fits what Yeovil Town are looking for in terms of cost-effective players that provide them the chance to change their system and have cover in key areas.

He is an experienced player that is another to have played at Bristol Rovers during Hargreaves’ time at the club, and so the Glovers boss has that report already there. He has recent experience of playing in the National League with Torquay United, and I think he would be a good option.

 


Luke James (Barrow)

New FC Halifax Town boss Pete Wild has made a number of new signings since taking over at Holker Street, but with Billy Waters and Josh Gordon already on the books, James may find his game time limited this season and so may be looking to go out on loan for a fresh new challenge next season. Hence, The Glovers could profit.

Luke James playing for Hartlepool United in an FA Cup first round tie at Huish Park in 2019. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He has lost his way of late and needs to go somewhere he can rediscover his form and getting the regular playing time, having been restricted to only 19 appearances last season, with a combined 3 goals in the last two seasons. Thus, he needs to start again and find his feet, and a move into the National League may well give him the chance to do that.

A player capable of playing through the middle or indeed out wide, he is a hard-working that was described by Mark Cooper as “a top professional”, and that is what The Glovers need if they are to have a younger squad.

 

Abu Ogogo (Southend United)

Another player that used to play for Bristol Rovers and someone that Chris Hargreaves will no doubt know well is midfielder Abu Ogogo. So far, The Glovers have favoured younger and more technical players, and they need that more experienced, robust option and Ogogo fits that bill perfectly.

A player that is experienced at this level and principally the one above too, he is a tenacious, tough-tackling and commanding midfielder that is not afraid to put his foot in. Committed in the tackle, he has held numerous captaincy positions amongst his previous clubs and so would be that vocal presence about which to form the midfield.

Released by Southend United at the end of the season, he will no doubt be looking to remain in the National League, and a move to Yeovil Town could be a good fit. He is 32, keeps it ticking, and is the perfect foil for the more technically-pronounced players.