Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 383)

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A new “fan zone” could open at Huish Park in the coming weeks – if the club’s application for a licence is approved.

Director Stuart Robins said the club is looking to “take part of the marquee” which has been sat unused at the stadium since before the COVID-19 pandemic to create a structure behind the terrace.

Stuart Robins.

He told Three Valleys Radio‘s ‘In Conversation With….’ programme on Tuesday night, that he hoped the zone would help improve the matchday experience.

He said: “In the short term we are trying to take part of the marquee and create a fan zone behind the Thatcher’s Stand.

“We still have to apply for a licence and then we can move part of the marquee to behind the Thatcher’s to create a better environment.

“It’s a semi-permanent structure, but it will be better than what we have at the moment. Our goal is to have some form of fan zone.”

The plans were mentioned by chairman Scott Priestnall in the minutes of the Supporters’ Alliance meeting at the end of June which quoted him saying: “Plans are in place to put a marquee behind the Thatcher’s stand where a bar and live bands can play before matches.” 

In our most first monthly YeoGov opinion poll covering the month of August gave the matchday experience a below average 2.76/7 rating and Robins admitted the club was “trying desperately” to make improvements at Huish Park.

But, he added: “It’s not something that can overnight.”

The director also said that plans for a big screen at Huish Park would happen “before the end of the calendar year“, so watch this space on that one….

In the interview, recorded ahead of last weekend’s 1-1 home draw with Boreham Wood, the director said he believed manager Chris Hargreaves was “building something special.”

He said: “Out of the games we’ve played we’ve had two poor games, against York City we were poor and at Eastleigh we were poor.

“I still say Eastleigh was a good point. When you see we more than competed against Chesterfield, really well against Barnet and Wrexham.

“We’ve kept the spine and a number of players from last year, but we are playing a different brand of football and the players are still adapting to that.

“I was at training this morning and the guys looked sharp and hungry. I think Chris is building something special and I’m pretty confident we will build from here.

He added: “Have we got a team that’s ready for promotion? Who knows what’s going to happen, but you can’t fault the players for their effort. We are playing, for the most part, attractive football, most people who were at the game against Chesterfield (would say that).“

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Ollie Haste at Truro ? Truro City YouTube

It’s an extra special, midweek Brucey bonus edition of the Loan Watch with some added international pizzazz to throw in too.

Let’s start at Truro where Ollie Haste continues to rack up the minutes for the White Tigers.

Another 90 for him on Tuesday with his side grabbing a late, late winner against Yate Town.

Haste also had a great chance to score his first goal for his adopted side shortly before half time, but saw his header go wide

Toby Stephens was not named in the match day squad.

Off to Gloucester we go, and Olivier Hulbert, our (not in any way) French winger was a second half subtitute for the Tigers in a 1-1 draw away at Banbury Utd in the National League North.

Hulbert came on in the 63rd minute with his side equalising in the 65th!

On loan Bournemouth defender Owen Bevan was in Vienna, Austria with the Wales Under 21 side on Tuesday evening.

Sadly, Matty Jones’ side lost 2-0 in the friendly fixture with Bevan coming on in the 82nd minute for his international debut.

Get back to Somerset, sharpish Owen, we’ll need you at Southend!

 

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Yeovil Town director Stuart Robins has said the decision of owner Scott Priestnall to sell the Huish Park site is the reason the club has survived the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The shareholder, who owns a 20% stake in the club, said the sale of the stadium and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council in a deal worth £2.8m “had to take place for the club to survive.”

He also told Three Valleys Radio‘s ‘In Conversation With…..’ programme on Tuesday night that he “had it on pretty good authority” that no bidders for the club, including the Simul Sports consortium led by former Cardiff City director Julian Jenkins, put “any money on the table” despite months of takeover talks.

Robins said: “We all have to remember COVID was devastating for so many clubs, including our own, there was no revenue whatsoever and only costs, except obviously there was furlough and whatever.

“The losses are substantial for a club at this level and it had to be financed and we are still here.

Asked about the sale to SSDC completed in May, he said: “A transaction of that type had to take place for the club to survive. There was always the opportunity before the SSDC deal that a developer could have come in and done goodness knows what.

“That was certainly said by (SSDC portfolio holder Councillor) John Clark when he’s been interviewed a number of times and the club has survived because of what Scott has done.

“There were a number of debts that had to be settled and that was driven by the council. Some money has gone in to the football, but there was some moneys that went in to buying the convenents back, so there was a number of areas where that money had to go.”

We certainly know of one interview conducted by Councillor Clark on the Gloverscast back in May, which you can listen to – here.

Julian Jenkins, who was part of the Simul Sports consortium which was in talks to takeover Yeovil Town.

Robins was asked by Three Valleys Radio presenter Adrian Hopper, a former club press officer, whether he had thought he might be going in to business with a group including Simul Sports, well, he referred to him them as “this fella Jenkins.”

For your recollection, the Simul consortium also including former Yeovil Town midfielder Marc Bircham, investment specialist Darren DeLandro and, following the collapse of the bid, Damien Singh, the Chief Financial Officer of online graphic design tool firm, Canva, revealed himself as part of the bid. And “this fella Jenkins“, of course,

In response, the director said: “I was pretty confident it was only going to be with Scott (I went in to business with) because there were a number of parties that had not put their money where their mouth is.

“I have heard a number of parties had put money on the table, but as I understand it that never happened, I have it on pretty good authority.

“The difference with me was I did and when the time was to sign the cheque, I did it, as you would with any transaction of this nature.

“There was never any danger of working with the other parties you have mentioned, because they simply did not put the money where it should have been to conclude that transaction.

He added: “From what I know now, a lot of the stuff you read and here whether it’s on Twitter or via other parties simply is not true.

“I know on very good authority I was the only one that was prepared to put the money in.”

He spoke about his introduction to Priestnall via a mutual friend, saying: “My pal, Dave, introduced me to (Scott), I was invited down to have lunch, one thing led to another and one day Scott asked if I would like to be involved.

“I said I would like to be involved at a meaningful level and I am quite prepared to invest, that’s how it all started and we concluded the transaction four to five months ago.“

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Benjani Junior jumps ahead of strike partner Charlie Bateson. Picture courtesy of Matt Partridge.

A late consolation goal from defender Jacob Shore was all Yeovil Town’s Under-18s had to show from a 3-1 defeat at home to Bridgwater United on Saturday.

The young Glovers were unable to get their noses in front despite a strong first half showing and their visitors took advantage with three goals after the break before Shore struck with five minutes to go.

It leaves them still searching for their first win in the South West Counties Youth League having drawn their first two matches.

There is no fixture for the Under-18s next weekend with their next outing coming at Wimborne Town on October 8th.

Yeovil Town Under-18s: Robert Hollard, Josh Sutton (for Joshua Haskett), Max Dyer, Jacob Shore, Harrison Foster, Jake Graziano, Sam Hodges, Jack Bareham (for Alex Stevens, 52), Charlie Bateson (for Nathan Hart, 66), Benjani Junior, Ethan O’Sullivan (for Aidan Skiverton, 66).

The age group teams representing the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust picked up two victories but suffered three defeats at the weekend.

The Under-14s were the only side to get the better of their counterparts from Torquay United with the Devon side’s Under-13s, Under-15s and Under-16s getting the better of their Somerset rivals in the Junior Premier League.

There was success for the Trust’s Under-12s who defeated Taunton Town. The results in full:

Under-12s – won v Taunton Town
Under-13s – lost v Torquay United
Under-14s – won v Torquay United
Under-15s – lost v Torquay United
Under-16s – lost v Torquay United

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It was a caveat-ridden performance which saw Yeovil draw (again) against Boreham Wood. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from Huish Park…

I’m not sure how we’ve not that won that. Luke Garrad was gushing about our performance in his post-match interview after his side managed to escape with a point. Nathan Ashmore made some good saves and was by far the busier keeper, but we should have put Wood to the sword. Alex Fisher was quickest to react after Ashmore fumbled a fairly routine save from Toure, but that was the only joy we had. Fisher had chances, Touré had a gilt-edged chance in the first half which he should have put away, instead he tried to round the keeper who made a phenomenal stop. We had the better of the chances but in familiar fashion, we weren’t good enough to take them.

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We can’t hold a lead. That one might be stating the obvious, but in the ten games so far this season we’ve gone ahead seven times (twice against Altrincham and Chesterfield) and we’ve let the lead slip six times. There’s a pattern emerging that needs to be broken. Boreham Wood’s equaliser in stoppage time was so deflating and there was a sense of inevitability about it. As supporters the expectation that we’re going to let a lead slip is getting a little ingrained. Hopefully we can buck the trend at Southend.

After his impressive performance against Chesterfield, we missed Chiori Johnson. I think most people went into yesterday hoping to see Johnson in at wingback, but an injury in the last kick of training this week forced him out. If, and I think we know now, we’re going to stick with the 3-5-2, Johnson has staked his claim to be the 1st choice in that position. No one has looked particularly comfortable/effective in there until him. Charlie Wakefield made an impact in the second half when Boreham Wood decided to play for a point, but I don’t think anything clicked quite so well as last weekend.

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

There’s so much frustration at the moment. It was a slow start yesterday and it didn’t take long for the grumbles amongst the supporters seeing the ball go backward for the umpteenth time. When we conceded the equaliser there was a lot of finger pointing and anger amongst the players on the pitch that we’d let another lead slip. At times, Matt Worthington was getting annoyed at his lack of options when he picked up the ball and when Gime Toure turned one too many times rather than look up, Worthy let his feelings be known. We’ve heard about angry conversations in the changing room before this season, and I’m sure there were more of those yesterday. I worry about how sustainable angry conversations are if they don’t start producing results.

Off this pitch, there’s a hangover from last season. After a great performance the weekend before against the top team in the league, you’d have hoped that might have spiked attendance a bit but we’re still hovering around that 2000 mark. I’ve not done a matchday ‘properly’ this season but evidently whatever we’ve added to the day hasn’t brought back folks who might have been thinking about it. There’s only so much over-promising and under-delivering you can take, and boy have we been promised some things.

That’s the conclusions. However, we’re ten games in and we sit in 19th with nine points, the bottom four are all on eight points. I’m not sure how long we can say ‘we’re so close’ or ‘we’re not a million miles away’ until you find yourself cut adrift. I know there’s a long way to go but the start of the season has not been good enough. With inconsistent performances, an inability to hold on to leads, apathy amongst supporters and dwindling gates, we are in serious danger of sleepwalking this season into nothing.

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Yeovil Town’s loan contingent were back in action this weekend, with Truro City and Gloucester City having very different results.

Firstly, Gloucester City were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at Chorley.

Glovers’ striker Olivier Hulbert started the game in Lancashire  and completed an hour before being taken off. It was his first match back having missed out on the Tigers’ two FA Cup games having been denied permission to play by Yeovil.

Down in Truro, things went a lot better for Ollie Haste, a regular now in the White Tigers’ back line. He played 90 minutes as Paul Wootton’s side picked up a big 1-0 win over Gosport Borough courtesy of a late penalty.

Haste was also the Programme cover star too, which is nice.

Fellow Glover, midfielder Toby Stephens was an unused substitute.

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Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town’s scorer Alex Fisher spoke to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins following the Glovers’ 1-1 draw with Boreham Wood and the whole game came down to one word – frustrating. (Editors Note: anyone else sick of that word?)

The striker opened the scoring after 39 minutes with his first goal of his second spell at Huish Park, but just six minutes later visiting midfielder Jack Payne equalised.

Fisher said: “It’s nice to get on the scoresheet, but I’d trade that in quite quickly for three points. I thought we played really well today as a team, it seems to be a common theme, it was a bit of a clouded emotion.

“It was frustrating to not see it through until half-time. The right things were said at half-time with regards to both ends of the pitch and it felt like we had really strong territory in the second half. But it falls on the responsibility of us all, but especially (the players) up top, to get that second goal that we needed so much.

“Ultimately you train all week to put the ball in the back of the net, you can curse your luck about a goalkeeper having a good game, but we can look at ourselves and say we should have put it out of his reach.”

The conversation remained positive and Fisher was adamant that the side was not far off turning draws into wins.

He added: “It’s so frustrating for the players, I imagine it’s the same from the fans – great support again, loyal support – we don’t want these games to fall away from us. It’s something we’ve had a very stern chat about in the changing room, we know what we need to do and I can only thank the fans for their continued support. We are working as hard as we can, we know what we need to do. We are just fine margins away from achieving something very special here.

“We need to be ruthless in both boxes and that falls on us in the front line to score more goals and put more chances away. Today is a frustrating day, but there are positives to take out of it.”

 

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Yeovil Town manager Chris Hargreaves has said he isn’t feeling the pressure after the Glovers recorded a sixth draw from their opening ten games of the National League season.

Following what the boss described the 1-1 draw at home to Boreham Wood as a “dominant” performance, he expressed his frustration that his side wasn’t making it count in the “areas that mattered“.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, he said: “It was (a dominant performance) but it doesn’t get us the three points, which is hard to take, I’ve got to admit. It’s a case of being very, very good with the ball, but in that final third not being ruthless enough.

“(The players are) absolutely giving me everything and it was a dominant, confident performance, but where it matters, is that 18-yard box and there’s enough chances in the second half to score five.”

Hargreaves promised it would be another hard week training in the lead up to next weekend’s trip to Southend United.

For the seventh time this season, Yeovil took the lead through a 39th minute goal from Alex Fisher, his first since returning to the club in the summer, but – as happened in five out of the previous six occasions- they were unable to hold the lead.

The equaliser from visiting midfielder Jack Payne on the stroke of half-time took them in level at the break.

The manager said afterwards: “(It’s) just bad decision making, thats all it is, there’s no trait or pattern that we see that we don’t talk about, we talk about it a lot. It’s just a case of staying on your feet, the basics of football, keeping your units tight and seeing danger when someone is running toward your goal.

“That’s a real dissapointment again, but what they didn’t do against a very good side who have done well over the years is wilt, they went at it and went for the throat second half.”

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

There was plenty of praise for both the Boreham Wood goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore who (again) played well against Yeovil, and Fisher who scored his second, first goal in the green and white of Yeovil Town.

Hargreaves said: “You come back here and you want to prove yourself again, there has to be some real anger, if you haven’t got the anger, you won’t be able to do it. (Alex) showed that in his goal, that he followed up and wanted to put himself in those areas, he had a couple of chances second half that I’d expect him to score… but great for him to get his first goal.”

Finally, with six draws from ten, there was the promise of effort and that the side was giving everthing, but, ahead of two tough away games in a row, Hargreaves was asked if he felt the pressure to get some results, the answer was rapid and emphatic.

“No.”

“No, I don’t feel pressure, I put pressure on myself anyway and so do the players. That’s why I’ve been in football for 35 years because I put pressure on myself, if the lads feel pressure, good, that’s good, they should want to get in the team and stay in the team.”

For what it’s worth, Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard was gushing with praise for the Glovers’ side, he told his media team post match.

He said: “I think Yeovil will be gutted, I have to say they were deserved of all three points, they had chances to win three games, let alone one, I thought they were excellent this afternoon… they stifled us, we were fortunate to take a point this afternoon.

“We were below par… Yeovil didn’t allow us to get our game going, I thought Gime Toure was fantastic today, I thought (Sam) Pearson‘s runs in behind were fantastic, I have to give full credit to Chris and his team as, like I say, they were very deserved of three points.”

Thanks for the kind words, Luke, but leave that ‘keeper at home, next time, yeah?