On this episode of the Gloverscast, Dave and Ian speak to YTFC legends Mickey Spencer and Neil Coates about their time in Green and White.
They talk about the move from Huish to Huish Park, THAT goal against Hereford and the match against Arsenal that followed, and plenty more.
New Glovers’ signing midfielder Dale Gorman has said he is looking forward to playing for boss Darren Sarll again.
The Northern Irishman, who joined on undisclosed terms from NIFL Premiership side Glentoran, played under the manager at youth team level at Stevenage in 2015 and then again under him in the first-team three years later.
Speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, the 25-year-old said: “I have played under the gaffer for a number of years now, I know what he is like and he knows what I am like and I am delighted to be back playing under him again.
“I was about 16 when I first signed for Stevenage when I first came across him, so I have known him a long time and to get back working with him is something I looking forward to.”
Having been released by Stevenage following the departure of Sarll at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, Gorman joined Leyton Orient and played 22 times as they won the National League.
Asked about his ambitions at Huish Park, he added: “Our ambitions have to be promotion, when you look at the size of the club and we will give it a good go this year to get back where we know we should be.
“I have experience of winning this league and I know what it takes to win matches in this league, so hopefully I can bring that with me.”
See what supporters of Gorman’s old club Glentoran had to say about his departure – here.
Midfielder Dale Gorman has become the latest summer signing for Yeovil Town – almost a month after he was first linked with a move to Huish Park.
The Northern Irishman, who played under Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll during a three-year spell at Stevenage, has joined on undisclosed terms from NIFL Premiership side Glentoran.
A move has been expected ever since reports in Belfast Telegraph at the start of the month.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the 25-year-old said: “I’m delighted to get everything sealed and finalised; I’m just looking forward to the season starting now.
“Our ambition has to be promotion; you look at the size of the football club and not many would expect us to be here.
“We’ll give it a good go this year to try and get back where we should be.”
Talking about the former Leyton Orient and Newport County fans on social media, Glentoran fans gave mixed reviews of the player.
@UnofficialGlens said: “He’d the top assists in our team last season, but he generally didn’t start for us.
“Most of these were against the bottom sides in the League.
No idea who Stena Embla (?) or Gary Windass are, but here are a few other thoughts from Glentoran fans.
Sam Foley, a member of Yeovil Town‘s play-off winning side of 2013, is back in English football having joined Tranmere Rovers.
The 34-year-old spent last season north of the border at Scottish Premier League side Motherwell but was released at the end of the season after making just four appearances having signed from St Mirren in January.
Speaking to the Tranmere website, Foley said: “Tranmere is a massive football club, and it is a privilege to play for the club.
“Obviously, the manager (former Dundee United boss Mickey Mellon) is a big pull and I know him from my time in Scotland and I was impressed with how his team played last season.”
The first competitive goal ever scored at Huish Park was turned home by the foot of striker Mickey Spencer – with a broken foot.
The former Glovers’ favourite has spoken to the Gloverscast about his memories of scoring the opener in a 2-0 win over Colchester United on the opening day of the 1990/91 season.
He said: “The build-up to the first game was incredible with a lot of excitement around the place, but a lot of people were not aware I had broken my foot in a pre-season game at Farnborough.
“So the day of the game I turned up at the on crutches and I had to sleep with my foot elevated to get all the swelling out of it.
“Because (then-Yeovil manager) Brian Hall was such a great tactician he said to me ‘if you don’t start, the crowd are not going to be behind us’, so he said just start and if your foot swells up we can take you off.
“A guy called Duncan Russell, who was the physio at the time, loaded me up on painkillers, and we played the first half and I had to stick my foot in a ice pack at half-time.
“I remember the goal really clearly, Peter Conning pulled the ball back to me and on my broken left foot I had to strike it and I remember striking it really cleanly.
“All the guys have run towards me and I am saying ‘watch my foot, watch my foot’!”
Mickey was joined by former Yeovil full-back Neil Coates, whose winning goal in an FA Cup replay at Hereford United in December 1992 earned a money-spinning third round tie against Arsenal.
The bumper crowd for that tie with the Gunners at Huish Park together with big crowds in the games running up to the tie are widely regarded as having saved the club from going out of business.
Make sure you don’t miss Friday’s edition of the Gloverscast to hear Mickey and Neil talk about their time at Yeovil Town.
Former Yeovil Town loan striker Olufela Olomola has signed for League Two new boys Hartlepool United after a successful trial.
The 23-year-old, who was released by Scunthorpe United at the end of last season, played in a 1-0 friendly defeat against Spennymoor United on Tuesday night alongside another former Glovers’ loanee, goalkeeper Adam Smith.
Olomola also scored four times in a 9-1 victory over Northern Premier League Division One West side Runcorn Linnets last weekend.
Pools’ boss Dave Challinor said: “Fela has come in and earned a deal.
“He’s looked sharp in training, took his goals well, granted against lower opposition but has looked a threat.
“We now have to work with him to get out of him what we need over the coming weeks.
“Undoubtedly with the delivery and quality we have in wide areas we will create chances and if he keeps putting himself in the right positions he’ll get opportunities to score.”
Andrejs Stolcers spoken about how he tried to encourage his Yeovil Town team-mates to play the ball through midfield after joining the Glovers’ side that would go on to win the League Two title.
The Latvian international had been released by Premier League Fulham in the summer of 2004 and linked up with former national manager, Yeovil boss Gary Johnson, in September.
Upon his arrival, Johnson spoke about Stolcers joining to build up his fitness as he looked for a move, but within three days he made his debut in a 1-0 home win over Swansea City in League Two.
The winger went on to play 43 times that season, scoring seven goals, and has spoken to the Gloverscast about his season at Huish Park.
He said: “I tried to bring something more to the team through my conversations with the lads to help them to keep the ball and manage the game rather than get it forward quickly.
“When I arrived I saw that it was difficult to create much from midfield when you saw so little of the ball, so I tried to help us get the ball down, move it quicker and build up attacks rather than direct passes forward.
“We had some great full-backs and great wing players and we were able to use them more, but if we needed to play it direct, we knew we could do that as well.”
It did not take long for Stolcers to make an impact, on his debut as a half-time substitute against Swansea, he nearly combined to set up Phil Jevons with his first touch of the ball.
Then, in his second start, he scored twice in a 6-1 demolition of Oxford United at Huish Park, but it was the New Year’s Day trip to Swansea that season that sticks out as a memory for him.
He recalls: “I remember players telling me that Yeovil did not have a good record there and I spoke to a few of the lads about not allowing these things to stick in their heads.
“I told them to to put the past aside and stick to the game we knew we could play and the game plan the manager had set for us.”
The result was Yeovil won 2-0 and became one of only three sides to win at The Vetch in the club’s final season at their old home – oh, and Stolcers scored the opener and set up Phil Jevons for the second.
The winger adds: “I loved that game in a big stadium, playing away from home where so many supporters are against you, it helps you focus and concentrate.
“I remember scoring a great goal there and then setting up Phil Jevons for the second – a brilliant performance which bred more confidence in our group.
“I think that game gave us more strength and understanding of what we could do, we wanted to be champions that year and we obviously went on to do that.”
However, having taken a drop of £14,000 a week in wages – according to manager Gary Johnson on his arrival – the winger was looking for a better deal than Yeovil were able to offer at the end of the 2004-05 campaign.
He recalls: “I wanted to stay, but I wanted to improve my contract a little bit and that did not happen.
“I felt I had given something special to influence the team’s performance, but it did not work out like that and I felt I had done enough so I left.”
Stolcers, who had signed for Fulham from Russian side Spartak Moscow in 2000, left Huish Park and joined FC Baku of Azerbaijan before returning to Latvia.
In 2009, he did have a trial at Yeovil, he recalls: “I went for a trial when Terry Skiverton was manager and I tried to get back, but he did not feel I was not good enough.”
He ended up playing for non-League Bath City and then Hayes & Yeading before retiring in 2010 and quickly got in to coaching the game.
In 2015, he was a youth team coach at Stevenage when current Yeovil boss Darren Sarll took over as Head of Youth.
Stolcers recalls: “I enjoyed my time at Stevenage and I did have a short time with Darren Sarll there, maybe three months.
“But, Darren decided he did not want to work with me, so I left – that is football, sometimes things do not work out.
“I am still coaching young players and working in schools with them, but I am ambitious to be a manager and applying for opportunities when they come up – but it is very competitive.”
Yeovil Town’s Under 18s will have a new division of opponents next season having made the switch to the South West Premier Academy Under 18s division.
Previously, they have faced sides the junior sides from the Football League including Exeter, Bristol Rovers and Newport but this season will be up against the likes of Torquay, Bath City and last year’s champions Mangotsfield Town.
Futhermore, it has been confirmed that Mark Challen of M1 Coaching will be the manager for the Under 18s this season,
If we here at the Gloverscast get details of a fixture list or ticket details we will of course bring them to you,
Here’s to finding another Alfie Lloyd or Toby Stephens in the youth set up this season.
We would like to welcome @ytfcacademy @YTFC to the league for the new season
— SWC U18s Youth League (@SWCYouthLeague) July 13, 2021
Yeovil Town’s players can expect to have an intense start to pre-season when they travel away to Stratford Town for their opening friendly this weekend.
The Glovers travel to the Step 4 club for the opener with manager Darren Sarll saying he expects all his players to play at least an hour.
Talking to BBC Radio Somerset reporter Sheridan Robins at a recent training session, the boss said: “I’m a little bit different to the general stereotype thinking of pre-season, lots of people do (give players) 45, 60, 75, 90 (minutes each).
“But you can see (from our players) our there that none of them need to just do 45 minutes, they’re all pretty fit, so there will be a good hour, maybe 75 minutes in everyone on Saturday.”
The manager added that he wanted the match at Knight’s Lane to be the start of a winning habit for his squad.
He said: “It will be the start of winning again, there will be no fluff in this pre-season, we want to win all our games as comfortably and thoroughly as possible.
“If you lose all your pre-season games, does that mean you are going down? No. If you win them all, does that mean you are going up? No.
“But I just want to get those good habits ingrained in to this new group, because there are only six or seven that are still here from last year.”
The game will be supporters’ first chance to see new signings including goalkeeper Grant Smith, defenders Mark Little and Jordan Barnett, midfielders Lewis Simper and Charlie Wakefield and welcome back Morgan Williams, who has turned out on loan for the club.
Stratford have confirmed the club bar at Knight’s Lane will be open to both home and away supporters with the club hoping to have a Pie & Pint stand open for the match. It will be located inside the ground near the turnstile entrance.
If you are attending the opening friendly match in Shakespeare country, don’t miss our Ciderspace Away Travel Guide on The Bards – here.
