In August, an Asset of Community Value (ACV) registration covering Huish Park and surrounding land registered by the Glovers Trust expired.
You might remember the Trust activated this in January 2021 when former owner <NAME REDACTED> set wheels in motion to sell the stadium and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (now Somerset Council).
That gave the Trust six months to make a counter offer – or find someone else who wanted to make one – and you may recall worked with a consortium, Simul Sports, led by former Cardiff City commercial director Julian Jenkins and backed by Canva Chief Financial Officer Damien Singh, in a deal which collapsed in May 2022. Cue the sale of the stadium to the council, an ultimately failed ‘stewardship’ by a consortium led by Matt Uggla, and the eventual takeover by local businessman Martin Hellier with the club on the brink of administration. In short, cue chaos.
Following the expiry of the Trust’s ACV, we at Gloverscast felt it was important it was reinstated and our status as a Community Interest Company gives us the ability to apply to register for one to run for the next five years. This week, Somerset Council has confirmed to us that our application has been successful.
So what does this mean?
An ACV means that if the owner of Huish Park or surrounding land – which today is Somerset Council – intends to sell the properties then the community have an opportunity to express an interest in being treated as a potential bidder. This does not mean the property owner is obliged to accept any offer from the community, but the community will have the opportunity to delay any sale proceedings by six months to prepare a counter offer.
In this instance, it is the Gloverscast CIC which is the registered party which would represent ‘the community’ – that’s all of us, Yeovil Town supporters – just as the Trust did back in 2021.
The club’s owners, Inflection Holdings which is headed by club chairman Prabhu Srinivasan and his family, has made its ambition to buy Huish Park and surrounding land back from Somerset Council clear, and we at Gloverscast believe reuniting the club with the stadium and land it calls home is of huge importance.
In September 2025, Somerset Council confirm the owners had extended its exclusivity period to buy back Huish Park until 17 May 2028.
What this does not mean
This registration has not been made because the Gloverscast believes that Somerset Council has any imminent intention to sell the land. Indeed, its agreement of an exclusivity period with the club’s owners would seemingly prevent it from doing so.
This registration also does not mean that the Gloverscast believes the club’s owners have any intentions of doing anything which would not be in the best interests of the football club. To the contrary, we have no reason to doubt the public statements which they have made about any deal being for the benefit of the club.
However, as supporters of this club will know only too well, ensuring that we have even a small amount of protection and influence over any sale of Huish Park or surrounding land is critical. It is for this reason we have taken the action to reinstate Huish Park as an Asset of Community Value.
Yours in green-and-white, The Three Plebs.
P.S. If you are interested in the long, murky history of how we got to this stage in the first place – check out our blog post from September 2021 – HERE.