Plans to improve the matchday experience at Huish Park are “in the pipeline“, according to Yeovil Town commercial manager Mark Robinson.
Speaking alongside chairman Scott Priestnall in an address to a group of fans last weekend, he asked supporters to continue to support the club as it seeks to rebuild in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman also stated that he was still in control at the club insisting he spoke with with stadium manager James Hillier “five or six times a day” despite not attending matches.
On the subject of matchday experience, Robinson said: “Working with the Supporters’ Alliance to improve the matchday experience is key for us, I know we haven’t got it perfect but we are a non-League club and we are providing much better than a lot of other non-League clubs.
“It is good the corporate floor (on the first floor at Huish Park) is dramatically improved, we are having lots of happy experiences up here and the fans out on the terraces deserve that experience as well.
“We have a lot of things in the pipeline coming, but it’s not done overnight and, like any other business, we have just come out of one of the toughest times anyone has experienced, so we ask for your patience and persevere with us.
“We are invested and have a passion and a dream for what Yeovil Town Football Club should look like, we know fans and businesses have an expectation and they deserve to have that expectation met.
“We are the premier venue and sporting place in Somerset and we want to be back there in the Football League, but we can’t do that on our own. We are working hard, so please support us and stick with us because it is going to be an exciting time.”
Speaking back in July, Priestnall said he expected Huish Park to offer a “more inviting and entertaining” matchday experience. You can listen to this on the club’s official YouTube channel – here – the section, quoted below, begins at 13 minutes and 8 seconds in.
The chairman said: “With new bars and different areas people can go to, de-boarding the boardroom and trying to make it more fan-orientated and making it an exciting place to come.
“That has to be done off the pitch as well as on it because we want people to enjoy their experience again.
“A lot of changes are coming in bit by bit, but as we see the season start you will see a very different Huish Park, more inviting and more entertaining.”
Returning to last weekend’s address, Priestnall said he had spoken with the “potential partners” he is looking to bring on to the club’s board about the day-to-day running of the club. He described Hillier as “my right-hand man” and pointed to Robinson for running the club’s commercial operations.
He said: “James and I speak five or six times a day, I may not be here on a day to day basis but I was never going to be that type of chairman.
“That is one of the discussions I have had with potential partners, should a chairman do that? Or are we comfortable with the set up we have. The way the staff have come back in to the office, they have done a brilliant job.
“My main focus was coming through the pandemic, having a good season this season. It’s been a horrible season with the rumours of takeovers, the performances have not been good enough at times but we have had a young and exciting squad, it’s not been fun.
“I appreciate supporters want to feel more connected with their club, whether that is with me at the top or somebody else, or a complete new owner, all that will be ironed out over the next few weeks.
“Be under no illusion, I am still committed to the club and I have been this whole year, regardless of what some might say. We have made sure everyone has been paid and had a competitive playing squad.
“We have to make changes, I have to make changes and what I am doing is not sitting and waiting. The only thing I can commit to is that there will be a new board in place in some guise and I will be able to tell you what that looks like over the next few weeks.“