Following Yeovil Town’s 3-0 home win over Gateshead on Saturday, BBC Radio Somerset’s Jack Killah spoke with Yeovil chairman and owner Prabhu Srinivasan about the Glovers’ start to the new National League season.
Here is the Q&A in full:
Jack Killah: Prabhu, three points, a 3-0 home win, an undefeated start to the season. This has been a good, positive first few weeks for the club.
Prabhu Srinivasan: Exactly what we wanted to see. I would say the 90 minutes on the pitch is exactly what we wanted to see away and at home. All the hard work we did in the summer to get the team right with Billy, and Sahil you’ll get to see him sometime, my son. They do a lot of recruitment together. Exactly what we wanted.”
JK: It feels like, and I said this to Billy pre-season, with the length of contracts being given and the players you’re going after, there’s a vision now for where you and he see the club, and a real trust between you and Billy.
PS: Absolutely. The good thing about Billy is we have open and honest conversations with him and we might have a difference of opinion, but it’s okay, we just sit down and talk it through. Last season things were a little odds and ends, but this season we got a proper spine of the team. The spine was very important to build in the summer. Now we know we have contracts with people who truly believe.
JK: And on the pitch you can see a noticeable difference. From your side of things, when you came in, it was a squad made up of a lot of players from several different managers over last season, now can you see with Billy’s vision the type of football you’re hopefully going to get at Huish Park?
“He’s got a perfect orchestra. That’s what I liked about Billy when I saw him first.”
PS: He’s got a perfect orchestra. That’s what I liked about Billy from when I saw him first, he knows what he wants to do with the team, and he plays forward, front-foot football. That’s all there is to the game.
JK: From a Huish Park perspective, you’ve had two home crowds now, both sounding in good, full voice. You’d obviously love a few more people through through the turnstiles, but are you hopeful that if the football continues to be good, then actually the attendances naturally pick up anyway?
PS: Like I tell all the fans, we’re just custodians of the club. When I talk to the fans, the amount of positive vibes they give us is very heartwarming.
JK: On the Huish Park front, we’ve got the the pitch looks amazing, considering the drought we’ve had here in the UK this summer, it looks incredible. You obviously discussed the future of the stadium multiple times. Are you still optimistic that the stadium will come back under under your umbrella in the near future?
PS: Like I’ve always said, that’s the hope. We have to just prioritise what we need to do right now. First thing we had to do is get the team right. That’s hopefully out of the way. We need to focus on what we need to do for owning the club.
JK: So it’s basically the priority at the moment is on-pitch and then off-pitch?
PS: Fully on the pitch until December.
JK: And then and then hopefully, when you’re top of the league after December, that’ll be a good turn to switch your attention?
PS: Why not? That’s the hope we all live in.
JK: Behind the scenes, what are the big things that you feel the club are really working on at the moment?
PS: The one big thing we’ve done is, from an education perspective, we’ve worked with now tied up with Yeovil Town College. We want to make sure the education, both in Somerset and international, comes to the fore.
JK: You’re trying to grow the women’s side of the game and the academy side of it. How key is it from your future vision of where you want this club to be in two, three years that the academy grows and pulls in the best talent from this region?
PS: Very important for us and this is what I’ve done all my life, set up youth academies. Find a pathway for these people to get to the first team is very important for us, and the girls team coming on board is very important for us, too.
JK: I was going to say for the future of women’s football in this neck of the woods, to have a successful Yeovil team like they did a few years ago would be brilliant.
PS: That’s the hope. We have got a really good team now for the girls team. Again, we’re doing what we need to do for that team as well.
JK: What would make a happy Prabhu come the end of the season?
PS: End of the season, obviously go up to League Two. That’s the hope. But I like to see what I saw today as often as I could.
JK: Are you enjoying football ownership a bit more now than you were at the start?
PS: Absolutely, because we know we’re now in full control of what’s going on. Llast year was about learning and cleaning up the skeletons in the cupboard, which we’ve done. This is exactly what we wanted to do.
JK: It feels a long time ago that that loss to Gateshead last August Bank Holiday Monday, doesn’t it?
PS: I know, it seems like a long time ago. That’s all in the past.
JK: Well, fingers crossed the next few weeks go go go brilliantly. You’re obviously in the UK now for a visit at the moment. What are your priorities while you’re here? What are you trying to to nail down?
PS: Fundamentally, get the performance centre going, the education programme going and be there for Billy on what he wants to do. Nothing else.
JK: Well, hopefully, by the time I see you in maybe a couple of months, we’ll be talking about a promotion push.
PS: That’s the hope we all live on.