Yeovil Town owner Scott Priestnall has said the the club’s financial position is “pretty healthy” and he is looking at bringing new investors in to the club.

In the third video update from an address the chairman gave a group of supporters in the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park on Friday – see in full here – he dismissed speculation the club could go out of business.

He said: “As well as people taking to task and criticising me, which you are entitled too because I am the decision maker, but I think you have to bring other people to task when they make statements.

How are they backing it up? I had the accounts sent to me saying we have lost money again and blah, blah, blah.

Yes, my goal is to get the club in to a sustainable position, it’s not going to happen overnight and it’s been losing money, but if you look at our accounts they are pretty healthy.”

Owner Scott Priestnall, flanked by Commercial Manager Mark Robinson, right, and matchday announcer Ian Welch, left, speaks to fans in the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park.
Picture: @YTFC Twitter

The most recent accounts for Yeovil Football & Athletic Club covering the 12 months to June 30, 2021, showed that during the 12 months to June 30, 2021, the club lost just under £400,000 which takes the overall losses of £2.22m.

In the nine months which have passed since the end of last June, we know the club has taken on an additional £309,000 of loans from Sport England, bringing the total it owes that lender up to £998,538 – see more here.

In an attempt to provide an impartial view on the balance sheets, the Gloverscast spoke with football finance expert Kieran Maguire earlier this month and he said its future is secure – if the owner has a long-term interest.

He pointed out that a large part of the club’s debt is to its parent company Yeovil Town Holdings, which Priestnall also owns, and therefore if it did not call in its debts, the future was secure. You can read more about our chat with Kieran – here , or listen to him – here.

Over the weekend, the club announced the chairman was looking to “assemble a new board” with “local business people” among those interested which he reiterated in this latest video update.

He said: “I have had a number of conversations with people to join the board, from an investment point of view, to invest in the football club going forward.

“Both from a sponsorship point of view and to make funds available for the playing budget.

“I am pleased to say there has been some positive conversations on that part and I’m hoping to have a concrete framework around the board by the end of the season, so we are not in limbo during the summer. I do appreciate there has been a lot of limbo during the next few months.

“How that looks is still under discussion. Whether that means I am chairman next season has been a discussion point, how the board is formulated and how many people has been another discussion, and that is a wider discussion depending on whether they are putting money in.

“From my point of view, I am trying to relinquish control and bring others in, so it is not just one person accountable, there are others that share a common goal to work on getting this club out of this league.

“That is the main focus because there is no money in this league from a commercial point of view. I sit on the National League board and revenues are improving, but it’s a million pound per club difference in League Two.

“That just shows the difference and, in terms of playing squad budget, there’s not that much difference.”

One assumes that the discussions with these potential new directors must be at an advanced stage to enable the required fit and proper person checks to be undertaken by the National League to confirm their appointments.

However, it sounds like we will be an update on this at some point in the near future.


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