Yeovil Town chairman and owner Scott Priestnall has said the club had been “put up for sale without my knowledge” whilst talking about his relationship with supporters’ groups.
In the fifth (and final?) video update from an address he gave in the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park ahead of Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Stockport County, he spoke about his absence from meetings held by club’s Supporters’ Alliance.
The Alliance, also known as the Achieve by Unity Supporters Consortium, is made up of the Green & Whites Supporters Club, Disabled Supporters Association (DSA), Glovers Trust, Cary Glovers, Junior Glovers, Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust and the Bridport Glovers.
Priestnall said he had attended meetings following his takeover of the club from Norman Hayward and John Fry, the latter who established the Alliance in 2016 and attended meetings.
But, it appears the decision of the the Glovers’ Trust to activate its Asset of Community Value – see more here if you’ve forgotten what that is – and backing an offer from the Simul Sports consortium led to him not longer attending.
The chairman said: “I wanted to be in touch with supporters’ groups, I wanted them to be aware of things that were happening and I quite liked the people on the board.
“When it got to the club being put up for sale without my knowledge, that was the first issue I had, and then the second issue was one of that group was supporting a bid without knowing if they had any money and I had a real problem with that.
“When Alliance meetings are being misled, I felt like I was having to correct everything that happened in the meeting.
“I had a conversation with Rich (Rendell, chairman of the Alliance) but let’s send by next two (in command), Mark (Robinson, Commercial Manager) or James (Hillier, Stadium Manager) to attend meetings. That is where it’s been.”
Asked whether he would like to attend Alliance meetings again, the owner said he felt that it needed to come up with “some objectives” to enable him to engage.
He added: “I have spoken to Rich about trying to bring the Alliance together as one supporters’ group. It’s very unusual to have so many supporters’ groups coming in to one meeting and all having different views.
“It’s very difficult to speak to so many different groups at any one time, when they have so many different aims and objectives and I find that difficult.
“It would be great if the Alliance could be more inclusive for me or try and set out some objectives about how it wants to be communicated with by the football club rather than being sat in a meeting.”
You can read more about the Supporters’ Alliance on the club’s official website – here.