- YTFC confirm an offer has been submitted to purchase Huish Park following ‘intensified’ discussions, Somerset Council claims no ‘formal’ offer made
- Owners have engaged Headland Hospitality to draw up plans including a hotel and the club is “working positively to progress with the ultimate aim is to reunite the club with land and stadium.”
Somerset Council says no formal offer has been made to buy back Huish Park and the land surrounding it, despite the club providing confirmation to Gloverscast that an offer was submitted to Council Leader Bill Revans, CEO Duncan Sharkey and the relevant officers on December 31st 2025.
We understand the owners have engaged Headland Hospitality – a company which provides strategic hotel consulting for owners, investors and developers – to draw up plans for the Huish Park site.
We emailed club owner Prabhu Srinivasan and Chief Operating Officer, Nicholas Brayne these questions:
- When do you expect to have plans and will you share them with supporters?
- How are the conversations with Somerset Council with regards to buying back Huish Park and the land? In November you said you hoped to purchase by the end of the season. Is that still on course?
In a statement, they said: “We continue to work constructively with the Council to identify a mutually agreeable position regarding the potential purchase of Huish Park. Discussions intensified earlier this year and an offer has been submitted, on which the Council has provided feedback. We are now working from that position to see where a point of agreement can be reached.
“We absolutely respect the Council’s role in the process and appreciate the way in which they have engaged in dialogue with us. As you would expect with any matter involving a local authority and a significant asset such as Huish Park, these discussions can take time, particularly given the pressures councils are currently operating under.”
Contradicting the statement from the club, a spokesperson for Somerset Council said: “Whilst we continue to meet with the club and know that they have stated their intention is to buy the land back, no formal offer has been received to date.”
In November, Prabhu Srinivasan told the BBC the club hoped to purchase Huish Park and the surrounding land back from Somerset Council by the end of the season. Two months before that the club announced a two-year extension to the exclusive buy-back clause, with the Council revealing the yearly rent on the club’s home sitting at £229,130, up from the £195,000 per year former chairman ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’ saddled the club with. The buy back price is index linked and is likely to be significantly higher than £2.8m. Our maths – not a Gloverscast strong point – suggests it’s likely to be closer £3.5m. This figure will increase over time.
“Both parties have been careful to keep discussions appropriately discreet”
The club statement added: “Our focus throughout has been to ensure that any arrangement reached is firmly in the long-term interests of the football club and allows the site to be used in a way that supports the club’s sustainability and its role as a community hub.
“At this stage it is difficult to go into much more detail. Both parties have been careful to keep discussions appropriately discreet while conversations are ongoing, and we feel it is important to respect that process.
“What we can say is that an offer has been put forward and we are continuing to work positively behind the scenes to progress matters, with the aim of ultimately reuniting the club and stadium.”
We have spoken to the club following the council’s initial response and they have provided confirmation that an offer was made. We have followed up with Somerset Council to ask if they considered the club’s offer ‘formal’. They have responded to say ‘there’s nothing we can add to our statement’.
That clears that up then.