New Yeovil Town owner Prabhu Srinivasan wants to bring the community of South Somerset closer to the football club, according to executive chairman Stuart Robins.
The Dubai-based businessman completed his takeover of the club through his holding company Inflection Holdings from former owner Martin Hellier on Thursday after what Robins described as “a hard, long negotiation.”
Speaking for the first time since the takeover was announced, he told BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah the reason why he had backed the deal with the Indian businessman.
Robins said: “I have had so many conversations with different suitors actually before Martin made his announcement. What was exciting about Prabhu and his family was that it was not just about the football club, it was about the whole community. When I got to know Prabhu, I got to find out about the community-related activities that he has been instrumental in. Because this is so dear to my heart and, as people know, I love this place and the club.
“It was important to me as a Yeovil boy that it was not just about someone who wanted to come in and be part of a famous football club, it was someone who wanted to make sure we could build Yeovil Town as part of the community and make it more inclusive for everybody and I think that is what Prabhu brings.”
Who is Prabhu Srinivasan?
The club director, who joined the club’s board under the ownership of former chairman (NAME REDACTED) in May 2022, said that the new owner would be visiting Huish Park in the coming weeks with the club promising a ‘Meet the Owner’ night for fans.
He spoke about Srinivasan’s previous success in building community initiatives in his native India and his adopted home in the Middle East. He co-founded KOOH (Kids Out Of Home) Sports in 2010 as an organisation which runs sports curriculum activities with schools across India funded by invested raised from private investors. You can read more about KOOH Sports in an article in Forbes India admittedly from 2016 – click here.
The businessman’s profile on professional networking website LinkedIn describes him as “a multi-faceted corporate thought leader and entrepreneur with over 28 years of multi-sector global experience in integrating strategy and operations to deliver outstanding stakeholder value.” To be honest, we’re not really sure what that means, but clearly it is a description not written with a footballing audience in mind.
It goes on to give his career highlights as being involved in 20 mergers and acquisitions (maybe 21 now!) with a number of major global investment firms, heading companies across the world employing up to 30,000 people, and describes him as “a serial entrepreneur” having been involved in businesses involved in sports (see KOOH Sports, above), e-waste management and sustainable packaging.
Does this add up to multi-millionaire status? The truth is we do not really know, but Robins’ comments about “not doing a Wrexham“ would suggest not to get too carried away about a massive chequebook.
Asked about the new owner’s ambition and past history in sports, Robins added: “I do not want to steal Prabhu’s thunder because he will go in to much more detail when he comes over, but one thing that drew me to him was that his whole motivation in his (previous ventures in the Middle East and India) were to ensure his son Sahil was not stuck in front of a computer all day.
“He wanted to use the wealth and experience he has accumulated to make sure children were able to get out and play support and I am really pleased he is really interested in football because it gives us such a great opportunity.
“Prabhu and his advisors had done their research and they had seen there was a good opportunity to make a difference. We have gone through some difficult times since we were in the Championship (in 2013) and it has been a rapid decline, but we are now back on the way up. It is an opportunity to be involved in that.
“Whenever a new owner comes in, it is a new start and a new opportunity, I would not say it was a rebuild, but it is an opportunity to build bigger and better.“