We were meant to be speaking with Yeovil Town FC’s owner and chairman Scott Priestnall on this episode. Unfortunately Scott wasn’t able to speak with us but has promised to come on next week.
So you’re stuck with Ian, Ben and Dave winging it and talking about Saturday’s fixture against FC Halifax Town. There are a few laughs along the way!
FC Halifax Town boss Pete Wild insists his side is not feeling the pressure as they bid to secure a play-off place when Yeovil Town come to The Shay this weekend.
The manager, who saw red (and went a bit red) when his side lost the reverse fixture in September, saw the gap from fourth-placed Solihull Moors cut to just two points last weekend.
The Shaymen went down 1-0 at Southend United whilst Solihull picked up a win with third place offering home advantage in a one-off play-off semi-final.
A win for Wild’s team on Saturday would guarantee a play-off place, a win or a draw would set a new record for the highest points total the club has recorded in the fifth tier since reforming, while a win would equal their best points tally in the previous ten seasons.
Speaking to the Halifax Courier, the boss said: “I honestly don’t feel that there’s any pressure on us, I feel that we’ve just got to keep going,” Wild said.
“The only pressure is what people try to create outside to try and put us under pressure, I don’t feel a pressure and the players hopefully don’t feel a pressure.
“All they need to do is play the game and not the result, just worry about Yeovil on Saturday, don’t worry about what happens on Monday, don’t worry about what happens next Saturday, just play the game.”
Having lost at home to Maidenhead United on the opening day of the season, only promotion-chasing Wrexham and Boreham Wood (before their FA Cup run scuppered them) have won at The Shay in National League action this season.
Last time out in front of their own fans they picked up a 2-0 win over fellow promotion chasers Chesterfield with one Matt Warburton on target.
Shaymen boss Pete Wild is expecting more of what he and his side experienced when Yeovil came out on top at Huish Park back in September, despite the change of manager from Darren Sarll to Charlie Lee.
He told the Halifax Courier: “Yeovil are off the back of an excellent win on Saturday, I know Charlie tried to keep a lot of the same traits Darren had and keep a lot of things going.
“I’d expect a team that’s like Charlie as a player, full of tenacity, full of energy, full of drive, wants to get in your faces and make it difficult for us, exactly what they did to Stockport last Saturday.
“I’d expect a lot of that on Saturday because that’s a reflection of Charlie as a person and a footballer, so I’d expect more of what Southend gave us last Saturday.”
Former Glovers’ defender Tom Bradbury will be missing this weekend after picking up a knee injury on Easter Monday.
The centre half, who moved to West Yorkshire following his release from Huish Park in the summer of 2020, had been expected to be out for six weeks but may be back in time for the club’s play-off campaign.
Fellow defender Niall Maher, whose foul on Tom Knowles gave the Glovers a penalty in the reverse fixture, is also a doubt after suffering a hip injury in the loss at Southend.
On loan Pierce Bird, who joined from National League strugglers King’s Lynn last month, could be an option at the back.
Winger Jamie Allen is expected to be missing with a hamstring strain, but midfielder Martin Woods, who had a three game loan spell at Yeovil in 2008, returns after suspension.
Matt Warburton is the obvious link between these two sides and is showing the class which Yeovil Town supporters saw far too little of during his time at Huish Park.
The midfielder has formed an impressive partnership alongside Jordan Slew and Billy Waters in the Halifax front line and will be looking to show his old employers what they missed this weekend.
The 29-year-old joined on loan from Northampton Town in October 2020 and was with Yeovil until the end of last season, but only made 19 appearances. Following his return to Northampton he was released and returned to the North joining Halifax in the summer.
Tom Bradbury is another familiar face having spent the 2019-20 season at Yeovil but he seems likely to miss out with a knee injury this weekend, but Shaymen midfielder Martin Woods, who had a spell on loan at Yeovil in 2008, could feature having returned from suspension.
In the Glovers’ squad, injured midfielder Josh Staunton was a popular figure in West Yorkshire before moving to South Somerset last season. He will be missing having just undergone surgery on a groin hernia.
Caretaker manager Charlie Lee has not ruled himself out of the running to be Yeovil Town’s permanent manager.
With chairman and owner Scott Priestnall saying he has received up to 50 applications for the position, the interim boss was asked whether he would be putting his CV in the pile.
In true football manager style, Lee said his focus was on the weekend’s trip to third-placed FC Halifax Town.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Thursday, he said: “I have had conversations with the owner and that side of things will get dealt with when he feels are necessary, but I just have to focus on the next game.
“I have loved being manager, it’s been a real honour. I will do it as long as the club needs me and what happens after that will be up to the owner.”
He added: “People want to know where things are at, including the owner, he is desperate to get things sorted.
“This is a great club, I am not surprised so many people want the job, the three years I have had here have been some of the best I have had through some of the hardest times I have been through.
“This club will do well next year, whoever is in charge.”
The boss hopes to have injured midfielder Josh Staunton back before the end of the season after he underwent surgery on a groin hernia this week.
He will have on-loan Stockport County defender Ben Barclay back for the trip to Halifax after he missed last weekend’s win for the Glovers over his parent club, however, forward Charlie Wakefield seems likely to miss out.
On Staunton, the interim boss said: “We would like to have him available before the end of the season, it’s one of those operations when you can recover really quickly but we won’t rush him back.
“There’s a chance he may be available before the end of the season.”
Lee said his side’s ability to balance defensive solidity with attacking threat was the secret to the 2-1 home win over Stockport County last weekend.
He expects his players to take confidence from that performance going in to the weekend, but admits it will be tough for the squad to play two games in as many days with Wealdstone the visitors to Huish Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
He said: “We pieced both sides of the game together (against Stockport). In recent weeks we have either been attacking with real authority and letting in sloppy goals and when we have set up to be defensive we have struggled to break teams down.
“Now we are going to another best teams in the league and not many teams have got that much (at Halifax) but we will go there with confidence from the last result.
“Almost certainly the team that starts on Saturday will not be the one that plays on Monday which will almost certainly be the case for most teams, especially at our level.
“We have some people back and available but we don’t have 22 starting people, so some are going to have to play in both games and this is a group that is willing to do it.
“They will expect to win and everyone will expect them to win but we will go there and make it very hard for them, we’re a confident team and we feel we can get something.”
Jody Brown was alongside Lee for the first time last weekend and he has spoken about his arrival at the club following his sacking by National League South strugglers Billericay Town.
Lee said: “I met Jody this year when he became manager at Billericay when I was a player there and I thought he did an excellent job with the club in a very bad place when he took over.
“When he left Billericay at the start of last week, I spoke to him on the off-chance and he said he was able to come in and help me and he’s an excellent person to have in.
“He’s got a lot more experience than me and he’s been a big help to me, we see the game in a similar way and his first game saw us beat Stockport.
“He stays very calm. As a coach I am quite calm, I try and stay even, but he gives me a straight answer when I ask a question, I don’t need people to just agree with me.”
Yeovil Town 3 Halifax Town 0 – Saturday 21st September 2002
In 2002/03, Yeovil found themselves having to play their first five games at the Avenue Dorchester, as a result of the newly re-laid Huish Park pitch not quite being ready. The season got off to a difficult start, with the Glovers needing an injury-time equaliser on the first day to rescue a point after going 2-0 down at home to new boys Gravesend, but also losing Adam Stansfield for the rest of the season with a broken leg. They then lost their second game 2-1 at Barnet.
Attendances in Dorchester were good – almost 3,000 attended the first match which kicked off late due to the August traffic, and crowds did not drop below 2,000 despite being held 25 miles away. While Yeovil were ultimately unbeaten at the Avenue, it was not the smoothest start to the season – losing Stansfield was a huge blow, and in addition Demba was having some trouble adjusting to the rigours of the English game and the other strikers Alford and Grant were more often than not substituted for fitness reasons. The defence was not quite settled, as the Glovers scored plenty but also conceded plenty, perhaps due to the uncertainty in personnel and formation.
There was also the issue of where to accommodate Gavin Williams – while obviously a talented player, he had been employed mostly as a striker in his formative years at Hereford. Gary Johnson did try this but didn’t seem to favour it, even after the injury to Stansfield. He started 02/03 with the 4-4-2 that he had ended the previous season with, but fitting Williams into a midfield four would be difficult as Johnson, Way, Crittenden and McIndoe were already there. This dilemma was possibly what drove the manager to try the 3-4-1-2 that would serve Yeovil so well for much of the season, with Williams in a free role. The formation change did create a problem for Anthony Tonkin – as a specialist left back, he did not thrive at all on the left of a back three, a position more suited to Colin Pluck. And in a wing back formation, McIndoe would be the obvious occupant on the left. Tonkin was an excellent player, and probably one of the best left backs we’ve had in the modern era – but only as left back.
After the first couple of games as a 4-4-2, Yeovil switched to three at the back with Tonkin where he did not look comfortable, but was the only option as Pluck was absent through injury. When Pluck returned, Gary Johnson’s selection headache would end up getting resolved by the unusual figure of former England midfielder Carlton Palmer. Palmer was manager at Stockport, who seemed to have become aware that a clause in Tonkin’s contract stated that any offer over £50,000 would have to be put directly to the player, and put in an offer for exactly that amount.
When Halifax came to town for the final game at the Avenue, it was actually the first game since Tonkin’s departure from the club. He would not officially leave for another week, but by that point was refusing to report for training or answer the phone on advice of his agent.
Halifax had just been relegated, and been forced to rebuild their team over the summer from a difficult financial position. They put together a decent team under new manager Chris Wilder, who was early in his managerial career at the time but specialised in producing teams who were physical and hard to beat on limited budgets. He would later prove his credentials by taking Sheffield United from the bottom of League One to the Premier League in just three years. He was also in charge of Oxford when, as a Conference team they knocked League One Yeovil out of the FA Cup in 2009.
Yeovil took the lead in the first half, with Crittenden scoring from the spot after a foul on Demba. A minute later, Gavin Williams gave the Glovers a 2-0 lead in spectacular fashion, picking up the ball following a throw, and curling in with his left foot from 25 yards. Leading 2-0 at half time, controversy erupted in the second half – latching onto a through ball from Williams, Demba was clearly upended by keeper Lee Butler for an obvious penalty. With no defenders covering, the referee had no choice but to also send Butler off. The keeper was infuriated, throwing his shirt to the ground in disgust and physically attacking Demba on his way off the pitch, presumably as he thought the player had dived. This signalled multiple players from both sides to engage in a brawl. As he finally left the pitch, Skiverton called something to him that was probably not very complimentary, and another period of fighting broke out. A Halifax player clearly grabbed Skiverton by the throat – an image which appeared on the front page of following day’s Non-League Paper – and should have been sent off but wasn’t. After consulting his assistant, the referee sent off Demba for no clear reason. It is not even evident from the video what the referee could think Demba had done. He just stood there passively while Butler assaulted him. The report said ‘foul and abusive language’, probably because it can’t be disproven by video and is often used when the referee knows he has made a mistake. The fact that Demba had not long arrived from Belgium and his first language is French, suggests that the charge was probably not correct.
Skiverton was then called over and rightly sent off as although he was grabbed by the throat, he also swung some punches in retaliation. What the ref got wrong was not sending off at least one Halifax player. In time the Demba red card would be overturned, but Skiverton was out for three matches. At that time there was a delay between the offence and the suspension to allow time for appeals, so Skiverton was able to play in two more games – Woking at home and Leigh away – scoring in both, taking him to six for the season and making him top scorer at the end of September.
Despite all of the chaos and red cards, the good news was that Yeovil were 2-0 up with a penalty to come. Crittenden hammered home the resultant penalty about ten minutes after it had actually been awarded and with the Glovers 3-0 up, the points were secured. Halifax did fight on (not literally this time) and got themselves a few chances, but could not affect the result.
Going into the game Yeovil were third in the table and the win took them up into second, overtaking Doncaster but behind Chester, who were unbeaten did not even concede a goal away from home until the end of October. After an uneven start, the Glovers were in a good position. Unbeaten at Dorchester in front of decent crowds, the anticipation was building in the town for a return to Huish Park, live on TV against Woking – a return that would see a glorious 4-0 win in front of over 4,000 fans, more than any league game the previous season. Now unbeaten in nine with three clean sheets in a row, a set formation and the goals beginning to flow, there was a sense that Gary Johnson’s team were finding top gear and it would take a lot to stop them.
Despite their financial limitations Halifax would become a good Conference team under Chris Wilder, reaching the play-off final in 2006. They would also provide one of the toughest examinations of Gary Johnson’s men in their championship season. Even though Yeovil were fresh off the back of six consecutive wins and brushing aside Hereford 4-0, the Shaymen took a 2-0 lead and threatened to bully the Glovers right out of the game. Brian Quailey and in particular Simon Parke gave Lockwood, Skiverton and Pluck the most difficult time I saw them have that season, and Yeovil were lucky not to have at least one man sent off. The second half was end to end, with both teams having chances to take the lead and Weale having to make some top class saves, before the part-time team tired in the final quarter and Gall stole the win well into injury time. It was an epic night which for many people, saw the champagne finally be put on ice.
Team that day: Jon Sheffield, Adam Lockwood, Terry Skiverton (sent off 71), Colin Pluck, Darren Way, Lee Johnson, Nick Crittenden, Michael McIndoe, Gavin Williams, Abdoulai Demba (sent off 70), Howard Forinton (sub. Roy O’Brien, 79). Subs not used: Luke Buckingham, Stephen Reed, Andy Lindegaard, Carl Alford
Plans to improve the matchday experience at Huish Park are “in the pipeline“, according to Yeovil Town commercial manager Mark Robinson.
Speaking alongside chairman Scott Priestnall in an address to a group of fans last weekend, he asked supporters to continue to support the club as it seeks to rebuild in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman also stated that he was still in control at the club insisting he spoke with with stadium manager James Hillier “five or six times a day” despite not attending matches.
On the subject of matchday experience, Robinson said: “Working with the Supporters’ Alliance to improve the matchday experience is key for us, I know we haven’t got it perfect but we are a non-League club and we are providing much better than a lot of other non-League clubs.
“It is good the corporate floor (on the first floor at Huish Park) is dramatically improved, we are having lots of happy experiences up here and the fans out on the terraces deserve that experience as well.
“We have a lot of things in the pipeline coming, but it’s not done overnight and, like any other business, we have just come out of one of the toughest times anyone has experienced, so we ask for your patience and persevere with us.
“We are invested and have a passion and a dream for what Yeovil Town Football Club should look like, we know fans and businesses have an expectation and they deserve to have that expectation met.
“We are the premier venue and sporting place in Somerset and we want to be back there in the Football League, but we can’t do that on our own. We are working hard, so please support us and stick with us because it is going to be an exciting time.”
Speaking back in July, Priestnall said he expected Huish Park to offer a “more inviting and entertaining” matchday experience. You can listen to this on the club’s official YouTube channel – here – the section, quoted below, begins at 13 minutes and 8 seconds in.
The chairman said: “With new bars and different areas people can go to, de-boarding the boardroom and trying to make it more fan-orientated and making it an exciting place to come.
“That has to be done off the pitch as well as on it because we want people to enjoy their experience again.
“A lot of changes are coming in bit by bit, but as we see the season start you will see a very different Huish Park, more inviting and more entertaining.”
Returning to last weekend’s address, Priestnall said he had spoken with the “potential partners” he is looking to bring on to the club’s board about the day-to-day running of the club. He described Hillier as “my right-hand man” and pointed to Robinson for running the club’s commercial operations.
He said: “James and I speak five or six times a day, I may not be here on a day to day basis but I was never going to be that type of chairman.
“That is one of the discussions I have had with potential partners, should a chairman do that? Or are we comfortable with the set up we have. The way the staff have come back in to the office, they have done a brilliant job.
“My main focus was coming through the pandemic, having a good season this season. It’s been a horrible season with the rumours of takeovers, the performances have not been good enough at times but we have had a young and exciting squad, it’s not been fun.
“I appreciate supporters want to feel more connected with their club, whether that is with me at the top or somebody else, or a complete new owner, all that will be ironed out over the next few weeks.
“Be under no illusion, I am still committed to the club and I have been this whole year, regardless of what some might say. We have made sure everyone has been paid and had a competitive playing squad.
“We have to make changes, I have to make changes and what I am doing is not sitting and waiting. The only thing I can commit to is that there will be a new board in place in some guise and I will be able to tell you what that looks like over the next few weeks.“
Ahead of Yeovil Town‘s 2-1 win over Stockport County last weekend, a number of the club’s supporters received an invitation to come to the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park to speak with chairman Scott Priestnall.
It was the first time the owner had been seen at the club on a matchday since the BBC television cameras were in town for the FA Cup third round tie with AFC Bournemouth in January, and he was providing an update on the on and off-the-field situation.
This followed a tumultuous 24 hours including the resignation of fellow director Glenn Collis and a statement from the club saying the chairman was seeking to assemble a new board including “local business people.”
From Monday, the club has released a series of video clips showing the chairman speaking with matchday stadium announcer Ian Welch on a series of topics and, to try and summarise, we have put them together in to a Gloversblog – so here goes:
Video 1: Managerial Update: Priestnall updated around the long-term situation around the club’s vacant manager’s job, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
Video 2: Player contracts and recruitment
In the second video, the chairman spoke about the situation with the club’s current crop of players and gave his thoughts on future recruitment, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
Video 3 – Financial situation: With the club having lost almost £400,000 last year, the chairman spoke about the club’s financial situation and his plans to bring new investment in, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
Video 4 – The long-term vision: Released on Tuesday morning, the chairman spoke about nearly £1m in loans the club has taken from Sport England and his plans to create a long-term vision for the club, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
Video 5 – Communication with supporters: In the last (gripping?) instalment of The Priestnall Tapes, the chairman spoke about his relationship with the Supporters’ Alliance, a group which represents the main fans’ groups at the club, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
Video 6 – Matchday experience: In this video, Commercial Manager Mark Robinson discusses the work which has been ongoing to improve the matchday experience, saying:
Find out more in our news article on this update – here.
Watch the video on the club’s Twitter feed – here.
And the one that wasn’t a video: The chairman spoke about the situation with a takeover of the club by the Simul Sports consortium and insisted he could not speak about South Somerset District Council’s proposed purchase and lease back of Huish Park and land around it, the headlines were:
You can read about this one – here
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.
Yeovil Town owner Scott Priestnall has said he will hopes that Sports Minister Nigel Huddlestone will cancel the almost £1m of loans the club has taken out from Sport England.
The club presently owes £998,538 after taking a series of loans from a fund created to support non-League clubs during the COVID-19 pandemic when the chairman said the club “lost £1.25m in revenue overnight.”
Initially the National League, of which Priestnall is a board member, told clubs the money was in the form of grants which did not need to be paid back, but the Government’s Department of Culture, Media & Sport disagreed.
In the fourth (or is it fifth?!) instalment of video updates from an address the chairman made to supporters in the Alec Stock Lounge ahead of Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Stockport, he said: “We have taken Government funds, I have been criticised for that, I have no shame in that, nearly all National League clubs have taken grants and loans from the Government and I sit here and go – show me a different way. Quite frankly there was not another way.
“We’ve taken not as much as some other clubs and only what we needed and we have been promised as a league by the Sports Minister that over the next four years, he is working towards getting those loans written off.
“So, in hindsight, we could have done what other clubs did and took a much as we could and used it for playing squads, but I didn’t want to do that in case we get to the point where we do get to the point where we have to start paying it back over the next 20 years. Money still had to be put in to fund last season.”
Other clubs in the National League have also taken significant sums of money from Sport England with promotion-chasing Chesterfield taking £1m in loans last March, whereas others including now-relegated Dover Athletic decided not to fulfil their fixtures.
Speaking about the future plans, the chairman returned to his point about trying to secure further investment with “local business people” reportedly being lined up to join the club’s board – see more here.
He said he understood fans’ frustration him “for not being more transparent, for not talking about takeover rumours” but said he believed a takeover of the club would have been finalised by Christmas.
In Saturday’s address to fans, the chairman said that no group seeking to complete a takeover had every “put money on the table.”
He said: “Putting my cards on the table I thought there would be a new owner in place by Christmas.
“That’s not been the case, so when you look at our accounts, we have lost money again and that has had to be found and put in to the club and that will be an ongoing situation.
“The balance I need to find over the next few weeks and months with other partners to see where we are going to be in terms of a playing budget. I know now that our playing budget is going to be similar to what it has been this season.
“I would like it to be more, but that will need further investment or a way of generating revenue by increasing attendances. No-one wants to put prices up.
“I am not going to sit here and say that our long-term vision is to have a new ground with a hotel in it, our goal is short-term to stabilise a new board, so it’s not just one voice, it’s a collective approach, bringing investment to the club.
“Between us we will work on what that plan looks like; we could have that plan in a month, it could be two months, but I would like to think this summer we do have a long-term vision in place.”
… isn’t that a shame?
W*ymouth’s relegation to the National League South has been confirmed following thr Seagull Botherers 6-1 at the hands of Wrexham on Tuesday night.
They will join Dover in the regional division next season.
Not just content with Max Hunt making the official Vanarama team of the week, the gaffer has only gone and bagged himself a spot in the mythical dugout alongside.
Charlie Lee gained his first win as Glovers boss, (well, first league win, the SPC counts, dammit) by overseeing the 2-1 beating of table topping Stockport.
Nice work for the former Midfielder turned Manager.
