Ahead of the final match of the season, Yeovil Town interim chairman Stuart Robins spoke to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah. He spoke about his first month in the job, provided an update on talks over a takeover at Huish Park and discussed the situation with a number of supporters who have been banned from attending home matches for comments on social media. You can read the interview in full here:
JK: One month in to the role how have you found it?
SR: It feels like six years, not a month! It has been great, I just love the club and it has been so good to be involved at this level. The support I have been given is just fantastic and that is from everybody. It has been really exciting. I know I have plenty of white hair, but you can never stop learning.
JK: What aspect of the job has surprised you?
SR: Probably the intensity and the stuff you get brought in to. The top level stuff is fairly straightforward because you can just make decisions, but there are a lot of stakeholders in the club. The supporters, the staff who have worked tirelessly and the volunteers, they all deserve being looked after. But it is great. Home match days are very busy and there is a real buzz. We have had some great crowds at Huish Park recently and the busier it is, the more exciting it is.
JK: The big question everyone wants to know is, how is it going with the sale of the club and when do you expect to have answers?
SR: The Hellier Group has entered in to an exclusive agreement with a third party. We have been working on this for some months and we are moving forward and everyone behind-the-scenes is working very hard to bring this to a conclusion as soon as we possibly can. There is a huge amount of goodwill on both sides to get this done and as soon as I can give more information, I will be more than happy to do so.
JK: Can you explain what ‘entering in to an exclusive agreement with a third party’ means in simple terms?
SR: We have had quite a number of parties that have been interested in investing in the club, and we felt this party was the best fit for the long-term sustainability of the club. The agreement is that neither party will talk to anyone else and the Heads of Agreement says that, unless something unforseen happens a takeover of the club will take place.
I cannot give you a precise date but we are working to do it as quickly as we possibly can.
JK: I have chatted to manager Mark Cooper and he has said that the club cannot move forward in terms of contract renewals or recruitment until this is sorted.
SR: We have been working with (manager Mark Cooper) to see what we need to do budget-wise next year to be more competitive than we have this year. Every party understands that speed is of the essence, but there is nothing anyone will do to slow things down. We want to speed everything up.
JK: Are you optimistic that in the coming weeks that the club will be able to plan for next season?
SR: I have been in business long enough to say ‘it is never done until it is done’, but we are working hard to get this completed as soon as we possibly can.
JK: When we spoke last time, we spoke about the banning orders for supporters. Is there any update on those?
SR: All those people which have been effected have been contacting and they are all aware what we are doing. That issue has been addressed?
JK: So all the individuals involved have been contacted by the club and arrangements have been made on an individual basis?
SR: Not just by the club, but by me personally.
JK: So have any of the bans been overturned or is that an individual thing?
SR: We will make an announcement as soon as the season is completed, but every individual has been contacted personally by me. They all know what the situation is.
JK: There is never a boring season with Yeovil Town, is there Stuart?!
SR: That is true and I am hoping next year will be even less boring as we see more success on the field. I want a non-boring season with all the excitement at the other end of the table!
JK: I have spoken to Mark Cooper about the core of this squad. Do you believe that if you have a fully fit Aaron Jarvis, Brett McGavin, Jake Wannell, Morgan Williams for a season and you can make a few signings around them, is there any reason why Yeovil couldn’t be pushing for promotion next season?
SR: You wouldn’t expect me to talk about individual players, that is for Mark, not me. But what I would say is the basis of the club looks pretty strong, they all seem very committed. The training ground is Mark’s domain, and they seem a tight, happy squad. We want to give Mark and the team as much help and obviously budget to see what we can do next season.
JK: What has been your highlight of this season?
SR: I was delighted with how we dealt with Oldham Athletic (in the 2-1 home win). I know they were on a bad run of form, but we played well and should have won 2-0 instead of 2-1. That performance for me was just fantastic, the way we played that day against a squad that had the budget they have was just fantastic. I just really enjoyed that one.