Gloversblog

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Jake Gallagher has kindly offered us his thoughts on why pre-season doesn’t matter…

Pre-season is win-win as a football fan. If your team didn’t do well in the five or six games that occur before the league action commences, then it doesn’t matter because it’s only pre-season. If your rivals are putting good results together, then it doesn’t matter because it’s only pre-season.

Jordan Stevens celebrates his opening goal in the pre-season friendly win at Buckland Athletic.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

Depending on the biased view of your team or of that lot from down the road, pre-season doesn’t matter. That is of course, until it does.

Last season’s National League South winners Ebbsfleet United started their title-winning campaign with nine consecutive league victories. The first club to stop them earning three points were Oxford City who ended the season promoted themselves. Simply put, Ebbsfleet started like a train.

Ebbsfleet scored 15 goals in those 6 friendly games, at an average of 2.5 goals per game

Now if you look back to their pre-season of 2022 – and do remember that none of this actually matters – they won 4, drew 1 and lost 1. The loss coming against West Ham U21s and 2-2 draw against League Two outfit Colchester United. Their wins were good results, on paper at least, including a 3-1, a 1-0, a 3-0 and a final pre-season fixture that ended in a handsome 5-1 victory.

Ebbsfleet scored 15 goals in those 6 friendly games, at an average of 2.5 goals per game (gpg). When the season began, that average increased to 2.8 gpg. On this occasion, a good pre-season equalled a good start to the league.

Next let’s check on Maidstone, the National League South champions from the season before that.

Their pre-season of 2021 – and remember once more that none of this matters – they won 5, drew 1 and lost 1. They scored 20 goals in 7 friendlies, that’s 2.8 gpg, and saw them propel into the season proper with 6 wins in their opening 8 league matches, drawing the other two, scoring 2.4 gpg.

There’s a trend here; Good pre-season = good start to the league.

Shall we now cast our eyes back to Yeovil Town’s last pre-season? I’m talking about the beginning of Chris Hargreaves’ short spell at the club.

Chris Hargreaves

In our pre-season of 2022 – and remember for a third time that none of this matters – we won 1, drew 3 and lost 1. We scored 0.4 gpg in those friendlies which saw us begin the campaign with 1 victory in 11 league matches scoring 0.9 gpg.

The trend? Bad pre-season = bad start to the league.

Listen to any football manager and they’ll tell you pre-season is about fitness levels and getting through games unscathed

In Mark Cooper’s pre-season of 2023 (so far) – which doesn’t matter – we’ve won 5, drawn 0 and lost 1 scoring 3 ggp on average. So can we expect a good start to the campaign given the good results in our friendlies? You’d have to hope so.

Listen to any football manager and they’ll tell you pre-season is about fitness levels and getting through games unscathed. But it’s absolutely, categorically, much more than that.

Pre-season is about setting standards, creating good habits, a good culture, and gaining confidence through good performances. At this level player turnover is high, so it’s likely players be playing with new teammates or have a new teammate to play next to. It’s about forming strong on-pitch relationships and understanding each other’s strengths. Winning is a bonus but winning – friendly game or not – is what football is all about.

The performance against League Two Newport was a good one. If you can put aside that the Welsh side were utter shite there are many positives to take into our opener against Hemel Hempstead Town. Don’t get me wrong there’s plenty to work on; Morgan Williams didn’t look comfortable receiving the ball in the middle of a back three and Jake Wannell didn’t show enough aggression when defending corners aerially, but these are small points to pick up on.

I’ll level with you and admit all the numbers I’ve referenced earlier in the piece is a shallow analysis – there’s no deep dive here. It’s based on results only. As I mentioned earlier in the piece though, winning is what football is all about.

Winning breeds confidence in yourself.
Winning breeds belief in your teammates.
Winning breeds trust in the management team and their methods.

If you can get to full fitness, avoid injury, feel like you’ve performed well while garnering strong connections and partnerships with your teammates AND win games, then pre-season matters. It always matters.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog

Did you know that Football’s fixture computers are all Weymouth fans?

Ok, well maybe not, but I’ve had a couple of minutes spare this summer, so have spent a bit of time crunching some numbers around the ‘Big Three’ dates in the football schedule and they don’t look great from a Glovers point of view.

I took the last 24 seasons, from the 1999/20 campaign and worked out if we were Home or Away on the opening day, the final day and on Boxing Day and how those fixtures faired for us.

Let’s start at the start, it seems only logical.

In 1999, the Glovers were away from home on the opening day, and lost 5-0 away at Scarborough… rubbish.

The fixture computer then gave us three home games in a row over the next three seasons, and whilst one of them wasn’t actually at Huish Park, but down the road at Dorchester as we did a little bit of ground sharing, we at least got to show off all our new shiny players to the fans first thing.

Then, just as we reached the promised land of the EFL, things turned sour, we all remember the magical opening away day at Rochdale in 2003, a wonderful scene as Kevin Gall announced to the world the Glovers were playing with the big boys now and weren’t going to be taken lightly,

But that match represented the first of FIVE consecutive opening day away games, and we didn’t win any of those subsequent four.

 

In fact, the next opening day win wouldn’t come until 2009 with a home win over Tranmere with the likes of Alex McCarthy, Steven Caulker and Ryan Mason in the side.

There’s no getting around it, our opening day form has been pretty naff, of the last 24 seasons, we’ve won six, drawn five and lost 13 games to raise the curtain on a league season.

What’s more, our last win on the opening day was way back in the 2016/17 season, when Otis Khan and Kevin Dawson scored against Notts County in a 2-0 win.

Since then, we’ve earned just one point on the opening day, that silly 2-2 draw vs King’s Lynn on the telly.

Right enough about the opening day, let’s move onto Boxing Day., that’ll be better, right?

Well, not really. Firstly, I only have 22 games to work from here as 2021/22 and 2010/11 saw the traditional Boxing Day game postponed… something about too many pigs in blankets or something.

But again, we’ve been Away far more times that Home the day after Old St Nick comes to town, 13 out of 22 occasions have seen us on the road.

Who can forget our 6-2 drubbing of Torquay in 2019/20? Well, that’s about as good as has got of late. The Gulls repaid the favour a year later (6-1) and rubbed salt into the wounds 12 months further down the line (3-0).

13 Losses from the last 22 Boxing Day games in total, just the five wins in there too.

Let’s fast forward to the final day, this has to be better, right?

 

Oh, for… sake, 24 games, 14 away! Who keeps scheduling us to make horrible trips to the likes of Nottingham Forest, Colchester… CARLISLE?

Three of the last four have been away from home too, now in fairness, I’ve counted the Dover game in the shortened season in 2019/20 here as a ‘final day away game’… but a quick look at where we were meant to end that season gives us… Notts County. AWAY. Of course.

So out of the last 70 “Key Dates” we’ve been at home on just 29 occasions and away on a whopping 41 occasions.

In fact, on no fewer than four different occasions, we were away on all three ‘Biggies’ 99/00, 06/07, 17/18 and last season where we got the joy of losing to Scunthorpe first, Boreham Wood last and got a point against fellow strugglers Torquay on Boxing Day.

Only once have we been at home on all three big dates, 2008/09 – but we didn’t win any of them either.

So what about this coming season, the fixtures will be out soon and obviously there’s a lot more local derbies, (oh to have the chance of getting Oldham away on the opening day…)  but there’s still the question of who do we get paired with on Boxing Day.

It’s usually been fairly obvious – Torquay have filled that spot. But with Truro coming into the league (playing in Plymouth) you’d think they’d get the back to back games against one another.

Dan Moss, Josh Staunton and Joe Quigley defend vs Weymouth
Credit: Weymouth Flickr

Bath and Chippenham are quite close, Weston Super-Mare and Taunton are both North and West of us and seem easy to pair off… which leaves us with… Our Fixture Computer Supporting Friends down on the South Coast.

So when those all important dates hit our diary, don’t expect us to have dates at Huish Park scheduled first, last or on Boxing Day.

Who do you think our three key games will be against?

I’m going for Tonbridge away on the first day, Dover away on the last… and a Christmas trip to the Bobby Lucas!

First DayFirst Day ResultBoxing Day Boxing Day ResultFinal DayFinal Day Result
1999/2000AwayLostAwayLostAwayDrawAway all three
2000/2001HomeWin AwayWinHomeLost
2001/2002HomeLostAwayLostHomeWin
2002/2003HomeDrawAwayLostHomeDraw
2003/2004AwayWin HomeLostAwayWin
2004/2005AwayLostHomeWinHomeWin
2005/2006AwayLostHomeDrawHomeDraw
2006/2007AwayDrawAwayLostAwayWinAway all three
2007/2008AwayLostHomeLostAwayLostLost All Three
2008/2009HomeDrawHomeDrawHomeLostHome all three
2009/2010HomeWin HomeWinAwayLost
2010/2011HomeWin N/AN/AAwayWin
2011/2012AwayLostHomeLostAwayLostLost All Three
2012/2013HomeDrawAwayLostAwayLost
2013/2014AwayWin AwayLostHomeLost
2014/2015HomeLostAwayLostAwayLostLost All Three
2015/2016AwayLostAwayLostHomeLostLost All Three
2016/2017HomeWin HomeDrawAwayLost
2017/2018AwayLostAwayWinAwayDrawAway all three
2018/2019AwayLostAwayLostHomeDraw
2019/2020AwayLostHomeWinAwayWin
2020/2021AwayDrawAwayLostHomeLost
2021/2022HomeLostN/AN/AAwayWin
2022/2023AwayLostAwayDrawAwayLostAway all three
Total 24
Total Home10910
Total Away141314
Total Win657
Total Draws545
Total Losses131312

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Earlier this week, the world marked Groundhog Day. The day when the groundhog of North American comes out of its hibernation burrow and looks to see if its shadow is captured in winter sun or absent due to Spring cloudiness. If it spots it, it retreats for a further six weeks until it is sure winter has gone.

Now, there were no groundhogs at Huish Park on Saturday, but there was a former England rugby union player Paul Sackey in the stands for the 2-2 draw against Maidstone United. One assumes he is not there to check on what the yellow marks in the penalty area in front of the Thatcher’s Stand are, and if the rumour mill is correct  he’s involved in the unnamed “potential investors” in an “exclusivity agreement” to become a majority shareholder in Yeovil Town.

It’s now more than a month since the last bit of news we were got about the ownership of the club – the New Year’s Eve announcement about the aforementioned agreement – and it appears that those “potential investors” have enough interest (confidence?) to attend a match.

We’ve been here before, haven’t we? In late 2018, Rob Couhig was photographed wearing a green-and-white scarf giving a big thumbs up and it looked like his deal to buy the club from then-owners Norman Hayward and John Fry was done. That deal collapsed and current owner and chairman Scott Priestnall took it on alongside business partner Errol Pope who later resigned from the board.

Rob Couhig, now owner at League One side Wycombe Wanderers, in 2018.

Fast forward to December 6th 2021, it was Julian Jenkins, the former Cardiff City commercial director and the frontman for the Simul Sports consortium, who tweeted that the group was looking to buy Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, the company which runs the Glovers’ football operations.

Both of those discussions reached the due diligence stages, at least from what we can see from the outside looking in, and now we appear to have more “potential investors” involved in an “exclusivity agreement” – so why does it matter?

Mark Cooper’s plans are being stifled

Speaking after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Maidstone, manager Mark Cooper was visibly miffed (we can’t use the F-word) and spoke about players who he was asking some to “do things they can’t do.”

He concluded: “Once we get in what we want to get in, eventually, then that will turn around.”

It’s not the first time he has spoken about how he has ambitions to strengthen the team and one assumes it is the current owner which has enabled him to sign Jordan Maguire-Drew, Charlie Cooper and bring in loans like Jack Clarke and Edwin Agbaje, but he clearly wants to do more.

There’s rent to pay from May

From May, there’s going to be a hefty bill landing on the Huish Park doormat for the first rental payment to landlords South Somerset District Council (SSDC) and based on attendances which hover between slightly above and slightly below 2,000, there seems to be a huge rental income coming in.

The amount the club received from selling the land upon which the stadium stands and everything around it is presumably running low. So where is the money coming from to pay those bills?

Blimey, it feels a long time since September 2021, when we highlighted the risk of all this happening – see here.

As ever, we are not privy to any secret conversations, so we have to go on what we are being told. There’s been no real changes to suggest an influx in match day revenue. We reported in December that plans to create “a fan zone” behind the Thatcher’s Stand had been approved by SSDC, but there’s been nothing further said about that.


We just deserve to know!

Let’s not get sucked in to the whole ‘supporters or customers’ debate because we all know that we are both – but the reality is this football club would not exist without its fan base.

Go back to the 1990s when fans pulled together to save it from the taxman’s bill at its lowest ebb, then 2019 when a Crowdfunder raised more than £50,000 to boost coffers – and a donation to the Yeovil Hospital Charity, of course – and not least the thousands of people who part with their cash week in and week out.

Plus, let us never forget the football club is an employer to many people, do they not deserve a straight answer about the future of their employer?

We have no doubt that the “potential investors” have their reasons for not going public, but the rumour mill is turning, the jungle drums are beating and there seems to be a far more professional ways of introducing yourself than the drip, drip, drip of information. You never get a second chance to make a first impression afterall.

 

If the ‘groundhog’ spots its own shadow and retreats back in to its burrow, it could be a long winter at Huish Park.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Well, streaming is here in the National League, and Gloverscast Ben has been exploring.

Ryan Reynolds and that other bloke who owns Wrexham, threw enough toys out of their pram and now, anyone in the world can dial in to watch their beloved National League side.

For the cost of a Motorway Services Meal Deal, I can, from the comfort of my own sofa, log into a site and watch the Glovers in action, and that’s exactly what I did on Saturday as Yeovil hosted Scunthorpe United.

I’ve long been a sceptic of streaming at this level, but I accept there are pros and cons to this, so I thought I’d jot a few down.

As ever, let us know what you think and how you think it’ll change (if at all) how you consume Yeovil Town matches.

The Pros

1) First of all, the entire process of signing up, pledging my allegiance to Yeovil and parting with my £4.75 via PayPal was all very easy.

2) The quality of image, audio and graphics were pretty good.

That’s a good start, we saw during the lockdown days that not every side has great coverage.

We at Yeovil had a ball tracking camera at one point which focused in on a bald lino’s noggin once or twice, but that isn’t the case here.

The camera operator might need a spirit level as it looked a little wonky at times, but there’s was some nice graphics, even a replay or two and at half time we were treated to an ‘as it stands’ table.

There’s clearly some sort of work going on externally, quite possibly a director and someone working on the games, which, is a pretty good effort from the National League.

3) I bought a ticket! That means that 60% of my £4.75 (£2.85) has gone into the club coffers. I wonder what they’ll spend it on?

In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have given the club a penny to consume that game before hand. All three Gloverscasters bought a stream. This will prove to be an extra revenue stream. (Hold that thought, we’ll come back to it later)

4) It got me thinking about who else might have purchased who may not have otherwise done so.

Friend of the pod, Elliot Watts said his grandad was set up with a stream, he wouldn’t have otherwise made the game and now he’s given the club £2.75.

How many grandads wouldn’t have fancied the cold today? How many are poorly and find mobility difficult? How many people miss out because of Somerset’s horrendous public transport systems in and around the towns and villages? How many exiles would have dialled in? How many people are working and finish too late to get to HP?

Those numbers might be difficult to quantify straight away, but I know those people listed above all exist and probably in not insignificant hoards.

Those people now need to be targeted, advertised to, helped, guided, shown how easy it is to access. For every Watts’ grandad, you need an Elliot to set things up. #BeMoreElliot

5) I was fearful of the audio. I didn’t know what we might get. Would it be something generic or just stadium ambience? It was actually really good to have BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins on commentary and ex-Glovers’ keeper Chris Weale summarising.

The audio was in sync too which was good.

I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the BBC Somerset team and both Ian and I know how much effort goes in to providing those without eyes on Huish Park good enough coverage on match days (and beyond).

It’s vital that a club like Yeovil has good local coverage from media outlets, we should protect it, support it and ensure we don’t let it become a secondary aspect of how we consume YTFC as a whole.

The Cons

1) I’m reliably informed it was really cold today. England were on the telly in the evening. Christmas shopping needs to be done. There was a chance the game might not be on. Fuel costs a fortune too.

That’s a lot of reasons to think…. nah, I’ll skip the game, watch online and go about other errands.

So if “Joe Bloggs” from just outside Yeovil likes to go to the game occasionally, but didn’t today… Yeovil Town have gone from getting 100% of an £18 ticket, plus maybe a sold programme, or a pie or a pint… old Bloggsy (as his mates call him) has now given the Glovers £2.75 rather than £27.50 ish… that’s quite a drop, multiply that equation by however many and that’s a massive shortfall.

It’ll take ten additional streams to make up for one Joe Bloggs…

That’s a massive challenge for every club at this level – what are you going to do to make a trip to Huish Park special?

Without trying to answer my own question (Hi CleaveO), the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust got 300+ kids at the game today, the England game was being shown in the Alec Stock lounge… there was a sense of ‘Match Day Experience’.

This has NEVER been more vital.

We can go deep into ticket prices, offers, loyalty schemes, quality of football, but, the crux of it is, should people stop physically going, this whole thing will be the end of football at this level.

I could ramble on here about people being physically present leads to a better atmosphere, a sense of belonging, helping your side earn a point, suck in the winner in the last minute, none of those things are tangible, but they matter.

What about getting volunteers? Who will volunteer to sell the programmes, or man the tea bars, or sell the golden gambles, or donate to the excellent Food Bank initiative if no one actually attends?

Physical presence matters. Big time.

2) Scunthorpe fans gave Yeovil Town next to nothing today.

The away crowds are an underestimated part of all this.

I’d bet that more Scunthorpe fans saw the game than would have done normally, ok, that’s cool. But how much easier do the excuses come for an away fan to not make the journey?

Scunthorpe is a long way from Yeovil. That’s a lot of fuel, a lot of time, a lot of effort… to watch a 0-0.

If even one Scunthorpe fan chose stream over travel, then Yeovil Town has lost out on 100% of that potential revenue. With just a tiny portion of a Scunny stream purchase going to be split among all 72 clubs.

Scunthorpe made their £2.75 (60% of the £4.75 stream fee), but with just 25% (£1.18) set aside for the big pot to be shared. And then taking that and splitting it 70/30 for National League/NL N&S… means Yeovil got… an equal share of 82 pence, which when divided by 23 other sides in the division gives Yeovil… 3.5 pence.

(I HATE MATHS)

Scunthorpe might be a long way away, but what about Torquay? What if they don’t sell 500 tickets, they only sell 400, because 100 would rather watch the stream?

I’m not going to do any more maths, but thats a lot of people to go from spending a minimum of £18 at Huish Park to 3.5 pence.

Now, this goes both ways of course.

I’ll watch the Barnet game on Tuesday, I wouldn’t have otherwise gone.

I’ll give Yeovil Town another £2.75. I’ll give Barnet 3.5 pence.

Will there be enough Gloverscast Bens to make up for the lack of Joe Bloggs? Only time will tell.

In conclusion

You can see the challenges that will occur, the pressure is now on clubs at our level to make sure the right people attend the game in good enough numbers whilst targeting stream viewers as extra revenue.

Can the club get a stream sponsor? Can they make sure those who have advertising boards REALLY appreciate how many extra eyes will see their product and their logo – look at the screenshots in this article, you can see, Westbury Packaging, Hellier Group, Garador, Jurrasic Fibre, Thatchers and more.

It’s worth noting that the stream figures above will double the other side of Christmas, the £4.75 fee is a half price offer to start things off.

It’s going to be a fascinating ride and I’m really not sure how it’ll all play out.

I’m fearful of the next big expected away crowd, if numbers start to drop, we could be in for a turbulent time, we’ve already heard the term ‘balancing the books’ from the manager.

The way the revenue is split, there are obviously a few clubs who will benefit more than most (Prynhawn da cefnogwyr, Wrecsam), the gap between top and bottom will only grow and those sides who get into the regional divisons below will have an even mightier task to provide a service.

There’s a huge lack of fairness here, especially half way through a season – I thought that every penny this season should have all gone into one pot to be split 72 ways.

If a side has already had its “big” days out away somewhere, those additional streams of fans who haven’t travelled have been lost.

How many Yeovil fans would have dialled into the game at Notts County for example, putting their couple quid into the pot at the same time?

Is streaming a good thing?

I’ll answer hypocritically – for me, yes, absolutely.

For Yeovil Town… I’m cautiously concerned.

 

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

As Yeovil Town slipped in to the National League relegation zone following Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at Dorking Wanderers, manager Chris Hargreaves admitted he understood supporters’ frustration and indeed shared them.

Some fans took to social media to call for the manager to be given his marching orders after just 12 matches, but here supporter Jake Gallagher sets out why he believes the boss should be given more time by the Glovers fans…..

 

Well this piece got tougher and tougher to write as I drilled down into the analysis but the title remains and so does the sentiment, it’s my belief that Chris Hargreaves should be given time at Huish Park, to at least the end of October.

The Caveat

Look I get it, ten points from 12 games is not good enough. Nor is 13 points from 12 games which is where the algorithms and statistics – I’m talking about the dreaded xG [expected goals – how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of the chances created]– suggest Yeovil Town should be based on performances. Looking at the squad, I’d suggest something closer to 16 or 17 points would be where we want to be – sat plumb in mid-table. I don’t think anyone would complain about that.

But 10 points and 21st place is a fact that is difficult to hide from.

With a new manager and fresh promise I naively bounced into the season regularly chanting about winning the f****** Conference in 2003 and hating those b******** in claret and blue. The ‘We want Priestnall out’ songs were loud and clear too, as the overarching message from us all that the owner is not welcome at Huish Park was coupled with getting behind the team.

 

Expected Goals

That bounce I mentioned has waned into a mild bob in recent weeks as good performances have resulted in fewer points than we deserve. The xG, expected goals, suggests that Yeovil should have three more points than we currently do – and that would put us 16th.

Expected goals (xG) calculates how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of the chances created.

Now 16th is clearly not where we want to be either but it’s not in the drop zone. So where did those extra three points wriggle away from us? In two specific games actually, both in August. The first was the loss to Barnet at home which saw them go top of the league. Our 1.78 xG compared to their 0.88 was the epitome of a smash and grab away performance and rubber stamped our lack of ruthlessness which has plagued the season. Against Barnet we should’ve had at least a point.

And the second was away at Wealdstone, who were top when we played them, and we couldn’t turn our man advantage, 15 shots and xG of 1.91(!) into the solitary goal needed for the full three points rather than one.

I’m aware these are all ifs, buts and maybes and xG doesn’t win football matches, but these statistics do have weight when analysing performances.

But it’s not just those games and missed points, it’s the timing of them. If we did manage to back up the home win against Dagenham and Redbridge with a win at a Wealdstone who were top of the league when we kicked off against them on August Bank Holiday Monday that would have been a huge step in the right direction.

Confidence would’ve been high and we’d have kicked into a very winnable home game against York City. Instead we put in our worst performance of the season and these are the fine margins that have big consequences.

Yeovil were given rough fixtures at the start of the season seeing us travel to Scunthorpe, a relegated side wanting to put last season behind them in front of their own fans, followed by hosting the overwhelming favourites for the league title in Wrexham. That tough start has continued and now 12 games into the season you’ll find that Yeovil have faced eight teams currently positioned in the top half and four in the bottom half. To hammer home this point, two of those teams in the bottom half are 13th and 14th. We’ve played a higher standard of team in the league than the average, is what I’m saying. And not only have we played teams in the top half currently, but we played them when they were flying at their highest.

Now, due to sheer fact that all teams have to play each other twice over the course of the season – not exactly breaking news I know – means we’ll be facing some sides in the bottom half and have fixtures versus Oldham (16th), Aldershot (22nd) and Maidstone (15th) in October to look forward to.

Improvements must be made though – I know that. I’m not sat here typing this on my lunch break telling you that it will all be fine once we’ve played the poorer teams in the division. The signs are clear that we’re underperforming. Yeovil Town have dropped ten points from winning positions this season, no team has dropped more in the National League. There’s a clear mental block in the squad when we go a goal up that I cannot put my finger on, and I can’t dig out a statistic to explain it. We seem stuck between pushing for the second and sitting deep into a low block to protect the lead. In reality, we do neither.

The Glovers have had the second fewest amount of penalty box touches (144) in the league and our top goal scorer is our left-wing back. It’s time to make some tactical changes.


Solutions

So how do we get out of this situation? What are some actions we could take? Well, a change in formation must be the most obvious. In pre-season, Chris Hargreaves said repeatedly that we will change formation between games and within games based on the opposition but we’re yet to see that despite a run of bad results.

Changing to a back four is one call from the fans I can get behind. The issue though is Josh Staunton. Not because he’s not a good player, he’s arguably our best, but because I think Hargreaves is terrified to take such a reliable player out of the defence. If you push Staunton into midfield you lose Staunton in defence and the option of playing him in a back four isn’t feasible. Josh is perfect for that Conor Coady-esque role in the centre of a back three but Hargreaves must now push him into midfield, shielding the defence, as opposed to leading it.

So that’s settled, a back four is needed. But what about in front of it?

As we can’t hold on to a lead and seem to fade in games, a central midfield three making us less reliable on the ball playing abilities of Lawson D’Ath would be suggested. This would also mean our ‘five-figure’ signing Will Dawes, a winger, and Charlie Wakefield, a winger, could play in their actual positions. But not just Dawes and Wakefield, Gime Toure is very suited to the wide-forward role running at defenders with the ball at his feet.

The persistence in playing the 3-4-3 or 3-4-1-2 has meant we’re not putting our best attacking players in their best positions. Playing Wakefield at wing back, as you’ve mentioned on the podcast many times, is the squarest of pegs in the roundest of holes. Just play him in a wide-forward role, preferably on the right, give him the ball and tell him to run with it. Job done. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Conclusion

Confidence is everything in sport – one good result changes everything and with some very winnable fixtures coming in October I’d suggest patience with Hargreaves and his team. One thing you have to say is the players are leaving it all out on the pitch for the club – there’s no issues in motivation or playing for the badge or the manager or whatever cliché you want to trot out.

Just changing the formation though won’t be a magic pill that results in three points against Solihull on Saturday – but showing willingness to try something new is what’s needed on the terraces. If I see three at the back on Saturday at 3:00pm, it might be the last straw that makes me join the #HargreavesOut brigade.

 

We welcome everyone’s opinion here in the Gloverscast – goodness knows, you hear enough of ours – so if you fancy putting your point across about an issue relating to Yeovil Town, drop us a line at gloverscast@gmail.com.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

At around this time on Saturday, April 23, Yeovil Town owner and chairman Scott Priestnall spoke to a group of supporters in the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park to lay out his vision of where he thought the club was and where he thought it was going.

We captured his words in an article – see here – and included links to a series of videos the club published on its social media channels, The Priestnall Tapes, which you can watch to hear his words for yourself.

It’s now five months on from that address there’s been two further statements made by the owner – one following the sale of the club’s Huish Park stadium and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) and one following the appointment of Stuart Robins as a director and shareholder.

So, we thought it was timely to take a look at some of the comments (commitments?) at that time and see where we are with them 153 days on…..

Managerial Update

Chris Hargreaves was announced as Yeovil Town’s new manager on 18th May.

Scott said: “We’ve had 40 or 50 applications for the manager’s job, we’ve had some big profile names, names that have been in the top division, managers who have worked in the EFL in the last two years have applied, managers from this league and managers who have been out of work for the last few years, as you would expect.

“I have been open with (then-caretaker manager) Charlie (Lee)  that I have spoken to some (of the applicants), I have not formally sat down with any at this stage but I intend to do that over the next couple of weeks, including Charlie. I will make a decision before the end of the season, maybe sooner.”

What’s happened since?: Chris Hargreaves was announced as manager on 18th May, three days after the end of the National League season, although his comments upon being unveiled suggest he may have been around longer than that. So “a decision before the end of the season, maybe sooner” – we can give Scott that one.
It’s not unfair to say that Hargreaves does not fit the description of candidates given precisely, he had worked at an EFL club within two years before his appointment, albeit in the youth set-up at Bristol Rovers. Former Glovers’ captain Jamie McAllister, who had been assistant manager at both Bristol City and Sunderland, was among the latter candidates shortlisted but the identity of any other applicants was never known.

Playing Staff

Captain Josh Staunton is one of a number of players retained by the club over the summer. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Scott said: “I have made contract extension (offers) to a lot of the squad that we are looking to retain and those negotiations I would expect to go on until the end of the season.“

“We have to show you the commitment for you to buy season tickets. We will put a new manager in place and show commitment signing players and then we will put a deal together for season tickets.“

What’s happened since? In the summer, Priestnall triggered contract clauses to extend the stays of goalkeeper Grant Smith, defender Max Hunt, midfielders Matt Worthington and Toby Stephens and forwards Charlie Wakefield and Tom Knowles. He also awarded a two-year deal to Josh Staunton and gave a professional deal to Ollie Haste. He appointed a new manager and offered a package on season tickets which froze prices. Promise fulfilled on those, folks.

This season’s ambitions

Scott said: “This club will have a squad ready for next season that wants to compete for (the) play-offs, otherwise why get out of bed? That’s what we want to do.
“It’s not always possible in this league with the amount of money about, but what this league has proven in previous seasons is it is not always about money, it’s about having a settled squad, a set way that works in this league.”

What’s happened since?

With nine games of the season gone, Yeovil Town sit 19th in the National League table, level on points with FC Halifax Town who occupy the division’s first relegation spot.

After nine games, absolutely, but Bromley who occupy seventh place just above the dotted line of teams in the play-offs have double our points total.

Context is important, there’s been some decent performances in those nine games and there’s been some unacceptable ones, but if the ambition is to compete for the play-offs, there’s little doubt we’re not doing that yet.

Board appointments

Martyn Starnes, left, with Stuart Robins, centre, and Scott Priestnall, right, at the match at Altrincham in August.

Scott said: “I have had a number of conversations with people to join the board, from an investment point of view, to invest in the football club going forward. Both from a sponsorship point of view and to make funds available for the playing budget.

“I am pleased to say there has been some positive conversations on that part and I’m hoping to have a concrete framework around the board by the end of the season, so we are not in limbo during the summer. I do appreciate there has been a lot of limbo during the past few months.”

What’s happened since?:

On May 20th, the day the club announced the sale of its home to SSDC, Priestnall added that he would be “announcing appointments over the next week or two” adding: “The new board will have a combination of specialist football operations, a voice for supporters and a wealth of experience in business, that will come together and help shape the future of Yeovil Town.”

On May 27th, retired businessman Stuart Robins was unveiled as a director and shareholder in the club. It has subsequently been confirmed he owns 20% of the shareholding in Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, which operates the club’s football business, albeit quite how much money he invested for that share remains unclear.

If we assume Robins, as a lifelong supporter, is the “voice of supporters” with “a wealth of experience in business“, then the “specialist football operations” appears lacking. Perhaps former CEO Martyn Starnes, who has been openly at the club’s matches and around Huish Park since the summer, fills this role albeit on “a voluntary basis“, as Robins told us during his appearance on the Gloverscast.

As far as “a concrete framework around the board by the end of the season” – well, Robins’ arrival came a fortnight after the final fixture so if he is the promised “concrete framework” then at the very best the deadline was missed. I guess definitions of a framework may differ, but a single director and the re-emergence of Starnes seems more like a bit of sharp sand more so than concrete.

Long-term vision

Scott said: “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.”

“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.“


What’s happened since? Five months on from these statements it is fair to say “a plan in a month, it could be two months” was not achieved – or at the very least not a plan made public to any supporters we are aware of. And as for having “a long-term vision in place” in the summer, when the leaves start falling from the trees we must assume that goal has not been achieved.

Perhaps the nearest to a long-term vision we have had came in statements made around the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) in a deal worth £2.85m announced on May 20th. In that statement, the chairman spoke of how the deal would allow the club to “move forward with a viable plan to grow our infrastructure off the pitch, to help with gaining future success on the pitch.” He added it would allow the club “to engage contractors and consultants to put forward a planning application for the site as well as allowing us to sensibly invest in required maintenance work and our playing squad.”

However, supporters have not been privy to any vision which lays out how the club is going to generate the additional <INSERT VALUE HERE> required to meet the rental payments it will need to start paying to SSDC rent from May 2023 when its rent free period expires. On the question of ‘how much is the rent?’, we’ve asked SSDC portfolio holder Councillor John Clark and he told us: “This should be in the public domain when the Agreement is registered by the Land Registry, but that timing is outside our control.”

The minutes of the most recent Supporters’ Alliance meeting include Scott Priestnall being asked by Glovers’ Trust chairman Roger Pipe what would happen to any uplift in the value of the land if and when planning permission is granted on it. The minutes show: “SP stated that the money would be used to invest in the club in order to make it more sustainable.” Nice to hear, definitely. But a long-term vision? Not so sure.

There’s also been no clarity around what the £2.85m has been spent on. On his appearance on the Gloverscast, Councillor Clark told us all loans held by the club would need to be cleared before the deal was done. We’re left to assume that means the £1.35m of debt taken out from MSP Capital by Scott Priestnall and his then-business partner Errol Pope and effectively mortgaged against the club has been cleared using the money from the sale of the club’s assets. But, from everything we can see, we still owe Sport England the best part of £1m in loans we took out.

More questions than answers on this one.

Sport England loans

Scott said: “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.”

What’s happened since? The Sports Minister, Nigel Huddlestone, is the same man who promised Scott and his fellow club owners he would be working towards getting the almost £1m which we have borrowed written off. We’ve got in contact with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport to ask how the Minister is getting on – but, to be fair to the department, they’ve been in charge of arrangements for The Queen’s funeral in recent weeks. We’ll let you know if we hear anything…….

Supporters’ Alliance

Scott said: “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.”
What’s happened since?: Since this April 23rd, there’s been one meeting of the Supporters’ Alliance – if you’ve never heard of this, find out what they are here – which was held at the club on June 28th with Scott Priestnall, Stuart Robins and Martyn Starnes all in attendance. The minutes of it were published by the Glovers’ Trust nearly two months after the meeting – read them here. There’s nothing in them that suggests any objectives were agreed at that meeting, but the Gloverscast understands another meeting is scheduled for next week where the objectives will be discussed. We’ve been assured the overall objective of the Alliance is to be the voice of supporters and to get the best for the club. Sounds good to us and we’d suggest that being entertaining and successful on-the-pitch and stable and secure off it would be what most of us would agree is best for the club.
The minutes of the Alliance meeting from June 28th, say that when asked about the need to improve communication with supporters: SP (Scott Priestnall) suggested that he is bringing in professional help to do this. We need to build an environment of trust between YTFC and the supporters. We’re not sure whether such professional help has been brought in, but aside from Stuart Robins’ efforts to communication – in person with supporters, through his appearance on our podcast and in (at least) one column in the matchday programme – there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of output from any so these professionals.

Matchday experience

Commercial manager Mark Robinson said: “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.“
What’s happened since?: We’re now a little over a month of the new season with five matches played at Huish Park and for the month of August (when three of those five matches were played) our monthly YeoGov opinion poll gave the matchday experience a below average 2.76/7 rating. This would suggest there is room for improvement. We at the Gloverscast understand that “things” (and we’re not privy to any more detailed plans than that) remain in the pipeline to improve the matchday experience at Huish Park. In his appearance on the podcast in August, director Stuart Robins hinted at similar plans although details are yet to be forthcoming. The other indication of what might be to come was mentioned in the minutes of the Supporters’ Alliance meeting at the end of June which quoted Scott Priestnall saying: “Plans are in place to put a marquee behind the Thatcher’s stand where a bar and live bands can play before matches.” We have extended an invitation the Huish Park hierarchy to join us to talk about the proposals – or indeed any of the matters covered in this blog – at any point and that offer remains open.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

So, the National League has taken a decision….well, kind of. After a tantrum from Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds about why he couldn’t live stream matches – presumably he doesn’t have a “little camera” like our own Scott Priestnall – it looks like matches might be streamed by the end of the season.

I say ‘might’ because, well, it’s the National League and they don’t have an exemplary track record and also it’s not really live streaming like you might first think. This isn’t going to be like the ‘lockdown season’ of 2020-21 when all matches will be available as it’s already been said that matches televised on BT Sport won’t be streamed and nor will any games with breach the ‘black out rule’ preventing the broadcast of matches in England and Wales between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday.

So, in essence, it means midweek matches and games played on a bank holiday can be streamed. There was a few other dates in November and December which are exempt from the rule, or Article 3 – Transmission Rights’ of Article 48 of the UEFA Statutes, which would allow broadcast of matches during the winter World Cup in Qatar. Not that these really matter as the National League will unlikely have decided the date of its next meeting by November let alone anything else!

Today’s Non-League Paper suggests there’s likely to be a variety of ways to pay for streams, including per game, per month or in the form of a ‘season ticket’, which would see subscribers able to choose which match to watch, as opposed to being tied to a single team.

The big question comes down to – where’s the money going? The National League has said the finances will benefit the 72 teams in the three divisions and presumably this will need to support teams in National League North and South (Hi, W*ymouth!) to get set up for televising games. Do they even have fibre optic cables in South Dorset?

The decision was “unanimously” approved by the entire National League Board, which includes our own chairman, of course, at a meeting on Thursday and therefore we assume the lower division clubs have been given some kinds of assurances.

Surely  at least a percentage of the money needs to be equitably distributed to avoid deepening the financial gulf between the big spenders and the small spenders. In this instance, as a National League Premier club drawing crowds of more than 2,000 to home matches, we’re almost certainly a big(er) spender – can someone pick Scott up off the floor, please? It’s got to be about what’s fair for everyone, right?

The other thing is, are we going to see clubs buggering about with kick-off times to enable them to stream outside the 2.45pm-5.15pm window on a Saturday? Will Ryan Reynolds be insisting on evening kick-offs for Wrexham to allow him to tune in from Los Angeles? I’m sure all he needs to do is put a tweet out and the National League will listen.

But seriously, there needs to be a firm line taken on that or else we’re going to find ourselves at the mercy of those who want to broadcast.

I agree that Article 48 was brought in by Football League chairmen fearful of television companies in the 1970s and is therefore quite outdated, but there is more than a grain of common sense in its presence – let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, eh?

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

The after the night before with the historic win by England Women over Germany at Wembley and, to give this news a Yeovil Town twist, we asked BBC Somerset Glovers’ report, occasional Gloverscast guest and host and former Media Manager of Yeovil Town Ladies Sheridan Robins to give us her take on the moment.

It has been 24 hours since England Women did what has often felt like an impossible task.

They won a major trophy – and they did so by beating long-time rivals (and eight-time winners of the European Championships) Germany.

I could make many jokes about how if you want something done properly, make sure it is done by a woman (and I have), but this is about more than that. This is about the women’s game capturing the hearts of the nation and – crucially – being a product of immense quality.

The Lionesses were six minutes from exiting the tournament in the quarter finals and were dealt a blow when Germany equalised yesterday, but the talent, the game management, and the tactical substitutions of Manager Sarina Wiegman secured a precious victory which finally brought football home.

People will now always remember the names Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly – and rightly so. However, this is now the time to ensure attendances at grassroots level and beyond continue to rise.

I commentated last season on Ella Toone and Mary Earps as they beat Bridgwater United Women 2-0 in the Women’s FA Cup. It was a wonderful occasion with more than 2000 people turning out to support the Somerset team. But I will be honest – it was tinged with sadness.

As a lifelong Yeovil Town fan, it felt like we should have had that experience as Bridgwater were formerly our very own women’s team donning green and white. Yeovil Ladies were supremely successful and won the WSL2 (now the Championship) back in 2016 at Huish Park. Little old Yeovil in the Women’s Premier League! It was a huge achievement and one I was blessed to be a part of. I worked as the club’s Media Manager for ten months back in 2018, before being made redundant – and ultimately the club fell not long after.

The remarkable achievement of England takes me back to when Yeovil won their first ever top flight match against Everton. A hard fought 1-0 win with more than 1,000 people supporting them and I remember being as proud of the attendance as I was of the players.

Those memories are amazing but the way it ended (and there were a multitude of reasons for it) feels like an opportunity missed. I remember Matty Dolan creating content with Yeovil Ladies’ captain Annie Heatherson and I long for that connectivity again between the men and the women’s game – especially because of the progress which has been made in just a few short years.

I don’t play, I just speak about the game and for the past two seasons I have been focused on talking about the men’s game and minus a few choice comments (mainly at opposition grounds) my gender hasn’t been talked about. I credit the managers, players, and society for the fact it is changing. I feel I belong in this industry, and it feels like we (Yeovil) are missing a piece of the puzzle with regards to a women’s team.

I hope this changes soon. How great is it to see male players tweeting about the England match? Not to mention attending and joining in the celebrations. They know what it takes to win and considering the last trophy Yeovil Town won was won by the women, and now the same can be said for England – this is surely the time to capitalise on this growth.

Yesterday was an incredible day and one which should be looked back on with such pride. Don’t get me wrong, I am just as excited about Scunthorpe away on Saturday (yes, really), but let’s keep the conversation going about ensuring young girls can see they can play football, too. And what better place to do so than the beautiful county of Somerset?

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

After a couple of draws in their opening two pre-season friendlies, Yeovil Town suffered their first defeat of the campaign at home to League One side Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.

Having held their opponents at bay in the first half, Chris Hargreaves’ men were undone by two goals from the visitors’ Ryan Hardie and Finn Azaz in the opening 15 minutes after the restart, before Matt Worthington and Plymouth wing-back Bali Mumba saw red for a scuffle.

Here are Marcus Duncomb‘s conclusions on a difficult afternoon at Huish Park…..

 Max Hunt. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Our trio of centre-backs are very solid. It seems as though Chris Hargreaves is set on lining up with a back three/five, depending on which way you look at it. The three centre-backs of Josh Staunton, Morgan Williams and Max Hunt were all key players last season and know each other well. This showed against a very strong Plymouth side who struggled to break us down in the first half after putting six past Torquay United in midweek. I think these three will be important.

Don’t expect the cards to disappear. Under Darren Sarll, Yeovil were no strangers to cards – in fact we consistently had the most cards in the leagues. It seems like that might not change immediately. When Matt Worthington and Bali Mumba got into a scuffle the whole Yeovil team and dugout instantly went into defend their teammate – this was only a friendly! We also saw Chiori Johnson, who had a tough afternoon, foul tricky wing-back Mumba time after time and he almost certainly would have been booked if it weren’t pre-season.

Chris Hargreaves wants runners in his side. The midfield trio was made up of Worthington, Sam Perry and Tom Knowles slightly more advanced. Yeovil fans already know all about the work rate of Worthington and Knowles – they are probably the two Yeovil players who have clocked up the most distance over the past two seasons and Perry is no different. Up front, Alex Fisher never gives up and his work rate in that position has been much missed over the past few years while Malachi Linton’s quick pace and eagerness to press gave Plymouth defenders little time on the ball. Let’s see if they’re still doing this come Boreham Wood away in April..

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We don’t really know where Charlie Wakefield fits in yet. Wakefield hasn’t been fully fit to start a friendly and the only position we’ve seen him play is right wing-back. Yeovil fans know that Wakefield can offer so much more than a wing-back. Last season while we mainly saw him operate on the wing, he did also feature up front and very occasionally at wing-back towards the end of games. There are no out-and-out wingers in Hargreaves’ current system and Knowles has been placed in the no.10 role while we are waiting to find out where Wakefield’s long-term future is. Surely he wouldn’t have signed the contract extension if he was told he’s going to be a backup wing-back?

It will be interesting to see how we play against weaker opposition. Our final two friendlies against Dorchester and Weston-Super-Mare are more likely to give us an idea of how we are going to play. Against Plymouth we probably had about 20% possession and so it was really an exercise of defensive structure. We barely saw Yeovil with the ball, but when we did it looked promising. One particular move in the first half started with Grant Smith and ended with a Knowles long shot going narrowly wide. But the ball never went in the air once and it was all played along the ground nicely through most of the team, beating the Pilgrims’ press.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

With pre-season training underway and a friendly (albeit behind-closed-doors) underway, the clamour for new signings to Yeovil Town’s squad is in full swing.

Other National League clubs have seen major exoduses and influxes, not least down the road at Torquay United and of course former Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll has been busy at Woking.

Ollie Hulbert ? Pic Courtesy of Sam Collard – YTFC.net

So far the summer transfer action was initially focused on retaining players from last season’s squad before the arrivals of strikers Malachi Linton and Ollie Hulbert and then full-back Jamie Reckord.

On the books at Huish Park for next season are 14 players including the three incomings, namely:

Goalkeepers: Grant Smith, Max Evans.
Defenders: Max Hunt, Morgan Williams, Jamie Reckord.
Midfielders: Josh Staunton, Lawson D’Ath, Matt Worthington, Toby Stephens, Ollie Haste.
Forwards: Malachi Linton, Ollie Hulbert, Tom Knowles, Charlie Wakefield.

This follows the departures at the end of the season of defenders Mark Little, Jordan Barnett and Alex Bradley, midfielder Dale Gorman and strikers Reuben Reid and Adi Yussuf. On top of this, loanees Jack Robinson and Josh Neufville returned to their parent clubs, Middlesbrough and Luton Town respectively.

In comparison, on July 9 2021 there were 14 players on the books – albeit one of those was Albi Skendi, AWOL in California until his release was confirmed in March 2022.

The players on the books then were:

Goalkeepers: Grant Smith, Max Evans.
Defenders: Luke Wilkinson, Max Hunt, Alex Bradley, Morgan Williams, Mark Little,
Midfielders: Albi Skendi, Josh Staunton, Toby Stephens.
Forwards: Tom Knowles, Reuben Reid, Joe Quigley, Charlie Wakefield.

Jimmy Smith in action for Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

This followed the departures of defender Carl Dickinson, midfielders Jimmy Snmith, Charlie Lee and Emmanuel Sonupe, strikers Rhys Murphy and Chris Dagnall, and youngsters Gabriel Rogers and Alex John.

We also saw loanees goalkeeper Adam Smith, defenders Michael Kelly and Billy Sass-Davies and Neufville return to their parent clubs after their loans.

Once pre-season friendlies got underway with the first friendly taking place at Stratford Town on July 24, there was the usual influx of trialists.

Who can forget Deshane Dalling, Harlain Mbayo, Richard Afrane-Kesey or Zeli Ismail? What do you mean you’ve forgotten them already?!

One assumes that the presence of ‘A Trialist’ on the score sheet twice in the 4-0 win over Sherborne Town at Alvington on Friday night means the guessing games can start again at next Tuesday’s visit to Taunton Town.

One player who has been spotted at Huish Park (in a full training kit) is former Glovers’ youth team product and Torquay United midfielder Matt Buse, who spent the end of last season on loan at W*ymouth.

Matt Buse, one to keep an eye out for at Taunton.

It is not known whether he is just training to keep fit or whether Hargreaves and his assistant Chris Todd, who presumably know the 24-year-old from their time at Plainmoor, are considering offering him terms.

He played 15 times for Wealdstone, scoring twice, at the start of last season, before moving to our lower division seagull bothering neighbours at the end of March, playing eight times including starting the goalless draw against Yeovil on Easter Monday.

Here’s how the Summer 2021 went:

IN:

14 June: Morgan Williams – joined following release by Coventry City
18 June: Charlie Wakefield – joined following release by Bromley
23 June: Grant Smith – joined following release by Chesterfield
25 June: Mark Little – joined following release by Bristol Rovers
15 July: Lewis Simper – joined on loan from Cambridge City
20 July: Dale Gorman – joined from Glentoran
13 August: Sonny Blu Lo-Everton – joined on loan following a season-long loan from Watford
20 August: Adi Yussuf – joined following release by Blackpool
28 August: Dan Moss – joined on loan from Millwall
28 August: Jack Robinson – joined on loan from Middlesbrough

OUT:

11 June

Rhys Murphy – rejected a new contract and joined Southend United
Jimmy Smith – retired to take up coaching role at Chelsea
Carl Dickinson – retired to take over as manager of Hanley Town
Charlie Lee – departed to join Billericay Town.
Chris Dagnall – out of contract, joined Hanley Town
Emmanuel Sonupe – out of contract, released
Gabriel Rogers – out of contract, released
Alex John – out of contract, released

Adam Smith – returned to Forest Green Rovers after season-long loan
Michael Kelly – returned to Bristol Rovers after loan
Billy Sass-Davies – returned to Crewe Alexandra after loan