Scott Priestnall

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Documents filed on Companies House have confirmed that Scott Priestnall is no longer a director of Yeovil Town.

They also show new chairman and owner Martin Hellier as a director of both the club’s trading business, Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (YF&AC), and Yeovil Town Holdings Limited (YTFC Holdings), the company which holds the exclusive buy-back rights on land around Huish Park.

Hellier Trading Group, the chairman’s own business, is also registered as “a relevant legal entity” which holds “directly or indirectly, 75% or more of the shares in the company” whilst CV Leisure, the company set up by Priestnall when he bought the club in 2019, was also removed from the records of YTFC Holdings.

In summary, the filings which went live on Tuesday night confirm that everything we expected to see following confirmation of the takeover earlier this month.

On Wednesday morning, Priestnall was also removed as a director of the National League Trust, the league’s governing body, with his last act in this capacity appearing as a guest of the board at the play-off final at Wembley between Chesterfield and Notts County earlier this month.

Stuart Robins continues as a director of YF&AC and retains his 20% shareholding in that company. Therefore, it appears that Hellier holds a 72% stake in YF&AC alongside Robins and 8% held by an array of smaller shareholders, but in YTFC Holdings he appears to have acquired the 92% shareholding previously held by Priestnall.

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

All of which means that Priestnall’s only remaining connection with anything to do with Yeovil Town is his role as a director of Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust, the charitable arm of the club/

He remains on the board alongside Robins, now (we assume although there’s been no official confirmation) former CEO Martyn Starnes, ex-commercial manager Dave Linney, and Johanna Harris, a teacher at Buckler’s Mead Academy.

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Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has said a deal to buy the club has been done.

In a statement issued less than an hour before a meeting of supporters to discuss the club’s future, the owner broke his silence to announce the deal with a buyer which he said “has the best interests of the club at heart.”

The owner, who has not been heard from since he announced he had signed an exclusivity agreement on December 31 last year, said he hoped to “to provide further details” tomorrow.”

In a statement, Priestnall said: “I wish to announce that a deal has been agreed for the purchase of the club. This has taken a substantial period of time and a lot of work on all sides.

“I am confident that the buyer has the best interests of the club at heart and will begin a new and exciting time for the club.

“I regret I have not been able to provide more regular updates, but these matters must take their course and are governed by various interim agreements.

“As always, I wish Yeovil Town Football Club all the best for the times ahead. I hope to be able to provide further details tomorrow.”

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Local businessman Martin Hellier has said he believes that Yeovil Town will go in to administration if the club’s on-off takeover is not completed soon.

The owner of Hellier Group, which has been sponsor of the Main Stand at Huish Park since last September, claimed he has been blocked in his bid to buy the majority shareholding of chairman Scott Priestnall despite having entered in to initial discussions at the end of last year.

In an interview with Three Valleys’ Radio presenter Adi Hopper, he confirmed his interest in buying the club and surrounding land owned by South Somerset District Council which he outlined in a message to fans earlier this week – see more here.

In the interview, Hellier said: “You cannot do (a deal) if the seller does not want to engage with you, and I say ‘seller’ on the assumption he wants to sell. You have to question why that person is stonewalling every effort for people to come in.

“Given the state of the state of the club’s finances, it is a bit like the homeless person you invited for Christmas dinner complaining that they didn’t get to carve the turkey!

“In this state, and it really is ‘put on your big boy pants’ time, in my opinion the club is going to go in to administration.

“All I can say with absolute certainty is that your owner will not enter any dialogue with myself, and if he is also not entertaining anyone else, it is a given (the the club will go in to administration).”

In the interview, he said claims a quarterly rent of £50,000 is due to SSDC next month and said he did not know how the club would meet the charges describing its financial situation as “reading like a Greek tragedy.” When Gloverscast has approached SSDC regarding the amount of rent which would be charged to the club and we were told: “These are matters for the owner to respond if he wishes.”

He revealed he had contacted SSDC around his interest in buying the land which Huish Park stands on together with surrounding ground which was sold to the authority in a deal worth £2.8m last May. However, he was told back in January the deal could only be completed if it was approved by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited, a company which has Priestnall as a majority shareholder.

Hellier added: “We have clearly stated we have no interest to build houses on that land for personal gain, it would be our intention to reunite the ownership of the surrounding lands and the stadium with the trading business of the football club.

“If there was any development of that land it would be directly for the benefit of the football club to bring in revenue streams which would help support it. It is time for people to act like the business people they claim to be to sit at the table and figure out.”

You can listen to the interview in full on Three Valleys Radio’s website – click here.

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SU Glovers, a business set up by the son of a multi-millionaire and his mother, has confirmed they have “taken on the stewardship” of Yeovil Town.

In a statement made an hour before the National League home match with Altrincham on Tuesday night, a statement was issued confirming what we believe to be the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Yeovil Town Football & Athletic Club, the company which has historically run the club’s football operations.

The company, SU Glovers Limited, has two directors, Matt Uggla and his mother Julie-Anne Uggla, the son and ex-wife of Lance Uggla, a businessman who is understood to have made in excess of £300m when his business IHS Markit was sold in 2020.

The statement makes no reference to any of these parties or former England rugby union star Paul Sackey who is understood to be involved in the takeover as well.

In the statement, the company said: “SU Glovers are thrilled to announce that we have taken on the stewardship of Yeovil Town Football & Athletic Club Ltd and we are committed to working with the community to build a successful and thriving club. We recognise that there have been historical tensions and issues, and we aim to work together with the community to address and fix those issues.

“Our vision for Yeovil Town is to create a club that is not only successful on the field, but also plays an integral role in the community. We believe that football has the power to bring people together and create positive change, and we are committed to making a positive impact in the Yeovil community.

“We understand that building trust and positive relationships takes time, and we are committed to being patient and persistent in our efforts. We are looking forward to working with the community and our fans to achieve our shared goals. We hope that you will join us on this journey.

“Thank you for your support and we can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.”

The use of language “taken on the stewardship” is bizarrely ambiguous; only definition of the word stewardship is: ‘the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organisation or property’. It does sound like a takeover, but does the absence of the actual word ‘takeover’ mean anything or not? Thoughts?

Notably there is no reference chairman Scott Priestnall who previously held the majority shareholding in Yeovil Football & Athletic Club – we can only hope (assume?) further details will emerge in due course.

However, the fact the acquisition is of Yeovil Football & Athletic Club tells its own story. That business was previously owned by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited, the company which has exclusive rights to develop Huish Park and the land surrounding it, which has one director – you guessed it, Scott Priestnall.

The last time we heard from the Chairman – or at least the person listed as Chairman at the time of writing – was New Year’s Eve 2022 when he confirmed he had “entered in to a period of exclusivity with a preferred party to become a majority shareholder.”

One assumes (and what else can we do other than assume right now?) that the preferred party that statement reference was indeed SU Glovers.

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Plans to build 250 houses alongside Huish Park have been unveiled by documents released by South Somerset District Council.

The council has published responses to a request for opinions on whether the proposed development would have a sufficient impact on the local area that it would require an extra study being undertaken.

These responses refer to a proposals for “250 dwellings at land off Lufton Way/Copse Road, Yeovil, Somerset” and suggest the proposal is for the development to take place on land all around Huish Park.

In the original “request for a screening opinion” submitted by DLP Planning asking whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required for the work, it describes the plans for “approximately 250 dwellings with ancillary open space, parking, soft landscaping and supporting infrastructure” – read in full here.

It adds: “Car parking arrangements provided will allow for sufficient parking to be delivered within the site in
compliance with the Council’s existing standards. Spaces will be provided to each unit and comprise a
mix of allocated spaces in private parking courts, private drives and garages.

“It is acknowledged that the proposed development of this site will result in the loss of the former sports
pitches. Sports England have previously objected to proposals for the development of this site unless re-provision of these facilities can be provided.

“It is understood that the sports pitches on site are not currently used and are of poor quality. It is noted that there is the opportunity to replace the existing pitches with a new 4G pitch on land to the east of the football club.”

The ‘Location Plan’ submitted to the “request for a screening opinion” submitted by planning consultants, DLP Planning – everything inside the red line is the development site – oh, and there’s a football ground there if you look closely enough!

None of the statutory bodies – the kind of people who get asked about the impact of development on ecology, roads, archaeology and suchlike – raised enough objection for an Environmental Impact Study to be required in to the development.

However, the Highways Department at SSDC did raise “concerns” over the loss of matchday parking and warned it would put heightened the risk of accidents in the area.

In his response, Adam Garland, Principal Planning Liaison Officer at SSDC said: “Where such facilities are lost it will create indiscriminate parking in the new estate road, and surrounding roads.

“The increase in manoeuvring, braking and turning movements, and higher levels of pedestrians crossing the local roads will increase the risk of collisions within the highway.

“This is further exacerbated by dint of the fact that match days are generally at weekends where there is a higher risk of residents being at home, and children are more likely to be in the streets.”

He added that if the authority were given “an amended proposal showing the retention of parking for match days further consideration would be given.”

So, now we wait and see what happens next as far as this development is concerned.

In May 2022 when the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to SSDC was completed in a deal the authority says was valued at £2.8m, club chairman Scott Priestnall said in a statement: “When I first came into the club, I saw the opportunity to grow this already amazing club into an organisation off the pitch that could provide revenues all week, not just on match days. While I had very positive conversations with local planning (authorities), developers and funding partners, the pandemic delayed our options to grow, at the same time causing huge financial difficulties to our ongoing operations.

“There is and has always been a massive opportunity to develop the club’s infrastructure, but over the last 30 years the custodians of this club have never been able to put a plan together that works for all related parties.”

Back in October 2022, we reported changes to the core and non-core land – basically land with restrictions on what development can take place on it (core land) and land without such restrictions (non-core land) – which had been agreed before the sale completed, but not publicised.

That means the area which is currently occupied by a 3G surface outside Huish Park could also be developed on.

Plans produced by SSDC showing the ‘core’ and ‘non-core’ land it owns at Huish Park.

 

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The Glovers Trust has called for clarity from Yeovil Town and South Somerset District Council about the future of the club and land around its Huish Park home.

In a statement issued to members on Wednesday night, the Trust has called on the club to end nearly three months of delay to hold a fans’ meeting and called on council representatives to be in attendance to answer questions.

It follows a confirmation by Councillor John Clark, Portfolio Holder of Economic Development at SSDC, that the buy-back option on the land around Huish Park lies with Yeovil Town Holdings Limited, the business controlled by chairman Scott Priestnall.

The Trust said: “We call on the club ownership to stop hiding behind the quoted ‘period of exclusivity’ with a preferred investor and to schedule as a matter of great urgency the Fans’ Forum that was promised, by the current owner, on 14th October 2022, some 89 days ago.

“The Glovers Trust fully understands that certain questions may not be able to be answered at the event but this should not be used as an excuse to hide from fan scrutiny across other areas.”

Councillor John Clark, ortfolio Holder of Economic Development at South Somerset District Council.

It was October 14th that Priestnall said “we will be setting up a meeting next month for supporters to have their voice heard and raise questions” but then on New Year’s Eve 2022 he confirmed the club had an “exclusivity agreement” in place with an unnamed group which was seeking to become majority shareholder of the club.

At that point, the chairman said: “These ongoing discussions continue to delay an announcement for the supporters meeting but a time and date will be confirmed as we approach a conclusion.”

The Trust’s statement also calls on SSDC to attend any forum – if/when it ever happens – to discuss its plans to develop Huish Park and surrounding land which it bought for £2.8m in May.

The Trust adds: “We call on SSDC to commit to attend the Fans’ Forum, once scheduled. Those who conceived and agreed the deal to purchase the land from YTFC are best placed to answer fans’ questions.

“We appreciate that the Fans’ Forum is not a Glovers Trust event and for us to invite others to an event we are not running could be seen as overstepping. We have therefore today sought a meeting with SSDC to raise further questions. We will provide a further update to our members in due course.

“Our football club is more than just land. It is more than companies registered, and accounts filed. Our club is our fans and our history. Our club is our town, and our county.”

More eagled-eye readers of this website will note this we were told that it was Yeovil Town Holdings which had the exclusive buy-back option for the land at Huish Park by Robert Orrett, Commercial Property, Land and Development Manager at SSDC, back in August – see here.

Speaking then, he said: “It is correct that Yeovil Town Holdings Limited has a four-year period during which they can buy back the whole of the YTFC freeholds that have been purchased by SSDC. In broad terms, that would reverse the purchase.

“Beyond that, there are continuing arrangements that are linked to the structure that enables consented non-core land to be sold off by SSDC, with the non-core lease surrendered, and the sale proceeds to be used to repay the capital SSDC has put in.

“These are following the approach summarised in the report and continue in the longer term. If the land sale price for the non-core land is high enough, then the rent for the core land that is left, reduces to a peppercorn and essentially the club can buy the core land back for £1.”

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A business controlled by Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has exclusive rights to buy back land surrounding Huish Park from South Somerset District Council, the authority has confirmed.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the council confirmed that Yeovil Town Holdings Limited has the option to buy-back the land which it acquired for £2.8m in May.

It follows days of pressure on social media led by Martin Hellier, the local businessman who has publicly stated his desire to buy the club.

The Gloverscast has also been in regular contact with the council regarding different aspects of the deal.

The statement said: “The proposal gives YTFC the option to buy-back the land the club occupies in the future when its financial outlook has improved.

“For full clarity, the option to buy-back is with Yeovil Town Holdings, the organisation that formally held ownership of Huish Park and its associated land.”

Yeovil Town Holdings Limited is the company set up by former owners Norman Hayward and John Fry in 2010 when they separated the ownership of Huish Park and the land around.

It was bought by Priestnall when he completed his takeover of the club in 2019, together with Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (YF&AC) which runs the club’s football operations and previously owned the land upon which Huish Park stands. However, as with YTFC Holdings, YF&AC owns nothing since all the assets of both companies were sold to the council in May.

YF&AC is also the business which club director Stuart Robins has a 20% shareholding in, and the one which Simul Sports, the group fronted by former Cardiff City director Julian Jenkins, was negotiating with Priestnall to buy up until it ended its bid earlier this year.

It has not been made public which company an unnamed “preferred party” in exclusive talks with Priestnall and the club is seeking to acquire – but only by buying YTFC Holdings would the owner be in control of the destiny of ni the land around Huish Park stadium.

Priestnall has been YTFC Holdings’ only director since the resignation of Glenn Collis last summer. There are a number of minority shareholders who hold a stake in the company, but the chairman holds a controlling share.

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Yeovil Town have signed a “exclusivity agreement” with an unnamed group to become a majority shareholder of the club.

In a statement issued on New Year’s Eve, chairman Scott Priestnall confirmed that conversations had been taking place with investors in recent months, but added that a “a statement confirming a takeover is premature.”

It follows 24 hours of frenzied takeover talks since national football journalist Jacque Talbot tweeted that a takeover would be announced on Thursday, and just hours after sponsor Martin Hellier declared he was “extremely concerned” for the future of the club.

The chairman said: “It is true that there have been various conversations with potential investors over the last couple of months and whilst a statement confirming a takeover is premature.

“I can confirm to supporters that myself and the Club have entered into a period of exclusivity with a preferred party to become a majority shareholder.”

Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall speaking to supporters at Huish Park in April 2022.

The Gloverscast understands that up to three parties – with one already known as Hellier who has been public about his ambition to take over the club – have been in discussions with Priestnall.

However, BBC Somerset reporter Sheridan Robins tweeted shortly after the statement that any takeover was likely to see Priestnall depart as chairman with his majority shareholding being taken by the unnamed party.

The statement published on the club’s website at 4pm on New Year’s Eve reads…..

 

An update from the Chairman

There has been a lot of speculation over the last couple of days regarding a takeover of the club.

It is true that there have been various conversations with potential investors over the last couple of months and whilst a statement confirming a takeover is premature, I can confirm to supporters that myself and the Club have entered into a period of exclusivity with a preferred party to become a majority shareholder.

These ongoing discussions continue to delay an announcement for the supporters meeting but a time and date will be confirmed as we approach a conclusion.

I will update you as the transaction progresses.

I hope you all have a lovely new year and get behind Mark and the team tomorrow in an important game against our local rivals.

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The 3G pitch at Huish Park has been removed from land restricted from development, South Somerset District Council (SSDC) has confirmed.

The change to the ‘core land‘ identified agreed as part of the deal to sell the stadium and surrounding land in May means that only the stadium and surrounding access are restricted from development.

The council and club chairman Scott Priestnall have confirmed to Gloverscast that the change leaves the option for the 3G pitch to be relocated, freeing up the area it currently occupies for development.

No plans for the development of the site have been made available as yet and therefore these changes appear to be leaving options open rather than representing any concrete plans.

Robert Orrett, Commercial Property, Land and Development Manager at SSDC, said: “I can confirm that the lease of the core land contains restrictions as to use so that it can only be used for football club and ancillary purposes. The lease is for 24 years 11 months and those restrictions apply for that period.

“The core lease boundary was revised to exclude the 3G training pitch as the detailed legal work led SSDC to require its original freehold land, which was already on long lease to YTFC, to be entirely excluded. The thinking around the core lease was that it allowed flexibility for the 3G pitch to be relocated onto the long leasehold area if required.”

This information and the reason for the change was confirmed by chairman Scott Priestnall, who added the change had been made “prior to the completion of the deal“, which was announced on May 20.

The council owns a four-acre strip of land which runs between Western Avenue and the club’s main car park which is leases to the club on a 99-year lease – which could be described as a “long leasehold area.”

The updated plans shows the new boundary in red. SSDC says the other coloured lines relate to “detailed rights of access or parking“.
The plans as they were before the completion of the deal in May, with the land in red showing the previous boundary of the core land.

In August, Mr Orrett confirmed “initial discussions about the preparation of development proposals” for the land acquired by SSDC had commence and he declined to provide an update on this at this point.

Last month, the chairman told a meeting of Yeovil Town Supporters’ Alliance that details of the preferred scheme to develop the Huish Park site “should be available before Christmas” and would also include the redevelopment of the stadium.

The minutes of the meeting – read in full here – showed Mr Priestnall gave the following update: “He updated the meeting on the proposed developments during the last few months. He has been working with architects, consultancy firms and the council to produce drawings and to find out what developments are possible. The plans will go to public consultation before being submitted. There has been a lot of activity with the council during the past year. The details of the preferred scheme should be available before Christmas, but no formal application will take place this year. SP explained that he is not looking to just develop the land but to re-develop the stadium.”

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Plans for development around Huish Park are expected to be available before Christmas, the minutes of the latest Supporters’ Alliance Group meeting have shown.

The minutes of the meeting held on October 13th were published on Tuesday by the Glovers’ Trust, and include a commitment from chairman Scott Priestnall that the preferred scheme will be open to public consultation before a planning application is submitted.

If you want to read the meeting minutes in full, click – here.

The chairman also told the meeting that he expects a formal application to be submitted next year.

The minutes show Mr Priestnall gave the meeting the following update: “He updated the meeting on the proposed developments during the last few months. He has been working with architects, consultancy firms and the council to produce drawings and to find out what developments are possible. The plans will go to public consultation before being submitted. There has been a lot of activity with the council during the past year. The details of the preferred scheme should be available before Christmas, but no formal application will take place this year. SP explained that he is not looking to just develop the land but to re-develop the stadium.”

When asked for further details on the proposals by Glovers’ Trust chairman Roger Pipe, the minutes show: “SP (Scott Priestnall) answered that there could be small retail establishments, with renting or leasing some buildings. There could be sports clinic and health provision. Also, player accommodation could be on site. There were no plans for office blocks or commercial premises.”

The publication of the minutes follow a series of social media exchanges between the Glovers’ Trust and the club on Monday night in response to an open letter asking questions about the planned development. The letter was drafted by the Trust and signed by other groups, including Gloverscast, and you can read more – here.

The minutes show a commitment from Mr Priestnall to making plans for the Huish Park site’s development open to public scrutiny.

Whilst the proof of pudding (or the publication of the plans for public scrutiny, at least) will be in the eating, the absence of a reference to housing development as part of the preferred scheme is positive, and the name-checked development feels like it could add to the viability of Huish Park as an operation outside matchdays.

In his closing remarks to the meeting, the chairman adds that the club needs “a long-term sustainable future.”

On the subject of the club’s finances, the minutes, Mr Priestnall reiterated that the National League is “still working” to have loans taken by clubs written off by Sport England. Yeovil Town took almost £1m in loans which are subject to “a four-year holiday period” during which no payment is necessary.

As we reported back in October, this detail was part of the chairman’s latest update to supporters. You can read more about that – here.