The Glovers’ Trust has launched a petition calling for South Somerset District Council (SSDC) to drop its plans to buy Yeovil Town’s Huish Park stadium and surrounding land.
After news broke on Friday that the council is in talks with club chairman Scott Priestnall about completing a deal, the Trust launched a petition describing the deal as “a potentially catastrophic decision for the long term security and viability of our club.”
The petition is available to share and sign, here: https://chng.it/vGkNJDcsqD
In its statement, the Trust added: “We are concerned that there will not be the safeguards in place to ensure the football club will see any benefit from the deal, or ever be in a position to buy the assets back. We also do not believe this is a responsible use of taxpayers money.
“We believe that Scott Priestnall, through his action, inaction, and silence over his tenure, has not earned the trust of supporters, to allow him to make this decision unchallenged. We call on all supporters, supporter groups, and local residents to voice their opposition to this deal. United we have a loud voice. We want to make sure that voice is heard.
“We will continue to communicate with supporters in the coming days and weeks to suggest other action we might take to protect our club.”
Due to the local elections taking place on May 5, SSDC is currently in a state of purdah. This means that no announcements can be made by the local authority regarding any major decisions. However, proposals can be completed during purdah.
Gloverscast understands that if the deal is not completed by the end of May 2022, the ability to complete the transaction will becoming increasingly difficult. SSDC merges with other councils to become one new unitary council and there is draft legislation which could prevent deals over a certain value being completed without a new approval process.
The Trust can also activate the Asset of Community Value held on the site from May 26 2022.
For more about what we understand about the deal, see – here.