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Fans issue open letter to Yeovil chairman with concerns over club’s future

Fans have took to issue an open letter to Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall with concerns over the National League club’s future.

Glovers supporters have come together to ask questions of the current custodian of the Huish Park outfit, with a number of managers leaving in recent times and everyone left concerned as to which direction it is heading in.

They currently sit 12th in the top tier of non league football, but attendances are dropping, promotion hopes (if there ever were any) have faded and now they’ve seen manager Darren Sarll quit for a team two places below them in the table in Woking.

Yeovil were playing Championship football just under 10 years ago, but suffered back-to-back relegations in 2014 and 2015, then lasted four season in League Two before falling back into the National League for the first time since 2003, and have since seen finishes of 4th (season suspended then lost in playoffs), and 16th for the 2020/21 campaign.

FANS’ OPEN LETTER:

Mr Priestnall,

What is happening to our football club?

For more than 125 years, Yeovil Town FC has been at the heart of the community. Under your custodianship, our beloved community club is falling apart and dying in front of our eyes.

We deserve answers as to why, under your leadership, the club is on the brink.

What is your plan for the future of the football club? On 5 December, you gave prospective bidders a seven day deadline before you would unveil your vision for the football club. It’s April and we’ve seen no sign of this vision.

This season we have lost Terry Skiverton and Darren Sarll. Two men who carried the club and its players through one of the darkest moments in the history of the football club. How do you plan to replace them?

Heading into next season, we have one contracted player and an interim manager for the ‘foreseeable future’. Have you begun discussions with any of the players, who have performed admirably this season?

You can cite the ongoing takeover situation as a reason for the uncertainty, but you are the owner of Yeovil Town Football Club.

You are the individual who bears responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the football club. As the Chairman of the club, your neglectful ownership is destroying the only professional football club in Somerset.

Is that something you really want to be your legacy as a businessman?

As Yeovil Town Supporters, we implore you to tell us what is happening with our football club, please.

Yours faithfully,

The Supporters of Yeovil Town FC

We must unite as supporters if we want to get answers. Please add your signature to this letter HERE.

 

A football finance expert claimed that Yeovil Town’s future is secure, but only if the club’s owners have a long-term interest.

Kieran Maguire, who co-hosts the Price of Football podcast, spoke to the Gloverscast podcast after the publication of the accounts of Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, the business which runs the club’s football operations.

During the 12 months to the 30th of June 2021, Yeovil lost just under £400,000 which takes the overall losses of £2.22m, but nine months went by since these accounts cover, and the club has loaned an extra £309,000 from Sport England taking the amount owed up to nearly £1million – read more on that HERE.

Kieran said: “It’s not in a great position, it’s not in a terrible position necessarily, but things have happened since these figures which go up to the end of last June.

“If you look at the accounts, it owes a lot of money to the parent company (Yeovil Town Holdings) and if it asks for that money back, we have a problem because the money is not to pay that back.

“However, reading the small print of the accounts, the directors say that the parent company is not going to ask for the money back until the football club is in a strong enough financial position to do that.”

Of the loans which have been taken out from Sport England, he added: “Presumably Sport England has done its due diligence and is happy to lend, those loan facilities were close to a million pounds one or two weeks ago.

“When you take a look at the details, a lot of the money is owed to Yeovil Town Holdings who say ‘we aren’t in a hurry for that money’, Sport England are the same.

“Worst case scenario, if Yeovil Town were to cease trading today there could be an issue but that’s not going to be the case.”

Kieran also explained what he meant when he described the club as “technically insolvent“, meaning that the money it owes is more than it has. “It’s negative equity to use a term people are more familiar with,” he explained, “we did a recent study and found 52 clubs in the Premier League and EFL are technically insolvent and no-one is saying they are all going to go bust.” Read more on that HERE.

There was reacted as fans issue an open letter to Yeovil chairman with concerns over the club’s future…

@MikeH88: Thank you so much to the GC team for sorting this for fans. You are a credit to our football club. 💚

@CleaveO: Top work from the Gloverscasters. Thanks for organising. This is the sort of thing that will unite all fans. Achieve by Unity. 💚

@Tom_Atkins107: Signed

@AndrewConcann07: Done!

@BeesDarren: Thanks for doing this for our Club 👏🏻

@ArchieMorris87: #AchieveByUnity #PriestnallOut Thanks, @gloverscast.

@AlDinAtlantic: Well done guys, your input is vital at the moment, keep up the excellent work.

@JohnAOakes: @TheVanaramaNL at what point do you consider whether this person is suitable to be a Board Director?

@ArchieMorris87: At what point does it become embarrassing, in terms of corporate reputation, for @Vanarama and @TheVanaramaNL to be backing a man who’s single-handedly running a proud community football club into the ground. #NotFitNotProper #Vanarama

@iPerky: If you’ve not done this yet, please add your name to it. We need answers. #YTFC

@MikeWat66814268: For the security and safety of the club sign the petition #YTFC

@coatesieboy: If Yeovil Town means something to you like it means to me, I ask you to read this and consider signing it. Whether you do or not is entirely down to you, but I have. 💚 #YTFC

@brad_little11: Looking at it, this is better than just tweeting expletives all the time. Good work from Gloverscast again #ytfc

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