Yeovil figures speak on club’s fall from Championship to regional leagues with relegation confirmed

Yeovil Town figures speak on the club’s fall from Championship to regional leagues with relegation confirmed earlier in midweek.

The Glovers was enjoying its first taste of the Championship ten years ago. But their latest defeat to Wrexham means they will play in the sixth tier next season.

Yeovil went from winning a place in the Championship thanks to a League One playoff final victory over Brentford back in 2013, the most important moment in its history.

Yeovil was founded in 1895 and spent the majority of its years in regional leagues, before being promoted to the Conference in 1998, and secured a place up to Division Three in 2003.

A 10-year rise through the EFL was followed by a dramatic spiral in the opposite direction, with semi-professional neighbours Weston-super-Mare AFC among their opponents next season having won promotion in the 7th tier on Tuesday night – claiming the Southern League – Premier South title with 92 points from 41 games played.

Yeovil has only won just seven of its 44 games, and scored 35 goals, while failed to win any of their last 10 games, since they beat Eastleigh in March.

But Yeovil have been in a bad way for a good few years now, Scott Priestnall coming into the club as their owner in 2019, but were already in a downward spiral as they had dropped out of EFL.

His stay has been marred by a lack transparency, failing to stabilised it and made worse by a controversial sale of Huish Park to Somerset District Council in 2022.

Six weeks this, it was said that SU Glovers would take over Priestnall’s duties, yet there has been no completion of the deal.

It finishes Wrexham 3 – 0 Yeovil Town.

Relegation confirmed.

They edged the first half, but Wrexham wran wriot in the second.

Safe trip home Yeovil fans and thanks for having me! pic.twitter.com/CBnFXrQ3jG

— Charlie Taylor (@CharlieTaylor4) April 18, 2023

With relegation confirmed, Mark Cooper believes Yeovil Town will rise again – and thinks that he’s the man to help them do it.

“It’s been a death by a thousand cuts really – we’ve known this has been coming,” he said.

“There was an awful lot of emotion,” said Gloverscast podcast host Ben Barrett, as per BBC Sport.

“There was obvious disappointment, there was heartbreak, there was a little bit of anger, almighty amounts of frustration, even a little bit of fear crept in as to what the future holds.

“It’s just one [relegation] after another, after another. It’s been a horrible slippery slope.”

“It’s been tough, but tonight is a snap-shot of the season really and that’s where we are.

“I would love to be able to rebuild the football club. For that to happen we have to have good people in good positions, good recruitment and support from above. Without those things you can’t succeed.

“We’ve got six or seven really good players under contract,” he went on.

“I think we could be a real force in the National League South if we kept them and added some firepower.”

He feels relegation could eventually turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I’m devastated for the supporters, but sometimes something like this can be a good thing,” Cooper added. “The club gets a chance to reset and you can be a big fish.

“You can get the chance to remember what winning a few football matches in a row feels like and to get the feel-good factor. The club’s not had that for a few years now.

“I know the players I want to keep and the ones I want to bring in, but we can’t really plan yet. I want to help bring the club back.”

Stephen Allinson, who was on the Yeovil board of directors for nearly 20 years until he stepped down in 2015, said the blame is collective.

“In terms of those who have been leading the club in recent years, we’ve had the lack of transparency, the lack of communication,” he told BBC Points West.

“Even now I see it – the fans are saying ‘what is going to happen?’ We’ve had talk of a long takeover, we still haven’t had that. The people who are in charge now are the people who were in charge at the beginning of the season.

“Sadly it seems at the moment there is not that accountability or responsibility, and then that feeds through.”

Allinson said the club was “overachieving” when they reached the Championship in 2013.

“We should be a league club given where we were, and that’s what’s particularly sad,” he added.

“What’s gone on in the last eight years just indicates a club sadly in freefall.”

Manager Mark Cooper, who was named as manager in October, criticised the club’s transfer policy earlier this month, leading to the prospective new owners responding via social media.

“The line used by our captain Josh Staunton [after the Wrexham defeat] was there’s a huge irony in the club motto ‘achieved by unity’ – a line that simply hasn’t been adhered to for a very long time,” Gloverscast podcast host Ben Barrett said.

“There are so many variables and to be perfectly honest with you I don’t think we’ve got many of them right.”

“For [the fans’] sake, the turmoil needs to end. They need a football club to be proud of again and start afresh, put the right people in the right places and start to build the club again,” Cooper said.

Barrett thinks Yeovil could find it difficult to climb back up the football pyramid.

“Don’t underestimate the National League South. It will not be easy to get out of that division unless we are structured, have complete clarity or forethought on the way the football club is going to run on and off the pitch,” he said.

“I’m definitely worried. We could see the entire overturn of a football club in the summer and that level of unknown is very scary.”

Football… it’s a cruel game. 😔

Lovely touch from @RMcElhenney 👏#BBCFootball #WxmAFC #YTFC pic.twitter.com/SxdINsIcpr

— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) April 19, 2023

Sheridan Robins, BBC Radio Somerset, Yeovil Town commentator, said: “It has been a season to forget for Yeovil Town, with uncertainty on and off the pitch. It is easy to forget that Chris Hargreaves was manager for just 15 games, before he was sacked in October.

“Mark Cooper was then appointed swiftly after and looked to have steadied the ship. However, the SU Glovers situation has caused more unrest than positivity.

“That all has been very recent, but in truth, from August to now, recruitment has been the problem. Close to 50 players have pulled on the green-and-white shirt of Yeovil Town this season, and captain Josh Staunton has even said that is clearly an issue for everyone involved.

“The lack of consistency, the chopping and changing – that is not a club with a plan.

“Is Mark Cooper going to be the manager next season? He clearly wants to stay, but if the takeover goes through, that looks unlikely.

“Yeovil have been relegated with games to spare. They need to use that time to plan for life in the National League South. That includes players, management and ownership.”