Yeovil Town
FC
Ground: Huish Park
Capacity: 9,565
Club Founded: 1895
League: National League - Step 1/5th Tier (current level)
Not many non-league clubs have a pedigree to match Yeovil Town, who also had a spell in the Football League, going all the way to the EFL Championship before finding their natural level.
 |
| Huish Park |
Early Club History
Originally founded as Yeovil Casuals FC in 1895, the team played its home matches at the Pen Mill
Athletic Ground while competing in the Somerset Senior League, which they won twice. An amalgamation with Petters United led to the club becoming Yeovil and Petters United FC.
A further
Somerset League title was won before the club was moved to the
Western League after World War I, moving into their new Huish home ground and going on to be crowned as champions in 1921-22. A move to the Southern League delivered its league title a couple of years later.
 |
| Huish Park |
FA Cup Legends
Returning to the Western League, the 'Glovers’ lifted two further titles before choosing Southern League football. The club began to be known for its exploits in the FA Cup, going out in a second-round
replay to Fulham. Another divisional league title was collected, while Liverpool won their third round FA Cup tie 6-2 at Huish.
Another third-round appearance ended in defeat to Manchester United, while Sheffield Wednesday halted interest at the same stage after a replay the following season. Post-war, the current club name was adopted. The 1948-49 FA Cup run would put the club at the centre of attention to the football public.
 |
| The Huish. The Glovers' old home |
Bury were beaten in round three at Huish under the leadership of player-manager Alec Stock. A crowd of 16,318 then crammed into their town centre home ground on 29th January 1949 to see Yeovil knock out the top First Division side of the time, Sunderland, in the fourth round.
The dream ended in the next round as a staggering crowd of over 81,000 saw Manchester United knock them out 8-0 at their temporary home of Maine Road. Ike Clarke managed the team to the Southern League title in 1954-55. Three seasons later, Fulham ended another FA Cup run in the third round.
 |
| My drawing of Huish Park, along with some former team kits. Click on the image to enlarge it. |
More Cup Runs
Another Southern League title arrived in 1963-64 with Basil Hayward
leading the team. Young boss Ron Saunders had a spell in charge of the team before the end of the decade. Player-manager Mike Hughes was at the helm in 1970-71 as Yeovil won the Southern League.
The team fell one step short of Wembley in the FA Trophy as they were defeated in the semi-final by Telford United at The Hawthorns. Arsenal visited Huish in the third round of the FA Cup in what was a dramatic season. The form continued as Yeovil went out in the last four of the Trophy in 1971-72; this time to Stafford Rangers at Oxford United’s Manor Ground.
 |
| The 'old' Huish |
The Decline
For many years, the club tried to gain election to the Football League but never collected
enough votes. The team finished as Southern League runners-up in 1975-76 under
the leadership of Stan Harland before Yeovil Town became founder members of the Alliance Premier
League in the summer of 1979.
The charismatic Malcolm Allison had a spell in charge
of the team in 1981. Gerry Gow arrived in 1984 after several comings and goings, who couldn’t save Yeovil from their first-ever relegation. Placed in the Isthmian League, manager Brian Hall led the Glovers to the title in 1987-88, returning them to the non-league elite division.
 |
| Huish Park |
In 1990, the club moved into its new Huish Park home on the edge
of the town. Hall
departed before returning for a brief second spell. Ex-England defender Graham
Roberts was the manager in 1995-96 when Town were relegated again to the Isthmian
League. The club found itself in serious financial trouble.
Yeovil finished as Conference runners-up in 2000-01 under Colin Addison. Former
Latvian national team manager Gary Johnson took Town to the final of the FA Trophy in 2001-02, assembling a fine team led by Terry Skiverton and starring his son Lee Johnson. Goals from Carl Alford and Adam Stansfield were enough
to beat Stevenage Borough 2-0 at Villa Park.
The team
became Conference champions in 2002-03 and won promotion to the
Football League, winning the League Two title two years later before Johnson moved on to pastures new
at Bristol City. Russell Slade led Yeovil to the playoffs in 2006-07. Nottingham Forest were defeated in the semi-final, but Blackpool won the Wembley final.
Gary Johnson returned, with his side defeating Sheffield United in the
playoff semi-final of 2012-13 before beating Brentford 2-1 at Wembley thanks
to goals from Paddy Madden and Daniel Burn. Yeovil
lasted just one season in the Championship, with the slide continuing as Town were
relegated for a second consecutive season in 2014-15.
 |
| Huish Park |
Managers came and went before former player Darren Way
helped to settle things down for three seasons. Long-serving owner John Fry decided to
sell the club to bring in investment. The 2018-19 season was a disaster for the
club on and off the pitch, as the team was relegated to the National League.
A sale to American businessmen fell
through before prospective new owners were unveiled in June 2019, as Darren
Sarll was appointed as the new manager, taking the team to the playoffs. Tragedy hit the club in April 2021 when skipper Lee Collins took his own life. Turmoil followed before the appointment of new manager Mark Cooper.
The Glovers were relegated at the end of the 2022-23 campaign, while the off-the-pitch issues and ownership continued to linger. The Hellier Group, a local company, became the new owner of Yeovil Town. The side went on to lift the National League South title before the club was purchased by Inflection Holdings in May 2025.
They changed managers a couple of times before appointing Billy Rowley in November 2025.
My visit
Football Conference - Saturday 25th March 2000
👨👨👧👧 2,031
I travelled to this game alone on the train from Waterloo in London, with my Network Rail card offering a third off my fare and consequently a decent deal. The only trouble is that the route was quite a long one. Yeovil didn’t have a station in the town centre for some reason, so I had to catch a bus from the remote Yeovil Junction station into the town centre, before catching another bus near the ground.
I say near the ground for a very good reason. I found out in advance that pubs were scarce in that area. Now I loved watching Boro, and we were having a decent season, but I couldn’t face watching them without a beer inside me! I took a bus to The Forum, a middle-class estate, and found a pub called The Arrow, which wasn’t brilliant, but it was better than nothing.
After a couple of pints, I decided to chance my arm on getting inside the clubhouse at the ground. If a big away following were in town, there was no chance, but surely they’d look on with sympathy on a Seadog who they thought had travelled such a huge distance. They didn’t know I lived in London!
I got inside and met up with some of my regular away matchday mates. I have to say that some of the home fans were not the most hospitable. Huish Park was still in good nick, as it was only around ten years old. There were pretty identical single-tiered seated stands down each side, with open terracing behind each goal.
I travelled to this game alone on the train from Waterloo in London, with my Network Rail card offering a third off my fare and consequently a decent deal. The only trouble is that the route was quite a long one. Yeovil didn’t have a station in the town centre for some reason, so I had to catch a bus from the remote Yeovil Junction station into the town centre, before catching another bus near the ground.
I say near the ground for a very good reason. I found out in advance that pubs were scarce in that area. Now I loved watching Boro, and we were having a decent season, but I couldn’t face watching them without a beer inside me! I took a bus to The Forum, a middle-class estate, and found a pub called The Arrow, which wasn’t brilliant, but it was better than nothing.
After a couple of pints, I decided to chance my arm on getting inside the clubhouse at the ground. If a big away following were in town, there was no chance, but surely they’d look on with sympathy on a Seadog who they thought had travelled such a huge distance. They didn’t know I lived in London!
I got inside and met up with some of my regular away matchday mates. I have to say that some of the home fans were not the most hospitable. Huish Park was still in good nick, as it was only around ten years old. There were pretty identical single-tiered seated stands down each side, with open terracing behind each goal.
For some reason, a few of us decided to sit in the away section. Boro played superbly on the day against a decent Yeovil side. Simon Betts and Chris Tate scored to give us a 2-1 victory. A section of the travelling Boro faithful made us laugh by removing their shirts, long before it was in vogue everywhere.
I shouted that they should put them back on to avoid food parcels being dropped, which raised a laugh. It’s amazing what people find amusing when you win away from home! After the game, I had to repeat the long, drawn-out process of two buses and then wait for my train. The train terminated in the stunning city of Salisbury, whetting my appetite for a further visit.
The pictures in this post of Huish Park have been borrowed from the internet, as I didn’t have the nous at the time to take any photos of my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment