GLOVERS NEWS: Fans back Supporters' Trust idea to help gain a voice

YEOVIL Town fans last night (Thursday, November 5, 2015) overwhelmingly backed plans for a Supporters’ Trust group to be formed in order to let them have a voice at Huish Park.

Fans of all ages from those who had grown up with the club from the Southern League days to the modern generation of supporters who have enjoyed such tremendous times in recent years were at the meeting - united in their concern that the club they follow is nosediving into dangerous waters. 

More than 100 supporters attended the open meeting at the Club 94 in Lower Middle Street where organiser Brendon Owen spoke about the advantages of a Supporters’ Trust and wanted to gauge the opinions of others about whether it was a direction Glovers’ fans wanted to follow.

“We are all here because we love our football club,” said Brendon. “We have got to show the club that we are not a mob, but a group of people who care about Yeovil Town and looking for a brighter future.

“Yeovil Town supporters have been without a voice for far too long and we need to bring the football club back to the community it purports to serve.”

He said the Supporters’ Trust would help to allow the fans to have “meaningful dialogue” with the club hierarchy on all that issues that effect supporters, while it could also help to eradicate the “them and us” culture which seems to have developed over the years.

PHOTO - TOP: A show of approval from supporters.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Fans listen intently during the meeting. Hopefully a Supporters' Trust will put the smile back on their faces - eventually.

But there was concern among fans when Brendon admitted that the board of directors at HuishPark might decide to take no notice of the Supporters’ Trust – although similar groups have worked well at other clubs.

Other supporters at the meeting said that although they liked the Supporters’ Trust idea for the long-term future, they felt that action was needed now in the form of protests and demonstrations with fans hugely concerned about the dramatic decline in fortunes of Yeovil over the past two years with them now languishing in the relegation zone of League Two.

Brendon said that although he could understand their views and feelings he felt a Supporters’ Trust needed to be “professional and business like” and needed to “rise above the slanging off.”

PHOTO - RIGHT: Brendon Owen speaks at the meeting.

“We need to be a credible group which could take a percentage of our club and run it,” he said. “It’s not a good set-up at Huish Park and we need to change that set-up. The fans should be at the heart of the club, but there is no magic wand to cure the problem – no quick fix.

“But this isn’t a meeting to bash the board and this isn’t a meeting to call for heads to roll.

“We need to be seen to be professional and moderate.”

If the Supporters’ Trust scheme gets up and running it is hoped that eventually it could have an elected member serve on the board of directors.

Brendon gave an example of Exeter City where it set up a Supporters’ Trust in 2000 and became the club’s majority shareholder in 2003 and had raised £1.75m in the process. The Trust at Exeter had 2,600 members who each paid £2 a month membership fee.

A show of hands at last night’s meeting was very much in favour of taking the Supporters’ Trust initiative forward and a number of people put themselves forward to help.

A meeting will be held with the national Supporters’ Direct group who will advise on the next steps.

But will this stop any immediate direct action among fans who are growing ever angry at the decline in their club?

Defeat at Maidstone on Sunday (November 8, 2015) in the FA Cup will make things interesting at next weekend’s League Two clash at Huish Park with Stevenage Borough.

As well as those at the meeting last night, a number of others also tuned into proceedings via a live web link.

Brendon said that "people power" could win the day at Huish Park if enough support was forthcoming for the Supporters' Trust the board of directors would have to sit up and take notice of them.

PHOTO - ABOVE: Hands up for a voice.

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Yeovil Town FC.