Yeovil Town F.C.
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| Yeovil Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Yeovil Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Glovers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1895 (as Yeovil Casuals FC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Huish Park Yeovil (Capacity 9,978) |
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| Chairman |  John Fry |
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| Manager | Russell Slade |
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| League | League One | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–08 | League One, 18th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Yeovil Town F.C. are an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset. The club play in League One after having won the League Two championship in 2004-05.
Along with Plymouth Argyle, they are one of the few clubs within England to play in a largely green strip. Since the 2003-04 season they have played in green and white hoops, similar to Glasgow Celtic, and Buckie Thistle in Scotland.
They won promotion to the Football League as Conference champions in 2003, and had long been established as the most successful non-league team in the FA Cup - having defeated major Football League teams and playing against clubs like Liverpool In 2004-05, only their second season in the Football League, Yeovil were crowned champions of League Two and were promoted to League One.
They play their home games at Huish Park, which is also currently the location of the club's training facilities; however, it has been announced that Yeovil Town will be building new training facilities at nearby village in Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset.
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[edit] History
They have spent almost all of their history outside of The Football League but are still one of the most famous FA Cup "giant-killing" teams that has earned them notoriety around the country and indeed it can be said around the world. The club, founded in 1890 as Yeovil Football Club, shared a ground for many years with the town's rugby club. In 1895 they became Yeovil Casuals and moved to play their home games at the Pen Mill Athletic Ground. The club became Yeovil Town in 1907, and in 1915 an amalgamation of Yeovil Town and Petters United led to a new club called Yeovil and Petters United. This seasons's away shirt, a predominantly black kit with amber trim, was inspired by the amber and black colours of Petters United. In the 1948-49 FA Cup, Yeovil defeated Sunderland in the fourth round, in front of over 16,000 ecstatic fans (a club record) this gave them the "Giant-Killing" status. At the next hurdle, over 81,000 saw them lose to Manchester United at Maine Road 8-0.
Between 1955 and 1973 they lifted the Southern Football League crown three times, with the runners-up spot being reached on two occasions.
During this period, Yeovil Town applied for election to the Football League on a number of occasions, coming within a few votes of being elected in 1976. [1]
The year 1979 saw the birth of what is now the Football Conference the game's 'Fifth Division' - of which the Glovers were founder-members. In 1985 they were relegated to the Vauxhall Opel League. After three years Yeovil won the championship in 1988 and returned to the Conference.
There was success in the Bob Lord Challenge Trophy in 1990 and three years later Yeovil finished fourth in the Conference, their best finish ever. In January 1995 Graham Roberts was appointed manager, but demotion back to the Isthmian League (ICIS) soon followed. Yeovil secured promotion back into the Conference in 1997 after winning the ICIS League (as it was then known) by a record number of points - 101.
Gary Johnson took charge in June 2001 and he won the FA Umbro Trophy in his first season in charge with a 2-0 victory over Stevenage Borough in the final at Villa Park. This was their first major trophy in 106 years as a Football Club. Yeovil Town earned promotion to the Football League in the following season, by winning the Football Conference by a record 17 points margin. They accumulated a huge 95 points and scored 100 goals, remaining unbeaten at Huish Park
The team's first season in League football saw them finish in a creditable eighth place just missing out on the play off positions by goal difference, just four goals.
In February 2004, the team released the single "Yeovil True". The single reached #36 in the UK charts before dropping out of the top 75 the next week. The single was only available in major record stores in the town.
David Webb bought the club from Jon Goddard-Watts in December 2005, taking over the role of Chief Executive from Chairman John Fry. He resigned from this position in February 2006.
In September 2005, manager Gary Johnson left Yeovil Town for Bristol City, after having turned down job offers from both Plymouth Argyle and Derby County. He was replaced by second-in-command Steve Thompson, and Kevin Hodges was appointed as his number two, but at the end of the 2005-06 Thompson was demoted to first team coach, with the club advertising for a new manager. Russell Slade was named as his replacement on June 7, 2006.
In March 2006, Yeovil appointed two new directors, Brian Willis and Ron Budden. Willis was part of the Yeovil board in the late 1990s for three years and was vice-chairman at Bournemouth before that. Budden, Exeter-based, was a former League referee.
In June 2006, it was announced that John Fry had bought all of Dave Webb's share to become the new owner of Yeovil Town FC.
On September 30, 2006, Yeovil moved into second place in League One after a 2-1 victory over Brentford, which was their highest-ever league position.
Yeovil finished the regular season in fifth position, securing a play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest, twice European champions. On May 11, 2007, Forest won the first leg 2-0 at Huish Park.[1] Seven days later, Yeovil won the return leg at the City Ground 5-2 after extra time, taking the tie 5-4 on aggregate.[2] Yeovil met Blackpool at Wembley Stadium on May 27, 2007, and were beaten 2-0, thus missing out on promotion to the The Championship. Almost 30,000 supporters took the trip up to Wembley, a large following for a club based in a town with a population of only 41,871.
2007-08 was less successful, as Yeovil finished 18th in League One with 52 points.
Yeovil Town Football club have had many players who have played at the international level, for instance Marc Bircham and Jaime Peters [Canada], Andrejs Stolcers [Latvia], Efe Sodje [Nigeria], Lloyd Owusu [Ghana], Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala [DR Congo], Arron Davies and Gavin Williams [Wales].
Huish Park is Yeovil's latest stadium and there has been a mention that Huish could become the new home of a 15,000 all seater.
[edit] Season performance
| Season | Division | Tier | Pos | Pld | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Points | Outcome | Ave. Attendance |
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| 2007–2008 | League One | 3 | 18 | 46 | 14 | 10 | 22 | 38 | 59 | 52 | ||
| 2006–2007 | League One | 3 | 5 | 46 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 55 | 39 | 79 | Play-offs | 6,264 |
| 2005–2006 | League One | 3 | 15 | 46 | 15 | 11 | 20 | 54 | 62 | 56 | 6,668 | |
| 2004–2005 | League Two* | 4 | 1 | 46 | 25 | 8 | 13 | 90 | 65 | 83 | ↑ | 6,320 |
| 2003–2004 | Division Three | 4 | 8 | 46 | 23 | 5 | 18 | 70 | 57 | 74 | 6,197 | |
| 2002–2003 | Conference | 5 | 1 | 42 | 28 | 11 | 3 | 100 | 37 | 95 | ↑ | 4,741 |
| 2001–2002 | Conference | 5 | 3 | 42 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 66 | 53 | 70 | 2,872 | |
| 2000–2001 | Conference | 5 | 2 | 42 | 24 | 8 | 10 | 73 | 50 | 80 | 3,416 |
- Division 3 was renamed to League 2
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Yeovil's old ground at Huish (in the town centre, now the site of Tesco) was famous for the fact that the pitch sloped.
- The name Yeovil is understood to be a corruption of a Celtic word, Gifl, which means 'forked river'.
- Yeovil's former manager Gary Johnson was the coach of the Latvian national team for two years from 1999 to 2001.
- Yeovil's longest serving manager since 1922 is Billy Kingdon, who was in charge from 1938 to 1946.
- Yeovil's largest recorded crowd at Huish Park was on 25 April 2008 against Leeds in League One. 9527 fans turned up to watch the game, which Yeovil lost 1–0.
- Yeovil got their nickname, The Glovers, from the many glove factories that were present in Yeovil and in Somerset at the time of the club's formation.
Celebrity Fans
- Trevor Peacock -Actor
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Notable Former Players
- Sir Ian Botham: Joined Yeovil on a non-contract basis in January 1985 and left in March 1985, twelve hours before flying out for a tour of the West Indies.
- Len Harris: Played for Yeovil between 1958 and 1972 making a total of 691 appearances, a club record.
- Alan Pardew: Played for Yeovil during the 1986/87 season before joining Crystal Palace in the summer of 1987.
- Alec Stock: Took Yeovil to the 5th Round of the FA Cup during the 1948/49 season. Yeovil caused a giantkilling by beating 8th in the 1st Division Sunderland F.C. 2-1 in the 4th Round before going out to Manchester United 8-0 at Maine Road.
- Guy Whittingham: Played Premiership football for both Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday in the 1990's.
John McGinlay: Scottish international who played football for Bolton Wanderers in the 1990's.
Arron Davies: Welsh International left Yeovil for Nottingham Forest with Chris Cohen for a combined fee of ₤1.2m.
[edit] Club Honours
- Football League Two Champions 2004-2005
- FA Trophy winners 2001-2002
- Football Conference Champions 2002-2003; runners-up 2000-2001
- Isthmian League Champions 1987-1988, 1996-1997; runners up 1985-1986, 1986-1987
- Southern League Champions 1954-1955, 1963-1964, 1970-1971; runners up 1969-1970, 1972-1973, 1975-1976
- Southern League Western Division Champions 1923-1924, 1931-1932, 1934-1935
- Western League Champions 1921-1922, 1924-1925, 1929-1930, 1934-1935; runners up 1930-1931, 1931-1932, 1937-1938, 1938-1939
[edit] Club records
- Most Overall Appearances: Len Harris, 691 (1958-72)
- Most League Goals: Dave Taylor, 285 (1960-9)
- Record Attendance Football League: 9,527 v Leeds United, 25 April 2008 (Football League One)
- Record Attendance (new Huish Park): 9,527 v Leeds United, 25 April 2008 (Football League One)
- Record Attendance All Time: 16,318 v Sunderland, 29 January 1949 (FA Cup Fourth Round)
- Longest Serving Player: Len Harris, 14 years (1958-72)
- Longest Serving Manager: Billy Kingdon, 8 years (1938-46)
- Highest League Finish: 5th League 1, 2006/07 season
[edit] References
- ^ Yeovil 0-2 Nottingham Forest - BBC Sport
- ^ Nottingham Forest 2-5 Yeovil - BBC Sport
[edit] External links
- Ciderspace - Unofficial club site
- the green room - Unofficial Forum
- YTFC Forum
- Capital Glovers (Supporters Club For Fans in London and the South East)
- Official club site
- Every match result and League table while in the Football League
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