I’ve got to admit it – “When I was young, I followed AFC Bournemouth”, so I don’t sing the song in the title of this blog. The first time I heard it sung was when Derby did us 3-2 in the final minute last season.
I don’t follow Bournemouth any more, they are a plastic club propelled to stardom by the power of the Rouble (and Eddy Howe).
We may ape larger clubs with our chants but the best of Yeovil is it’s rock-solid support.
The point of this blog is to remind the younger fans, my son among them, that Yeovil True means supporting the manager as well as the club.
Yeovil has a proper fan-base, 250 made their way up the M5/6 to Accrington Stanley. Most of them kids. There were others like Coatsie Boy from the Northern Glovers . I wasn’t there, but like most Saturdays I was checking the game on twitter.
Good luck to #ytfc at #asfc this pm; minnow v minnow in #FACup @YTFC
— Henry Tapper (@henryhtapper) December 6, 2014
@henryhtapper @YTFC pic.twitter.com/zlNBJV1rKd
— David Coates (@coatesieboy) December 6, 2014
The point of this blog is to remind the younger fans, my son among them, that Yeovil True means supporting the manager as well as the club.
I know the frustration, I haven’t seen a league goal this season in 720 minutes of football. Yesterday we drew 1-1 against a very average team a division below us. The match will be remembered for two reasons, the dog on the roof….
and Gary Johnson’s arguing with fans after the game
My son’s still a kid and he lives and breathes Yeovil. He is in the “Johnson out”, believing our manager is the problem.
Two years ago, Gary Johnson took Yeovil to the Championship via Wembley. In those days “Gary was our king”.
Gary Johnson should not have lost his rag with his own fans, we’ll never know quite what he said but apparently he had a go at the kids giving him verbal.
For a club whose motto is “achieve by unity” this is unedifying stuff. Johnson has twice energised Yeovil to great things and fans, especially young fans, need to recognise that they are supporting their side “whether they’re up or down”.
Gary Johnson never shuts up shop after a game and he conducted his post-match interview with some dignity.
Johnson should stay, we have neither the finances or the club to attract a superstar manager. He has the support of the former manager, Terry Skiverton, who is now his assistant, there is no silver bullet.
This season, Johnson’s purchases have not worked out and we have fealt the loss of Upson and Ayling who have moved to bigger clubs. We have blessed with a great goalkeeper in Maren Stech and fine central defenders, Dan Byrne and Steven Caulker – now premiership regulars. But we don’t have such players now.
The long-term future for Yeovil is to breed our own, we should look at Southampton. Geographically, Yeovil are the only professional team between Swindon and Exeter, Bournemouth and Bristol. The hinterland may be rural and rugby competes hard, but Yeovil has everything to be a great little club.
To me it is a great little club. That’s why I switched my allegiances.
I don’t suppose my son will listen, or those others shouting for Johnson’s head. But for what it’s worth, I reckon this is the time to get off the manager’s back and allow him to rebuild the team after relegation from the Championship last season.
