A man for all seasons

Best not to say too much about Monday's 3-1 defeat at Swindon, just put it behind us and move on. Those that were there called it a piss-poor display at best and certainly the goal highlights on the BBC site don't make happy viewing, especially for the defence. A shame to end what has easily been the most successful decade in the club's history on such a note, but to look on the bright side at least it's a defeat against the likes of Swindon that we're all moaning about. Our final game of the '90's was a 3-0 loss at Forest Green Rovers which maybe puts that Swindon result in perspective. We may still not be very good, but at least we're not very good in the football league rather than the wilderness of the non-league game. And we don't have to go to The Lawn anymore! I still did away games in those days and I can remember being colder at The Lawn one Boxing Day than I've ever been in my life before or since. I hope never to be that cold again.

Annyway, it's my final blog of the year and indeed of the decade, easily the most successful ten years in the history of this great little club. We're very lucky really, those of us who have supported the club at this time in it's history. We've seen so much success, so many good players and marvellous games and we forget that for most of this club's existence fans have endured, well, mediocrity is perhaps a little harsh as a description, but it's certainly been more famine than feast, with only the odd Southern League or Isthmian League title and occasional giant-killing in the FA Cup to keep us warm. That was up until the start of the decade anyway.

Dave Webb started the whole thing off with his full-time revolution in the final couple of months of the 99-00 season, which laid the groundwork for the success that followed. Colin Addison so nearly took the club into the football league in the one season he was allowed, just falling at the final hurdle to a Rushden side that literally had money thrown at it to guarantee success. Gary Johnson took over from Addo and the rest, of course, was history. The FA Trophy in his first season, the Conference title and promotion to the holy grail of the football league a year later. Two years after that we were League 2 champions and it seemed like the sky was the limit. Sir Gary moved on to bigger though not neccesarily better things at Bristol City and after a hiatus Russell Slade took over, in his first season leading us to that never-to-be forgotten night in the play-off semi-finals against former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, when in front of the live tv cameras the Glovers came back from a 2-0 1st leg deficit to beat Forest 5-4 on aggregate - in my humble opinion the finest single result in this club's long history.

Through all that time one man, Steve Thompson, was a constant at the club. When Dave Webb was appointed manager in March 2000, he took over from Thommo, who had been acting as player/coach since the resignation of Colin Lippiatt earlier in the season. Thommo became Webb's assistant and then in turn assistant to Addison, Johnson and finally Slade, as well as having most of a season being manager in his own right after Sir Gary left, successfully keeping the Glovers in L1, when most were expecting him to fail. His loyalty to the Yeovil cause never wavered even when he could have joined Johnson at Ashton Gate, and he was finally rewarded with the sack alongside Russell Slade in February 2009, 11 years after he first came to Somerset. Sad to say that Thommo was not only let down by the Glovers but also by Slade himself - it became common knowledge that Slade subsequently broke a promise to take Thommo with him when he took over at his next club, Brighton.

All the more pleasant to report then that Thommo has, at last, got a new job - manager of ambitious Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division side Truro City. Not the easiest of appointments for Thommo, but he must be delighted to be back in work at least. The very best of luck to him there, let's hope he can firstly stabilise the club and then get them moving up the pyramid. There surely can't be anyone better qualified for success plying his trade at that level.

Back to League One and next up for the present-day Glovers are Leyton Orient away, on Saturday. It all looked fairly rosy in the Glovers garden following Boxing Day's 4-0 win over Wycombe, but a weekend is a long time in football never mind in politics, and the loss at Swindon plus other results in the division means that a further loss next weekend could see us only 1 point away from the relegation zone. Not exactly a must-win game then, but certainly an important match not to lose. The bookies make Orient narrow favourites at 11/8, the draw is priced at 12/5 and a Glovers win at 15/8. My fiver's going on the draw, again. Running total: -£4.50p.

Finally I'd like to wish everyone who reads this blog a very happy new year. I hope you all get exactly what you deserve in 2010. Cheers!

Just read: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson. The final part of the acclaimed Millennium trilogy and every bit as satisfying an ending as one could hope for. The sadness comes with the knowledge that with the author's untimely death this is the last novel in the series and there'll never be a sequel. Come to that I doubt there'll ever be another heroine to match the author's creation, Lisbeth Salander. I sat up to 2am and gone finishing this book and could no more have stopped and left it to the morning than I could stop breathing. Original, stunning and addictive writing; literally unputdownable. Brilliant.