The end of an era

This is a difficult blog to write. I never thought this would happen, but happen it has and I (and you, dear reader, if you continue to read this blog) have to deal with the consequences.

The fact is that over the last few years and for various reasons I’ve gradually fallen out of love with Yeovil Town Football Club. It’s not something that’s happened overnight, it’s been a gradual diminishing of passion over the years. Looking back on it I can see that it started with the sacking of Graham Roberts. As an armchair Spurs fan I was thrilled when a stalwart of White Hart Lane was appointed as Yeovil manager and it hurt, badly, when he was summarily dismissed, and over such a little thing! The worst of it was that he was right all along, they are all arseholes at Stevenage.

Roberts was the first, but other unjustified sackings over the years have similarly badly affected my love for this club. There’s been so many own goals, so many instances of bad practise that it just seems pointless to list them all here now. On the face of it the last decade had been one of unparalleled success for this club, but scratch beneath the veneer of achievement and one finds, well, nothing else really.

The football league, the holy grail of all non-league clubs! Surely, I hear you say, surely you must be happy that after 100-odd years of non-league under-achievement we are now playing at the highest level this club has ever played at? I’m afraid not, no. League football is not all it’s cracked up to be. Teams are all much of a muchness. They’re all super-fit, they’re all tactically aware, they’re all so similar, so boring. Games aren’t normally decided by flashes of skill but by defensive errors, or the referee’s whistle. Going along to Huish Park these days to watch the likes of Hartlepool, Carlisle or Stockport is no different to watching Hednesford, Telford or Bath City a decade ago. We just pay much, much more for the privilege nowadays, and I, for one, can no longer justify that expenditure.

I’m sorry, but that’s it for me. After nearly 40 years following the Glovers I’m opting out. I’ve not fallen out of love with football itself, just become vastly disillusioned with League football in general and Yeovil Town in particular. I still intend to follow the game though and this is where I suspect that anyone reading this who may have found themselves agreeing with what I’ve written above will now part company with me. You see, over the last few months while I’ve been writing this blog I’ve occasionally commented on the trials and tribulations of our old rivals Weymouth. And gradually, over the months, the unthinkable has happened. The more I’ve looked into the Terras affairs, the more sympathetic to their plight I’ve become, and – secretly – the keener an interest I’ve taken in their results and day-to-day business. It all came to a head last week in the run-up to the CVA meeting which could have resulted in the death of the club, when I realised I was spending more time on the Weymouth forum than I was on the Yeovil equivalent.. I knew then that I could no longer go on living a lie. Next season I intend to have a season ticket at the Wessex Stadium and watch Southern League football. I’m going back to our roots.

I hope Glovers fans can forgive me, I suspect they will not. Such is life. From now on Taff Glover is dead, as is Taff’s Gloversblog, though I’ll keep these pages online for posterity. Taff’s Terrasblog will open for business tomorrow, Friday 2nd of April.

Thank you for reading, and for your understanding.

Up the Terras!