Club offers crumbs of comfort

After criticising both the club and the local press last week for the deathly silence over the Holdingsgate issue, it's a pleasant surprise to note that the entire back page of this week's edition of the Western Gazette is given over to an interview with Chief Executive Martyn Starnes regarding the club's plans.

As far as I can see at first glance two questions have been addressed, sort of. Firstly it's confirmed that the Huish Park Stadium itself is set to stay under the control of the football club and not the new Holding Company; secondly Starnes states that the Holding Company has 'no wish' to charge any rent to the football club for use of the remaining land. One might hope for something more substantial in writing then a vague claim of having 'no wish' to charge a rent, but it's better than the complete silence that we had before today.

Indeed, much detail is missing and the whole piece still has that patronising 'papa-knows-best' feel that Yeovil fans have unfortunately become accustomed to with its communications from the Board over the last few years. No mention is made of any valuation of the land, nor does the piece detail where the rights to any income generated on and from the site reside. Neither is there any mention of any safeguards to protect the club when, as is inevitable at some point in the future, control passes from the current main shareholders into other hands. Starnes does claim that the Board have undergone 'extensive consultation over the last few years' regarding the issue. Nice to know, but what a pity they didn't see fit to consult with the supporters during that time, either through the Achieve By Unity Fans Partnership (ha!) or the Customer Charter Meetings. As usual the club pay lip service to the idea of transparency whilst conducting their real business through a veil of secrecy.

Still, at least the Board has finally said something, at last, and at least the main local paper has raised the issue publically, at last. They haven't said enough and many questions still need answering but it's a start. Interestingly it seems that a 'detailed response' has been made to Guardian journalist Matt Scott's articles from last week, but as yet there's been no acknowledgement from the paper. I await Digger's next column with bated breath.

Back to the football and it occurs I'm still to provide my usual report on last Saturday's 0-2 home loss to Hartlepool United. So here goes: We were shit. There, that covers that. Okay, I'll expand a little on that. We were out-thought and out-fought. Hartlepool correctly identified our midfield as the weak link and swamped us there. We never got our passing game going, our wingers became more and more peripheral to the game and long before half-time we were already resorting to the long ball simply because we had no other options. It was a depressing and toothless performance, probably the worst I've seen under the current manager. He knows it, we know it and the players know it. I don't see any point in saying any more at this late juncture, suffice it to say that if we play like that again we will lose again. Hopefully it was a one-off and our triumphant march to an eventual 9th place as forecast by yours truly will resume this Saturday, away at Oldham. The bookies make the home side 5/6 favourites, the draw is priced at 5/2 and a Glovers win a tempting 10/3. Tempting, but not tempting enough. My fiver's going on the draw. Running total: -£9.25p.