The darkest hour is just before dawn...

...So the saying goes. The problem for manager Terry Skiverton, and for the Board of Yeovil Town is that dawn may yet be some time off. Think things can't get worse after last night's desperately disappointing 4-2 loss at Hartlepool? Believe me, they can. Anyone who was at Huish Park to see the Glovers lose 1-3 to Merthyr Tydfil back in 1994 knows exactly how bad it can get.

Thus far in Skivo's managerial career the Huish Park crowd has, by and large, been pretty supportive of him and the things he's been trying to do. Judging by the postings on the green room II over the last week or so that support is eroding fast. I spoke about a tipping point being reached after the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth three weeks ago and said then that I thought Skivo deserved the chance to at least stay in charge until January. I've changed my mind now. On Saturday we have a home game against Carlisle United. If ever a game has been a must-win game then this one is surely it. Anything less than three points will be unacceptable.

I'm finding this a hard blog to write. It's not nice to be contemplating the demise of Mr Yeovil, the man who has done so much on the pitch to get us where we are today. But the hard truth is that Skivo as a manager has been found out this season. His team - and it is his team, he's the one who has signed the players and who asked us at the start of the season to judge him on how they performed - has been found wanting in the basics of both attack and defence. It makes me angry and upset to see a good man floundering, but I'm not so much angry with Skivo. I'm angry with the men who have put him in this unenviable position, I'm angry with the Board.

It's the Board who should be looking at themselves today. Yes, by and large they've kept the club solvent, the small matter of a million pound loss in the last financial year nothwithstanding; but it's they who have allowed the club to stagnate over the last few years, who have failed to build on the legacy left by Gary Johnson and Jon Goddard-Watts. It's the Board who have allowed mediocre non-entities to keep positions of influence in the club and who do nothing but alienate fans and take revenue streams and potential revenue streams away from the club. It's the Board who hounded out the previous manager Russell Slade on wholly spurious grounds and then cynically appointed the one man guaranteed to unite the fanbase behind them, even though we all knew Skivo was the cheap option to end all cheap options and that it would probably all end in tears. And now, most cynical of all, it's the Board who have split the land assets of the Huish Park site away from the football operation and have the temerity and chutzpah to tell us that there's no other way to attract new investment into the club. New investment? Don't make me laugh. I could tell you stories, doubtless many of you reading this could tell me stories too about people, fans, potential investors with money, ready and willing to invest in the club in the past but who have always been turned away. And why were they turned away? Because they wanted a say in how their money was spent and our glorious leaders weren't prepared to dilute their power and their shareholdings in the club. Self-interest rules.

Skivo's time is probably up. But this current Board's time should also be up. There's a lot of rumours flying around the town at the moment. I myself have heard from several different sources that offers have been made or are in the process of being made to buy the club from it's current owners. I only hope the rumours are true. John Fry and Norman Hayward have shown themselves to be unwilling and unable to either attract investment to the club or to invest themselves. On top of that they have allowed a culture of failure to thrive at Huish Park. If they have any true feeling for the club then they should dissolve the holding company they have created, give the football club back the land assets they have taken from it, and last but not least, sell up. Go, and go now. Leave with your legacy more-or-less intact. It's time for real change.