More new kids on the blog

It's good to see a few new blogs springing up focussing on the mighty Glovers. Aside from my own humble effort and Vyse's Green and White Blog, which I've mentioned before; three other places to go for your Glovers fix have sprung into being, available on the interweb for all to browse.

I was saddened when Ed shut down his Achieve By Unity forum. His forum provided a valuable service for Glovers fans with nowhere to go to discuss YTFC matters following the closure of the original green room, so it was a shame to see it close in turn following the opening of the new green room II. Having said that, it would be hypocritical of me to pretend that I liked the format of the Achieve by Unity forum overmuch or indeed, by the end, much of the content. Such is life. Despite stopping using the forum myself, I still felt it had it's place in the scheme of things and it was a pity to see it go. It's good to see anyway that Ed has bounced back with a new blog, called (what else?) Achieve by Unity. Early days yet, but the best of luck to him with it.

Second up we have Barrett Sports Writing. Blog owner Ben Barrett is a journalism graduate/YTFC fan who has contributed articles for the Glovers programme and official website. His blog includes match reports, general comments on YTFC affairs and interviews with former players. Well worth a read and well worth checking out regularly.

Last but not least is Martin McConachie's new site, Mac the Hack. As I'm sure most people know Martin is the YTFC fan poacher turned gamekeeper who took over running the club's then moribund official website and even worse match-day programme and turned them both around into the relevant and readable publications they are today. Mac the Hack is not so much a blog, more a collection of interviews and articles from the matchday programme. As such makes fascinating reading and well worth a browse through.

And while I'm at it, it occurs that I ought to mention one more site that is becoming of increasing relevance to the wider Glovers fanbase, not just the narrower constituency they ostensibly serve - the Capital Glovers. Set up for the benefit of Yeovil fans living in London and the south-east, the Capital Glovers have been amongst the vanguard of supporters concerned about the impact of Holdingsgate on the club and have just published another open letter to the Board on the subject and calling for an open meeting between the Board and interested fans to discuss the issue. It remains to be seen whether or not the club will respond to them.

This weekend the Glovers host Exeter City in a League One fixture, but of course the game will inevitably be rightly overshadowed by the various tributes being made to the late Adam Stansfield. I was looking forward to this fixture immensely but found out last week that I've been booked in for a minor operation in hospital on Friday, so unfortunately I won't be present at Huish Park for what will be, I'm sure, an emotional occasion. If you're going, please give Adam an extra clap for me.

The bookies make the Glovers 11/8 favourites to win the game, the draw is priced at 9/4 and an Exeter win at 2/1. My fiver's going on the home win. Running total: -£2.25p. My thanks must go to the Press Association hack who credited Paul Huntington with scoring the Glovers second goal at Huddersfield last week, when the real scorer was Owain Tudur-Jones. His error led to Bet365.com paying out on my side bet of Huntington scoring a goal at anytime at 18/1, not often the bookies give you something for nothing!

Just read, Or just reading really, as I'm half way through at the moment: Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. Really enjoyed The Winter Ghosts by the same author and so far I'm enjoying this one too. though it's a bit slower going. More on it when I've finished it. Just took delivery of my latest order from Amazon. Coming up soon: The Wind-Up Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi; The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton; the new Shardlake novel, Heartstone by CJ Samsom; Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley; and Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson. Can't wait!

No Worthington, no way

Playerwatch: Another one bites the dust - Jon Worthington, who did a decent job for us on loan from Huddersfield for a couple of months last season has signed for Oldham. There were hopes that he'd be back at Huish Park next season, but in my view they were always going to be unfounded. The way he left us was unsatisfactory - he was sent back to Huddersfield with only around 24 hours of the loan transfer deadline left, not really enough time to find another club and I remember thinking at the time that if we were serious about getting him back we would have treated him - and Huddersfield - with a little more respect. Ho hum.

Formerplayerwatch: Chris Cohen has signed a new 4-year deal at Nottingham Forest. Not sure if we've got a sell-on percentage if he gets transferred or not, but with him signing a new contract it doesn't look like he's going anywhere anyway. Team-mate Arron Davies meanwhile appears to be becoming more and more peripheral to Forest's squad - it would be no surprise to see him either transferred or out on loan next season.

Meanwhile the bookies have begun putting out their odds for next season and yet again we're favourites for the drop. Or to be more accurate, we're rank outsiders for the title - 80/1, along with Stockport. I was mildly surprised to see the likes of Exeter and Gillingham being slightly more fanciable at 50/1 and my eyebrows were raised even higher to see Brentford installed at 33/1. To my mind the gap between the top of L2 and the bottom of L1 is a large one, and I can see all the promoted clubs struggling next season. It's a bit early to be making predictions yet however, let's see how the squads are built up over the next couple of months before saying too much. What is predictable is to see who the bookies are regarding as favourites - Leeds at 10/3, followed by Norwich at 13/2 and Charlton at 15/2. Actually, the way Charlton finished the season they may well be worth a small flutter...

Currently reading: Dammed Good Show by Derek Robinson. I read the author's Goshawk Squadron a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it and this is a worthy successor. It follows the travails of a bomber squadron in the first two years of the Second World War. It's got Robinson's trademark black humour in spades but never loses sight of the horror of war and what it does to otherwise ordinary people. Highly recommended.

Currently watching: Series 1 & 2 of The Wire. First started getting into The Wire halfway through season 2 on the FX channel two or three years ago and have watched it semi-religiously since; so I was very pleased to see that at last one of the main channels had taken the plunge and bought it. BBC 2 are showing all 5 series back to back, 3 episodes a week. Overkill for an ordinary tv show, but The Wire ain't no ordinary tv show. It packs the same kind of punch as shows like The Sopranos or Band Of Brothers but exceeds both of them in terms of it's depth and extended storylines. If you ain't seen it, it's not too late to start watching now.

Currently playing: Death Magnetic by Metallica. Let's raaaawwwwwkkk!