Yeovil Town Women were formed in 1990 as Yetminster Women FC and played their first match on 16th September of that year against Weymouth Vikings. In 1993, they were renamed Sherborne Women and then became Yeovil Town in 1999.
The club’s first honour was the South-West Women’s Division Two Cup in 1995 – a trophy they retained the following year. The Division One Cup was lifted in 1997. After becoming champions of the South-West Women’s Premier League in 2007, Yeovil moved up the national league structure and became Women’s Super League Two champions in 2016 after finishing fifth and joint third in the previous two campaigns. They went full time and took part in the 2017 Women’s Super League Spring Series for 2018/19. In early 2019, Yeovil informed the FA that they intended to go into administration, a move that, eventually was not necessary, but nevertheless ensured an instant ten point deduction. The Somerset side had hoped to play the current season in the Championship, but instead they were placed in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier (tier three).
We were delighted to speak to Ewan Greenhill, Yeovil Town Women’s Head of Performance who began by explaining the rebuilding and restructuring process after the events of last season: ”It’s obviously been a period that had tough times and I don’t think people realise maybe how close we were to completely disappearing.” Back in July, the club were incredibly fortunate to be taken over by former AFC Bournemouth owner Adam Murry. Murry stepped in at the Cherries in 2008 when the Dorset side were in administration and in the fourth tier. He then appointed Eddie Howe as manager, and things went from there. Murry then went on to lead the Elite Soccer Academy in Florida which offers women’s football as well as men’s. Greenhill was hugely enthusiastic about their saviour: “But the takeover by Mr. Murry has been great. The first few months it was about building the basics up for the club. To start there was virtually nothing left after the summer. In the summer we brought in a re-brand, kit, new staff, players this was all after pre-season should have already started. So we were definitely playing catch up. By no means are we now a flush club with blank cheques – we still have to work for everything. And there has been a lot of mistakes and learning along the way.”
Greenhill though does see some positives in the club’s situation: “When we flip it though, the double drop (ie from Women’s Super League to National League Southern Premier) has allowed us the opportunity to do things the way we want to and build from there. Every process we have put in place is done without constraints or a ‘that’s how we’ve always done it’. We have put a heavy focus on the youth as we have been quite clear we want to develop our own.”
Yeovil Town’s provision for their young players is something they are rightly proud of. Greenhill explains its set up: “Outside of some of the Regional Talent Centres you won’t find many in the country providing player education, physical development, psychology to the youth academy like we do. We’ve seen those opportunities to young players already happen. That’s why the manager was a key appointment. Experienced senior players want to play for him and the staff and then gives us the opportunity to blood the talented youngsters in at training and in matches.”
At the start of the season, Yeovil Town had particular aims for the club, as Greenhill underlines: “First things first, we had to stop any rot and stabilise the club, then try and challenge in the league. By the turn of the year I think we reached a really stable point and began competing in the league at the right end. We wanted to provide more to the youth, and we’ve done that. Next season we are planning on adding U10s, U12s to our U14s, U16s, and U21s. Ahead of that we have some big plans – some I can’t make public just yet but rest assured the club is building in the background.”
Whilst the was a wider boost to the women’s game after last summer’s World Cup, Greenhill is not quite sure if any immediate benefits were translated to Yeovil: “I’m not sure it reached tier three and below as much as it did tiers one and two. But as long as the growth of the game keeps on going then you’ve got to hope it does filter down. That’s why when we talk about the development of our forty or fifty youth players into first team players, we know it’s not just going to be for ourselves but instead it is about growing the whole game. We know the South West has a geographical need for more players, better players, and better provisions to get there.”
Yeovil Town are well aware that they need to have careful plans for the future in order to ensure that there is sustainable growth. Greenhill identified them for us: “We have four main areas that we believe are crucial to the survival and growth of the club and therefore our main challenges to the club. We want to have a productive pathway and hold a connection with our community by using football as a vehicle for good, and connect with our fans. So we have to invest in the people, kit, and facilities involved in that. Alongside that we want to show that you can be successful at the top end being a self-sustainable business – something we believe can be achieved. And something achievable without the ‘big’ club backing.”
When it comes to backing, Greenhill is clear about how the women’s club get on with their male counterparts at Huish Park: “There is an ever improving relationship between the two clubs brought out of our respective takeovers. We run completely separate from each other, but now carry adverts for each other in our match day programmes and who knows how a working relationship may go as our relationship continues to improve.”
Finally, our conversation turned to how Greenhill sees the future of women’s football more widely: “I think the number of professional teams will increase especially in the clubs connected to the big men’s clubs. But with that I think will bring another restructure for a larger Women’s Super League to provide a bigger games programme over the year as it is still quite small, the original plan was up to fourteen teams which could easily be achieved now. Then World Cup would then involve more countries. Of course, that would mean there’s then expanded costs to having more games but with the huge gaps currently in the schedule then it’s got to be looked at. More games and a more regular schedule is not just important on the field but off the field for the commercial and marketing of a club. For us at Yeovil Town, we want to be in those top two tiers again but there won’t be a timeline on returning to a full-time professional model we have to build steadily towards that. But it’s something we are pulling the whole
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