Yeovil United F.C.

Yeovil United Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Yeovil, Somerset and play in the FA Women's National League South.

Yeovil United
Full nameYeovil United Football Club
Founded1990 (1990) (as Yetminster Ladies)
GroundHuish Park, Yeovil
Capacity9,565 (5,212 seated)
ChairmanSarah Murry
ManagerJamie Sherwood
LeagueFA Women's National League South
2019–20FA Women's National League South (season abandoned)
WebsiteClub website

Prior to moving to the FA WSL in 2013, the club played in the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division after gaining promotion from the South West Combination Women's Football League for a second time in 2012. The team currently plays their home matches between two stadiums: Huish Park, home of Yeovil Town, and the Cygnet Health Care Stadium, home of Taunton Town.

History

The team was formed by Tony Baverstock as Yetminster Ladies, and originally competed in South West League Division Two, the club's first game was against Weymouth Vikings on 16 September 1990. The club was renamed Sherborne Ladies in 1993, and in 1997 the team reached the 4th Round of the Women's FA Cup, finally going out to Everton in front of a crowd of over 500 at Huish Park. The team was renamed Yeovil Town Ladies in 1999, and progressed well under the management of John Flatters. After Flatters departed the club, first team coach Steve Phelps took over.[1]

The 2004–05 season saw Yeovil Town Ladies win the Somerset County Cup Final against Keynsham Town Ladies, the end of this season also saw the departure of young talent Helen Bleazard, who had been playing for Yeovil since the age of nine. Bleazard left to play for Bristol City Ladies, who at the time were playing in the Women's Premier League. The following season saw the team missing out on league promotion to Frome Town by one point, leaving them in the League runner's up position, and losing League Cup finalists. The 2006–07 season saw the Glovers at last seal promotion to the South West Combination League.[1]

The club embarked upon its first season back up in the South West Combination in 2007–08. It was another good campaign too, with the team acclimatising well to their new status and gaining a very respectable fourth-place finish. The 2008–09 season again saw fine progress, Yeovil Town footballer Nathan Jones joined as first team coach in November 2009. Yeovil finished the season third, behind league champions Queens Park Rangers and second place Plymouth Argyle. The Reserves finished the season as League champions, gaining promotion to the South West League, Division One.[1]

The following season saw the team hit the headlines following a 21–0 victory over Reading Town in the August.[2] This inspired them to race to the top of the league with a 9–1 win over Cullompton, a hard-fought victory at Forest green and a 2–2 draw at Havant & Waterlooville. The season was disrupted by poor weather for almost four months, but this allowed the team to concentrate on the FA Cup, with victories over Saltash United, Forest Green Rovers and Newquay taking them to an exciting fourth round tie with Norwich City, a game that saw them come out 3–0 winners, setting up a tie with Nottingham Forest. They lost this narrowly 1–0, but clearly showed their higher league promise. The team won the South West Combination Women's League, having won seventeen, drawn one and lost just two of their twenty matches, scoring 103 goals, conceding just fifteen.[1]

The 2010–11 season saw the club competing in FA Women's Premier League Southern Division for the first time, however, they unfortunately found themselves relegated back to the South West Combination at the end of the season after a brave battle. They however fared better in the county cup, getting through to the final thanks to a 3–1 victory over Keynsham Town. March 2011 saw the departure of the long serving first team manager Steve Phelps and his assistant manager Nigel Wolfe from their positions at the club. Steve cited work and personal commitments for his resignation.[1]

Nigel Williams and Sarah Lawler took over as joint managers of the first team, with Chris White installed as assistant manager. They initially steadied the ship with draws against Cardiff City and Colchester United, but defeats against West Ham United and Portsmouth in their final two matches confirmed the return to the South West Combination. The season ended with a 3–0 win over Larkhall Athletic in the final of the Somerset Women's Senior Cup.[1]

Yeovil Town playing Oxford United in 2014

The 2011–12 season was the first full season under the tenure of the new joint first team managers saw two trophies won by the senior squad, with the lifting of both the South West Women's Combination Football League Trophy and the Somerset FA Women's Senior Cup. The club also had the honour of being awarded the FA National Respect Gold award for the English ladies football pyramid. The start of the season saw the departure from the club of the long serving and record goal scorer Jemma Tewkesbury, who moved to Portsmouth Ladies, but the league campaign starting with a 7–1 victory over Keynsham Development and this set the precedent for the season, with the girls staying unbeaten in the league throughout. The county cup campaign started well with a 1–0 win over Keynsham Town. The girls received a bye to the final, where they beat Larkhall Athletic 3–0 to lift the trophy for the second consecutive season. The girls were crowned champions in April, with two games to spare, confirming promotion back to the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division at the first time of asking.[1]

The 2012–13 season saw the club finish 3rd in the Premier League Southern Division, their highest ever finishing position, and reached the 5th round of the FA Women's Cup before losing 4–0 to Leeds United. In April 2013, it was confirmed that the club had been accepted in to the new expanded FA WSL Division 2.[3] Yeovil was named FAWSL 2 Club of the Year in 2014, where they finished fourth in the league with 22 points. They once again finished fourth in 2015, this time with 31 points. The 2016 season saw Yeovil win promotion to FA WSL 1, winning the WSL Division 2.[4][5] They also won FAWSL 2 Club of the year for a second time.

Their entry into the top flight of English women's football came during the 2017 spring series, a series created to shift women's football calendar from a summer to a winter league. While they finished last in the spring series, this series saw no promotion or relegation before the 2017–2018 season which started in September 2017.[6] They subsequently finished last during this 2017–18 season but remained in the FA WSL through the FA club licensing application process.[7][8]

In March 2019, the club was reported to have entered administration.[9] They were deducted 10 points during the 2018–19 season, finishing 15 points adrift and getting relegated. However, in May 2019, they were denied an operating licence for the Championship and would have to contest the following season as a third tier club instead.[10] In June 2019, owner Steve Allinson announced his intention to relinquish ownership of the team free of charge in order to find investors capable of sustaining the team.[11]

In July 2019, Yeovil Town's ownership was successfully transferred to Adam Murry who took control of A.F.C. Bournemouth men's team when they went into administration.[12] Murry promptly promoted Academy Head Coach Jamie Phillip to the senior position and rebranded the team, changing from Yeovil Town Ladies to Yeovil Town Women and creating a new team badge. Yeovil began the season strongly but faltered a few games in and Jamie Philip left the club by mutual consent. The appointment of former manager, Jamie Sherwood, was confirmed in November 2020.[13] In March 2020, the 2019–20 season was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with Yeovil sitting in 5th place.[14][15] In late summer of 2020, the board of directors elected a new chair of the board in Sarah Murry and underwent a further name change in September, rebranding as Yeovil United FC.[16]

Players

Current squad
As of 10 August 2020.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  ENG Bethany-May Howard
3 DF  WAL Thierry-Jo Gauvain
6 DF  ENG Katie Jones
9 FW  ENG Ann-Marie Heatherson
10 FW  ENG Alexis Bussell
11 FW  ENG Kelly Aldridge
12 MF  ENG Ellie Strippel
13 GK  ENG Jasmine Read
15 DF  ENG Charlotte Buxton
20 MF  WAL Chloe Lloyd
No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  ENG Elena Pearce
— MF  ENG Laura Williams
— MF  WAL Anais Trinci
— MF  WAL Georgia Evans
— DF  ENG Ellie Sargent
— DF  WAL Ffion Llewellyn
— FW  ENG Sydney Hinchcliffe
— DF  ENG Ebony Dover
— MF  ENG Leah Burridge

Backroom staff

Management
Position Staff
Head Coach Jamie Sherwood
Head of Youth Philip Hubbard
Goalkeeping Coach Tony Rich
Sports Therapist Rebecca Cox
Head of Performance Ewan Greenhill
Sports Science Data Analyst Tom Vincent

Source:

Honours

FA WSL 2

South West Combination

  • Winners (2): 2009–10, 2011–12

Somerset FA Women's Senior Cup

  • Winners (4): 2004–05, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13

References
  1. "Yeovil Town Ladies Club History". Yeovil Town Ladies F.C. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  2. "Glovers ladies hit record score". BBC Sport. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  3. "Manchester City to compete in WSL top tier after restructure". BBC Sport. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  4. "WSL 2: London Bees 0–2 Yeovil Town Ladies". BBC Sport. 30 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  5. "Congratulations to Yeovil Town Ladies Football Club". South Somerset Gov.
  6. "Women's Super League to switch to winter season in 2017 - BBC Sport". BBC.
  7. "FA announces decision on club licensing applications". www.fawsl.com.
  8. "Confirmation of clubs in 2018-19 FA Women's Super League". www.fawsl.com.
  9. "Yeovil Town Ladies: Women's Super League side to go into administration". BBC. 28 March 2019.
  10. "Yeovil Town Ladies: Championship licence denied and club to go down two tiers". BBC. 17 May 2019.
  11. Evans, Daniel (5 June 2019). "How to help Yeovil Town Ladies bounce back from double relegation". somersetlive.
  12. "Adam Murry excited for new challenge at Yeovil, a decade on from helping rescue Cherries". Bournemouth Echo.
  13. "Jamie Sherwood appointed first team manager". Twitter. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  14. Association, The Football. "Update on non-league, women's & grassroots football seasons amid COVID-19 outbreak". www.thefa.com.
  15. "National Leagues and grassroots to halt". BBC Sport.
  16. "The club are excited to announce an important update". Yeovil Town Women FC. 16 September 2020.
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