Full name | Yeovil Town Football Club | ||
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Nickname(s) | The Glovers | ||
Founded | 27 August 1895 | (as Yeovil Casuals)||
Ground | Huish Park | ||
Capacity | 9,565 (5,212 seated) | ||
Owner | Hellier Group | ||
Chairman | Martin Hellier | ||
Manager | Mark Cooper | ||
League | National League | ||
2023–24 | National League South, 1st of 24 (promoted) | ||
Website | http://www.ytfc.net/ | ||
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Yeovil Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Yeovil in Somerset, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after winning the 2023–24 National League South title. The club's home ground is Huish Park, built in 1990 on the site of an old army camp. That stadium is named after their former home, Huish, known for its pitch, which had an 8 feet (2.4 m) sideline to sideline slope. The club's nickname "the Glovers" is a reference to the history of glove-making in the town of Yeovil, which became a centre of the industry during the 18th and 19th centuries.[1]
Founded in 1895, the club initially joined the Somerset Senior League and competed in a multitude of leagues up until the outbreak of World War II. During this time they won titles in the Southern League, Western League, Bristol Charity League, Dorset District League and Somerset Senior League. They played in the Southern League after the war ended, winning the championship in 1954–55, 1963–64 and 1970–71, before becoming members of the Alliance Premier League from 1979 to 1985. They spent the next three years in the Isthmian League, and were promoted into the Conference after finishing as champions in 1987–88. Relegated in 1995, they were promoted again two years later after winning another Isthmian League title. Yeovil won the 2002 FA Trophy final and secured a place in the Football League after winning the Conference in 2002–03 under the stewardship of Gary Johnson. They then won the League Two title in 2004–05, before reaching the Championship with victory in the 2013 Football League One play-off final in Johnson's second spell as manager. However they suffered consecutive relegations, and were relegated once more following the 2018–19 season, ending their 16-season spell in the Football League.
Yeovil are one of the most successful non-league teams in the FA Cup, having defeated major Football League teams, most famously Sunderland in the fourth round in 1949, before going on to play in front of more than 81,000 spectators away at Manchester United in the next round. For some years, as the only Football League side in Somerset, they have had few local rivalries as the club climbed the divisions in the 2000s, though their most notable is the derby shared with Dorset side, Weymouth.