During the last few months, the Green and White army have been consistently brilliant, both in terms of fundraising for the club and general backing for YTFC.
We acknowledge that due to the impact of Covid-19 club operations have not functioned as normal since March, so we also thank all our fans both for their patience and understanding.
To answer some fans FAQs we thought it would be helpful to issue this general update as follows:
Summary of current club operations
The vast majority of staff are on furlough of one type or another. Some have been on furlough completely for several months, others are now on part time furlough as the system allows, but in many cases, this is only one day a week. This means club office operations are still much more limited than normal and we do not see that situation changing for a number of weeks.
Our media volunteer and some elements of our reduced size Academy continue to operate full time. Also, Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust continues to do great work in engaging with our community.
All playing staff are in their closed season.
Crowdfunder
The club is immensely grateful for the fantastic support the fans gave to the Crowdfunder.
The club can confirm it has now received the Crowdfunder monies, so we can move on to step two of the process which is contacting everyone who bought packages via the Crowdfunder to both thank them and explain how matters will move forward with their particular package. This process will start on Monday but due to the amount of people involved and the limited number of club staff available we do not expect phase two to be completed until 14 August
The 10% contribution to the Yeovil Hospital Charity will be made at the first home league game of the 2020/21 season.
Other Fundraising activities
One of the most impressive parts of the support fans have given the club over the last few months in addition to the Crowdfunder is the fans who have helped out in other ways, such as the virtual pint, arranging their own fundraising activities, declining refunds on ticket or season tickets and even in some cases simply writing into the club with donation cheques. The club is determined that everyone who helped out in these ways (or via the Crowdfunder) should be thanked and is currently looking at ways this can be done given the numbers of people involved (over 400 we estimate) and the current restrictions on social gathering.
New Season Start Date
The National League anticipates the League programme will start on 3 October and will end on 29 May 2021 (with play offs in early June).
Ticketing & Season Tickets
The club is very grateful for fans who have contacted the club already to donate either unused match tickets or the unused proportion of 2019/20 season tickets. Although the club has been carrying out the process of thanking fans for doing this due to the significant number of people involved (well over 300 fans have contacted the club directly on this matter) we have not been able to reply to them all yet, so if you have not heard from us yet, please do not think the club is ignoring you as we are very grateful. All season ticket holders will however receive a direct update from the club via email next week.
This week the club has been advised that it is likely that the 2020/21 season will likely start on the basis of a significantly reduced capacity basis with home fans only being able to attend games subject to them following strict social distancing requirements. The total reduced capacity of the ground will be dependant on the number of family groups likely to attend so next week we will be surveying all season ticket holders to find out their views on reduced capacity options. This will allow us to assess likely demand from family groups and the degree to which season ticket holders can be flexible (for instance with social distancing rules in place some season ticket holders may not be able to be allocated their ‘normal’ seat next season).
From those responses we will formulate a revised 2020/21 season ticket package which we anticipate will go on sale in the week commencing 17 August.
General enquiries regarding tickets can be made via ticketoffice@ytfc.net.
Club Shop
The stock in the club shop has been reduced to an absolute minimum ahead of a major overhaul for the start of the 2020/21 season. Fans next season can expect to see an improved range of stock as well a long overdue new club shop website.
For these reasons the club website is offline and the shop remains closed to visitors, but the club does have temporary measures in place so fans can order any remaining items, more information is available HERE.
Pre-season games at Huish Park
At this time we understand these would have to be behind closed doors.
Special Playoff Kit
We apologise for the delay on putting these on sale, however a limited run of the special playoff shirts will go on sale next week (more details will follow on ytfc.net) for a maximum three week period only.
There will also be an opportunity to own six of the shirts actually worn by the squad on the day of the match with Barnet.
Next Season’s new kit
The new 125th Anniversary Kit is being produced currently and is anticipated to be made available for pre-sale at the end of August.
Player Update
Please see our latest update on this matter via this story.
Face In The Crowd
Thank-you for your support of our ‘Face In The Crowd’ campaign for our play off fixture against Barnet, in purchasing your cut out you have supported your club and we are incredibly grateful.
Fans who purchased cut outs now have two options. If you would like to collect your cardboard cut-out, please contact Mark Robinson on mrobinson@ytfc.net to arrange this. Alternatively if fans choose to leave their cut out at Huish Park we will redeploy in the main stand for the new season and leave them in place until all capacity restrictions have been lifted (at which point fans will be able to collect them using the same contact point).
Club Lottery
The club lottery continues as normal, with the exception of door to door collections which are still suspended. For more information please see HERE.
Private Members Draw
Unfortunately, the normal match day draws have not been possible, so additional draws will take place when games return until the correct number of draws is reached.
Pitch Maintenance
Closed season pitch maintenance started on 24 July and we anticipate that no games will possible at Huish Park until late August at the earliest.
Prizes to Club Has Promised to donate to support fan fundraising activities
Over the last few months, the club agreed to support individual fans fund raising activities with prizes, in some case season tickets for the 2020/21 season for example. Organisers of these competitions are asked to email ticketoffice@ytfc.net to confirm the contact details of the winners. Once these are received the winners will be contacted by the club.
And finally…
Thank you once again, via your support, fundraising and patience – Glovers fans have again shown they are outstanding.
