Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Takeover is going to plan – Priestnall
I’m very confident we are in the final stretch now, insists prospective co-owner
THE Yeovil Town takeover is still going to plan, according to prospective co-owner Scott Priestnall.
Rumours have been emerging that all might not be well with the sale of the club, due to the time it has taken to be finalised and ratified by the National League.
However, Priestnall, who, along with Errol Pope, is in the process of buying a controlling stake of Yeovil Town, Huish Park and the accompanying land, is confident the deal will
be completed. “The takeover is going to plan,” he said. “We are very close to completing the due diligence.
“We’ve got a few minor property queries being dealt with between the lawyers at the moment, which has taken a little bit longer than we expected, but I’m very confident we are in the final stretch.”
The long-suffering Glovers faithful had to deal with the disappointment of a takeover falling through earlier this year. American lawyer and entrepreneur Rob Couhig Jr agreed to buy 92 percent of the club’s shares from Norman Hawyard and John Fry before the deal broke down shortly after the club’s relegation from League Two in May. Couhig has since reached an agreement with League One side Wycombe.
Priestnall has sympathy for the fans who would like the takeover to be sorted before the National League season starts on August 3.
“To the supporters I would say the same thing I’m telling myself... It’s a patience thing,” he added.
“I’m really keen and eager to take over. Everything seems to be going the way it should and I’m as eager as anybody else to get it all finalised.”
FOREST Green Rovers can be a “gold mine” for young players, according to the club’s new academy manager Hannah Dingley.
The first woman to manage an academy in men’s football joins Rovers having been with Burton Albion since 2013, becoming the League One club’s head of academy coaching in 2016.
She has also had successful stints at Nottingham Forest Ladies, Leicester City Women and Lincoln Ladies, but in a first for English football, she arrives at the New Lawn to succeed Scott Bartlett, who is now manager of Weston-super-Mare.
In a new era for the club, Dingley is tasked with building on the momentum of its fledgling Category Three academy, developing new first-team talent for the club, and will also spearhead the creation of a new women’s academy too – mirroring the men’s setup at the club.
Dingley said: “I was aware of Forest Green before I came to meet the chairman, but it was the fact their stadium is on a road called ‘Another Way’ that got me thinking.
“Football typically does the same things repeatedly and waits for results to change without making changes. It feels like I’ve got a chance to innovate here and do things differently.”
Dingley said it was the innovative way the club works which attracted her to Rovers.
She added: “I am so excited to get started. This is an ambitious club, an innovative club.
“I am excited when I think of all the innovative things you can do to develop young players in the
Academy for the first team. There has been a lot in the press about the veganism and the innovation was the thunderbolt thing which got me here – the principles of the club, and the ethics. Treating people ethically is very important to me.”
Dingley will work closely with Mark Cooper and the first-team set up at Forest Green, and believes he is a manager who buys into the importance of developing young players.
“It is gold dust for anyone working in youth development to have a manager like Mark,” said Dingley.
“He has a passion and desire not only to play young players, but to develop them and make them better.
“This is a great club for that and I hope it is the Academy players playing in the first team in the future so the manager does not have to look elsewhere for his talent.
“On my first day here I spoke to Mark and he is really keen to develop the programme.
“Already there are boys who have trained with the first team and played in the pre-season friendlies, so there are real opportunities for the youngsters to progress and get a first-team place here.”
Dingley is keen for the Academy sides to adopt the same style as Cooper has implemented on the first team, to smooth young players’ way through the system.
She said: “We have got a real opportunity to be a gold mine for players here.
“Not just for Forest Green, but also for Premier League clubs and beyond. Look at other clubs in League Two who don’t play a similar style. Because of our style of football, we can develop players who can play not only in League Two, but League One, the Championship, Premier League and maybe even for England.
“It’s a real opportunity to nail down the principles that Mark instils into the first team into these younger players.”
Swindon Robins created some breathing space in the Premiership play-off zone with a 52-38 win over nearest rivals Wolverhampton on Thursday night. Not only did they maintain their unbeaten record at the Abbey this year, they also sent Wolves home empty-handed with a big 5-1 in heat 15.