Yeovil Town: Glovers in talks to extend Huish Park land deal

Yeovil Town’s new owners have entered discussions with Somerset Council to extend the exclusivity agreement over the potential buy-back of land at Huish Park.

The clause, which grants the club first refusal on purchasing back the freehold of the stadium and its surrounding land, is currently due to expire in May 2026.

It was part of the 2022 deal, which saw South Somerset District Council acquire the site for £2.8 million and lease it back to the club under a 30-year agreement.

Speaking to Gloverscast, Yeovil’s Chief Strategy Officer Nicholas Brayne confirmed that the club has formally opened discussions to extend the clause — a key part of long-term plans under new owner Prabhu Srinivasan.

Yeovil Town open talks to extend Huish Park buy-back clause from 2022 council deal
PICTURE: Alamy

Reuniting

“We have had a number of detailed conversations with officers from the council and I had a meeting this morning and I have further meetings next week,” Brayne explained.

“It is all geared towards two things – the extension of buy-back option on the land and reuniting the club with the stadium and the bigger question of what we do with it.

“The goal is to put revenue the way of the football club to make it a better business and more resilient.

”This is a unique opportunity which other clubs do not have to utilise the space with the explicit purpose of bringing revenue into the club.

“That sounds quite a lofty vision because there are two issues.

”The first is it is a huge space, which brings complications and the question of how much capital can we put into it when we want to also put capital into what is going on on the pitch.

“We are a bunch of investors from the Middle East, so we are not experts on the things we could do on that site, so we do need to find partners to do it with to deliver quality solutions for the club.”

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Timeline

Although discussions are underway, Brayne was reluctant to put a timeline on when the long-term future of Huish Park might be resolved.

“Let me reassure you, there are meaningful conversations with the right stakeholders, but I want to be really honest, this is not going to happen overnight,” he said.

“This is going to take time, so people asking when we are going to buy back the land, please be patient with us.

“The most important thing is that we do this the right way for the football club and that we stop with the quick-fix solutions which actually have a negative, long-term impact.”

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