Yeovil Town F.C.

Yeovil Town Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Yeovil, Somerset (the only Somerset-based club in the Football League). Yeovil compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football, following relegation from League One. The club have previously won the League Two championship in 2004–05, and promotion to the Championship through the play-offs in 2013. Founded in 1895, Yeovil took 108 years to enter the Football League when they were promoted from the Football Conference as champions in 2003.

Yeovil have been 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, going on to play in front of more than 81,000 against Manchester United at Maine Road, temporarily shared with local rival Manchester City following the bombing of Old Trafford in the Second World War. Since entering the Football League, Yeovil's FA Cup results have deteriorated; they have only reached the third round twice including, in 2004, against Liverpool, before which the club released a record sold only in shops in the town: "Yeovil True" reached #36 in the UK Singles Chart. Their only success since was in 2005 when they reached the fourth round and were drawn away against Charlton Athletic, then in the Premier League, to whom they lost narrowly 3–2.

Yeovil

Coordinates: 50°56′43″N 2°38′13″W / 50.9452°N 2.6370°W / 50.9452; -2.6370

Yeovil (/ˈjoʊvɪl/ YOH-vil) is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England with a population of 45,000. The town lies within the local district of South Somerset and the Yeovil parliamentary constituency, situated at the southern boundary of Somerset, 130 miles (210 km) from London, 40 miles (64 km) south of Bristol and 30 miles (48 km) from Taunton.

It has palaeolithic remains, was on an old Roman road and was recorded in the Domesday Book as the town of Givele or Ivle, and later became a centre for the glove-making industry. During the Middle Ages the population of the town suffered from the Black Death and several serious fires. In the 20th century it developed into a centre of the aircraft and defence industries, which made it a target for bombing in the Second World War, with one of the largest employers being Westland Aircraft. Additionally, the Fleet Air Arm has a station RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), the primary base of the Royal Navy's Westland Lynx and Sea King helicopters, several miles north of the town and is a major local employer (Ministry of Defence). Several other manufacturing and retail companies also have bases in the town. Plans have been proposed for various regeneration projects in the town.

Football League Two

Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system.

Football League Two was introduced for the 2004–05 season. It was previously known as the Football League Third Division. Before the advent of the Premier League, the fourth-highest division was known as the Football League Fourth Division.

At present (2014–15 season), Accrington Stanley hold the longest tenure in League Two, last being outside the division in the 2005–06 season when they were promoted from the Conference Premier.

Structure

There are 24 clubs in Football League Two. Each club plays each of the other clubs twice (once at home, once away) and is awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and no points for a loss. From these points a league table is constructed.

At the end of each season the top three teams, together with the winner of the play-offs between the teams which finished in fourth–seventh position, are promoted to Football League One and are replaced by the four teams that finished bottom of that division.

Sky Betting & Gaming

Sky Betting & Gaming is a British-based gambling company, owned by CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, with headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire and offices in Sheffield, London, Guernsey and Rome. Sky Betting & Gaming consists of four core brands: Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, Sky Poker and Sky Bingo. Also under its umbrella is leading online betting odds comparison site Oddschecker. Sky Betting & Gaming also operates popular, free-to-enter football prediction game Soccer Saturday Super 6 and Sky Sports Fantasy Football.

On 4 December 2014, it was announced that Sky would sell a majority stake in the company to CVC Capital Partners, valued at £800 million. The sale was completed on 19 March 2015, with Sky retaining a 20% stake in the company and agreeing a long-term licence of the Sky brand.

Sky Bet

Sky Bet is the sports betting division of Sky Betting & Gaming, with the majority of its operations run from Leeds. The company allows betting via its website, telephone, mobile apps and interactive television through Sky. In August 2011 Sky Bet launched its Apple iPhone and iPad app and all markets are also available via Android devices. It remains one of the few sports betting companies in the UK not to operate traditional high street shops. The company was formerly known for the slogan 'It matters more when there's money on it'. In October 2011, a major new Sky Bet advertising campaign introduced the slogan ‘Nothing’s certain, that’s why it’s exciting’ and the concept of ‘What if?’, used by Sky Bet to advertise topical, sports betting special markets.

Huish Park

Huish Park is a football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish. Huish Park has a capacity of 9,565 of which two stands are all-seated totalling 5,212 seats with terraces behind each of the goals.

History

In January 1985 Yeovil started negotiations to sell the Huish Athletic Ground and move to a new stadium in the Houndstone area of Yeovil on the site of an old army camp. Serious negotiations commenced between the club and Bartlett Construction regarding moving from Huish to a new site at Houndstone camp, the first meeting took place on 12 November 1985 when an offer of £1.3m was made for the Huish site. Following further meetings and more detailed plans being studied the offer was raised to over £2m early in 1986, when the directors agreed in principle for the move to go ahead. A company, Collier & Madge, who specialised in buying and selling supermarket sites was engaged to advise the club and to ensure the best possible price was obtained.