Following the departure of Glyn Davies to manage Swansea Town at the end of the 1964/65 season, the club appointed Joe McDonald as the new Player Manager on 11th August. 1965. McDonald had made 110 First Division appearances in three seasons for Nottingham Forest, winning an FA Cup winners medal with them in 1958 when Luton Town were defeated. Prior to coming to Yeovil he had been manager of Ramsgate Athletic. Although Yeovil finished in ninth position and 12 points behind winners Weymouth, they still managed to score 21 more goals than the Champions.

The 1965/66 season saw the formation of a new competition, the Western Counties Floodlight League. Yeovil's first game in this competition was held at Huish on 6th October, goals from Bill Albury (pen.), Dave Taylor and Terry Foley giving the home team a comfortable 3-0 win over Weymouth before a crowd of 3,153. Yeovil went on to win the league, being followed by Exeter City Reserves, Plymouth Argyle Reserves, Weymouth, Poole Town, Torquay United Reserves, Bath City and Cheltenham Town. Four points were awarded for an away win, three for a home win, two for an away draw and one for a home draw.

In the FA Cup Yeovil were drawn away to Portland United in the 4th Qualifying Round. Four minutes after Tony Pounder had put Yeovil into the lead six minutes into the second half, 'keeper Dave Jones collapsed with cartilage trouble and Dave Taylor went in goal. He held out until the third minute of injury time before conceding the equaliser. The replay at Huish saw Yeovil win 3-0 in front of 6,005 spectators, Gordon Chilvers taking over in goal.

The draw for the first round brought an away match at Brentford. A special train was organised (fare 21/-) as well as twenty coaches for the trip to London. After a goalless first half, Dave Taylor hit the Brentford bar in the first minute of the second half, but Brentford then took a two goal lead before Chris Harding clawed one back late in the game.

Yeovil team: Chilvers, Herrity, McDonald, Albury, Lambden, Muir, Pounder, Harding, Randall, Taylor, Ashe.

Bill Albury, Dave Taylor and Ernie Ashe qualified for a testimonial during the season, games being played against Portsmouth, Gillingham and an All-Star XI. As a result, each player received a cheque for £283.

Two 8-0 victories in the space of four days followed by a 5-4 success against Cheltenham put Yeovil in second place in the Southern League by mid January, but the team's away form let them down in the remainder of the season so that, by early April, they were out of the running for the title. April 5th saw the debut of local boy Clive Burfield, the son of Norman Burfield - today's Club President.

Prior to the start of the season, it had been decided to withdraw the Reserves from the Western League and enter them in the Dorset Combination. Following a board decision on 21st March to return to the Western League the following season, the Chairman of the club Stanley Pinder, resigned. He was replaced by Mr Edmond Templeman.

The highlight of the season was winning the Southern League Cup. Successes over Poole Town, Wellington Town (Telford United) and Worcester City brought a semi-final encounter with Hastings United. Drawn to play in Sussex, the match ended 2-2, Yeovil winning the replay 3-1 to set up a two-legged final with Guildford City. The first leg was staged at Huish, 2,805 spectators seeing Yeovil take a two one lead through goals from George Muir and Len Harris. A goalless draw in the second leg saw the cup on the Huish sideboard for a record fourth time.

Bill Albury made 66 first team appearances during the season, the leading goalscorers being Chris Harding with 25 followed by George Muir with 23. Players not retained at the end of the campaign were Ashe, Hirst and Pounder. First team appearances were made by: Albury, Ashe, Harris, Muir, Herrity, Taylor, Harding, Pounder, Read, Foley, Chilvers, Hirst, Lambden, Jones, Randall, McDonald, Burfield, Webber, Watts and Wilkins.

Link: 1965-66 First Team Fixtures And Results.

Link: 1965-66 First Team Scorers.

The World Cup summer of 1966 saw new floodlights installed at Huish and the decision to allow substitutes for the first time. Terry Foley became Yeovil Town's first sub, coming on against Hereford United on 3rd September.

The 1966/67 season was, by Yeovil's standards, a disappointing one. The team slipped to fourteenth place in the Southern League, they reached the First Round of the FA Cup and went out in the Fourth Round of the Southern League Cup. Romford became Southern League Champions and they were followed by Nuneaton Borough, Weymouth and Wimbledon.

Despite the signing of three new players during the summer - Graham Rees, Alan Riding, both from Exeter City and George Gully from Newcastle United - results in the early stages of the season were poor. Supporters became restless and demands were made for the introduction of fresh blood both on and off the field. Early in December five second half goals were conceded at Guildford City, who won 6-1 to inflict Yeovil's biggest league defeat since 1957 when they lost 7-3 at Cheltenham Town.

At the end of the year, Yeovil were in fifth position and 'gates' were falling. Consequently, on the 23rd January, the directors decided not to renew Joe McDonald's contract as manager, but he carried on his duties until 14th March when the club paid up his contract. Doug Hunt took over the running of the team. During this period McDonald made football history when, on 25th February, he came on as substitute for 89.5 minutes. Bill Albury had made his usual 170 mile round trip from Portsmouth for the game only to be carried off with a leg injury after only 30 seconds!

McDonald's departure saw the appointment of Ron Saunders as manager on 17th April, 1967. Within a week he had made two signings, Paul Smith and Mick Vowles. Both made their debuts against Barnet on 26th April.

A 3-3 draw at Cheltenham Town in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup followed by a 3-1 win at Huish in the replay brought a First Round pairing at home to Oxford United in the First Round. Yeovil dominated the first half of the match but failed to put their chances away. Watched by a crowd of 7,530, Oxford United (by then a third division side) applied the pressure in the second half and ran out 3-1 winners.

The Yeovil team that day was: Chilvers, Herrity, Harris, Albury, Lambden, Read, Harding, Muir, Foley, Taylor and Rees.

After wins over Poole Town, Weymouth and Bath City in three local 'derbies' in the Southern League Cup, Yeovil (the holders) were drawn at home to Chelmsford City in the Fourth Round of the competition. The match ended 1-1 and, after one wasted trip to Essex for the replay, the second meeting between the two sides ended in a 3-3 draw after Yeovil had taken a 3-1 lead. Yeovil were missing four first team regulars that night. Losing the toss for the right to stage the second replay, Yeovil lost the match 6-0.

To complete an unhappy season both on and off the field, Yeovil lost 3-2 to Frome Town in the final of the Somerset Premier Cup and the reserves finished bottom of the Western League after their return from the Dorset Combination.

At the end of the season only Dave Taylor (leading goal scorer with 36) and George Muir were retained - manager Ron Saunders setting out to build a new team with a budget limited to £250 per week for wages. The club showed its biggest post war loss at £2,401, but still had assets of £70,630 which included 11 club houses. The club's overdraft stood at £20,231.

Terry Foley recieved a testimonial and his game was against Q.P.R. (The Third Division Champions), 4,118 seeing the Yeovil Town Championship team of the 1963/64 season draw 2-2. Foley later received a cheque for £668.

First team appearances: Harris (65), Taylor (64), Harding (62), Herrity (61), Read (60), Albury (58), Rees (52), Foley (48), Muir (52), Lambden (48), Chilvers (34), Riding (30), Jones (27), Gulley (19), Watts (8), Burfield (8), White (7), Vowles (4), Smith (4), McDonald (2), Mamm (1), Burge (1).

Link: 1966-67 First Team Fixtures And Results.

Link: 1966-67 First Team Scorers.

Season 1966-67 : Southern League Table

Overall Team P W D L F A Pts GD 1 Romford 42 22 8 12 80 60 52 +20 2 Nuneaton Borough 42 21 9 12 82 54 51 +28 3 Weymouth 42 18 14 10 64 40 50 +24 4 Wimbledon 42 19 11 12 88 60 49 +28 5 Barnet 42 18 13 11 86 66 49 +20 6 Guildford City 42 19 10 13 65 51 48 +14 7 Telford United 42 20 7 15 70 67 47 +3 8 Cambridge United 42 16 13 13 75 67 45 +8 9 Chelmsford City 42 15 15 12 66 59 45 +7 10 King's Lynn 42 15 14 14 78 72 44 +6 11 Hereford United 42 16 12 14 79 61 44 +18 12 Cambridge City 42 15 13 14 66 70 43 -4 13 Cheltenham Town 42 16 11 15 60 71 43 -11 14 Yeovil Town 42 14 14 14 66 72 42 -6 15 Burton Albion 42 17 5 20 63 71 39 -8 16 Corby Town 42 15 9 18 60 75 39 -15 17 Poole Town 42 14 11 17 52 65 39 -13 18 Hillingdon Borough 42 11 13 18 49 70 35 -21 19 Bath City 42 11 12 19 51 74 34 -23 20 Worcester City 42 11 8 23 59 79 30 -20 21 Bedford Town 42 8 13 21 54 72 29 -18 22 Folkestone Town 42 6 15 21 44 81 27 -37