Don Gillies - on his way out of the club upon the arrival of Brian Hall. Photo © 2003 Tim Lancaster

The season saw many comings and goings on the player front. Curtis Warmington, who signed only 24 hours before Gerry Gow's departure played only four games. Don Gillies and Phil James also departed at this time. New Manager Brian Hall soon brought in the back bone of his Wealdstone team and within days Gary Donnellan, Steve Putter, Andy Wallace and by the end of the season they were joined by Micky Tanner and Dutch Holland. At the end of the season Tom Ritchie hung up his boots. Also during the season long time serving Doug Hunt retired from the back room staff.

During the season Yeovil Played: 62; Won 43; Drawn 9; Lost 10; Goals For 122; Goals Against 60.

First Team Appearances (maximum 62, substitutes in brackets): 61 Dave Walter, 59 Phil Ferns, 52 Gerry Pearson (1), 51 Tom Ritchie (1), 43 Alan Pardew (1), 39 Paul Randall, 37 Ricky Chandler (4), 36 Carl Zachhau (12), 35 John McGinlay (9), 33 Neil Coates (1), 32 Dave Linney (1), 31 Paul Thorpe (8), 30 Phil James (8), 28 Don Gillies, 24 Tony Ricketts (1), 13 Gary Donnellan (1), 12 Steve Rutter, 11 Andy Wallace, 9 Paul Miller, 7 Micky Tanner, 6 Andy Stone (5), and Dutch Holland (1), 4 Paul Muir, Dave Spencer (1) and Curtis Warmington (1), 3 Harry Sayers (1), 2 Gerry Gow, Richie Horton, Tony Pounder (2) and Gary Kember, 1 Brendon Andrews, David Chalmers, Tony Chutter and Phil Shrimpton(l).

First Team Goalscorers: 19 Paul Randall, 18 Carl Zachhau, 11 John McGinlay, 10 Alan Pardew, 9. Phil James, 8 Phil Ferns and Paul Miller, 7 Gerry Pearson and Micky Tanner, 4 Andy Wallace, 3 Gary Donnellan, Neil Coates, Own Goals, 2 Tony Ricketts, Paul Thorpe, Steve Rutter and Harry Sayers, 1 Dave Spencer, Dave Linney, Tony Pounder and Phil Shrimpton.

League Attendances: Total home attendance - 39,726 (average 1,891 per game). Total Away attendance - 11,712 (average 558 per game). Highest home attendance - 3,169 v Wycombe Wanderers. Lowest home attendance - 1,391 v Worthing. Highest away attendance - 2,473 v Wycombe Wanderers. Lowest away attendance - 163 v Hayes.

For the third successive season Yeovil were the best supported semi-professional club in the country. Top three average attendances: Yeovil 1,891, Barnet 1,802, Scarborough 1,565.

Off the field, negotiations were still going ahead regarding the proposed move from Huish. Ten days before Christmas 1986 the club were informed by its advisors, Collier and Madge, that the offer of £2.4m now on the table was about as much as they could hope to receive. It was revealed that the new proposed site for the club was 20.75 acres of Freehold land at Houndstone Camp with a further 4.2 acres being made available on a 999 year lease.

The directors agreed in principle to the deal and Tesco were now insisting that contracts should be exchanged by the end of March 1987 with the building contractors having vacant possession by July 1988. Further discussions were taking place with the South Somerset District Council regarding developing the new site for recreational use and they set aside money to purchase the land. It now looked as if 1987-88, the following season, would be the last at Huish but unbeknown to anyone, problems lay ahead.

During the summer of 1987 Jeff Sherwood was signed from Bath City for a fee of £5,000, which was set by a tribunal and Carl Zachhau was sold to Bishop's Stortford for £500. The playing budget was set at £2,000 per week. An offer was made to Fareham for Mudey (£8,000) and Paskins (£5,000) which was turned down.

Even though 1986-87 had been a good one on the field, the club reported a loss of £6,676. The main reason for the loss being due to the renewal of the Insurance premium which had risen from £1,224 to £8,486 following the Bradford City fire disaster and an Insurance Survey Report on the Main Stand. The wage bill had risen to £95,009.

Yeovil Town F.C. 1987-88 First Team Squad Back row (L-R): Dave Linney, John McGinlay, Tony Rafferty (physio), Paul Rodgers (coach), Paul Hillard (assistant manager), Mick Doherty, Gary Donnellan. Middle row (L-R): Gerry Pearson, Jimmy Quinn, Steve Rutter, Bob lies, Tony Ricketts, Paul Thorpe, Martyn Grimshaw. Front row (L-R): Paul Randall, Andy Wallace, Phil Ferns (captain), Brian Hall (manager), Gerry Lock (chairman), Jeff Sherwood, Neil Cordice, Wayne Noble.

After coming so close to promotion the previous two seasons, the team arrived at Barking on 22nd August 1987 in confident mood for the opening fixture of the season. They made a good start with a 2-1 win, the goals coming from defenders Neil Coates and Tony Ricketts. The 'gate' of 185 was boosted by almost 100 travelling supporters. The other two matches in August were at home and both were won by the odd goal, Wokingham (1-0) and Leytonstone llford (2-1).

Wayne Noble was a part of the Isthmian League winning squad. Photo © 2003 Tim Lancaster

September was a bad month in the league with defeats - at Basingstoke (0-1), Bromley (1-2) and Bognor Regis (1-2). The only league success of the month was at home to Slough Town (2-1), with Bob Iles making his debut. Yeovil also made their entry into the F.A. Cup in September and beat Gosport Borough 1-0 and Waterlooville 3-2 in a replay. Walthamstow Avenue were beaten 5-0 in the A.C. Delco Cup. At the end of the month Farnborough topped the league and Yeovil were 9th.

Due to Cup commitments only three league games were played in October. Dulwich Hamlet (4-0), Wayne Noble making his debut, and Hendon (3-0), Neil Cordice scoring his first goal for the club, were beaten at Huish and sandwiched between these two games was a 1-3 defeat at Windsor and Eton. In the F.A. Cup, Wessex League Wimborne were beaten on their tiny ground 4-0, John McGinlay scoring a 'hat trick', and, in the Fourth Qualifying Round, a tremendous performance saw Weymouth outplayed and beaten 2-1 away in the first round of the GMAC cup and Bath City were held to a 2-2 draw at Twerton Park in the Somerset Premier Cup. Farnborough were still top of the league ad Yeovil had slipped one place to 10th.

November proved to be a very good month with the only defeat coming on the last day of the month when a strange looking side from Yeovil lost 2-0 at Weston-super-Mare in the Somerset Premier Cup. On the league front all three games played were at home - Leyton Wingate (2-0), Basingstoke Town (2-0) and Barking (0-0). Bath City were beaten 2-1 in the Somerset Premier Cup replay and Chesham United were defeated 3-0 in round two of the A.C. Delco Cup. A fine 1-1 draw at St. George's Lane brought Worcester City back to Huish for an F.A. Cup 1st Round replay. A crowd of 3,913 saw Yeovil move through with a single goal. New league leaders were Bromley and Yeovil had moved up to 7th position.

If November had been a very good month, December was even better. The month opened with a 2-1 victory over Wokingham Town in the second round of the GMAC Cup. This was only one of three occasions out of eighteen cup draws during the season when Yeovil were drawn at home. Three days after this Cambridge Utd, became the unlucky thirteenth league opposition to be beaten by Yeovil in the F.A. Cup. An Andy Wallace goal inside the last ten minutes sent the Yeovil contingent wild with delight. The last five minutes seemed like five hours and a tackle made by Jeff Sherwood in this period ranks as one of the best ever made on a football pitch. A creditable 2-2 draw on the coldest night of the season at Slough was followed by the two home wins against Carshalton Athletic (4-1) and Farnborough Town (2-0).

Tickets for the forthcoming Cup tie against Q.P.R. were on sale at the home game against St. Albans City on December 28th. Ground admission being £3.30, and £6.80 for the Stand. Abbey Hill sponsored the game and the London Weekend TV. paid £5,000 for the television rights. The Saints came to Huish for a point, which was they got in a disappointing 0-0 game watched by 6,079 spectators. Just prior to Christmas Yeovil moved into the second round of the F.A. Trophy with a fine 3-1 victory at Gloucester City. These results gave Brian Hall the Huntingale Homes Manager of the Month Award. Windsor and Eton were now top of the League and Yeovil had moved up to 5th and so Yeovil ended 1987 full of expectations for the rest of the season.