.jpg)
Yeovil manager Gary Johnson stands accused of causing the demise of senior football at local Somerset side Westland Sports after he 'captured' the club's main pitch to use as a training ground.
With Yeovil's existing training pitches, next to Huish Park, set to be built on, Johnson targeted the main pitch at the facilites the club's Community Sports Trust manages. The move has, in the space of a week, seen the club's management team walk out and led to their senior team withdrawing from their league.
In a statement on their website, Westland Sports chairman Brian Rousell let fly at Johnson:
"It has always been my worry since we were forced out of Westlands Sports & Social Club into the newly formed Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust that the inevitable tsunami of Yeovil Town FC would engulf us. We have never had our own assets or the financial stability to combat that. The main factors are deeper than that, firstly the greed of professional footballers and managers are crippling the amateur game.
"The blame for the loss of our pitch I put squarely on the shoulders of Gary Johnson, the manager of Yeovil Town FC. His demands at Yeovil Town to capture the use of the main pitch were our downfall. What sticks in my throat is that he came to present the awards at our presentation night then stabbed us in the back ! Well done Gary !"
The Trust took control of the facilities in 2008, with Westland Sports having used the site, owned by helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, since 2003.
