Ciderspace understands that Patmore is the first of several Yeovil Town players who will be offered extended contracts before the start of the season, with the club hopefully looking to learn from the heavily drawn out problems experienced with Al-James Hannigan and Owen Pickard.

Despite recent speculation it now seems certain that Darren Keeling will not be allowed to leave Huish Park without a fee being payed for him. Keeling and Ben Smith, who also has been the subject of no offers as yet, will be reporting for pre-season training next month unless any concrete offers are received.

Yeovil have arranged another pre-season friendly, Div 2 play-off runners-up Gillingham will visit Huish Park on Monday 19th July, kick-off 7.45pm.

The Gazette reports that the club are hoping to launch their official web-site within the next fortnight. According to the paper the site will include 'match reports, details of new signings and social events at Huish Park'.... The site is being developed and co-ordinated by pupils from Buckler's Mead Community School. Yeovil chairman John Fry is quoted as saying: "The web-site is just part of the re-structuring we are having. On the field the board have decided that the first team will make a real tilt to win something this year. Off it we have the Centre of Excellence plans under way, and there are plans for a look at the editorial for the reserves'and first team's programmes."

Finally, the Yeovil Express reports that those who were at the Cheltenham v Yeovil match in April were privileged to watch one of the top three games in world football last season. Honestly! Total Football's Gil Gillespie chose the match as one of his three best games of the season. The other two were the Man Utd - Ars*nal FA Cup semi-final replay (2-1 to United, including that Ryan Giggs goal) and the Serie A game between Parma and Lazio (1-3 to Lazio). Masochists may care to refresh their memories of Cheltenham's somewhat lucky 3-2 win by clicking here.

Meanwhile the Gazette reports that a formal bid for Al-James Hannigan has been received from Slough, but that no decision will be made whether or not to accept it until Head Coach Colin Lippiatt returns from holiday. Hannigan remains a Yeovil player in the meantime.

Speculation that former Yeovil striker Howard Forinton had become a free agent and was set to leave Birmingham City to join Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer has been firmly denied. According to a City spokesman Forinton is under contract at the club until 2001. That's good news for the Glovers, as Yeovil are set to receive a further £10,000 when the striker makes 10 first team appearances and will also receive a percentage of any sell-on transfer fee.

Meanwhile a second source at Yeovil Town has backed up the claims made in Ciderspace yesterday that Al-James Hannigan remains a Yeovil Town player whilst Slough continue to stall on making the transfer fee payment. Owen Pickard has still yet to sign for Slough and doubts are being expressed that he will ever sign for them. Exactly who that leaves Owen playing for next season is anyone's guess; he seems to have burnt his bridges at both Yeovil and Dorchester over the summer, although there are rumours that he could team up with Keeling at Gloucester City. With Sutton midfielder Steve Watson still yet to sign for Slough, despite earlier rumours that he had left Sutton under the Bosman Ruling, these are curious times at Wexham Park.

Meanwhile confusion still reigns over the transfer of Al-James Hannigan to Slough. Despite manager Graham Roberts claiming his signature in the Slough Express last week, sources at Yeovil claim that Slough have yet to formally agree a fee for Hannigan, and that whilst the matter of payment remains outstanding, that Hannigan is bizarrely still a Yeovil player.

Thurs 22nd July : Bitton (away) k.o. 7:00pm
Thurs 29th July : Plymouth Argyle XI (home) k.o. 7:30pm
Mon 2nd August : Chippenham Town (away) k.o. 7:30pm
Tues 3rd August : Welton Rovers (away) k.o. 7:45pm
Fri 6th August : Gillingham Town (Dorset, away) k.o. 7:30pm
Sat 7th August : Devizes (home) k.o. 3:00pm

If you are willing to help your club for the day, then Contact Us and we will pass details on. Your help will be very much appreciated by both Tim and the club.

No sooner had the Western Gazette below reported in this weeks issue that Darren Keeling had not been the subject of any offers and that Hannigan's transfer was breaking down, local press in other parts of the country appear to be painting a different story.

In today's Slough Express, Graham Roberts claims that the transfer of Al-James Hannigan has finally taken place. This contradicts information received by Ciderspace today so we are seeking confirmation of this at the Yeovil end, along with a figure for the transfer fee.

Meanwhile, today's Gloucestershire Echo is reporting that Darren Keeling was heading back to the club that Yeovil signed him from for £15,000 last November on a free transfer, until problems set in halting his return to Gloucester City. The problems occurred when Telford United declared their own interest in the player and Yeovil pointed out to Gloucester that they may expect a transfer fee as part of the transfer. Keeling still has a year left on his contract, and so Yeovil are entitled to do this, despite Gloucester boss Brian Hughes claiming the halting of the transfer to be a "cock-up" at Yeovil's end when he suggested that Keeling was available on a free transfer.

Next on the move is ex-Yeovil striker Guiliano Grazioli. He has left Peterborough on a free transfer under the Bosman Ruling, and as reported by Ciderspace on June 7th, Grazioli has signed for First Division Swindon Town.

Meanwhile his former Peterborough team mate and also ex-Yeovil loan player Neil Le Bihan is going to be spending his summer in an unusual location. Neil, currently with Dover Athletic, has been selected to represent Great Britain in the World University games in Palmer de Mallorca, Spain.

Who was Yeovil Towns top scorer last season?

(a) Alan Shearer
(b) Warren Patmore
(c) Dwight Yorke

Answers on a postcard to Steve Sowden at the Yeovil Express, 46 Princes St, Yeovil, BA20 1EQ. Closing date for entries is Friday July 2nd. Include the childs name, age, address and daytime phone no' with the answer.

The Erection 2000 Appeal have booked the Executive Lounge at Huish Park on Wednesday August 11th for a grand football quiz night, entitled 'Statto Of Huish Park 1999'. The committee are looking for teams of four to take part on the night. Entrance will be £10 per team and entry forms are available now, either from Huish Park or the Yeovil Express office on Princes Street.

The quiz will consist of 8 rounds based on various footballing themes with a maximum of 50 points available per round, unless you play your joker which will double your tally for that particular round. The team with the most points at the end will receive a shield plus 20p for each point scored. Theoretically the winning team scoring maximum points could be as much as £90 better off! For more details phone Steve Sowden on 01935 479811 or fax him on 01935 432251

Regular general knowledge quiz nights in aid of the Erection 2000 Appeal are to be held in the Glovers Bar at Huish Park from Sunday June 20th, 7.30pm kick-off. The cost will be £5 per team of four people.

On the same note next week has been designated by the FA as National Women's Football Awareness Week. Yeovil Town FC are hosting a number of events, including coaching sesions for girls aged 8+ this Sunday, June 13th, between 2.30.pm and 3.45pm at Huish Park. Other courses include a general FA coaching course and a FA first aid course. Contact John Flatters on 01935 423662 (ext 227) for more details.

Manager of the Year: Steve Cotterill (Cheltenham)

Player of the Year: Neil Grayson (Cheltenham)

Mail on Sunday Goalscorer of the Year: Carl Alford (Stevenage)

Programme of the Year: Kidderminster Harriers

Conference Team of the Year: Book (Cheltenham), Duff (Cheltenham), Victory (Cheltenham), Bradshaw (Rushden), Smith (Stevenage), Patterson (Kingstonian), Pitcher (Kingstonian, Walters (Northwich), McAuley (Leek), Alford (Stevenage), Grayson (Cheltenham).

In other news from the Gazette Lippiatt has confirmed that he does not intend to make any more new additions to the squad on top of the four players already signed. As yet the club have still received no offers for the transfer-listed duo Ben Smith and Darren Keeling. It doesn't now appear that Keeling will be released early from his contract, as Lippiatt has said that if no offers are received for either player they will be included in pre-season training and considered for selection, either in the first-team or reserve-team squads.

Al-James Hannigan still hasn't completed his long drawn-out move to Slough Town - Yeovil and the Rebels have still failed to agree upon a fee. Owen Pickard is expected to have completed his move to Slough under the Bosman ruling this week.

Elsewhere former Yeovil Town striker Giuliano Grazioli has signed a deal with Swindon Town, again under the Bosman ruling. Howard Forinton's position at Birmingham remains unclear at present.

The launch evening had 500 copies of the book available for sale, with a second batch of 500 expected to be printed within the next three weeks, so the suggestions of copies being scarce proved to be false. Kerry Miller attended the evening and spoke about the book, along with his main assistant, director Bryan Moore, and also chairman John Fry. Stuart Housley as usual acted as compere.

Also as part of the evening, Yeovil Town players took part in a cat-walk of the new kit and sportswear that will be used by the first team and reserve team next season. The kit is made by Derby based firm Paulas Benara, and their managing director was present at the evening's events. Tony Pounder and Jamie Pitman modelled the first team kit. Again it was reiterated by the club that both home and away replica kits will be available to buy at the first home friendly against Wimbledon.

Meanwhile the latest date for the Yeovil Town Official Internet Site is being pencilled in for towards the end of this month. Watch this space for further announcements.

The evening was also very beneficial to the Erection 2000 fund. Onyx Holdings, who are continuing their sponsorship of the reserve team, donated £245 to the roof campaign, then in Colin Lippiatt's speech, he announced he would be personally matching that amount, thus swelling the Erection 2000 coffers by nearly 500 pounds for the evening. If more local businesses and individuals would follow these two gentlemen's examples then surely the fund-raising would become a formality!

Photos of the new kit, as described in the 30th May 1999 News Article, will appear on Ciderspace some time on Tuesday evening.

However, confusion reigns in that it is believed that the Bosman ruling applies only to players over 24 years old, and that Forinton therefore does not fall under that ruling. The intrigue is compounded by the fact that Forinton's last first team action was to score a debut goal for Birmingham, and that Trevor Francis rejected a 200K bid from Plymouth for the player earlier in the season, regarding him as a vital part of the clubs future plans.

Obviously, should this sale go through, this raises questions as to Jon Goddard-Watts' long term involvement with Yeovil Town. If he plans to sell up his interests in the company, what are his long term plans for investment into the football club ? With such a windfall due, it must be tempting to move overseas to protect his investment from taxation, which could cause him to withdraw his interest in Yeovil Town (although one Yeovil Director lives mainly overseas). Alternatively, could this mean that he plans to invest the freed cash into the football club ? This is certainly going to be a story to watch closely.