Club are preparing to play on Saturday after paying tribute to Lee Collins with his family at the stadium this week
Outside the ticket office at Huish Park, bouquets of flowers run seven or eight rows deep. Green and white scarfs, shirts, flags, framed pictures, footballs and teddy bears lie in tribute to Lee Collins, the former Yeovil Town captain who died this month aged 32. Nestled at the back, looming large like a towering centre-back, stands a cardboard cutout emblazoned with the number four and a message, in capitals, from the club’s manager, Darren Sarll. “Lee, our captain, my friend. A leader of men, my ‘go-to’ guy. We’ll miss you running our changing room. I’ll miss you more. Sleep well skip. Gaffer.”
The National League club are in mourning, emotions still raw as they prepare to play at home to Boreham Wood on Saturday, their first match since Collins’s death. Players and staff have dealt with the tragedy in different ways. All players were given the option of returning to training the Monday before last. Some did, some didn’t. Some experienced players thought soldiering on would help them cope with the grief. “If one feels like they can’t play or can’t prepare, none of us are going down the tunnel,” says Sarll. “We have had an attitude that if one doesn’t go, none of us go. That’s been our ethos.”