As the old 60's song said: "It's good news week" at Huish Park!

After several weeks of negotiating, six of Yeovil Town's out of contract players have signed new deals that will keep them at the club until the end of 2003.

The club announced last Thursday, after we went to press, that skipper Terry Skiverton, Darren Way, Nick Crittenden, Anthony Tonkin, Chris Weale had all signed extensions to their contracts, and that Kim Grant had finally signed a contract after playing as a non-contract member of the squad since his arrival at Huish Park.

The news was revealed to the press at a specially convened press conference where a beaming chairman John Fry said: "This is a big occasion for the club. We have offered the players improved terms and the board is delighted with this coup.

"We want to wish the best of luck to the players and the management team for the rest of the season."

Manager Gary Johnson was equally pleased with the signings: "This is a great coup for the club at this stage of the season."

"I think that it shows that the ambitions of the players are the same as the ambitions of the club.

"These negotiations have been going on for some time and I'm glad that the board have backed us.

"These are all quality players and it would have been very difficult to replace them.

"I said we wanted to kick on and now we can do just that for the rest of this season and the whole of next season.

"I shall now be able to enjoy my holiday when it comes round!

"I was never really worried that they wouldn't sign but the timing is really great for the club.

The signings are indeed a major coup for the manager and club as there had been many rumours that other clubs were interested in the players, and as Gary Johnson pointed out, they would have been expensive to replace.

Crittenden and Way have become crowd favourites since their arrival at Huish Park and both won awards at the end of last season.

Skipper Terry Skiverton, although plagued by injuries this season, is already established as one of the best skippers the club has had in recent years, and the potential of both Anthony Tonkin and Chris Weale is there for all to see.

It is a credit to manager Gary Johnson and the commitment of the new board that they have managed to sort out these contract issues so early, and should Yeovil not manage to win the league this season, and that's something I know that all concerned have by no means given up on, then the club will be in a very stable state to start a concerted drive to win the league next season.

The speculation surrounding new players and the exit of existing ones has been cause for concern for the last two close seasons, but this year it will be a thing of the past.

The recent addition however of Olivier Brassart does show that both the board and manager are not afraid to strengthen the squad if the right player comes along, although Gary Johnson has indicated that his squad is more or less now complete.