Exeter City F.C.

Exeter City vs Altrincham, a Conference National fixture played on 19 August 2006.

Football League era (1920-2003)

City's historic first match in the Football League took place on Saturday 28 August 1920, when Brentford were the visitors to St James Park. Exeter won 3-0.

In 1931, City reached the sixth round of the FA Cup, losing a replay 4-2 to Sunderland in front of their largest ever home gate. Fifty years later, City reached the sixth round again, but lost 2-0 to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur. Earlier they had beaten Newcastle United 4-0, perhaps City's greatest ever result.

City's only major trophy was the Fourth Division Championship which they won in 1990. In that season, City won 20 league games at St James Park, and remained undefeated in 31 home matches, including dramatic draws against Norwich City in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup 4th round, both of which featured late equalisers for the visitors.

The early 1980s were regarded as City's most successful spell in the Third Division, including a finish of 8th in 1979-80 and an FA Cup run the following season. Star players included Tony Kellow, John Delve and David Pullar.

Following that promotion, City rarely shone at the higher level. The departure of manager Terry Cooper and key players such as Shaun Taylor, Richard Dryden, Clive Whitehead, Brian McDermott and Steve Neville left new boss Alan Ball to pick up the pieces. There were some happy times under the former World Cup winner - including taking six points off local rivals Plymouth in the clubs' first derbies for a decade - but Ball left for Southampton and the returning Cooper spent money the club couldn't afford trying, and failing, to avoid relegation.

Back in the bottom division, City struggled for several seasons, with chairman Ivor Doble taking the club into Administration and starting a chain of events which resulted in the sale of the club's ground for what was considered a very low sum.

In 2003, City finished 23rd in Division Three and were relegated to the Conference National as a result - the first club to suffer automatic relegation without finishing bottom of the league. Exeter won their last game but were still relegated as Swansea City's victory over Hull City left the Grecians one point short of safety.

Recent history

Following relegation to the Conference, the club was taken over by the Exeter City Supporters Trust. In May 2007 two of the Directors who had been in charge during season 2002-2003 were convicted of fraudulent trading at the club, John Russell receiving a prison sentence and Mike Lewis a community service sentence.

Several million pounds in debt and with no big investor in sight, the Trust kept the club going through fund-raising activities amongst rank and file supporters. Complex legal arguments with both the Inland Revenue and the football authorities meant that City's first season of non league football was plagued by off the field uncertainty.

In 2004, a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) was put in place to reduce the club's debts. Hundreds of fans pledged at least £500 each to fund the CVA repayments, but the FA Cup proved to be the income boost the Grecians had needed, as City drew Manchester United away in the third round of the FA Cup. City drew 0-0 at Old Trafford in January 2005, gaining £653,511 as City's share of receipts from the near 70,000 attendance. Further income from a televised replay - won 2-0 by United - coupled with ongoing fund-raising and unpaid work from the club's supporters helped the club to repay its debts, and the CVA was cleared in December 2005.

2004 also saw the club's centenary. In May 2004 a friendly fixture was arranged against a Brazilian masters team at St James Park, a celebration of City's South American tour of 1914. The Brazilian team, containing such notable players as Careca and Dunga, won 1–0.

City's first team finished the 2006–07 season in fifth place, qualifying for the play-offs. After beating Oxford United on penalties in the semi-final City met Morecambe at Wembley in the final, where they lost 2–1 despite taking an early lead. Exeter reached the play-off final in the following season, this time emerging as winners against Cambridge United in front of a Conference play-off record crowd of 42,511, earning promotion to League Two.^[1]

The Exeter team celebrates after the 2008 playoff final win.

The club remains owned and run by its fans, through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.

Nickname

The club is nicknamed The Grecians. This name has a disputed history, with many theories being proposed for its origin. No one is sure of the definitive answer to why Exeter City became known as the Grecians but one source suggests that the club voted for the name in 1908 because of its association with St Sidwells parish.^[2] People living in the parish of St Sidwells in Exeter have been known as "Greeks" or "Grecians" for many centuries.^[3] This is possibly due to the parish's location outside the city walls. In Homer's epic poem Iliad the Greek forces laid siege to the walls of Troy. The association possibly arrose because of rivalries between city boys and St Sidwellians during the annual beating the bounds.^[4] It has also been suggested that there was a group of children in St Sidwells who were referred to as the 'Greasy Un's' and another possible, but unlikely source for the name was from clock that hung outside a jeweller's shop in Sidwell Street, close to the ground, which had the word 'Grecians' engraved or painted on the face.

A further possible source for the name is that it is a corruption of Caerwysg, the Welsh word for Exeter (similar to the Cornish word Karesk). Citizens would have been called Caer Iscuns which became Grecians. Another theory is that during a match against fierce rivals Plymouth Argyle the crowd started chanting "We hate Green Scum". A reporter hearing this thought they were chanting "We are Grecians" and put it in the article he was writing.

Famous players, managers and fans

Famous players who have played for Exeter City include Cliff Bastin, who went on to play for Arsenal F.C. and England and goalkeeper Dick Pym, who went on to play for Bolton Wanderers F.C. and England. Other club legends included prolific 1930s striker Fred Whitlow, Arnold Mitchell, who played 495 games for City, Tony Kellow, City's record goalscorer, Ian Main, the gifted goalkeeper from the club's most successful years who died very young, Fred Binney and Darren Rowbotham in the 1980s and early 90s. Former England winger Lee Sharpe played four games for Exeter at the beginning of their 2002-03 Division Three campaign, scoring two goals.

After managing the club to a famous F.A. Cup Third Round draw at Old Trafford with Manchester United in 2005, Alex Inglethorpe left the club in June 2006 and Paul Tisdale was appointed. Past managers include the former England internationals Gerry Francis, Terry Cooper and the late Alan Ball. A moving tribute to Alan Ball was held at St James Park before City's Conference game against Southport, when Ball's name was again sung in Devon four days after his death.

In a survey published by the Professional Footballers' Association in December 2007, Alan Banks was listed as the all-time favourite player amongst Exeter City fans.

Famous former players include:

Honours

• FA Cup
  • Quarter-finalists - 1930-31, 1980-81

• Football League Third Division South
  • Runners-up - 1932-33

• Football League Third Division South Cup
  • Winners - 1934

• Football League Fourth Division
  • Champions - 1989-90
  • Runners-up - 1976-77
  • 4th Place, Promoted - 1963/64

• Conference National
  • Play-off Winners - 2007-08
  • Play-off Finalists - 2006-07

• FA Trophy
  • Semi-finalists - 2005-06

• FA Devon St. Lukes Challenge Bowl (Incomplete)
  • Champions - 1953-54, 1954-55 (Shared), 1958-59, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1973-74, 1996-97, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05
  • Runners-up - 1936-37, 1945-46, 1957-58, 1969-70, 1971-72, 1997-98, 2006-07

Records

• Largest league victory
  • 8–1 v. Coventry City, 1926
  • 8–1 v. Aldershot,1935 (the score was 0-0 against Aldershot at half-time!). In the

• Largest FA Cup victory - 9–1 v. Aberdare Athletic, 1927.
• Largest league defeat
  • 0–9 vs. Notts County, 1948
  • 0–9 vs. Northampton Town, 1958.

• Record home attendance - 20,984 vs. Sunderland, FA Cup Sixth Round Replay, 1931. *Record away attendance - 67,551 vs. Manchester United at Old Trafford

Managers

Players

As of 25 October 2008.^[5]

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Andy Marriott 2 DF Steve Tully 3 DF Fred Murray 4 MF Matthew Gill 5 DF Danny Seaborne 6 DF Matt Taylor 7 MF Ryan Harley 8 MF Emmanuel Panther 9 FW Adam Stansfield 10 FW Craig McAllister 11 DF Jack Obersteller 12 FW Steve Basham 14 MF Bertie Cozic

No. Position Player 15 DF Rob Edwards 16 FW Marcus Stewart 17 MF Paul Tisdale (Manager) 18 MF Neil Saunders 19 FW Ben Watson 20 FW Richard Logan 21 MF Dean Moxey 22 MF Liam Sercombe 25 MF Chris Shephard 26 DF Scott Bennett 27 GK Paul Jones 28 GK Nick Jordan

Rivalry

Traditionally, Exeter City's greatest rival is Plymouth Argyle, although they also have a friendly rivalry with local non-league side Torquay United.

Exeter City's last competitive game against Plymouth Argyle was held in 2002 at Home Park in a Division 3 fixture that Exeter City lost 3-0. Due to the difference in leagues between the two clubs (Argyle are currently two divisions above Exeter) it is unlikely that the two clubs will meet in the near future other than in the FA Cup, should Exeter make it to the Third Round which they have done on several occasions within the last decade.

Exeter City's last competitive games against Torquay United were in Conference National ties held on Wednesday 26th December 2007 at St James Park in front of nearly 8,000 fans which Exeter eventually won 4-3. While the return leg was on January 1st 2008 which Torquay United won 1-0 at Plainmoor in front of over 6,000 fans.

In the first leg of the Conference play-off semi-finals, held on Thursday 1st May 2008, Exeter lost to Torquay 2-1 at St James Park in front of over 8,200 fans. However, on Monday 5th May 2008 in the return leg at Plainmoor, Exeter beat Torquay 4-1 to clinch a 5-3 aggregate win for a place in the Conference National final for the second year in succession.

Notes and references

See also

• List of Fan Owned Teams

External links

• Official Website
• Supporters Trust
• Official Football in the Community website
• Exeter City F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats