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Issue 4, April 2014Issue 4, April 2014

The unofficial Exeter City fanzineThe unofficial Exeter City fanzine

£1£1

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Contact usEmail – somesunnyday@hotmail.co.ukWebsite – www.somesunnyday.org.ukTwitter – www.twitter.com/some_sunny_dayFacebook – www.facebook.com/somesunnyday

Where can I buy Some Sunny Day?If you aren’t able to make it to the match, you can pre-order Some Sunny Dayand buy back issues by visiting our website: www.somesunnyday.org.uk

About usSome Sunny Day is theunofficial fanzine of Exe-ter City. We aim to pro-vide a balanced view butthe opinions expressedwithin this, and on theassociated websitesshown below, representthose of the authors andare not necessarily thoseof other contributors, theeditors, the football clubor Supporters’ Trust.

Contents

Next seasonWe will be back next sea-son! Keep an eye on ourwebsite for the issue 5date. Subscribers will becontacted in the close sea-son.

© All material copyrightof Some Sunny Day andmay not be reusedwithout permission

Editorial 3Me, the Boy Graeme Power and David Woozley 4Losing My Religion 5If You Don’t Buy a Ticket … 6Grecian Gods 9Exeter City AFC Ltd Accounts 10Black Box/Soccer Mysteries 13I Wouldn’t Start from Here 14City’s Former Fanzines 16Half Time 20Tw@tter P@tter 21Interview with Laurence Overend 22Ground Farce 25Please Make the Sun Shine 26What’s Going on at … Stockport County? 27What Might Have Been 28Arc of a Diver 30Football Globetrotting 32The Youth of Today 33Kirton’s Postbag 34

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Well, what a month March was for City fans.We’ve gone from the real and present dangerof relegation to the Conference when sittingin 22nd place in the table and the dismal de-feat at home to Northampton, who lookedlike they fancied their chances of overtakingus, to currently sitting 20th in table at thetime of writing after two wins followed bytwo losses, but at least we beat Argyle. It cer-tainly shows how tight the table is in terms ofpoints. Whilst we hope City are almost safenow, we’re by no means out of the woods yetand everyone around us must be sizing up theteams above them in the table and hoping toclaw their way out of the drop zone. Sadly, itlooks like Torquay may already be gone, al-though not yet mathematically.

As for Some Sunny Day, it’s our last fanzine ofour inaugural season, and it’s fair to say weprobably didn’t think we’d make it this far.Thanks to everyone who has bought, sold andwritten for the fanzine over the course of theseason. We hope you enjoy issue 4 and thelast few games of the season. We will be backnext season after a well-earned rest. Keep aneye out on our website/social media/exewebfor the date for issue 5 in the autumn, to beconfirmed when fixtures are out over thesummer. In the close season, we will also becontacting subscribers with the option to sub-scribe again for 2014/15.

Whilst our fortunes on the pitch remain in-consistent, some of the concerns around theclub regarding season ticket/pay on the gateprices for next season have not gone away.This issue contains discussion of the club’smarketing strategy and also the views of twofans with the dilemma of whether or not torenew their season tickets on p.6–8.

Other events in the last few weeks includesome basic financial information being pub-lished by the Trust, which is a welcome ideaand a step in the right direction. We spoke toTrust chairman Laurence Overend on p.22,who recently participated in a question-and-answer session with fans on exeweb, to findout more about him and his background andhis vision of the future. One of the thingshighlighted by the recent poor home formwas the disconnect from the club felt by manyfans. This requires hard work by both the cluband the Trust in the coming months/seasons.An upturn in form will not and should notbury issues important to fans.

Some Sunny Day also recently appeared onExpress and Echo podcast ECFC Talk, whichtakes place every Thursday. This can be foundvia the Echo website. It is another step for-ward that people are starting to talk aboutissues within the club/Trust. A wall of silenceis helpful to no one. Take note Danny Coles.The club should be working to become moreinclusive of opposing views and less paranoidand defensive, which is the sign of a badly-runorganisation. Senior members of both thecoaching and playing staff should be setting agood example in the media, on social net-working sites and on the pitch.

One highlight in an otherwise largely forgetta-ble season was the performance of theyoungsters, not only those who have madethe step up to the first team but also in theU21 Premier League Cup and we take a lookat this on p.33.

All that remains is to say thank you again andsee you all next season!

Up the City!The editors.

Editorial

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Me, the Boy Graeme Power and DavidWoozley by Dr David Treharne

There’s a big heap of seldom looked at, andnever worn, Exeter City shirts in the middlecompartment of my wardrobe. They’re kept, Iguess, as a reminder of the foolishness of fol-lowing a football team, let alone sponsoring aplayer. I’ve only ever been able to fit insideone of them – when the first season in theConference I sponsored Reinier Moor – and Igave that one away when they were lookingfor memorabilia to decorate “upstairs” at SJP,and I’ve never ever seen it – in fact it’s proba-bly not on display, but it was in a nice case.

Three years of sponsoring Danny Seabornesaw his growth from slim youth to muscular

young man. The problemwas, that although Icouldn’t fit into the firsttwo years’ shirts, the thirdyear his shirt survived tothe final game of the sea-son when some hulkingbrute grabbed hold of his

(my!) shirt and ripped it down the front, thescar that it bears today – an unwearable tes-tament to over £500 spent.

However, going back before those two I hadsponsored our then left back for three sea-sons. Graeme, I think it’s fair to say, had arather undistinguished career at City, like somany others arriving with a great flourish (forsome reason I think it was from QPR) andnever really setting St James’ Park (or any-where else for that matter) alight. However,the highlight of this career for City came onSaturday 26 August 2002. As it happens, theopponents that day were the lot from downthe road that we play on the day that this is-sue of this magnificent organ will be on sale.For some unknown reason Graeme was madecaptain for the day. If you can’t remember

what the City side was that day I can help.*Although it wasn’t evident at the time, thetampering with the team that was a signifi-cant feature of the Rus-sell and Lewis year hadbegun – Lee Sharpe be-ing shoehorned into theteam, and, of course, itwas to get worse. Apartfrom the usual pre-match hand shaking Idon’t think Graeme didmuch that afternoon,especially not in the defending departmentanyway, as the Grecians crashed to a 2-1home defeat. Nonetheless, as he liked over-sized shirts I looked forward to the end ofseason receipt of the player’s shirt, because,let’s face it, there wasn’t too much more tolook forward to that season. Actually giveneverything else that was going on at the Clubat the time I was surprised to receive it at theend of the season – carefully packaged in anoff-the-shelf wooden case.

However, like most other things about thatseason, it proved to be a mirage. When I re-ceived it, a friend said to me: “That doesn’tlook like Graeme Power’s shirt.” I becamesuspicious. I decided to open it. Encased in itsglossy case was a shirt … size 3–5 boys!

David Woozely? He captained Torquay thatafternoon and that season and had quite anillustrious career and is still playing for StainesTown. At the moment Graeme Power doesn’thave a club.

* The line-up may surprise you:Kevin Miller, Graeme Power, Justin Walker, Gareth Shel-don, Steve Flack, Barry McConnell, Santos Gaia, AlexWatson, Lee Sharpe, Martin Thomas, James Coppinger. Onthe bench: Stuart Frazer, Neil Whitworth, Kwame Ampadu,Andy Roscoe, Clevedon Taylor.

Feel the Power!

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Am I a City fan? Writing for an Exeter fanzine,this may seem like a slightly curious questionto ask. After all, how many people activelyseek out fanzines to pen emotionless, barelyamusing pieces about clubs they have no con-nection to? If that’s your aim, there’s always101GreatGoals.com. So, we’ve safely estab-lished that this writer is most probably a Cityfan, albeit one with a more significant amountof doubt stored inside him than the collectiveExeter defence facing this poorly constructedmetaphor.

Maybe the question is phrased wrong. Am I aCity fan should probably be replaced by ask-ing: How much of a City fan am I? And at thispoint, it gets a little harder to answer. Hadyou asked me that question around eightyears ago, the answer would have been “die-hard”. I lived in Exeter, I worked in Exeter, myjob was part based around watching City. Imissed two home games and a handful ofaway matches that season. The Greciansweren’t my life, but my life certainly revolvedaround them.

If you’d asked me the same question aboutfive years earlier still the answer would havebeen different. An excitable, passionate fanwho travelled back regularly, yes, but also astudent living in Wales who chose to spendhis money on discounted pints of Brains.

And now? Now I’m certainly a fan, but alapsed one. With apologies to those who havea religion, I feel a little like my wife when wewere visiting churches ahead of our wedding.As a lapsed Catholic, and with an Italian moth-er who had made it clear that our union wasdependent on a building with crucifixes andLatin blessings, my wife thought it would bepolite to attend mass. Half way through, she

leaned into me and whispered, “I’m so sorry,I’d forgotten just how boring this is.”

For reference, my last visit was when I tookmy father to our 3-0 home defeat to Hartle-pool and uttered the same words. I’ve notbeen back since and I’m not alone. At least Ihave an excuse, of sorts. I live in London, havebeen working weekends and now have a wife,as you may have noticed (for those asking, wesneaked out early to watch the Olympic cy-cling and got married in a lovely Church ofEngland building), and spend my weekendsoccasionally at other football games and occa-sionally feeling hideously out of place at vin-tage antiques fairs.

But I’m still a fan. I still shout at Sky Sportswhen we score or lose. I still get annoyedwhen I see the scoreline Exeter 0Non-descript Northern Town 1. I care. I’m justnot as excited as I once was. And while I’mhardly representative of every stay-away fan,many others like me will have found some-thing just that little more entertaining on aSaturday afternoon, such as wives, antiquefairs or alcoholism.

This is a problem that the club needs to ad-dress if it is to re-engage a fanbase and haltan alarming financial and footballing slide. If Iwere the Daily Mail, I’d thunder that some-thing needs to be done, but I’m not. I’m justwriting for a fanzine making jokes about wivesand alcoholism like Bernard Manning wasboth in fashion and alive, while simultaneous-ly contemplating the existential nature of myfandom for a football club I know I like butcan’t definitely say I love anymore and al-ready planning my next column entitled JoeyBarton: my footballing role model.

Losing My Religion by Gary Andrews

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Tuesday 18 February and the postman ar-rived with exciting news – 2014/15 seasontickets were on sale and if I paid for a spaceon the Big Bank before the end of March, Icould take advantage of a huge discountmeaning I’d get 9 home games FREE (sorryfor the capitals but that’s how it was in theletter). I could even choose to pay in instal-ments. It made it a bit more expensive, butstill 7 games FREE compared to pay on thegate prices.

I’ve never owned a season ticket for variousreasons and my circumstances mean that I’munlikely to any time soon. However, if youwere after one you could bag quite a bargain,it seemed, even if you wanted to pay in in-stalments, although handing my bank detailsto a credit company that had gone into ad-ministration last year would make me thinktwice. Nevertheless, the option was thereand customers like choice.

More interestingly, however, the letter alsorevealed next season’s pay on the gate prices.It didn’t do it explicitly, but you could workthem out from the season ticket savingsshown. As an example, below are the stand-ard Flybe Super Saver season ticket prices for2014/15, just because that’s where I usuallysit, and the savings you’d make:

Dusting off the old Texas Instruments count-ing machine, I worked out that if an Adult Su-per Saver was £430 and saved me £237, thetotal pay on the gate cost over 23 league

matches would be £667. That equates to £29per match which, compared to the currentprice of £24, is an increase of over 20%. Ouch.

Let’s have a look at all of the Flybe increases:

So, on the flip side of the coin to the bargainbasement Super Saver season tickets (try say-ing that after a few pints of Natch) are the payon the gate price hikes, which, to me, seemdifficult to justify (when did you last have a20% pay rise?).

The rationale behind this is simple though.The club want and/or need all of your com-mitment and money now, not in severalmonths’ time, drip-fed game-by-game, andare trying to encourage, if that’s the rightword, people to stump up in advance to helppay the bills over the barren summer months.Understandable, but this was at a time whenit was far from certain which division we’d bein and I’d be slightly wary of making claimssuch as 9 games FREE because they aren’t re-ally FREE, you’re just paying a reducedamount per game as a thank you for payingup-front. I would also be wary of assumingthat higher pay on the gate prices will makethe savings appear greater because that’sfrom chapter 1 of “Marketing for Beginners”and people will see straight through it.

If You Don’t Buy a Ticket … by Steven Chudley

Super Saver (£) Saving on gateprice (£)

Adult 430 237

Senior 350 225

Under18/Concession

220 217

Junior 60 124

2013/14 Payon the gate

(£)

2014/15 Payon the gate

(£)

Increase (%)

Adult 24 29 20.8

Senior 18 25 38.8

Under18/Concession

14 19 35.7

Junior 5 8 60

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It’s also a tactic that also ignores a few reali-ties. Season tickets aren’t suitable for every-one. They assume you know now that you canget to enough games next season to makebuying one worthwhile. There’s also the ques-tion of affordability. You can tell me I’m sav-ing as much as you like but it doesn’t make£430 any more affordable and even if I pay ininstalments there’s still a financial commit-ment. There’s also the quality of the productand you won’t need me to tell you what that’sbeen like this season and last. Whilst footballisn’t comparable to the “real” world wherecustomers have the choice to go elsewhere,the product and quality thereof could have animpact on the number of people willing tocommit to all of next season and they mayinstead start to pick and choose games. In-deed, falling attendances this season wouldsuggest that the product is already causingthis to happen.

Don’t forget though that still sat moping inthe corner over here is poor old season ticket-less me contemplating having to pay £29 apop. There have, however, been murmuringsthat discounts will be available on pay on thegate prices for tickets bought in advance, sim-ilar to the offer on the games over Christmasand New Year. Whilst, of course, welcome, Ican see how this might pan out. The ECFCemail arrives:

“Don’t want to pay £29 to watch City play<team name>? Have no fear, if you buy onlinebefore <date> you can pick up that goldenticket for just <£amount>, a massive saving of<£amount>.”

This is just the same flimsy marketing ploy asbefore where the starting price is artificiallyraised to make the discount seem greater.They might as well set the starting price at£50 and tell me I’m saving even more. The re-ality is that I’ll almost certainly buy tickets inadvance to take advantage of any discounts,but the feeling that I’m being treated like a

fool isn’t exactly endearing, not to mentionthat just getting a ticket is becoming moreand more hassle. And what about those 9games you got FREE by buying a season tick-et? These discounts mean that 9 becomes 8,becomes 7 etc. You also have to wonder whatsomeone who makes a last-minute decisionto attend will think when they’re too late toorder and have to pay full price.

I appreciate that I haven’t always comparedapples with apples and that nobody is makingme sit in the Flybe, but there are some over-riding points to be made. The football we’vebeen subjected to at home over the last cou-ple of seasons, the product, has been verypoor, yet we fans who continue to go to sup-port our team are having our loyalty reward-ed with price hikes and the hope that we’regullible enough to be taken in by some basicmarketing. This coincides with many of us al-ready feeling fed up with our home form, ourresults, and the serious lack of entertainment.Of course, there’s more to being a fan of afootball club than just this but, for many,there comes a point when the pure financialcost tips someone over the edge and givesthem a very tangible reason to stop coming,and this at a time when the club needs oursupport more than ever.

Following the release of the 2014/15 seasonticket packages, opinion was obviously split asto whether to renew.

This decision can leave fans with something ofa dilemma; do they make their point by notrenewing, which means less money for theclub and possibly a worse atmosphere or dothey renew, putting some much needed mon-ey in and do their best to cheer the team onregardless? We asked two people in this posi-tion but at either ends of the spectrum whatthey thought and their responses are over-leaf.

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The argument for…

I’ve been supporting City since going with myelder brother back in the mid-1970s thenmoved away with the military but alwayslooked for our results first. I’ve never had asecond team unlike a lot of fans, apart fromEngland.

I moved back to the area in the early 1990sand carried on supporting City, once again aseason ticket holder for numerous years. I’ma working man who is trying to do the onlything I can do for my club and that’s to sup-port them by renewing and even buying myson his first season ticket as this is now his on-ly club and he wants to belong to it fully aswell. Without my cash input all I’m doing isstarving my club of vital funds.

This club is at present going through a badtime with poor results and what seems to beapathy from not only the fans but also fromthe players on the pitch but we will comegood: we have to. The guys in suits will comeand go eventually and City with its fans willstill be there, whatever league we are in!

When the brown stuff hit the fan last time werallied together and got on with saving ourclub. This time it seems that some people ac-tually want us to fail so they can be provedright.

Andy Hutchings

And the argument against…

I have supported the Club for over 60 years,been a season ticket holder for over 40 ofthose years as well as paying for a second onefor various family members for many of thoseyears. I was also one of the first Trust mem-bers (a Trustee for seven years) and a Red orDead member.

Exeter City has been like a second family tome but enough is enough and we are now nolonger prepared to spend nearly £800 a sea-son to watch the dross served up as “enter-tainment” by the members of the currentsquad and the “tactics” employed by an over-paid individual who has displayed an attitudebordering on both conceit and arrogance.

Equally I am no longer prepared to help to fi-nance a business run by individuals who in myopinion appear to have shown themselves bytheir actions, or rather lack of them, to be in-sufficiently qualified and unsuited to runningthe business.

The manner in which the Club has chosen todeal with the pricing of season tickets has on-ly exacerbated the issue and they seem oblivi-ous of the fact that they are asking supportersto purchase tickets in many cases at an in-crease cost when there is every possibilitythey will be watching Conference footballnext season.

Trevor Manley

Season Ticket Renewal – For and Against

Next seasonWe’ll be back next season, we just don’t know when because the fixtures aren’t out yet. Assoon as we know, we’ll let you know by whatever means possible but, as ever, if you’d like tocontribute, comment, abuse etc. we can be contacted via our website:www.somesunnyday.org.uk or by email: somesunnyday@hotmail.co.uk

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Grecian Gods by John Stitch

When Peter Fox signed Paul Birch, I must con-cede I was a little underwhelmed. Yes, he hadsome pedigree, but his top-flight days wereseveral decades before his arrival at St James’Park, and, at the risk of sounding cruel, hedidn’t exactly look like a footballer.

Actually, “didn’t exactly look like a footballer”is quite generous. He looked like the sort ofancient, overweight, balding player that aSunday league team tends to bring on in the89th minute, when they are already 16-0 up,to great cries of patronising encouragement:“come on Paul”, “geddon lad”, “have it Paulmy son” etc., to enable him to wheeze aroundfor two minutes until the bored ref prema-turely blows the whistle to prevent injurytime becoming “defibrillator time”.

In fact, I rather assumed Paul had just relocat-ed to Devon to benefit from the warmer seaair and outstanding public transport system.

So, not the most exciting signing. At least, notuntil I actually saw him play. On the pitch,Birchy was a revelation. He didn’t run arounda lot, but he didn’t need to (we’ll gloss overthe fact that he probably couldn’t). He usedto simply get the ball in the centre circle and,to use a hackneyed but rather apt footballing

expression, put it on a sixpence for whomeverhe wanted.

It’s an overused (and generally untrue) criti-cism, but if there was one issue with PaulBirch it was that his footballing brain wasabout three times the size of that of some ofthe pedestrian City strikers he played with. Asa result, many of his glorious Hollywood pass-es, rather than being controlled neatly on thechest and volleyed into the top corner, wouldland 25 yards in front of our forward line, whoinstead of racing through to meet them hadstopped to prune a Cowshed primrose. Attimes he must have felt like Usain Bolt com-peting in a three-legged race with StephenHawking.

Birch’s crowning moment came against (aSean Devine-led) Barnet away in 1997, whenhe volleyed in a 30-yarder with a techniquethat would have left Messi gasping (had the10-year-old Lionel elected to attend Underhillthat Saturday).

Paul Birch died of cancer in 2009, aged just46. Of course, we only ever saw him at Exeterat the very tail end of his career but he willlong be remembered by me, and many oth-ers, for the quite brilliant footballer that hewas.

#3 – Paul Birch

“I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,And climb black branches up a snow-whitetrunkToward heaven”

Robert Frost

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When I agreed to write this article, I did sowith some trepidation. Most of those of uswho watch, read and talk about football prob-ably do not put studying a set of accountshigh on our reading list. Nevertheless, the fi-nancial position of the Club is of vital impor-tance. Without a successful business togenerate the money to pay all the costs (onfield and off field) we would have no Club.The accounts tell us important things aboutthe financial welfare of the Club, so, in thehope that this piece does not bore you toomuch, here goes.

Although I have seen what are sometimes de-scribed as the “full” accounts to 31/5/13, theinformation disclosed is limited in nature. Forexample, there are no breakdowns of the de-tail of the different income streams and asso-ciated costs, so there is a limit to theinformation that can be gleaned. Much morecould be learned from the detailed Club man-agement accounts.

The Profit & Loss Account

At its simplest, this tells us whether we havemade a profit or a loss. We have been told bythe Club and Trust that a budget is set eachyear to break even or create a small surplus.No windfall income is assumed such as trans-fer fees or the money from a cup run, if any-one can remember what one of those lookslike!

The accounts show a turnover of £3,351,362with a loss of £55,441. The turnover reducedfrom £4,298,397 in the previous year ended31/5/12, no doubt partly following on fromour relegation from League One, a drop of22%. The previous year loss was higher at£94,563 so this represented an improvement.

The loss of £55,441 was arrived at after writ-ing off depreciation of £188,822. Depreciationis intended to cover the wearing out and re-placement of assets over their useful workinglife. The depreciation covered the pitch, thebuildings and stands, plant equipment, fix-tures and fittings. The largest part of the de-preciation related to the buildings and stands£137,456.

It is sometimes suggested that the deprecia-tion should be ignored as it is a paper entry inthe books and does not affect the cash availa-ble. On that basis, some would argue that theClub made a profit as follows:

Accounts loss £55,441Add back depreciation £188,822

Profit ignoring depreciation £133,381

This is, of course, flawed thinking. The pointof a depreciation charge is to set aside profitfor the replacement of assets as they wearout. A prudent business would also set asidesome hard cash to finance the replacementsas they come round.

It is possible to argue that the depreciationcharge for the stands and buildings is higherthan might be needed to replace them. Ac-counting rules give us a problem requiring dif-ferent treatment for assets that are rentedfrom others (as is our situation) comparedwith assets that are owned. If we owned ourground a smaller depreciation charge, or nocharge at all, might be justified. Against that,we know from comments made by Julian Taggat the adjourned Trust AGM in October 2012that there will be a requirement to spend sig-nificant money on the Old Grandstand atsome time in the future and that there is noactual cash fund set aside to cover that.

Exeter City AFC Ltd Accounts by Roger Bibby

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Although it is not specifically stated in thepublished accounts, windfall income of£235,000 (or thereabouts) was received fromthe Troy A.-H./James Dunne transfer moniesduring this accounting year.

From this we can reasonably conclude that:

1. The budget target to break even or create asmall surplus was not achieved. Ignoring thetransfer income there would have been a lossof around £290,000. Even if depreciation isadded back, there would have been a loss:

Profit ignoring depreciation £133,381Windfall transfer income £235,000

Shortage/loss £101,619

2. It is almost certainly the case that spendingwas increased above the original budget as aresult of the Troy/Dunne money coming in.No part of it (or at least no significant part ofit) was set aside for a rainy day.

3. The trading results meant that cash re-mained tight. It is clear this has been the casesince and during the 2013/14 season with theClub being forced to approach the Trust foremergency loans.

The Balance Sheet

The balance sheet gives us a snap shot of theClub’s assets and liabilities at 31/5/13. Unfor-tunately it makes for gruesome reading.

There is a deficit of shareholders funds of£609,273. In short we owe more than weown. The Club is only able to continue tradingas a result of the Trust undertaking not to callin the loans it has made. As at 31/5/13 theseTrust loans were:

Long-term £829,968Short-term £33,980

Total £863,948

Note: Long-term loans are defined as not be-ing repayable within one year. Short-termloans are those which are repayable withinone year.

These figures ignore other monies given bythe Trust to the Club as donations. These do-nations are treated as income in the profit &loss account.

The Club is therefore pretty much wholly de-pendent on the Trust in order to continuetrading legally, although it is difficult to seeany circumstances where the Trust would de-mand repayment of the loans so as to put theClub’s position in peril.

The balance sheet shows that there was cashat bank of £110,465 at the year end. Thiswould include money for season tickets soldfor 2013/14, which are probably part of a fig-ure described as deferred income £315,993. Iwould estimate season ticket sales income inthe region of £350,000 at the time.

The cash at the bank would almost certainlyhave been earmarked to pay operating costsduring the off season as well as PAYE/NIC andVAT (a sum of £91,000 is shown as payablefor those three items) and normal bills due tosuppliers (trade creditors) shown as£128,525.

In summary the balance sheet tells us thatthere are no net assets. Some would say theClub is bust. There are net current liabilitiesand that suggests that cash at the bank andmoney due to us is outweighed by amountswe have to pay out in the next few monthsafter the year end.

The Club’s main asset is the stands and build-ings shown with an accounts value of justover £1.1 million but they cannot be sold offto pay the bills.

Continued…

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Notes to the Accounts

It is noted that if the Trust withdrew its sup-port (unlikely) the assets shown in the ac-counts would need to be written downfurther to net realisable value and to providefor liabilities not presently included. Basicallythe Club would be bust.

The expenditure on the stands and buildingshas been funded in part by a Football Founda-tion Grant. The amount of the contribution isbrought in as income year by year over theperiod of the lease to match it with the de-preciation charge. There were just over 7years left of the lease at the accounts’ yearend.

The Club has £1,940,218 of corporation taxlosses to carry forward so there is no need tobudget for a corporation tax bill any timesoon.

The Club paid £42,000 in rent to OTR (Exeter)Limited, a company of which Julian Tagg is adirector. The Club also paid his company LaserRentals £65,000 in fees. This would have re-lated to his role as CEO at the time.

What Conclusions Do We Draw from theAccounts?

It is clear that the finances are very tight andthe Club is constantly walking a financial tightrope. There is no cash reserve to meet unex-pected liabilities that may arise and one ofthe primary reasons for businesses failing isthat they run out of cash to pay the bills.

The negative balance sheet and trading lossesmean the Club cannot raise any finance frombanks and similar institutions and is left to fallback on the Trust to borrow.

On looking at these accounts a new personcoming in to run the finances would almostcertainly want to start again from scratch.

John Kanefsky’s excellent article on p.14 giveshis views on that and I would respectfullyagree with his analysis.

The Club either needs to generate more in-come or reduce its costs (or both) so thatprofits are earned and a sustainable financialposition can be achieved. In the short term itis easier to reduce costs than find new incomestreams. Other than a cut in the playing budg-et since the date of these accounts, it is un-clear what further income (apart from somesmall transfer fee income) has been generat-ed or off-field costs reduced. The suspicionremains that off-field costs are far too highfor the size of the business.

It seems unlikely that the accounts to 31/5/14will show an improved position and we facethe continuing challenge of keeping the wolffrom the door in terms of our finances. Willour very own wolf, CEO Guy Wolfenden, worka transformation?

I GOT THE WHOLE OUTFIT FROMONE OF THOSE 70’S NOSTALGIAWEBSITES.

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The mystery of how Exeter City’s season went off course and vanished is still no nearer beingsolved. The season appeared to be on course until late October when it suddenly went out ofcontrol and radically changed direction. Until the crash investigation team locate the black boxfrom City’s season the cause of the crash will continue to be the subject of wild speculation.

Some have claimed to have spotted the debris of the season drifting towards relegation, otherssay that it will be found safe marooned somewhere in mid-table.

The club has called in experts at finding objects lost at sea, Metron Inc., wholocate things using Bayesian probability techniques, originally formulated tocalculate the likelihood of Ashley Bayes catching a cross.

A City spokesperson said: “The season was cruising, City had just beatenScunthorpe at their place when suddenly something – we don’t know what –went catastrophically wrong.”

Fans, initially shocked by the disappearance of the season, have drifted away from the Park,fearing that the season may be lost with all on board. “We really need to find the black box,”commented the spokesperson. “But searches have been hampered because no-one told us ablack box is orange.”

SEARCH FOR BLACK BOX FROMCITY’S SEASON GOES ON

By ITV Westcountry reporter, Duncan Sheightathome

I managed to procure theyouth department’s “ContinualImprovement and Progression”brochure, which is used as ahandbook, I believe, for poten-

tial Academy players and their parents. Theopening sentence is from Julian Tagg: “Con-ventional wisdom and Exeter City do notmatch.” He then goes on to explain that theclub’s approach to all things is “totally origi-nal”. On the same page are paragraphs fromPaul Tisdale and Steve Perryman about whatthe Academy is aiming to produce. SimonHayward writes that the Academy players aremade to “perform well at school, behaveproperly at all times and learn respect.” Per-haps “become proper chaps” would’ve put itmore succinctly. The booklet goes on to ex-plain that on average 5% of entrants go on to

become professionals and how, partlythrough partnership with St Luke’s Sports andScience College, the Academy can providemore training opportunities without sacrific-ing academic studies. The booklet has pageson the youth structure, Development Centreprogramme, players who’ve come throughthe Academy, physiotherapy, (bizarrely) pre-season cricket, futsal, nutrition, educationand welfare, training info and trialist proce-dure. Then there are rules for players includ-ing show referees complete respect, blackboots only (“players have to earn the right towear coloured boots as a professional”), tuckyour shirt in, no jewellery or baseball caps.Rules for parents and guardians include noparental coaching and “your only concernshould be your son”. Overall it is an interest-ing and well-compiled brochure.

Sexton Blake’s Great Soccer Mysteries

14

We all know thestory of the mo-torist, lost downa country lane,asking for direc-tions and beingtold: “If I wasyou, I wouldn’tstart from here.”

Of course, this is generally not very helpfuladvice, but I was thinking that it might well bethe best template at Exeter City. Our nownot-so-new Chief Executive is supposedlylooking at all areas of structure, cost and turn-over at City, but it’s unclear whether he willpropose anything radical or, if he does,whether it will be enacted. So I got out myproverbial blank piece of paper.

Let’s assume in a hypothetical future that theClub has survived as a League Two member(we will probably know whether this is so bythe time you read this, though as I writethat’s looking increasingly challenging). Turn-over has, however, collapsed as fans votedwith their feet against the dire home form,and season-ticket renewals were not enoughto pay the players and staff over the closeseason. All this led to financial meltdown, asthe Trust had no more money it could lend ordonate to the Club and none of the Directorswere shareholders who could be called on toinvest. The Club had gone into administrationagain.

Then let’s say I was an altruistic businessmanor a lottery winner, who’d bought the Clubfrom the administrator to keep it alive andout of the hands of the old, failed manage-ment. I wouldn’t want to bankroll it as a vani-ty project, or run it to make a profit. I’d haveno Trust to worry about (they’d lost all theirinvestment in the administration) and no obli-

gation to keep any of the existing Board ormanagement structures. How would I plan torebuild it?

Running a League One/Two football club isn’trocket science. You have around 25 homegames a season, which are all, in essence,similar. You try to make the matchday experi-ence as enjoyable as possible in order to bothkeep the existing supporters happy and at-tract new fans, and optimise the Club’s turno-ver by setting fair ticket prices at levels thatwill balance numbers attending with yield percustomer. You try to fill the facilities as muchas possible during the other 300+ days of theyear and generate revenue to support theteam. And you manage the Club’s costs sothat you run a moderate surplus, which youkeep for unexpected financial demands.That’s about it, really.

Let’s start with the Board. I wouldn’t be Chair-man myself; I’d look for an unpaid Chairmanwho was a diehard fan, was good at interact-ing with the fans and media, could representthe Club with passion and eloquence, andwho would promulgate a clear vision of get-ting the Club back into League One and sus-taining that level.

I’d want a Board-member Chief Executivewho was experienced in running a similar-sized business, ideally, but not necessarily,someone with a footballing background butdefinitely someone who identified with thepassion that football clubs rely on. I’d have apart-time Finance Director, and two non-ex-ecutives who were also supporters with localbusiness or tourism connections. After everyBoard meeting I’d have the Chairman give aclear public summary of the discussions, withobvious caveats for staffing and other mattersthat are genuinely commercially sensitive.

I Wouldn’t Start from Here by John Kanefsky

15

The Chief Executive would be in charge of allnon-footballing issues, including staffing andphysical assets. Subject to what is required bythe TUPE regulations, which are problematicfor football clubs, he’d re-employ or, whereappropriate, recruit a commercial depart-ment and other administrative staff similar tothe current arrangements, with greater em-phasis on interaction with the supporters.There’d be people on the reception desk 9–5;meeting, talking to and emailing customerswould be everyone’s first responsibility; andthe phone would rarely, if ever, go unan-swered.

The Board would have as its first priority ena-bling the footballing manager to put the bestpossible team onto the pitch every week. Halfthe total turnover of the Club would be budg-eted for the players (ideally I’d like to getcloser to the 55% allowed by the FinancialFair Play rules, but until we could increaseturnover significantly that would probablynot be possible), and everything else wouldfollow from that.

As regards the management of the playingside, the current manager would go (thoughI’d be interested in talking to the coaching

staff). I’d appoint a new Head Coach, whowould have a two-year fixed-term contract,with provision for extension six months beforeits expiry. The Chief Executive would be hisline manager but he’d also have a regular slotat Board meetings. He’d have an assistant andsimilar complement of support staff as now.No Director of Football, I can’t see the need ata League Two club.

I’d leave the Academy side of things com-pletely unchanged, as far as was possible.

That’s the bare bones. I could go into detailabout the ways we’d set about controllingcosts, raising turnover, improving the Club’sprofile, attracting more fans, improving thestadium, engaging with the City and County –all the things the current management haveconspicuously failed to do – but there’s notroom here.

And if we do go down to the Conference, allthis applies on an even more serious basis. Allcomponents of turnover would be hard hit,there would be no Football League funding forthe Academy, and the future will look bleakindeed.

2014 Blame Brainstorm

Fans FinancesMedia LinoReferee WeatherPitch OppositionTrust The fans again?

On the Cat & Fiddle notice-board, the reasons for City’s poorseason go full circle…

16

Some Sunny Day follows in an illustrious tradi-tion at the club. At Exeter City we have hadno less than eight fanzines including this one.Here I take a break from looking at the fan-zines of other clubs and take a trip down ECFCfanzine memory lane. Other fanzines wereThere’s a Good Time Coming (Be it Ever so FarAway) 1996–7 and Folks That I Know 2004–5.

Fanzine name: The Exe DirectoryEditor name: It was a group effort, involvingAlan Crockford, David Crockford, Simon Cart-er, Pete Williams, Richard Shelton, PhilipMitchell and various others. Al had the ZXSpectrum (yes, really) so laid out all the pagesand rapidly got more and more cocky abouttinkering with copy and filling the gaps withhis own waffle.Dates it ran: 1988 to 1995Cover price: 50p in the early days, then a quidLinked to supporters club? We gave some ofour profits to the Supporters Club a fewtimes, but never really met our publicly statedambition to raise some proper funds.How did you get involved? David and Petehad picked up on the fanzine movementwhen travelling to away games in the 1987/88season. It was a matter of pride that Cityshould have one too. Richard always was awitty bloke who loved City and wrote a niceessay, while Simon was destined for a careerin sports journalism and Mitch was ECFC’sown people’s poet. In the same way as Noelmust have felt compelled to let Liam join Oa-sis, Al somehow wormed his way in.How many contributors? Loads. Most ofwhom were better than us. Sexton Blake,Alan Trike and Egg Nogg were the real heroesof The Exe Directory, and those articles usedto arrive by magic in our PO Box. We were sograteful to get them.

Was it popular? Yeah. We sold 800 to 1,000at our peak –1,200 even in1991. At its best,there was some-times a little flick-er of excitementaround the turn-stiles on the daya new Exe Direc-tory came out,and that was alovely reward forthe late nights.Best bits: Proba-bly the funnystuff, often not written by us! It was pre-web,of course, so just the idea of bantering andchatting about City with a bit of humour orvitriol was great.Worst bits: Especially at the start – we wereaged 16 to 19 – it would have been very clun-ky I’m sure. Perhaps a bit like a school news-letter with added swearing rather thansomething satirical. Quite a large percentageof Dave and Al’s stuff was written in shifts atthe computer at about 4am, so we reallywouldn’t claim it was all killer and no filler.What was going on at ECFC at that time?1988/89 Terry Copper arrives and there are afew signs of better times ahead. 1989/90 Glo-ry glory Exeter City. 1990/91 A safe return towhat’s now League One, but with a whiff ofTrevva Morgan about the place. 1991/92 Poli-tics, TC and Ivor leave, Alan Ball arrives, theED team named official Supporters of theYear. 1992/93 Relegation worries, but greatfun, double over Gargoyle and eventual sur-vival under Bally. 1993/94 Trump out, Cooperback, City relegated. 1994/95 Big fall out withECFC, administration, journey to the bottomof the League.

City’s Former Fanzines by Sarah Willis

17

Why did the fanzine end? Fed up with writingabout City’s failure, I suppose, but also Davehad got married, Al had moved to London andSimon to Derby, so there were practical issuestoo. We really should have all died young andthen you’d remember us as heroes …

Fanzine name: DNA. I heard it said on morethan one occasion it stood for Definitely NotArgyle. It didn’t. Rather, it came from some-thing our then manager, Noel Blake, had said– “It’s the way we like to play football, it’s ourDNA” or something like that.Editor name: Damien Mills looked after thewords; Gavin Troth looked after the design.Dates it ran: Between February and Novem-ber 2001Cover price: £1Linked to supporters club? NoHow did you get involved? Someone on Ex-eweb – it may even have been me, I can’tquite recall – suggested it was about time theclub had a new fanzine. Gavin, or Pan [PurpleAway Nose] as he posted on Exeweb and Iknew him back then, volunteered his servicesas designer, we meet up over a few beers anddecided we’d give it a go.How many contributors? There must havebeen 10 or so regulars – off the top of myhead and with apologies to anyone I’ve over-looked: Steve Conabeer; Al Crockford; MartinEllicott; Tim Hopkins; Ian Huxham; Tim Long;Stephen Morris; Ian Tarr; and “green un”, aPlymouth supporter we recruited from Ex-eweb’s banter board to provide an alternativetake on events.Was it popular? It goes without saying, TheExe Directory will always be everyone’s fa-vourite City fanzine – mine included – but I’dlike to think DNA will be remembered with abit of affection. Like, say, Jon Brown or BarryMcConnell.Best bits: I’m 40-something now so probablyshouldn’t say the Sexy Grecianettes, who, alltoo predictably, adorned Page 3 of every is-sue. We tried to kid ourselves it was ironic but

essen-tially itwas anexcusefor meandGavin toproposi-tion at-tractivefemaleson anightout andaskthem ifthey’dlike topose inan Exeter City scarf and, ideally, not too muchelse. The late, great Fran Jenkins and MartinWeiler quite rightly took us to task about itand in an effort to demonstrate we weren’t asNeanderthal as it might appear, we under-took to do what we could to raise the profileof the club’s Kick It Out initiatives. That aside,Ian Tarr’s pieces looking back through theclub’s history helped to add a bit of gravitasand Tim Long was, and remains, a Grecianfanzine legend. And I loved the Argyle badgecomplete with sinking Mayflower Gavin cameup with to sit atop the View from the OtherSide page. If, however, I had to pick a singlething it would probably be Tim Hopkins’ BringMe Sunshine feature in which Ivor Doble andBernard Frowd became Ivor and Bernie (asopposed to Eric and Ernie).Worst bits: I’m sure there were plenty but, aswith dodgy loan signings, over the course oftime I’ve managed to erase most of themfrom my memory. I should probably be moreembarrassed than I am about the Love edi-tion, which was inspired by my adulation forthe one and only Whimple Whippet, aka BarryMcConnell.

Continued…

18

What was going on at ECFC at that time? IvorDoble and Bernard Frowd were making an al-mighty mess of things off the pitch while NoelBlake was overseeing a spectacularly unsuc-cessful spell on it; the Trust was just begin-ning to emerge as a serious player – I’d like tothink DNA played some small part in this byactively promoting it, not to mention financ-ing the purchase of its PO Box address; andpineapples and purple were all the rage ataway games.Why did the fanzine end? I don’t think we ev-er made a conscious decision not to do anoth-er one, it was simply that other thingsintervened and the gaps between issues be-came longer and longer. Who knows, the“long-awaited issue #8” could yet be justaround the corner!

Fanzine name: We’ll Score AgainEditor name: Tim LongDates it ran: Although started in 1992, my ed-itorship was from January 2005 until March2008.Cover price: £1Linked to supporters club? Subsidised by theSupporters’ Club as most copies were givenaway.How did you get involved? I volunteered af-ter the mag had been dormant for a shortwhile.How many contributors? A couple of regu-lars, a few occasionals but chiefly me, espe-cially near the end.Was it popular? I didn’t get a tremendousamount of feedback. Some issues sold well,some issues didn’t. People only tend to writeto criticise but I think I only got a couple ofthose. One seller was told “I don’t understandyour sense of humour.”Best bits: Writing the 3pm gossip column,started by Gary Nelson; some genuine gossip– if that makes sense – but mostly completelymade up by me. Writing one-liners about anyold shite to pad out the acknowledgementspage.Worst bits: As I once quoted Ken Kesey “thetrouble with being a writer is that occasionally

you haveto writesome-thing”. Orat least Ithink that’sthe quoteas I canneitherfind theoriginal ar-ticle norany refer-ence to thequote ont’internet.Didn’t en-joy the self-imposed pressure of deadlinesand the finished magazine always seemed dullto me because I’d read everything before.What was going on at ECFC at that time?Happy clappy Conference days, more winsthan losses, everything in the garden wasrosy. I had to find other things to moan about,such as ITV’s coverage of football.Why did the fanzine end? Technically ithasn’t ended, it’s just waiting for a new editorto step forward [Ed. this is becoming a recur-ring theme. No one told us!]. We did haveone volunteer but he only wanted to edit oneissue as part of a project he was doing at col-lege. I quit because of a lack of inspiration – Ifind it very wearing being constantly upbeat –and lack of time for writing.

Fanzine name: In Exile/Somewhere OutThere…Editor name: Andy DyeDates it ran: 1991–5 (20 issues)/1997–8 (5issues)Cover price: 50p (free to Exiles Members)Linked to supporters club? Yes, Exeter ExilesHow did you get involved? I was the foundingChair of the Exiles in 1991 and we needed apublication to provide ongoing contact to theMembers, so I took on the task. Remember

19

that this was be-fore most peoplehad internet ac-cess, so it was away of sharingCity news withthose in theSouth-East (andelsewhere).How many con-tributors? Proba-bly around adozen overall, but 4–5 people would havewritten most of it.Was it popular? Reasonably so with theMembers, I think, and we used to sell an OKnumber to others on the terraces at awaygames. Certainly people were quick to whingewhen the erratic publishing cycle meant alonger gap between issues, so they must havegot something out of it!Best bits: Once we hit critical mass (around200 copies), we switched to professionalprinting and it was always fantastic openingthe box to devour the newly printed copies.Within the mag, pieces written by good writ-ers (such as journalists Andy Gardner andDave Peters, plus Al Crockford) always stoodout from the enthusiastic amateur contribu-tions around them. Seeing lots of people

reading it at half time at somewhere like Har-tlepool always warmed the cockles of myheart, too.Worst bits: Chasing up contributions close todeadline, giving up pretty much all my lunchbreaks at work to prepare items (I didn’t havemy own PC for most of the time) and – in theearly days – manually folding and staplingevery single copy. Posting out around 100copies each time was a bit of a pain too!What was going on at ECFC at that time? Theearly years were Bally, Foxy and Blakey (howinnovative are those nicknames?!), so moder-ate success and some amazing scorelines(particularly under Bally), but also somedreary times. We also had the return of Coop-er and Morgan, with the relegation that fol-lowed, as well as the horror that was goinginto administration. And who could forgetSteve Birley’s half time Turkey Shoot – he wasthe most memorable City employee I encoun-tered.Why did the fanzine end? I took the entirelyunreasonable step of moving to Australia inJuly 1998, which rather limited my involve-ment! By 1998, the rise of the internet andonline publications meant the need to relayinformation about City had greatly dimin-ished, so it probably felt like it had run itsnatural course.

Our thanks to all those who spared their time helping put this article together.

LARRY LOUD – THE FACE IN THE CROWD

RUBBISH TISDALE!NOT MANY HERE TODAY,OUR CRAP HOME FORM ISDRIVING PEOPLE AWAY!

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Across2. Signed on loan from BristolRovers In February 20145. Our final opponents of theseason6. Scored our first goal of theseason7. Goalkeeper who made hisfull City debut this season8. Midfielder released in Janu-ary 2014

Down1. Our biggest victory of theseason was against...3. New CEO appointed in late20134. Signed from Staines Town inAugust 2013

HALF TIME

Pandemonium at the club asseason tickets go on sale

NEWPORT

HARTLEPOOL

BURTON

SOUTHEND

CHESTERFIELD

MANSFIELD

ROCHDALE

WYCOMBE

NORTHAMPTON

ACCRINGTON

We lost at home to whomthis season?!

21

Guy Wolfenden@headhonco I think we’re almost in double figures #marketinggenius#theyllpayanything

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There’s a mixed response to 2014/15 season tickets prices…Julian Tagg@wolfie How many sold so far? #ripoff #mugs #budget

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Paul Tisdale is still annoyed that players aren’t following his instructions…

Paul Tisdale @thegaffer@Wheelie I told you, put in a blank tape, set the timer, and leave it on standby#basics #Iknowbest

2h

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David Wheeler @wheelie

Bloody video recorder didn’t tape The Voice #betamax #fail

3h

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3h

And Maurice can’t wait for the summer break…

So what have the social media movers and shakers been up to since our last issue, at least asimagined in our own minds? There’s only one way to find out…

The Danny Coles imposed over-30 press ban remains in place…

Maurice Wright @lollipopmaurice2 weeks in Ayia Napa? Yes please! #club1830 #born1830

2h

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Matt Oakley @greatoak

@captainchaos Jesus, I’m nearer 40 than 30! #zimmerframe #fragile1h

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Danny Coles @captainchaos

@greatoak Can you bring your birth certificate in on Monday? We’re doing spot-checks #embargo #closedshop

2h

Expand

@wolfie 1h

@headhonco 3h

22

Current Trust chairman,Laurence Overend, was kindenough to spare us some ofhis time to answer questionsabout himself and his role,where the Trust is today andhis vision of the future.

You and the chairman’s role

1. What is your background both profession-ally and how did you come to support ECFC?

I am a solicitor. I own and run my own smallbusiness based in North Devon. I specialise incriminal defence work. Should you ever findyourself in trouble with the police, I’m yourman.

My Mum took me to my first City match in1973. Having moved from Ireland, it was thefirst place we lived that had league football. Itwas also significant, because my Granddadhad played for the club after the War.

2. Why did you decide to stand for the Trustboard in the first place?

My Mum had been a co-opted member of theTrust board and when she died the Trust wasexceptionally kind to my family and a matchwas dedicated in her memory. It made me ap-preciate that if I’d been a supporter of an or-dinary club, I wouldn’t have been treated sothoughtfully. I, therefore, wanted to givesomething back and whilst at that stage Iknew nothing about the world of football gov-ernance, I thought my professional back-ground provided me with skills that wouldmake me of some use.

3. What does the Trust chairman role entailon a day-to-day basis and approximatelyhow much of your time does it take?

There is no such thing as a typical day, but italways involves a lot of emails. Much of theTrust board work is done through a GoogleGroup and it’s about responding and contrib-uting to whatever is the topic of the moment.I probably do about two interviews a weekand down from the mainstream press to stu-dent journalists, I have never refused an inter-view. Our secretary, Nick Hawker, and I sharethe job of replying to emails from membersand I’m confident we’ve never failed to replyyet. I enjoy working on a one-to-one basisand I spend as much time as possible workingwith other board members or club employeesindividually.

I also try and network as much as possible,particularly in the social enterprise sector. It isimportant to remember that we are a com-munity-benefit group and there is a wholeworld of organisations out there that shareour core values and operate in the same way.These are the Trust’s potential business part-ners. I usually reserve Sundays for writing arti-cles or working on the bigger projects such asreviewing the strategic plan and communityshares.

Preparing for and chairing meetings is actuallya very small part of the job. I reckon club andTrust work takes between 15 and 20 hours aweek, but it’s never far from my mind.

Interview with Laurence Overend:The Dirty Dozen (plus one for luck)

23

4. In this role, what do you see as your mostnotable achievements so far?

Any achievements are down to the collectivehard work and dedication of the Trust boardand the membership. I would like to thinkthat during my time as chairman the Trustboard has worked better as a group and isforming a stronger relationship with the clubboard. The vastly improved communicationsis significant and whilst I can’t take credit forsuch steps as the new website, I like to think Ihave played my part by always being availableand engaging with the members.

As a democracy the Trust board will alwayshave to work in a particular way, but I hopethat it is now developing a culture of seekingachievement, rather than a focus on the proc-ess by which to achieve it.

The Trust itself

5. How would you “sell” Trust membershipto the average fan who is undecided aboutjoining?

The tangible benefits of membership, such aspriority status, are well documented, but Iwould rather focus on the power it gives you,through theright to vote inTrust boardelections andstand for elec-tion. Therearen’t verymany clubs whose majority shareholder is ademocratic organisation with members who

really can influence what happens from theboardroom down.

6. What do you see as the Trust’s primaryrole plus its main strengths and weaknesses?

Its primary role is to ensure a sustainablemodel for ownership of the club, based on aset of core values. Without a doubt its mainstrength is the number of members. Howev-er, this is also its weakness: as the Trust boardis accountable and elected to represent itsmembers, decision-making can be slow. A tra-ditional owner can make decisions and takeactions to react to situations immediately,whereas the Trust has to go through a proc-ess. However, I’m more than happy to forgothe latter, in favour of the former.

7. If you could have a wish list for the Trust,who/what would be on it?

10,000 members.

8. You spoke in theExeweb Q&A ses-sion about definingpractical roles andresponsibilities ofthe Club and Trustboards since the re-linquishing of the joint Club/Trust chair. Doyou believe this can be brought about ordoes a joint Club/Trust chair need to be rein-stated?

I do believe it can be brought about and Ithink the process is developing positively. I’vegot a sense that the Trust lost a bit of its iden-tity when the chairs were separated, butthere’s no reason it can’t be regained throughfocusing on its role and how to establish thisthrough its relationship with the club board.The Trust made the decision that the clubshould have a separate chairman and the im-portant thing now is to make it work.

Continued…

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The future

9. When our Trust was established it waslargely out of necessity and there was no realprecedent to follow. Do you feel, some 10years later, that remnants of the past are ac-tually holding us back?

I don’t think it’s holding us back: we should bevery proud of our history. However, Trusts areoften at their most powerful when they havean enemy, a cause to fight and an aim toreach. That’s a very powerful motivator and aunifying force and that was our position tenyears ago. We have to accept that, as thelong-term owners of the club, the incentivesare very different now and the challenge is tomake the supporters still feel engaged with itand also ensure an appreciation of how spe-cial supporter ownership is: there is a wholegeneration of City supporters who haveknown nothing but Trust ownership. In regardto change, the Trust needs to launch biggerprojects to entrench itself in the communityand a good example of this is communityshares, which is something I’m currentlyworking on.

10. What major challenges do you think theTrust will face in the next 12 months?

To some extent that will depend on how theteam performs, but it’s all about maintainingmembers and attracting new members.

11. Where do you see the Trust in 10 years’time?

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about football,it’s that things change very quickly and in anunexpected way so, in the absence of a crys-tal ball, it is impossible to say, but the aim isthat we remain the owners of a club thatcould hold its own in the Championship, witha team based around academy players.

12. If your time as Trust chairman could beremembered for one thing, what would youlike it to be?

I hope I will be remembered as someone whofaced up to every challenge and engaged withthe members. Ok that’s that more than onething; can I settle for “He never hid”?

And finally …

In January the Trust lent the club £30,000 inthe way of an emergency loan in addition tothe Trust’s annual funding and other tempo-rary loans. This is due to be paid back at theend of the season. Many fans believe thisloan was needed because of the postponedgames due to poor weather in January, how-ever the Trust minutes state: “The matter ofthe loan would be publicised to membersbut any news release would not make refer-ence to match postponements since this wasnot a root cause of the requirement.” Insteadthe statement called the period “traditional-ly one of the most financially challenging pe-riods of the season”. Do you think this helpsfans understand exactly why the club neededthis additional loan?

I hope that I answered this at the last Forum.It may be that the statement didn’t help thesupporters understand the need as well as itmight. It was, of course, a combination of fac-tors that caused the need for the loan, but, asto the root cause, I’ve always said it wasdown to the club’s lack of working capital. It isvery difficult for the Trust to provide that in-jection, when lack of capitalization is a themethat runs through most cooperative organisa-tions.

Our thanks to Laurence for taking the time toanswer our questions.

If you would like to join the Trust, please checktheir website: www.ecfcst.org.uk/join-the-trust/how-to-join

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I was going to detail my plans to build a newground on top of student flats, moving theDoble Stand and Big Bank upwards and build-ing two new stands, a helipad and changingrooms with gold fixtures and fittings [Ed. Haveyou considered solar panels?]. My plans tofinance this are for the club to put all its mon-ey into Euromillions tickets the next time thejackpot is more than £100 million, which I be-lieve is also the Co-op Bank’s/Britannia Build-ing Society’s bail-out plan. Instead it’s thesame old schtick as previous articles.

Sat. 1 Feb. Argyle vs. Mansfield Town. Theoriginal plan was for Exwick Villa and the cara-van of love with Alphington as a back-up plan.Exwick’s game was called off the night before,the Alphas’ on the morning. Newton AbbotSpurs and Galmpton were still on but by thenI’d lost all faith in local football, Bristol City’spricing policy of £18 up to a week before, £21up to the day before and £25 on the day wasoff putting [Ed. Has anyone told Wolfie?],which just left Argyle vs. Mansfield. As thetrain passed Matford, where City had plannedto build a new ground all those years ago, itwas heavily flooded. In Plymouth, my once-regular secret eating place, the restaurant inTJ Hughes, is no longer available due to the

store having gone bust a couple of years ago,but no-one has taken over the shop, as withDerry’s opposite and Woolworths not faraway. It was pleasing to be served in Burger

King – yes, I have sophisticated tastes – bysomeone with a proper Janner accent. At theground, Mansfield’s team bus was parked be-hind the grandstand,my attempt to take apicture of it to cap-tion “Mansfield parkthe bus” after theirperformance at thePark about a monthearlier failed due todead batteries in mycamera. A teenagelad in front of me wasmimicking the cheer-leaders’ routine to Argyle’s run out music,which sounds like a modern idea of music fora medieval joust. Zoo corner has becomeschool corner, plus youth teams and othersuch organisations. The game started withshots on target, albeit comfortably fielded bythe keepers, but good football deteriorated tomisplaced passes, and the highlight of the lat-ter part of the first half was an outrageousdive by Mansfield’s Lee Stevenson. The sec-ond half was poor; McCormick was substitut-ed after dislocating and fracturing a finger.The Stags went ahead when Matt Rhead wasleft unmarked at the far post. The last tenminutes were characterised by Argyle en-deavour and ineptitude. Six minutes of timewere added and in the fifth of those a crosswas knocked back to Lewis Alessandra, whohad previously headed one sideways from 3yards and passed to a Stags defender when ina scoring position, sidesteps and fires home.For parts of the second half I’d rather havebeen watching Exwick’s pitch dry; having seenMansfield three times this season has broughtthe grand total of three goals. Whilst walkingthrough Central Park I could see the lights ofthe Brickfields in the distance and wonderedwhether I’d have been better off going to therugby.

Ground Farce by Sexton A. Blake

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Please Make the Sun Shineby Adrian Hitchcox

In the last issue of Some Sunny Day I ex-plained how I thought Plan B could be fi-nanced on a no-cost basis to the club. One ofthe twelve financing sources that I suggestedwas to lease the grandstand roofs to a solar-power commercial operator. Here I providemore detail.

I first discussed the advantages of solar powerwith Norrie Stewart when he was Chief Execu-tive. He became very interested in the con-cept of a solar-powered installation.Unfortunately, since he left, no one else hastaken up the mantle.

I have, however, followed up my own person-al interest in solar power with a very reward-ing result, and I will use my example below toillustrate how this could also benefit the club.

I recently purchased an ultra-modern 3,500square feet house. The house has an EnergyPerformance Certificate (EPC) with a “B” rat-ing. One of the major elements that contrib-utes to that “B” rating is the solar-poweredinstallation on the roof. The installation costsalmost exactly 2 years ago were £9,500. Inthat time the system has generated well over7,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. The returnto me is made up of three component parts:

1. I am being paid for generating the electrici-ty. The system took advantage of the high tar-iff (known as the feed in tariff) available at thetime. The tariff is inflation protected over the25-year period of the agreement.

2. I have the free use of all electricity that isgenerated when the system is operational.The system can generate up to 3.7 kilowattsper hour – suitable for powering many major

appliances. I should add that the system stillworks well in cloudy weather although obvi-ously not so effectively as when there is fullsun.

3. My electricity supplier deems that I onlyuse 50% of that generated electricity whilstthe remaining 50% is exported to the nationalgrid. All in all an excellent return on invest-ment of about 16% per annum (plus the freeusage). I further estimate that the system willhave completely paid for itself in just over 5years.

In an ideal situation the Trust would apply itsmembership income to financing the pur-chase of the whole solar installation. Howev-er, in the challenging adverse financialconditions that the Trust and club currentlyfind themselves, I am suggesting that the cap-ital cost for the installation could be paid by asolar-power commercial operator. That oper-ator would secure its return on investment bykeeping the feed in tariff. However the clubwould benefit from the free use of electricitygenerated and perhaps also retain the exporttariff payments. In effectively “providing theland” by utilizing the grandstand roofs, theclub would get an agreed payment over theterm of the lease agreed with that operator.

Of course, feed in tariffs have dropped quite abit in the last few years. The fact remains,however, that, with the unit cost of produc-tion of solar panels being almost halved in thelast couple of years as sale volumes increase,solar power still remains an attractive invest-ment. Surely there must still be someone atthe club with the nous to put such a projectinto operation?

27

Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers,Stockport County are nicknamed the Hatters.Having competed in the Football League from1905, they have the dubious honour of beingthe longest survived team in the League tothen be relegated to the Conference (2011).They now play in Conference North. So howdid they fall so far?

Let’s go back to 2003 when millionaire BrianKennedy bought the club and the ground. Healso owns Sale Sharks, the successful andprofitable rugby union team. In 2005 he soldthe club to the Stockport County SupportersTrust, which had been formed earlier thatyear, but retained control of the ground fortaking on the club’s debts, with Sale andStockport groundsharing, and the latterpaying rent.

On 30 April 2009 County went into adminis-tration and were given a 10-point penalty,falling from 13th to 18th in League One. Atthe time, the Supporters Trust owned a 98%share of the club, but could not keep it afloat.A few days prior to this Sale Sharks had paidthe cash-strapped football club’s police bill fortheir last home game of the season, whichwould have otherwise been played behindclosed doors.

In 2009/10 County finished on 25 points andwere relegated to the bottom flight but thatsummer the club was taken out ofadministration by a group of local businesspeople, ensuring its survival. However,fortunes took a downturn on the pitch andthe Hatters finished bottom of League Two,with non-League football beckoning in2010/11.

Instability followed when, during 2011,businessman Tony Evans headed a

consortium of newinvestors, whichappointed DietmarHamann as manager.However, followingthe consortium’sfailure to take charge,Hamann’s squadstruggled and inNovember he wasreplaced by formermanager Jim Gannon and Conference safetywas secured.

In 2012/13 Gannon was sacked and replacedby Darije Kalezic. Results got worse and, withCounty facing relegation, he was replaced byIan Bogie, but he was helpless as a 4-0 defeatsaw Stockport County relegated to theConference North.

Stockport still have a Supporters’ Co-opera-tive (not a Trust) but it does not hold a stakein the club. Its concerns appear to be retain-ing use of Edgeley Park and encouraging out-side investment.

So, in conclusion, a cautionary tale. Trust-owned clubs can, and do, go intoadministration. In itself, the owner isirrelevant. Trusts must ensure that a club’sdirectors are running the club in the correct,i.e. a profitable, way, relative to fortunes onthe pitch and prepare for worst-case scenario.Fans should not become complacent justbecause the Trust owns the club. Owning isnot the same as running. Any money that aTrust has in a club will be lost inadministration. Stockport’s current austeritymeasures after living beyond its means sinceexiting administration also serve as a warningto other clubs. Too little, too late is adangerous path to take.

What’s Going on at … Stockport County?by Sarah Willis

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What Might Have Been by Chris GoslingIt is 2014, but not quite the version of realitythat we are familiar with. The Express & Echohas gone monthly and reports here onevents at AFC Exeter for the month ofMarch:

It has not been the busiest of months atWingfield Park, both on and off the pitch, as

the Grecians lookto the season’s runin with an outsidechance of promo-tion to the prom-ised land of the

Calor Gas Premier. Manager Barry McConnelltold me that he wouldn’t rule out promotionuntil it is mathematically impossible. “Andeven then, at this level, the unexpected canoccur. Clubs have been known to be penal-ised and even relegated for financial irregular-ities. Of course I am not saying that that hashappened or that it would benefit the club inany way, but I have impressed on the lads theneed to keep fighting until the final minute ofthe season, wherever we are in the table onthe final day. It can all go topsy-turvy in therun in, with so many postponements to catchup with.” Indeed, the Grecians will have toplay two matches a week before the end ofApril and any further bad weather will stretchMcConnell’s squad of 19 even further, with aguaranteed three matches played in oneweek.

I also gained permission from the Trust tospeak to the fan who won the Assistant Man-ager for March raffle, Mr M. Wright of Exeter.He claimed to have formed a good workingrelationship with the manager and confirmedthat all the bins around the ground had beenemptied regularly. He hinted at being takenon in a full-time capacity for next season, butMcConnell would not confirm this, making

clear that it would have to be a Trust decisionand there was still the matter of the raffle re-sult for April. It is not known at present if thisinitiative will be continued into the 2014–15season.

Off the pitch, the improvements promised bythe Trust in 2012 have yet to commence atWingfield Park and fans are still petitioningtheir local councillors for a move back to theclub’s spiritual home, St James’ Park, whichfor the sixth year in a row is being used as theChiefs’ training facility. While a return to theCouncil-owned facility and the FootballLeague are the acknowledged long-term goalsof the Trust, money is the sticking point in thequest to bring Wingfield Park up to Confer-ence standard. While the Trust acted fast in2007 to buy the ground and share it withHeavitree United, securing a club-ownedpitch in the city, money-raising has beenproblematical ever since. The successful cam-paign to end AFC’s ground share at Clyst StMary was undoubtedly a cause that galva-nised public support, which was then under-lined by promotion out of the WesternLeague, but reflecting onthe time since then, Mc-Connell was rueful: “Myhands have been tied, fi-nancially. It is great to seethe same thousand or soturn out week after week,making us comfortablythe best supported clubat this level, but Trust do-nations aren’t beingploughed back into the playing side. Still, Iknew the score when I signed my rolling con-tract and I am convinced that we have attract-ed the best available local young players tothe club, so I am not complaining.”

Hands tied

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The Trust ground improvement sub-commit-tee was due to meet the day after the Echowent to press, but an update on the potentialnew cover over the terrace, known as theCowside, will appear in the next edition.

On the pitch, with a number of postpone-ments in March, there is little to report. Thethree matches that the Grecians played re-sulted in five points in their faltering cam-paign. The 1-1 draw at home to Dorchesterwas disappointing in all but the attendancefigure, which was a sell-out 1,800, one of thebest attendances in the Calor South and West

this season. Mid-table AFC ledfrom the 14th minute to injurytime at the end of the game,when a penalty was conceded.Keeper Gwynett dived well tohis left, but the shot beat himand came back off the post,creeping over the line.

This late disappointment was followed by ahard-fought 0-0 draw at Leamington, one ofthe longest trips of the season and then acomfortable 2-0 home win over strugglersDidcot. Trialist and veteran Lee Phillips scored

the goals, taking the Gre-cians up to tenth place. Mc-Connell was quick to takethe positives from these re-sults: “The only goal we haveconceded in three gameswas a penalty, where I per-sonally felt we were unlucky.The boys are defending well as a unit andwith a little more bite up front, there isenough football still to be played for us to goon a bit of a run. While I am not saying thatwe are likely to catch runaway leaders Ha-vant, the play-offs are still a realistic aim.”

Looking ahead, Leamington will again be thenext opponents on Saturday and have con-firmed that they are not expecting any fans totravel, allowing the Trust to keep the awayend closed for the third time this season. Themoney saved on staffing will go into theground improvement fund, a spokesman con-firmed. Further April fixtures are dependenton the league committee’s discretion in orderto clear the backlog and will be posted on theclub’s website and the board at the groundentrance as soon as they are known.

Fans – From the empurpled angry chapsshouting at opposition players taking corners,to the “happy clappers” who think being topof the table in November means that the sea-son is virtually won, and their polar opposites,the ones who always see the worst in every-thing. You’re all numpties.Diving – I recall an offence of “simulation” be-ing bandied around a few years ago but refe-rees seem scared to use it. In ice hockey thesame rule exists and it’s possible for bothplayers to be penalised, one for the foul andone for exaggeration. A similar law, appliedcorrectly, would do a lot for football.

Price – I complain about paying £10 to go to acinema to see a film that I enjoy, but will hap-pily pay £17 to stand in the cold and watchfootball that bores me … it makes no sense.(Okay that one’s probably my own fault forbeing stupid.)Wages – It’s big business and the market isthere, but £300,000 per week plus incomefrom sponsors etc. is unfathomable to me, Idon’t even know how I could spend that kindof money.The Off Season – Much as I dislike aspects offootball, come August I can’t wait for a newseason!

Five Things That Annoy Me by Jan Yeo

Burly veteran

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For those of you expecting a coherent, well-argued article (probably nobody), I’m afraidit’s going to be rather a rambling, randomrant. However, I wish to point out that I’vebeen doing this since before half the currentworld population were born, so trust me. Justtrust me.

Seemingly the scourge of the modern game isdiving or simulation or whatever you care tocall it.Whetherit be thedeliberatepratfallover noth-ing,puttingyour leginto anopponentand falling (lest we forget, Michael Owenagainst Argentina at France 98), the archedback and scream whilst flying through the air,or, the latest development, turning to appealto the ref whilst in mid-air. These may alsoencompass cases of exaggeration: drawingthe referee’s attention to a foul or shirt pullby going down theatrically. Gareth Bale’s ca-reer in the Premiership may have been fore-shortened by the bookings he received fordiving, when often it was shown that he maywell have been fouled. What sprang to mindwas the quote about Bob Beamon’s worldrecord long jump in Mexico: “He didn’t jump,he flew.” Interestingly, I’d written most ofthat before the Morecambe game. To mymind, on the night, it looked like Wheelerdived, but of the two mates I stood with, onethought he’d been fouled and the otherthought he’d exaggerated being clipped bythe defender. Watching it again on TV, thechallenge bore no relation to where the ballwas, but equally no relation to where Wheel-er was, and it appeared the former Staines

man could’ve hurdled the “offered” leg ratherthan falling over it. Whatever your opinion,there can be little doubt that Andy D’Urso gotit right. But also little doubt that he got itwrong because he made both decisions. Mov-ing back to “simulation” in general, I feel thatperhaps now that ITV have lost all football,they may be in the market for a football-based talent/celebrity show. Hence, I will bepitching to them a replacement in the Satur-day teatime slot for Splash! with celebritiesbeing taught how to “simulate” by the likes ofDidier Drogba or Luis Saurez, or possibly SteveNeville, formerly of this parish, whilst a panelof Football League referees give points forstyle, with maybe Arsene Wenger after hisslightly waspish “Robben dived well” post-Champions League match comment. If any-body could master Saurez’s “stone cold stun-ner” handstand they should walk it.

And talking of ITV football coverage, I noticethat their competition trailer, hosted by AndyTownsend, has changed the word that shouldbe texted from “CUP”, which it was originally,to “WIN”. I’m assuming this is because peopletried to text “CUP” with Andy Townsend inmind and texted a different word that startssimilarly.

Those who had been calling for the managerto be sacked will have noted that it’s not theinstant panacea that they think it is. Torquay’sChris Hargreaves and Northampton’s ChrisWilder have not turned things around, Ful-ham and Portsmouth have sacked the menthey had brought in to save their season andFulham then appointed Pen-fold when they really needDangermouse. All new mana-gerial appointments shouldbe accompanied by the rider:“Fortunes can go down aswell as up, past performance should not beused as an indicator of future expectation.”

Arc of a Diver by Sexton A. Blake

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The City programme for the Fleetwood gamehad a feature on what happened on the daythat Pat Baldwin was born, which stated thatZaheer Abbas had scored his hundredth hun-dred but the programme failed to use theGuardian’s headline from when Zaheerscored 1,000 runs in a month for the secondtime for Gloucestershire: Happy Day, ZaheerAgain.

There was wailing and gnashing of teethwhen Alan Gow was loaned out to Bristol Rov-ers. Looking at Gow’s career record, he hasonly stayed longer at two clubs than he has atCity – Airdrie and Falkirk early in his career –and has been nomadic since those two, rarelystaying anywhere more than a season. Peopleargue that he is a player capable of changing agame, but when did he last do so for City? Inmy opinion, he has only played consistentlywell when chasing a contract and has oftengiven the impression of wanting to be else-where – such as persistent rumours of a re-turn to Rangers. Whether he gets bored by

staying too long at one club, or for whateverreason, it would seem time for Gow to moveon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him prosperinitially once free of injury, although whetherthat will be at Bristol Rovers now John Wardhas been “kicked upstairs” remains to beseen.

Someone on Exeweb has suggested that if theclub had any business acumen it should“slash” prices. The idea of a business is tomaximise revenue, but selling admission to a

football match is not like selling baked beans.If the price of a tin of beans goes up, thenpeople willswitch brandsto a cheaperone, and con-versely a pricedrop may per-suade people toswitch from a dearer brand. Some will stickwith the dearer brand because they preferthe taste. In the case of football, “brand loyal-ty” is much stronger, making it relatively priceinelastic. In fact, it was argued that this loyal-ty to clubs was open to exploitation and pos-sibly the best thing a club could possibly dowas charge their core fans as much as possi-ble, such as, say, £90 for a shirt. If, for in-stance, City were to halve admission priceswould it result in a 100% or greater increasein attendance and thus an equal or greaterrevenue? If it is to be assumed that the stand-ard of football is irrelevant then why aren’tthey packing them in at Alphington at £3 atime for 90 minutes’ entertainment? If pricesrise there are three options open to those nolonger willing or able to pay the price: stopgoing, start supporting another (cheaper) clubor watch another sport. In City’s case, the lasttwo would mean either watching Torquay –the nearest League club at the time of writing– or local league football, or the Chiefs, whichis more expensive anyway. I would argue thatfootball is so outside the usual economicmodel – customers make choices, supportersdo not – that price cutting is unlikely to bringin enough extra “punters” to increase overallrevenue, even through increased sales ofmerchandise, food etc. I would further con-tend that the only thing really likely to in-crease revenue is a winning side: people willpay to watch winning football, the vast major-ity of people will not watch losing football atany price. Likewise, sponsors and advertiserswish to be associated with winners. If onlythere were a way of guaranteeing a winningteam.

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This article was produced and submitted aday late (apologies to the editor). I could saythat this was engineered to coincide with thestart of the 2014 season (Sunday 6 April),however that would be a lie.

Back in 1998 Paul Tisdale applied his craft inFinland with Finnairin Palloilijat, or FinnPa asthe club was more commonly known. Inciden-tally 1998 became the club's last season ofexistence when FinnPa was relegated to theFirst Division after losing to Tampereen Pallo-Veikot in the relegation play-offs. Unfortu-nately something Paul Tisdale has sampledwith Exeter City in recent years, and seemsintent on flirting with this season.

Incidentally Paul Tisdale’s brief spell in Finlandand Greece did not see him feature in theSportsmail’s top 50 British footballers to playabroad ….

Anyone remember Chelski signing a Finnishwonder kid called Mikael Forssell? Well, he isback playing in his native country for lastyear’s champions HJK. Did you know that onhis pre-season debut for Hannover, Mikaelscored 10 goals including an eight-minute hat-trick in one friendly game against amateurs FCBoffzen?!

The 2014 Liigacup (League Cup) has alreadybeen won by the premier division newcomersSJK after a 1-0 win in the final against VPS.2013 league champions HJK did an “Arsenal”and fielded a youth side in their semi-finalagainst SJK and were beaten 1-0. In the wordsof Alan Hansen, “you can't win anything withkids”.

Veikkausliiga (founded in 1990) is the premierdivision of Finnish football, comprising the top12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor isthe Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus,

hence the league's name. Prior to 1990 thetop division was called Mestaruussarja (cham-pionship series), and had been since 1930,which was an amateur or semi-professionalleague.

Beneath the premier division there are a fur-ther seven tiers to the football league, en-compassing some 810 teams in total. Withthe lower divisions in the league system beingadministered by the 12 district organisationsof the Suomen Palloliitto.

Currently the Finnish football league currentlyranks at number 36 in the UEFA performancetables for club performances in Europeancompetitions. To put this into perspective,even Exeter City FC might manage to avoidrelegation in the Finnish Premier Division lastseason. In fact our form is not to dissimilar toRoPS who finished in 11th place, in doing sothey also qualified for the Europa Leaguethrough the fair-play system!

If the above all sounds very attractive and youwant to consider a football career in Finland,some of you might have to take a pay cut todo so. In 2010 the average annual salary withfringe benefits for a league player was a littleover £20,000.

For any of you who are all of a suddenVeikkausliiga fans (and can understand Finn-ish) based on this high-quality article, there issome good news. VeikkausTV, the Finnish bet-ting site, will be showing 50 live matches thisseason.

I hope that gives you an insight into club foot-ball in Finland, the next article from me willlook at club football in a place where ExeterCity “legend” Lee Sharpe went to after hismemorable spell with the club … Iceland.

Football Globetrotting by Matt Lemon

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This season saw theintroduction of theU21 PremierLeague Cup, a com-petition which, de-spite the name, isopen to all Premierand FootballLeague academies.

It starts as a regionalised competition furthersplit into categories one to three dependingon the grading of academy facilities and aimsto help the transition of young players intothe professional game by being what it de-scribes as “a meaningful competition” withmatches often being hosted at home stadi-ums rather than training grounds.

We currently have a Grade 3 academy, whichsaw us alongside clubs such as Argyle, BristolRovers and Bournemouth. In Grade 2 were,amongst others, Crystal Palace, QPR andSwansea City and, as if such sides didn’t rep-resent a tough enough challenge, Grade 1contained the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea andSouthampton. 52 clubs entered in total and,being a Grade 3 side, we had to negotiate twoqualifying rounds.

The first of these saw us drawn at home toTorquay, a match we breezed through 4-1(does that sound familiar?). The second quali-fier looked to be a much harder prospect aswe were drawn away to Crystal Palace. Palacehave a reputation for producing home-growntalent but, undaunted, our boys were trium-phant, winning 3-2 on the night, a brace fromTom Nichols and Matt Jay with the winner.

Into the hat for the last 32 and City facedSouthampton. If you thought that Palace hada reputation for producing youth talent,

Southampton were on the next level, GarethBale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamber-lain being some of the recent graduates fromtheir academy. However, the City youth tookto the Park and saw them off 2-0, with JimmyKeohane and a Jake Gosling penalty doing thebusiness.

And so on to the last 16 where there re-mained the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Evertonand Chelsea. City were drawn at home againstChampionship side Blackburn and dominatedthe game to see them back off up to Lanca-shire, winning 2-1 despite going behind, withgoals from Scot Bennett and Jimmy Keohane.

City now faced Burnley in the quarter finalwith Man City’s ominously named Elite Devel-opment Squad awaiting the winners. Howev-er, the excellent run was to come to an end asCity ultimately lost 3-2 after extra time in agame that won Burnley few fans thanks totheir largely negative tactics.

Whilst we can all bemoan what’s been alargely forgettable season for the first team,one thing we can rightly be proud of is thework of our academy and the progression ofthe U21 side in this competition, especiallywhen Tisdale has emphasised the importanceof the youth to the future of the club as awhole. It’s almost inevitable that, sooner orlater, the cream of the crop will leave for larg-er clubs but one huge advantage we have isthat this is a group of players who have grownup together and know each other in a waythat would be nigh on impossible to coach.If, therefore, we are able to keep the nucleusof this side together, in the short-term atleast, then we may be able to move on fromthis season and look forward to more excitingtimes ahead.

The Youth of Today by Steven Chudley

34

The post has bean fludding in like a Somersetlevel sins issoo 3 of Sumsuny day. I have a fulpijinhole and there is eeven a leter from a fel-low sSd )as we cal it( riter, Mr Poletiss whowants to now if Iam the vilage ideot. That wasa longtime aggo, Mr Poletiss when Kirton wasa village LOL. I hav graduated and now Iamthe city idiot. My ambishun nows no bounceROLF.

My old frend Taggy rote to me to see if I wasgoing Brzzil. Itts’ gottobe beter than turkey

for a holliday. The Englishreiveera ROLF. Babycoomvillage of moddels  LOL.Taggy probly wants to shome the places he scowtedon his scowting trip toBrzzil last yeer. A few larg-

ers in the sun LOL. I now a few things aboutthe travvel busness and I now that it wil be aexpensiv trip although the larger is cheep. Butat the sametime it is important to mark theaniversry of the cityboys playing the Brzzilianfirefihgters I think it was ten yeers aggo. Orwasit the Italyan firemen? That was a bigdayfor the clubb and we will never forget it becoswe have a third kit to rember it and a day evryyeer. The trubbel is I carnt’ afford it, but Ihave seen a sine on Credy highstreat for a

speshulofferfor a brzzillianand I have de-cided to getone of themto mark thebigday in flum-mynenser. I

have never been in a laydees hairdresers be-foor, so it wilbe memorable in so many ways.If it goes wel, maybe taggy can trie it wen hegetsback from Brzzil. Note to ed plees insertpicher of a brazillian heer [Ed. This is a familypublication].

Sumwun called Bergwist rites to say that hehopes the cityboys rember him. He is theplaya who they met for a litell wile erlier thisseesun. He hopes to be back next seesun. Idont’ now who he is. I get sum stranje postLOL. ROLF.

I alsso fownd a leter fromsumwun called Baxter. Idont’ think that it is so-phy-allice as the restran-ing order dose not alowher to contact me. Anny-way the leter says whydont’ you support thechefs insted. Joyn the de-fecters and come to digby to see how the egis chased. This leter was a big surprise. I thortpeepel new that after the sooffley insident incatering shcool Iam not aloud in the kichenagane withowt a responsble addult arownd.That was wen I ferst met my loyyer. Arfter thefire brigade had cleared the srounding arealike old brzillian footbalers.

Untill next time, send your leters in the sum-mer to sumsuny Day. For the crickt seesun mypijinhole is the lasst on the rite. Fanmail iswelcum as longas you are not a celebritystorker. For next seesun I want my own ofice.By ishoo 10 I want to be the editer. My ambis-hun nows no bounce LOL.

You’re probably wondering what Kirton will beup to over the summer months. Well, we canexclusively reveal that Kirton has been accept-ed on to the Exeter City fast-track programmeand will be training as the club’s deputy PRand Communications Manager. We wish himall the best in this new venture and hope thathe’ll be able to spare us the time next seasonto continue to share his pearls of wisdom.

35

Got nothing better to doGot nothing better to doon a Saturday afternoon?on a Saturday afternoon?

Division 4 football!*Division 4 football!*Come and join us at St James’ Park,Come and join us at St James’ Park,

cheer as Danny “Captain Chaos” Colescheer as Danny “Captain Chaos” Colesshanks one on to the railway then getsshanks one on to the railway then getssent off, sit back in the comfort of thesent off, sit back in the comfort of the

Flybe and savour a tepid pasty,Flybe and savour a tepid pasty,all for just £29** pay on the gate.all for just £29** pay on the gate.

* Correct at date of print. Not guaranteed for 2014/15 season.** Correct as of 2014/15 season. Does not include pasty.

As disappointing season ticket sales are reported,a new marketing strategy is tried…

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