EXETER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
The Grecians
Season 1937 1938

Having had to seek re-election two years running, Exeter City cannot afford to be in the same plight at the end of this season. A third application is bound to be fatal to the club's continuance in membership of the Football League. There was a pointed comment made at this year's annual meeting of the Football League Management Committee. It was a depreciation of Third Division Clubs' policy in always recommending the bottom teams for re-election, and it was a significant warning.
Too Many Quick-Change Acts.
Exeter's troubles last season lay not so much in the fact that the players were not good enough, as in the way the personnel was ruthlessly changed. There were a lot too many quick-change acts in the first half of the season, and it was then that the damage was done. It is when alterations are needlessly made that the effect is the reverse of beneficial. Assuming, for example, that the team is showing signs of settling down into a useful combination, there is no justification in swapping the men about. But until the true form of the newcomers is correctly assessed there may have to be revisions here and there. This would constitute reasonable team selection. With thirteen newcomers, Exeter's immediate problem may be that of discovering the right blend. There is always that difficulty which has to be faced by a club seeking to emerge from a period of depression. Clubs which are more happily placed do not find the way so hard. They are able to start the new season more or less where they left off last.
Testing Start.
One point which sticks out a mile is that if Exeter City are able to maintain a fair measure of success in their early matches, then they cannot be a bad side. No club has a more searching September programme. There are visits to Nottingham, Watford, and Millwall all in a row, and another trip to Torquay at the end of the month. This early arrangement of fixtures could scarcely have been worse. But of course there is always the consolation that once they are fulfilled they are over and done with. The relatively easier programme has to come. The prospects of Exeter City in the new season are not very easy to weigh up with so many changes having been made. It is known yet how the new recruits are going to shape, or if the gap created by the transfer of Williams will be bridged successfully. Practice match form, for what it is worth, suggests that the full back department will be sounder in a collective sense. Brown, Ben Clarke, Topping, and Wallace all appear to be fully up to Southern Section standard. Neither is the goalkeeping position at all likely to give rise to anxiety, with Tierney and Walker young, and therefore improving 'keepers available. Wing positions should be as well, if not better, filled than last term; the inside forward berths ought to be at least as good. It is now to be considered how much the effectiveness of the attack will be impaired by the departure of Williams. The blaze of indignation which greeted this transfer has scarcely died down. The point of view of the club supporter, the ordinary man in the street, is that no club can hope to rise above mediocrity if it pursues the policy of transferring its best players. And few can argue with that.
The Responsibility of Bowl.
The responsibility of following Williams will fall upon Bowl, one time inside forward of Swindon whom Blackpool converted into leader of the attack, or Dick Ebdon, the local, who scored a brace of goals in the final practice match. It is to be hoped that one or the other is able to make good the loss of a man who scored 36 League and Cup goals in 1936-37. One of the most popular moves made by the Grecians in the close season was the appointment of Dick Pym as assistant trainer. "Pincher," one of England's best goalkeepers in the postwar years, will be able to give to young players advice which will be of the utmost value, if they take heed. As a youth Pym was centre forward for Topsham St Margaret's. One day he obliged by donning the goalkeeper's jersey in an emergency, and from that day he never looked back. His debut for the City was in a Southern League match 25 years ago, and he remained with Exeter till 1921, when he was transferred to Bolton Wanderers for a record fee, at that time, for a goalkeeper. Exeter City also have a new secretary, Mr Norman Foot. He is one of the youngest Football League secretaries in the game, but is well fitted for the post at Exeter through his training at Torquay, where he was responsible for most of the office work.

GETTING THE GRECIANS' MEASURE.

Exeter City start the season with 24 professionals. The captain is Jack Angus, the only member of the 1930-31 "Cup" team still with the club.


Mr Jack English, the Exeter City manager, states that in seven teen years on the managerial side he has never been without players from across the border. He says that he has had some good ones and some bad ones during that period, but never has he completely lost faith with the Scots. This season he has three on Exeter's pay-roll. Tierney, Walker, and McGill are all Scottish.

DEPARTURES.
The following have been transferred:
Michael Boyle, left back, to Darlington, Arthur Chesters, goalkeeper, to Crystal Palace,
Reg ("Nobby") Clarke, right half, to Aldershot,
Harry Johnson, centre forward, to Scunthorpe United,
Jack Keane, outside right, to Gateshead,
William Owen, outside left, to Newport County,
Tom Scott, inside right, to Hartlepools United,
C.Smith, outside right, to Yeovil and Petters United,
Fred Smith, outside right, to Gillingham,
George Stimpson,right back to Mansfield Town
Fred Urmson, outside left, to Stalybridge Celtic,
Roderick Williams, centre forward, to Reading,
Arthur Young, left half, to Gillingham.

PUBLIC PRACTICE MATCHES.
Saturday, August 14th,  at St James's Park.

STRIPES (Bowl 2, Miles, Liddle) 4 WHITES 0.

Referee: Mr P.G.Croucher.

Linesmen: Messrs S.C.Adams and L.H.McCreedy.

Stripes:- Tierney; Brown, Wallace;
Shadwell, Angus, Coles (second half Davies); Miles, Storey, Bowl, Farrell (second half McGill), Liddle.

Whites:- Walker; B.Clarke, Topping; Pollard, Bamsey, Marks; Coulston, Bussey, Ebdon, Pope, W.H.Clarke.

Saturday, August 21st, at St James's Park.

PROBABLES (Bowl, Liddle) 2
POSSIBLES (Ebdon 2) 2.

Red and whites (probables): Tierney; Brown, Wallace; Shadwell, Angus, Davies; Miles, Storey, Bowl, Farrell, Liddle.
Whites (possibles): Walker; B.Clarke, Topping; Pollard (Coles second half), Bamsey, Kavanagh; Coulston, Bussey (Pollard second half), Ebdon, McGill, N.Pike.