Exeter City Football Club 

SEASON 1956-57
NO LEAGUE FIGHT-FOR-LIFE AFTER ALL

Finance Against City Splash Signings: But New Men Are Young:

The season of 1956-57 will not, after all the ballyhoo of last April to July, be the foundation-rocking season of fight for Division 3 and fear for Division 4.

Thanks, or maybe no thanks, to the members of the Football League the Exeter City club will not be in a do-or-die struggle to finish in the top half of the table.

Because the League Conference turned down their management committee's proposal to introduce four national divisions this season, Exeter City have only to fight as usual. They will therefore start off with a good League placing to hope for, and a re-ection struggle to avoid, if humanly possible. And the first thing to be said of this normal, run-of-the-mill season is that the supporters' interest in the affairs and prospects of theCity is lower than it has been for some time.
NO ATTEMPT MADE

The general view seems to be that the City are in for their poorest season for a long time, and they have made no attempt to introduce new signings to increase interest. Nevertheless manager Dodgin and his directors have done the best that is possible with the available finance. And it is quite on the cards that the City will have a better season than the last bitterly dis appointing campaign.
And this is the right time to disclose that Mr Dodgin has not had one penny piece to spend on new players this summer. All his new men have not cost Exeter City a thing. Whether or not it is considered that he has done well is dependent upon which of these two views are held.

(1) Is it better to spend wildly to sign "star" names, draw big crowds for the first few games, then probably lose them if the results do not come. As last season, or
(2) Sign men who are practically unheard of down this way, arouse a very little pre-season interest, then get the crowds if and when the desired results do come. As it is quite possible the case will be this season.

The City's newcomers are John Divers and John Ferrier from Clyde, Jim Currie from Falkirk, Eric Phoenix from Gillingham, and Colin Beer, now a professional, and signed from the City "A" team. That is four players who are potentially first-team men and a promising youngster.

THEY ARE ALL YOUNG

It will be seen that there is not much change from last season, except in one respect. They are all youngsters likely to be of more use to the City than most men from higher divisions coming to a small club in the Third Division to take a rest-cure before their eventual retirement. If only one of the five turns out to be a real success Exeter City will have done well. And this is because to fill one position solidly for the next five or six seasons with a young man is better than filling several positions for only a season or so with an old man. That policy of youth takes a long time to mature, and is very likely to exhaust the patience of most Exeter City supporters and even that of some City directors. Everyone trots out the same old platitudes: "We must find and develop our own players," "Bring on youngsters," and the rest when the time comes along for speech-making. But when they have to wait to see those plans becoming a fact it is a different matter. If someone was to hand over 40,000 manager Dodgin could go and get a promotion-winning side in a jiffy. But to be given nothing but the barest materials (plus a let of obstructionist tactics especially from those who supposedly have the good of the club and its best interests at heart) and it takes years of hard determined work. Work which is progressing slowly of necessity, but work which takes one more step forward this season. 

Here are the pre-season comments from the men at the top:
CHAIRMAN SIDNEY THOMAS. "We are in the same position now as have we been in the past 49 years optimistic. A few weeks will be enough to tell us whether we are right to show optimism, but our new players certainly show a lot of promise. This is a testing season for Exeter City, and indeed for all Third Division clubs, and we want every bit of support we can possibly get from the people of Exeter and all the surrounding districts."
MANAGER NORMAN DODGIN. "Naturally I hope for a good season but in this game you can never tell. Last week we had eight men under 23 in one of the practice match teams, and with young players plus a few experienced ones any team has a good chance."

NINE ON TRANSFER LIST
Exeter City placed nine men on the transfer list at the conclusion of last season. The ex-Grecians and their new clubs are:
Hugh Kelly, Weymouth,
Dick Walton, Tonbridge,
Tommy Dunne, Shrewsbury,
Fred Davey, Bridgwater,
Peter Thomas, Newport County,
Fred Worthington, Oldham,
Bill Ellaway, Bournemouth,
Eddie Murphy, Bridgwater,
Ray Iggleden, Goole Town.

The only transfer fee the City received was a three-figure one from Shrewsbury Town for Dunne.

NEVER BEEN BETTER
The decision on whether Mr Dodgin and his scouting staff have worked well in the summer will be made once the results start coming in. But one man on the City staff can take his full measure of praise now, the groundsman Sonny Clarke. For it is a fact that the St. James Park pitch has not looked better since the war. It is green, smooth, and it must indeed be a pleasure to play on it. Certainly the company of sheep have helped, but Mr Clarke has done wonderfully well, almost single-handed, to get the playing pitch into excellent trim. Here are a few details of the City's newcomers.

ERIC PHOENIX
The flame-haired inside-forward, signed on a free transfer from Gill ingham, is strongly built and is quick to open up the game with the sort of passes centre-forwards thrive on. He made 13 appearances for the "Hoppers" in the League last season and scored twice. He started his career on the Manchester City ground staff and moved to Hastings United after completing his National Service.

JAMES CURRIE
This strong, fast-off-the-mark forward from Falkirk has a fine goal scoring record. And in the practice games he showed how he notched 27 goals for the Scottish club's reserve side last season. As he is only 23 years old he is a player with noth experience and the time on his side to improve. He is a keen golfer and a likeable personality, and he looks like being worth the trouble the City manager took in order to sign him.

JOHN DIVERS
Reference to the football annuals of a season ago will reveal a photo graph of the Clyde team which won the Scottish F. A. Cup. On the left of the picture is John Divers, the 24 year old forward, who by virtue of his brilliance in the practices has already become a favourite with the crowd at St James's Park. In the cup final Divers played outside right but it is as an inside-forward that Exeter have engaged him.

JOHN FERRIER
Ferrier is a 26 year old left back who signed for the City at the same time as Divers, and whose careers have run on parallel lines. Together they played for Annfield Juniors, the side which won every honour there was to win in Scottish junior football. Together they played for the Scottish junior international team, and together they joined Clyde and made many first-team appearances. Ferrier at one time displaced Harry Haddock, who played for Exeter just after the war, in the Clyde team.

COLIN BEER
One of the most promising young players on Exeter City's books, Colin Beer, who has signed part-time professional forms, now lives and works at Sampford Courtenay. Ideally built for the centre-forward position, he already shows many intelligent touches, and with regular coaching and training he has a great chance of making the grade.

First Team players 
(See Photo)


Amateurs:- Dennis Major (half), Mike Cleverley (fwd).
Captain:- Arnold Mitchell, vice-capt:- Brian Doyle.
Manager:- Norman Dodgin,
Trainer:- Harry Hanford.
Secretary:- Mr George Gilbert.

Directors:- Messrs S.H. Thomas, J.Lake, A.W.Crawshaw, W.J.R.Heath, A.T.Ford, C.W.H.Hill, J.Rigby, A.S.Line, J.T.Watts, J.Warne, and H.White.
Mr Thomas is Chairman.

ADIVERS THE STAR IN CITY'S FIRST PRACTICE
Lobbett's Great Penalty Save

There is no doubt at all that the star of Exeter City's first public match, at St James's Park, on Saturday August 4th, was the new inside right from Scottish League club Clyde. His name: John Divers. By the time the match was half an hour old this 5ft 5ins ball-playing forward, with the knack of moving into the open space, had captured the crowd's imagination.

REDS 1 (Divers)
BLUES 2 (Sword, Beer)
Half-time 1-1, attendance 2000.
REDS:- Hunter; Doyle, Mitchell; John, Harvey, Porteous; Simpson, Divers, Burke, Willis, Buckle.
BLUES:- Lobbett; Foley, Ferrier; Packer, Parr, Houghton; Thomas, Currie, Sword, Phoenix, Rees.

In the second half Marsh replaced Doyle in the Reds team; Bowkett, Major, and Beer replaced Packer, Houghton, and Sword in the Blues eleven. But while Divers was the star the form of the City's other summer signings was far from disappointing. The Blues won the match, and their forward line, which in the second half included Colin Beer, had plenty of life in it. The new full-back, John Ferrier, impressed as a hard tackler who tries to use the ball well.The first goal came when Sword headed home following a move between Currie and Rees. The Reds equalised when Divers scored after Buckle had nodded down Simpson's free kick.
TWO PENALTIES.
Then in quick succession came two penalties. First Currie was up-ended by John in the act of shooting. Currie took the kick himself and shot a foot wide. Then Divers was fouled by Foley when he was right through. Facing up to Mitchell, the City captain, Lobbett brought off a magnificent save from a shot which had both pace and direction. Rees got the ball into the net in the second half but was adjudged to be offside, and the winning goal was obtained by Colin Beer, who had come on in place of Sword.

"DODGIN'S BABES"
A PRACTICE GAME HIT

Newcomers Got Goals: and Confirmed Good Impression

Saturday August 11th 1956: Dodgin's Babes, the youngsters brought on and coached by manager Dodgin lifted Exeter City's final trial match out of the ordinary. They also gave the 2,000 supporters the glimpse of a possibly happy future. The "babes" consist of eight teen-agers plus six more in their very early twenties. In this game included several of these young players, and the two to impress most were Dennis Major and Graham Rees. Major, still an amateur but probably not for much longer, played at left-half for the Blues, who were beaten 3-1 by the first-team pre bables, the Reds. A tall slim lad, he was cool and deliberate in all his moves. He is, it is true, a one-footed player, but what a left foot it is. Graham Bowkett of Pontypridd came into the Reds team at right - half after the interval and showed the crowd how certain it is that he will make the grade.

REDS:- Hunter; Doyle, Mitchell; John, Parr, Porteous; Simpson, Divers, Currie, Willis, Buckle.
2nd half: Bowkett and Phoenix for John and Willis.

BLUES:- Lobbett; Foley, Ferrier; Packer, Harvey, D.Major; Thomas, Houghton, Beer, Phoenix, Rees.
2nd half: Marsh and Robinson for Foley and Phoenix.

And just to add a little more home-grown interest promising displays were given by John Lobbett and David Robinson, both Exeter natives. For most people the showing of these youngsters overshadowed the rest of the game. This, even though in the matter of goalscoring the City's newcomers had matters all their own way. All four goals were scored by them, Currie, Divers, Phoenix, and in a sense Ferrier, who joined in the scoring with an unavoidable own goal but otherwise played a good game. But the other three will be more than pleased at their success in the matter of goalscoring. Apart from the actual goals the three of them further strengthened the good impressions they gave in the first practice game. Next week the real season starts with the City first team at Coventry and the reserves entertaining Llanelly at the Park.

MONDAY 4th JUNE 1956.

Whilst all the retained men of Exeter City have accepted terms for next season news of a former City player is, Charlie McClelland the former club's outside left has been transferred from Portland to Worcester City,

WEDNESDAY 6th JUNE 1956.

EXMOUTH ROW GOES ON.

Mr H.F.James, secretary of Exmouth Town FC, has again criticised the Exmouth (Exeter City) supporters clubReplying to chairman Mr Scobles remarks of a week ago, he said that Exmouth Town FC, had played friendly matches against the League sides of Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United who had donated all the proceeds of the game to the Town Club, but when Exeter City visited Exmouth they demanded half the gate. When expenses were paid Exmouth Town F.Cwere no better off than playing an ordinary League match, it was said that Exeter City had not returned to Exmouth because they were criticised on a previous occasion but Mr Jesson, retiring chairman of the Town club suggested that they had been more strongly criticised on the field at St James's Park,

TUESDAY 12th JUNE 1956.
NORMAN DOUGLASS FOR PETERBOROUGH.

Norman Douglass, fulback given a free transfer by Exeter City after a year out of the game has signed for Midland League giantkillers Peterborough United, He has had a number of offers from clubs since deciding to return to the game, Including Sittingbourne and Tonbridge.

MONDAY 18th JUNE 1956.

DEVON AND TERMS PLEASE FORWARD.

Another triumph for glorious Devon. A trip round Exeter, the countryside and the coast helped Exeter City make their third signing of the close season, The player on the trip was 24 year old inside forward or centre forward Jim Currie from Falkirk, He travelled down from Scotland liked what he saw, satisfied with the terms offered and signed before returning home last night, was A well built 5ft 10ins and over 12 stone he spent only one season with Flakirk where he made six first team appearances and scored one. In Fakirk reserves he hit 26 goals last season, Before that he was with Shawfield juniors, Former City inside forward John Anderson had been transferred from Dundee to Wrexham.

WEDNESDAY 27th JUNE 1956.
SONNY TAKES A REST.

Sonny Clarke, Exeter City's groundsman has taken a well earned rest, for the Park pitch looks in wonderful condition. He has also been busy with the paint brush numbering the seats and brightening up the St James Road fence, Work has begun on a trainers dugout in front of the grandstandWhen it is completed the Park's trainer's dugout wil fall into line with most big club's groundsThe new covered dugout will not interfere with the view of spectators in the front of the stand. John Owens the ex City winghalf has been offered a two month trial with Bournemouth, He has been out of the game through illness since leaving Exeter.

FRIDAY 29th JUNE 1956.

CITY SIGN GRAFTING INSIDE FORWARD.

Eric Phoenix, 23 year old inside forward transfer listed by Gillingham at the end of last season has signed for Exeter CityRed headed Phoenix, Manchester born and 5ft 10ins, 11stone 81b, started his career on Manchester City's groundstaff and after his National service joined Hastings United. In 1954 he moved to Gillingham last season he made 15 appearances and scored five goals, He is described as a hard grafting intelligent type of player, who has had several offers from other League clubs 

TUESDAY 3rd JULY 1956.

NEW CLUBS FOR DAVEY AND KELLY.

Two Exeter City players at the end of last season, have got themselves fixed up for next termFred Davey has signed for Western League Bridgwater Town where he rejoins former City clubmate Barney Singleton who was with Yeovil last season, Former Irish International goalkeeper Hugh Kelly has joined former City halfback Arthur Coles, who is manager of Weymouth,

FRIDAY 6th JULY 1956.

30 NEW ADDITIONS TO CITY STAFF. Exeter City F.C, have 'signedtemporarily 30 sheep to join their groundstaff in aid of preparing the St James's Park pitchBy nightfall they had happily settled into their new home and they are getting on so well that their originally planned three day stay will probably be extended to a week, by which time they will have cropped the grass really short,

TUESDAY 10th JULY 1956.

BIDEFORD SIGN ANGUS MACKAY.

Bideford F,C, have signed Angus Mackay the Millwall and former Exeter City inside forward. He was placed on Millwall's open to transfer list at the end of last season and had offers from three football league clubs, a Southern League and an Eastern Counties League side. He made 26 appearances for the London side last season,

WEDNESDAY 18th JULY 1956.

CITY PLAYERS ARE BACK.

Exeter City players reported back for training for the 1956-57 season this morning, and right away trainer Frank Houghton took them out for ten miles of road work, This after noon they again had roadwork and exercises. They will not have any ball work until the end of next week.

MONDAY 23rd JULY 1956.

CITY HAD SIGNING ALL SET, THEN-- Exeter City's biggest signing of the close season has fallen through because the player's wife did not want to come to Exeter and did not like the accomodation offered. The player was 22 year old Bradford P.A. halfback Colin Roberts who is on the transfer list at £1,500, Roberts came to Exeter last week, agreed terms, travelled back to Bradford to talk to his wife who declined to move.

TUESDAY 24th JULY 1956.

CANNED MUSIC TO REPLACE LIVE BAND.

Exeter City directors have decided to relay recorded music at St James's Park this season instead of having the Exeter British Railways Southern Region band perform liveThe Grecians Association have had the loudspeaker system overhauled and made new installations to perfect the reception of the music and announcements,

FRIDAY 27th JULY 1956.

OBITUARY.

Mr Fred Cottey died last week only a short while after resigning from the board of directors of Exeter City F,C. The funeral was held yesterday. The wife of ex City wing half Tommy Dunne placed on the open to transfer list at the end of last season has died at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital. They had been married only a few months,

WEDNESDAY 1st AUGUST 1956.

WORTHINGTON MOVES.

Fred Worthington the City inside forward was signed by Oldham Athletic yesterday following the Football League ordering Exeter City to cut his transfer fee, Only Murphy, Iggleden and Dunne of the City's transfer listed men have not been fixed upMurphy has had offers from Crewe Alexandra and Oldham whilst Dunne had an interview with Shrewsbury Town last Monday.

FRIDAY 3rd AUGUST 1956.

Tommy Dunne the wing half transfer listed by Exeter City last season has signed for Shrewsbury Town, they have agreed to pay Exeter City the fee asked.

SATURDAY 4th AUGUST 1956.

DIVERS THE STAR IN CITY'S FIRST PRACTICE.

REDS 1
Hunter: Doyle, (Marsh) Mitchell; John, Harvey, Porteous; Simpson, Divers, Burke, Wills, Buckle. 

BLUES 3
Lobett; Foley, Ferrier; Packer, (Bowkett), Parr, Houghton, (Major); Thomas, Currie, Sword, (Beer), Phoenix, Rees,
Scorers  Reds Divers. Blues Sword, Beer

The 5ft 5ins John Divers, a slick ball playing inside forward from Clyde, with a knack of moving into wide open spaces was the star of the gameThe performances of City's other newcomers were far from disappointing. Currie is a strong, fast player who shoots hard occasionallyPhoenix also a strong player opened up the game well with long play switching passes, while the burly Beer ended a promising show heading the Blues winning goalLast of the newcomers, Ferrier, the only new defender on show, is a hard fullback who uses the ball well.

The first goal came when Sword headed in after a Currie-Rees moveThe Blues equalised when Divers scored after Simpson had nodded down Buckle's free kickThen in quick succession came two penalties, first Currie was upended by John, Currie took the kick and shot a foot wide. Then Divers fouled by Foley when he was right through, Lobbett made a magnificent save from Mitchell's kick which had both pace and direction, Reesdid get the ball into the net after good work by Beer and Major but was given offside. Of City's retained men, the most outstanding fact was that if Parr keeps up this form, he will challenge Harvey strongly for the first team centre half berth,

SUNDAY 5th AUGUST 1956.

EXETER SUNDAY X1 154-7 declared (Harvey 3-52),
EXETER CITY F,C 78 (Thomas 32).

MONDAY 6th AUGUST 1956.

PROFITS HELP IMPROVE PARK. The Grecians Association have set up a ground improvement fund for St James's Park, into which will go a third of all their profitsThe other two thirds will be handed over straight away to the Exeter City directors to be used in any manner they wish, Last season the Grecians handed over £6,500 to the club and that was sapent on new players and houses,

SATURDAY 11th AUGUST 1956.

DODGIN'S BABES MAKE A PRACTICE GAME HIT.

REDS 3
Hunter, Doyle, Mitchell; John, (Bowkett), Parr, Porteous; Simpson, Divers, Currie, Willis, (Phoenix), Buckle,

BLUES 1
Lobett ; Foley(Marsh), Ferrier; Packer, Harvey, Major; Thomas, Houghton, Beer, Phoenix, (Robinson), Rees,

Scorers Reds Divers, Currie, Ferrier og,
Blues Phoenix.

Attendance 2,190,
Dodgin's Babes, the youngsters brought along by manager Norman Dodgin lifted this practice out of a rut and gave City supporters, glimpses of a happy futureEight teenagers plus six more in their early 20s took part and two Exeter lads Dennis Major and Welsh product Bowkett did most to impressThere were also promising displays from Lobbett and Robinson, The showing of the youngsters overshadowed the rest of the game even though in the matter of goalscoring City's newcomers had matters all their own way, All four goals were scored by them, Currie, Divers, Phoenix and Ferrier. Unfortunately Ferrier joined in the scoring spree with an unavoidable own goal, otherwise he had a good gameThe other three will be more pleased at their scoring successApart from the actual goals the three of them strengthened the good impressions they gave in the first practice game.

WEDNESDAY 15th AUGUST 1956. MURPHY FOR BRIDGWATER.

Eddie Murphy the experienced inside forward who has made many first team appearances for Exeter until being transferred at the end of last season has signed for Bridgwater Town. After four seasons at St James's Park he has had offers from Oldham Athletic and Crewe Alexandra, but his wife who comes from Exeter wished to continue to reside in Exeter,

THURSDAY 15th AUGUST 1956. PROGRAMMES - FOUR PENCE.

Third Division football at St James's Park is going to cost more if you buy a programme, for Exeter City have announced that prices for programmes for first team matches will be increased from 3d to 4d to put the price in line with most other clubs and to make up for rising production costsReserve team programmes will remain the same price at 1d.

FRIDAY 17th AUGUST 1956.

MAJOR SIGNS PROFESSIONAL.

Exeter City have signed 18 year old Dennis Major on part time professional forms, An Exeter lad and a product of City's A team, he is an apprenticed Motor mechanic, He made a number of Southern League appearances at the start of last season before he had to have a cartilage operation,

FORMER CITY AND TORQUAY DIRECTOR JOINS ARGYLE.

Mr George Gillin achieved a notable hat trick yesterday when he became a member of Plymouth Argyle's board of directors. The third Devon League club he has served in that capacity, Exeter City chairman Mr Thomas said that he received a letter from Mr Gillin yesterday resigning from the City board. It was rather sudden as they did not know that Mr Gillin was joining the Argyle board. He joined Exeter City last year from Torquay where he had been chairman at one time.