Exeter City Football Club

1960-1961.

WEDNESDAY 1st JUNE 1960.

EX CITY CHAIRMAN IS DEAD.
The death occured in the early, hours today at Falmouth of Mr Albert Stanley Line, the former Chairman of Exeter City F.CHe was 51Mr Line who came from Coventry to start a business in the West Country retained an interest in Exeter City until he died. After being a director of the club for under twelve months, he was made chairman and during his time the club had its most successful season for years,

GLEN WILSON EAGER TO START WORK.

It took Glen Wilson just two days to sell his house in Brighton and move to Exeter to take over his new job as player/manager, He says that there is a lot of work to be done and he wants to get down to it as soon as possible. He will be relying heavily on trainers Eddie Nash and David Pryde to inform him about the styles of players retained by City. A native of Newcastle, Mr Wilson has had a solidly successful twelve year career with Brighton as a winghalf. He has been their captain for the past seven years and has had several representative honours. Meanwhile Glen, his wife and child are waiting to move into an Exeter clubhouse.

THURSDAY 9th JUNE 1960.

CITY PUT UP WAGES.

Exeter City first team men vill earn £18 per week with the incentive of going up to £20 if they can get into the first four next season.

TUESDAY 14th JUNE 1960.

CITY HOPE IS IMPRESSED.
Exeter City's player/manager Glen Wilson spent most of yesterday showing a prospective player round the Cityy and District. Mr Wilson says he was impressed and there was a possibility that he will sign for City, The players will not be named yet but he is one of four or five that Mr Wilson has mentally labelled "Exeter City for next season,

THURSDAY 16th JUNE 1960.

RACKLEY JOINS ROVERS.

Bob Rackley, transfer listed Exeter City left vinger has signed for Bristol Rovers, 19 year old Rackley came to City two years ago after playing local football at Teignmouth. He was a regular reserve team member last season.

FRIDAY 17th JUNE 1960.

New Exeter City player/manager Glen Wilson has made his first signing for the club, he is Peter Gordon an inside right or outside right from VatfordGordon cost Watford £2,000 just before the start of the 1958-59 season, when he signed from Norwich City, who he had joined in December 1949. Last season his first team appearances were limited to four. He is a player capable of holding the ball and scheming openings. Aged 28, born at Northampton, he is 5'9" and 11st 81b. City have to pay around £1,000 for his transfer,

TUESDAY 21st JUNE 1960.

OLIVER RETIRES.

It is reported that former City skipper and centre half Ken Oliver is retiring from football, Ken was injured towards the end of last season and was not retained by Exeter. He is comfortably settled with a sports fire in Derbyit is no surprise that he is hanging up his bootsOliver's left foot is still encased in plaster,

TUESDAY 28th JUNE 1960.

POSH SIGN TREVOR ATKINS. Trevor Atkins, Exeter City's transfer listed right winger has signed for newly elected Fourth Division club Peterborough UnitedAtkins had the chance of going to several non League clubs before he finally decided to go North. He made two appearances for City last season and scored two goals, at 18 he was looked on by some as one of City's best prospectsNelson Stiffle has had his £750 transfer fee cut to nothing, after an appeal to the Football League. He has received two offers from League clubs and will probably make up his mind this weekend,

THURSDAY 30th JUNE 1960.
£200 A WEEK MORE NEEDED.

Exeter City supporters are going to have to pay more for their soccer next season, enough to give the club an extra income of about £200 per week, Chairman Mr Gillin says that the money will be used for everyones benefit, The prices:- Ground 2s. 6dStanding enclosure 3s, Enclosure seats 4s. Grandstand seats 6s, Season

GROUND IMPROVEMENTS 

There was a lot of talk last season and in the early months of the close season about ground improvements at St. James's Park, and out of all the talk and all the suggestions put forward the only point on which agreement was reached was that improvements to the ground and the club headquarters in general are long overdue and badly needed.

Exeter City like many other clubs are years behind with the matter of their ground. With not the money available to launch out on a big scheme, it is hard to attempt to do anything about St James's Park, because as soon as one piece is patched up another needs doing, and the fact is that Exeter City, like most English League clubs, missed the boat years ago.

THE SPORTING BOOM

What the City should have done was to cash in on the sporting boom just after the war and put their admission prices up. People would have gladly paid it at the time, and by now the club would have had enough extra money to avoid its troubles. And even before this they should have made a proper plan for their
ground. Every club should have a big plan drawn up, so that they know what their ground will look like eventually. They could have planned for super stadiums and just built a piece at a time.

After a good season they could have erected a brand new grand-stand or built up the terracing and general accommodation. And after not such a good season they could have just done as much as the money allowed and built it piece by piece. But when they had finished, it would have been a really worthwhile ground. When the question arose at the end of last season about the prospects for the one to come it was stated by the chairman that they would have to wait and see the outcome of the situation regarding the club's manager, Mr. Frank Broome, who at the time was as being considered for and was considering four other jobs, and until they knew the result of this they could not do anything. What happened then was that Mr Broome decided to sever his association with Exeter City and to accept one of those four other jobs, and on May 12th he became the manager of Southend United, a club which managed to get itself into the Third Division at the same time as Exeter City fell into the fourth.

GLEN WILSON OF BRIGHTON

So for the sixth time since the end of the war the managership of the City Club was vacant, and in the wake of Messrs George Roughton, Norman Kirkman, Tim Ward, Norman Dodgin, Bill Thompson, and Frank Broome comes Glen Wilson, from the Brighton and Hove Albion club, the new appointment being confirmed exactly two weeks after the resignation and departure of Mr Broome.  The new manager, who like several others who have held the reins at St James's Park, is a player-manager, so he will be seen on the field as well as behind the manager's desk. At the age of 29 years he will be one of the youngest football managers in the League, and as this is his first crack at this job no-one of course knows how he will fare, exactlly what he will do, or how he will decide the best policy to adopt towards the task which will face him, all of which boils down to how he will set about the job of getting Exeter City out of the Fourth Division, which is the No. 1 priority. As a player Glen Wilson, left half-back, has enjoyed a very distinguished career with Brighton for the past eleven seasons since coming down South to link up with them after a couple of years with Newcastle United, the famous club of his home town. In those eleven seasons with Brighton Glen Wilson, whose brother is Joe Wilson, the Notts Forest full-back, has played about 450 League and Cup games, and as he is known to be keen on coming up behind his forwards and trying a shot at goal he has had his name on the score-sheet many times. So whatever he turns out like as a manager the City can satisfy themselves that they have certainly got a player of far more than average ability.

MONEY CAN BE SAVED ON TWO MOVES

A lot has happened at St James's Park during the summer, apart from the departure of the old manager and the arrival of the new one. The City have for the first time in many years drastically cut the size of their playing staff and entered one team in the Western League instead of having sides in the Southern and South-western Leagues. They will, it is estimated, save about £5,000 during the season by doing this. Last season the reserve team had to make many long-distance trips for their away games in the Southern League, to such places in the Midlands as Kidderminster, Burton, Rugby, and Corby, to Cambridge, Sittingbourne, and Guildford and other towns round the London and Home Counties, and to South Wales. This year the team will be able to leave for every away match on a coach on the morning of the game.

THE LEAGUE CUP, AND MANCHESTER UNITED

All but five of the 92 clubs at present comprising the Football League (namely Arsenal, the Wednesday, Tottenham, West Bromwich, and the Wolves) have entered their teams in the new League Cup competition. And nothing is more certain that a gigantic slice of good fortune has come the way of Exeter City, for as it is understood that the main purpose of the scheme is to provide an extra source of income via the gate receipts, what better could Exeter City do if they were allowed their own choice of opponents in the opening round than to pick the very ones that have been selected for them by the "luck of the draw" as it is known, and in this case true.

For the team which will run out on to the St James's Park pitch to play the City in the new Cup Competition is none other than that of Manchester United, the "Busby Babes" themselves. And it is barring accidents, injuries, or any other mishaps that the Manchester side will include among its stars our own Maurice Setters, of Honiton, Crediton, Exeter City, and West Bromwich Albion, who since last spring has been a Busby-ite!

Unfortunately this essay has to be ended on a note of sadness, and regret. It is that Mr A.S.Line, Exeter City's former chairman of directors, died at Falmouth on June 1st.

THE NEW SEASON'S PLAYERS

• J.A.Jones, J.Lobbett, goalkeepers
• T.C. Foley, B. D. Whitnall, L. MacDonald, full-backs;
• K.W.Harvey, A.Mitchell, G.Wilson (Brighton and Hove Albion), A.Grant (Brighton and Hove Albion), J. Thompson, N.Packer, P. Williams, A.Williams (Bradford Park Avenue), half backs;
• P.Bennett, G.Dale, P.Gordon (Watford), F.Donaldson (Port Vale), J.Wilkinson, G.Rees, E.Welsh, B.Harrison (Southampton), forwards.

• G.Hunter to Yiewsley,
• E. Calland to Port Vale,
• J.Emery to Barrow,
• P.Rapley to Cambridge United,
• R.Cragg to Weymouth,
• N.Stiffle to Coventry City,
• D.Butterworth to Hyde United,
• M.Cleverly to Barnstaple,
• T.Atkins to Peterborough United,
• B.Pulman to Ramsgate Athletic,
• A.Micklewright to Nuneaton Town,
• R.Rackley to Bristol Rovers.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr S.Thomas president,
Mr J.Rigby vice-president,
Mr George Gillin chairman,
J.G.Warne,
H.L.White,
A.W.Crawshaw,
J.Cowley.

Secretary, Mr G.J.Gilbert.
Manager, Mr G.E. Wilson.
Trainer, Mr E. Nash.

NEW MEN SHINE IN EXETER CITY'S TRIAL. AND WILKINSON GETS A HAT TRICK.

Saturday August 13th 1960.

REDS 5 (Wilkinson 3, Gordon, Thompson)
WHITES. 0 

Played at St James's Park.

Reds: Jones; Foley and MacDonald; Mitchell, Harvey, and Thompson; Harrison, Gordon, Wilkinson, Donaldson, and Dale.

Whites:- Lobbett; Packer and Dubois; Grant, A.Williams, and P.Williams; Welsh, Rees, Bennett, McAuley, and Irons.

Although all eyes were naturally focussed on the new players and how they would perform it was one of the old hands, Wilkinson, who took the chief honours in the City's public practice match. Wilkinson did the hat-trick with three fine goals, each one being a header, in the 15th, 33rd, and 65th minute. But for sheer football ability the newcomers on the Reds' right wing were the pick of the players on view. Harrison is a speed merchant who knows what to do with the ball when he has made his run, and Gordon seems to have all the inside forward's attributes, hard work, ball control, and a good shot. All the City's old hands turned in useful performances, and it is worth remembering that Wilkinson's first two goals were supplied by centres from Dale, who still plays the game at his own pace, but still gets results. 

• If Exeter City can continue to play football the way it was played in the trial match they ought to be in for a very good season.