CITY v ROCHDALE

SATURDAY 12th NOVEMBER 1966.

ALL WE WANT IS A GOAL.

EXETER CITY 0
Smout; Embery, Ley; Wilkinson, Harford, Blain; Godfrey, Keeley, McLean, McNeil, Kemmedy,
ROCHDALE 0
Williamson; Connor, Calloway; Richardson, Smith, Taylor; McQueen, Russell, Calder, Jenkins, Storf,

Attendance;

Exeter City failed to score yet again and now have the worst scoring record in the League along with Port Vale of only 17 goals in 16 matches. It was another disappointing showing in front of the smallest crowd of the season, For over an hour City relied on just three front runners who were hopelessly outnumbered by Rochdale defenders, In consequence the first half was a drab affair, Rochdale were not a good side to dominate and there was very little excitement or football of any quality, Early in the second half City moved George Ley into the forward line and the game began to come to lifeThere were more goalmouth incidents and both sides could have scored, Williamson in the Rochdale goal pulled off a couple of fine saves, City cannot afford to drop these home points as they have been doing this season, not against good teams but often against poor opposition supporter's want to see a more open and exciting game of football with Exeter getting goals and two points. The reason they do not score is a combination of poor finishing and a lack of fluent five man attacks.

Comment

There was another famine of goals at St James's Park today when Exeter City failed to score again in front of their own supporters and were held to a draw by Rochdale. It was another unimpressive Exeter performance. They had chances but missed them, and they never gained control of the game. Rochdale also came close to scoring several times, but after a shaky start John Smout did very well in his Fourth Division debut for the City.

Western League 

Taunton v City Reserves 

For their Western League match at Taunton the City Reserves gave a trial to Keith Penfold, an 18 year old goalkeeper from Chard, and another chance at centre-forward to John Wingate, of Exmouth.
WESTERN LEAGUE.

TAUNTON TOWN 1
Bunston; Davis, Parsons; Harris, Cunningham, Hazell; Payne, Chown, Kitchen, Sells, Rackley,

EXETER CITY 1
Penfold; Goad, Nash; Clarke, Harvey, Balson; Stuckey, Richardson, Wingate, Buckingham,

West,

Scorers:
Taunton Kitchen:
Exeter : Buckingham,

Exeter City included so many young players that this result gave them particular satisfactionThe Friernhay player, Roy Clarke, made his Western League debut and came through very well. So did young Keith Penfold making his second appearance in goal, Exeter scored the first goal through Colin Buckingham in the 37th minute, and Kitchen equalised after 73 minutes. A draw was a fair result to a fast and exciting game,

CITY UPSET THE MEDIA.
Press relations at St James' park should be drastically improved. This  season, the City board have appealed for crowds to come and support them, but they do not always tell the Press what is going on. One could cite many instances of poor Press relations at St James' park, On Monday for example - At two o'clock, three reporters, a television team, and a radio interviewer went to the ground waiting for a statement from the club on the negotiations with Mr Blindell, We did not mind waiting, What we did object to was standing outside locked gates and not being allowed on club property while the board was in session. It was a bitterly cold afternoon but at least one person showed some courtesy towards us, He was a member of the Supporters Club who kindly brought us tea which we had to drink whilst standing outside on the pavement outside the main entrance, The club had posted one of the younger players on the main gate presumably to keep the Press out, and when a player or anyone else wanted to gian acess to the ground, he had to knock on the door. At last after shivering for more than four hours, we were allowed to sit in the bingo office while officials prepared for the evening session, Naturally we were grateful for this, but why we could not have been invited in before? We did not want to listen at the keyhole of the directors room, just somewhere to sit and keep warm, Then about a quarter to seven, the door leading to the club's main offices opened and out came Mr Blindell, He had been told the Press had been waiting so long and he came out to apologise to us, Although by that time the television crew had given up becuase by that time it was too dark to film, Mr Blindell then promised a statement within half an hour, Sure enough he came back and the Press entered the boardroom to see club chairman Reg Rose for a statement, I would like to suggest that the next time the board hold a meeting they should include the words 'Press relationshipson the agenda,

MONDAY 14th NOVEMBER 1966.

CITY DIRECTORS STATEMENT ABOUT MR BLINDELL.

A statement to put the record right has been issued by three directors of Exeter City Football Club concerning recent negotiations with Mr Blindell. The statement from messrs J.R.Cowley, J.Rodgers, and L,Kerslake said that the three of them knew of an offer from Blindell on the day before the meeting held last Monday. The offer involved Blindell having share control by the directors selling to him some of their shares, Eventually the board agreed to accept the offer, The statement went on: 

"On the Monday ar Blindell turned up with a completely new offer. He would take over St James' Park for £20,000. The present directors who have got the ground covered for £20,000, so that it does not go to one man, had to agree to leave in their £20,000 free of interest for five years. Mr Blindell agred that we could consider this for the next two or three days in case we changed our minds, and then he would come back and sign up all the arrnagements. But when we had tentaively agreed to his proposals, he suddenly had a change of mind, and immediately decided that he wanted it all signed and sealed that evening before he left the groundIn view of this we reconsidered and some of the present directors decided to make money available to the club and on the advice of the club's solicitors and accountant, who were present at the meeting, it was rejected unaminously by the chairman and four directors, It was agreed that only a short formal statement be issued, but as different reports have since appeared and the three directors have been named as rejecting this offer, they thought they would put the facts before the footballing public,