TUESDAY 11th APRIL 1967.

TAKE HEART CITY !

BRENTFORD 3.
Phillips; Hawley, McKenzie; Higginson, Gelson, Thomson; Curley, Ross, Bedford, Reeves, Docherty,

EXETER CITY 1.
Smout; Smyth, Ley; Wilkinson, Harford, Thompson; Stuckey, Blain, Ryan, McNeil, Godfrey.

Scorers:
Brentford Bedford 3,
Exeter: Ley.

Attendance: 7,800,

Take heart Exeter City! On paper a 3-1 defeat away from home does not speak too well of a team but the side should have restored a lot of confidence in themselves despite being beaten. They did not play that badly. In the second half they produced some of their best football for weeks, they attacked incessantly despite three goals down and they looked a different side, more relaxed and more confident, But for Brentford's goalkeeper Phillips, City would have score dmore than once, a 30 yard shot and goal from George Ley. The same player saw an identical shot rebound from the bar, City were not completely outplayed in the first 45 minutes, their build up was not as direct as Brentford's. The man who beat City was Bedford who scored a first half hat trick, Jim Ryan had the ball in the Brentford net after 34 minutes, but the referee awarded a free kick, It was a good clean entertaining game to watch and if Exeter can reproduce this second half form against Southport on Saturday, they have nothing to worry about,

LOWEST GATE.
The most disastrous thing about last Saturday's visit to Rochdale was not the result but the fact that the attendance was the lowest at any of Exeter City's games for many years, just 1,294 bothered to make the journey to Spotland, The alarming thing to the City was that thay returned from that 500 mile round trip with receipts of only £100, which is the minimum amount the home club can pay their visitors as share of the gate receipts. Try getting a weeks wages for over 20 professionals out of that, let alone travelling and hotel expenses, Exeter have not played before such a low attendance as that since the War. Indeed there are only two other games where the attendance has been below 1,700. They were in May 1963, again at Rochdale when the gate totalled 1,403. And at Southport in January 1964, when only 1,618 spectators were present,

WEDNESDAY 12th APRIL 1967.

FRANK BROOME ACCEPTS MANAGER'S POST.

The man who has proved to be one of Exeter City's most successful managers, Frank Broome, is officially accepted the position and will be arriving at St James' Park in the next three weeks to take Australia. City chairman up his duties. He received a cable from Australia, saying "Accept position at terms stated," Added Kerslake; In the course of a conception, the present position of the city has been fully explained to Mr Broome, together phone convert future policy. He understands exactly what the position is and has agreed to come. Br Broome and his wife have expressed their eagerness of return and he is looking forward to accepting the challenge. The board realise there has been a loss of confidence between the supporters and the club and look on this as being the first step to rebuilding Exeter City. We all know things have not been good this season and hope that supporters will now our round and back Mr Broome and the board in an effort to rekindle the atmosphere and enthusiasm of our formation season. Hard things are sometimes said about Exeter City but it is encouraging to know that a former manager, who knows the club and it's supporters is so keen to come back."

THURSDAY 13th APRIL 1967.

NO AXE TO GRIND SAYS BASFORD.

If Exeter City had not dispensed with the services of Mr Jock Basford last weekend he would have probably quit as manager at the end of the season, He said today that he has no axe to grind, the directors were at liberty at any time to terminate his employment. He said during the time he had been with the club he had formed a lot of opinions, and views and had already felt that his future at Exeter City next season was very much in the balance, both from the club's and his own point of view

FRIDAY 14th APRIL 1967.

AXE TO FALL ON PLAYERS ?

The announcement that Exeter City have definitely decided to axe both their reserve and youth teams for next season and concentrate on first team football with only about 15 or 16 professionals was no surprise. The suggestion has been made before, indeed only two months ago, rumours of this move were circulating around St James' Park, Attendances for Western League matches played by the Exeter City reserves team have dropped to around 200 per game, and it was obvious that the club could not go on losing money at the present rate. Certainly the first team was in no state to subsidise the reserves, as the home gates have also been a cause of a lot of anxiety recently. One team means almost certainly dispensing with several of the current playing staff, The City have not succeeded in pleasing any of their supporters in recent weeks and even if they had not adopted this plan for next season, it is certain that they would have had to make room for a lot of new blood in their Fourth Division side. The club's directors are not going to be satisified with half measures and one can expect to see the biggest clear out of players in the club's history,

DAVID BAGLOW REJOINS BARNSTAPLE TOWN.
David Baglow, a Barnstaple youngster who looked a most promising footballer for the future when he left North Devon to join Exeter City as an apprentice, has now rejoined Barnstaple Town, With no colts or reserve sides at St James' Park next season, his contract has been cancelled to enable him to rejoin his home town club