EXETER CITY AFC

St James' Park, Exeter EX4 6PX

CLUB DIRECTORY August 2001. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ivor Doble (Chairman) Peter Carter (Vice-Chairman) Bernard Frowd OBE (Chief Executive) Murray Couch, Stuart Dawe, Joe Gadston, Michael Vandale

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
Paul Dobson, Sean Kilbride, Dave Newbery, Steve Perryman MBE, Malcolm Shelbourne, Julian Tagg

BEHIND THE TEAM
Team Manager: Noel Blake
First Team Coach: John Cornforth
Football Consultant: Steve Perryman MBE
Director of Youth Football: Eamonn Dolan
Centre of Excellence Manager:Tiv Lowe
Youth Development Officer: Mike Radford
Physio: Damien Davey
Reserve/Youth Physio: Paul Curry
Scout Co-ordinator: George Kent
Community Officer: Tommy Wheeldon

MANAGEMENT STAFF
Football Secretary: Stuart Brailey
Accountant: Pam Gibson
Cashier:Ken Baker

St James' Centre Staff 

Operations Manager: Sally Anne Fenwick
St James' Centre Promtoions & Marketing:
Julie Culver & Sarah Symons
Marketing Department: Keith Hartshorn, Sarah Aldridge
Communications Manager: Claire Longhurst
Website & Ticket office manager: Andrew Crewdson

Stadium Manager: Colin Wheatcroft
Ground Safety Officer: Jim Eastment
Club Doctor: Dr. David Kernick
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon: Peter Schranz FRCS
Social Club Steward: Stuart Price

Pre-Season home friendlies 

Thursday 19th July
Exeter City 1 Yeovil Town 2

Attendance: 1,243 (204 Yeovil fans)

The pre-season bubble of optimism was pierced after just two minutes as Yeovil Town's new striker, Carl Alford,, lobbed Arjan Van Heusden to put the Glovers ahead. And whilst City showed glimpses of what they were capable of, this was overall a disappointing performance. All three close season signings, Jay Richardson, Martin Barlow and Sean McCarthy played for the Grecians, however, unfortunately Richardson was forced to limp out of the action. McCarthy showed what a handful he will be to Third Division defences this season, whilst Barlow worked hard in midfield. It was Paul Read who went closest to equalising when he glanced a header just wide of the post. Read again almost netted when his shot, following a Barlow free-kick, was blocked by the Yeovil keeper's legs. Trainee Marcus Gross, playing his first senior match, made a dream start in the 48th minute when he hit a right foot shot into the corner of the net to make it 1-1. City played a lot better in the second half, although didn't create that many chances, and they paid the penalty near the end when Barrington Belgrave cut through the Exeter defence and slid the ball home for the winner.

Tuesday 24th July

Exeter City 0 Crystal Palace 5
Attendance: 1,701 (374 Palace fans)

Despite the emphatic looking scoreline, this was a much better performance by Exeter, against a Crystal palace side who themselves played some excellent football. The big difference was that the visitors possessed a potent strike force and in Clinton Morrison, they had a player who would not look out of place playing at a higher level.

The Grecians more than matched their opponents for the first half an hour, until Dougie Freedman gave place the lead. After Sean McCarthy volleyed across the foot of the goal, City were then hit by two quick goals just before the break. Morrison danced around Arjan Van Heusden to make it 2-0 in the 42nd minute, and just two minutes later the City defence were guilty of allowing a cross ball run across the face of goal for Wayne Carlisle to score at the far post.

A succession of substitutions in the second half did nothing to help the flow of the game, but Geoff Breslan was unlucky when he burst through the middle of the Palace defence only for his shot to be saved. It was 3-0 in the 67th minute when Freedman took advantage of a miscued shot, which proved to be perfect pass to slot home.

Breslan again had another effort saved by the Palace keeper, and trialist Cherif Diallio brought a superb diving save from the former Torquay number one, Matthew Gregg, who dived low to his right to push the ball around the post. Palace had the last word, however, as Morrison hit goal number five and his second of the night.

Thursday 27th July

Exeter City 2 Sheffield United 1
Attendance: 1.003 (124 United fans)

Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock blamed everyone but his own team for this defeat, citing that Noel Blake had wound up the City players and he was far from happy with the way the Grecians played. Although the game produced four yellow cards, it was interesting to note that City won three free-kicks in the opening 20 minutes, one a cynical foul on Geoff Breslan, and the opening goal also came from a free-kick conceded by a United defender. However, Mr Warnock chose not to mention that. Goalless at half time, this was City's best performance in the pre-season games so far. they took the lead in the 60th minute when substitute Reinier Moor was hacked down on the edge of the box and Kwame Ampadu netted with the free-kick. Seven minutes later Peter Ndlovu equalised when he converted a cross from Paul Peschisolido. City thoroughly deserved their winning goal, and what a cracker it was. The lively Graeme Tomlinson was on the right hand side of the United penalty area, looked up and curled a delightful shot into the net which left the keeper flat footed.

Tuesday 31st July

Exeter City 2 Bristol City 0

Attendance: 1,183 (181 Bristol City fans)

if the performance against Sheffield United was a vast improvement, then this victory against Bristol City was doubly so, as the Grecians played some excellent football and drew the praise of visiting manager Danny Wilson. Exeter made the perfect start when Sean McCarthy netted his first goal for the club, after bustling his way past a defender to fire home after five minutes. Trialist Dylan Kerr, who went on to have an outstanding game, also tested the Bristol keeper, whilst the Grecians defence dealt comfortably with anything they faced.

Bristol City then missed two penalties in the space of five second half minutes, with Stuart Fraser making two great saves, one pushing the ball away low down, and the second, deflecting the kick onto a post. The Ashton Gate side paid the penalty - literally when in the 59th minute Paul Buckle let fly from 20 yards with a rocket shot that zipped into the back of the net. A very encouraging performance all round.

Thursday 2nd August

Exeter City 0 Sunderland 5

Attendance: 4,240

(856 Sunderland fans)

If this had been a boxing match it would surely have been stopped in the first round to avoid any more punishment, and afterwards the promoter hounded, to ascertain why he had organised such a mismatch? For as Sunderland jabbed and attacked throughout, the Exeter City players were all but punch drunk after 21 minutes as they found themselves trailing 4-0. Game over.

This may have only been a friendly, but the gulf between City and Sunderland was as wide as the Grand Canyon. The slick passing and movement off the ball of the Premiership side emphasised just how big a difference there is between that level and the Third Division.

In the first half City appeared to be in total awe of their opponents and were left chasing shadows, apart from a couple of attempts on goal. Keeper Jurgen Macho saved well from Dylan Kerr's long range shot, and then dived low to smother Sean McCarthy's shot from the edge of the box.

Stefan Schwarz put Peter Reid's men ahead in the 2nd minute with a low shot. The home crowd were as stunned as much as the players seemed to be as Jody Craddock and George McCartney made it 2-0, then 3-0, in the 5th and 13th minutes. Daniel Dichio then hit number four in the 21st minute, and it could have been a lot worse had the same player's curling effort been a little lower, instead hitting the top of the City crossbar. Dichio did get his name on the scoresheet in the 59th minute with the best goal of the game. Don Hutchison's superb ball from midfield found Lilian Laslandes galloping down the right and his perfect cross was nodded home.

Substitute strikers Graeme Tomlinson and Reinier Moor worked hard for City in the second half, but in all honesty Exeter never looked like scoring, apart from one occasion. The nippy Moor burst through the middle of the Sunderland defence, but his low drive was blocked by the onrushing Macho.

The Squad 

1 ARJAN VAN HEUSDEN
2 NEIL WHITWORTH 
3 GRAEME POWER
4 PAUL BUCKLE
5 CHRIS CURRAN
6 MARK BURROWS
7 JAY RICHARDSON
8 KWAME AMPADU
9 SEAN MCCARTHY
10 MARTIN BARLOW
11 ANDY ROSCOE
12  PAUL READ
13 GEOFF BRESLAN
14 STEVE FLACK
15 BARRY MCCONNELL
16 JAMES MUDGE
17 GRAEME TOMLINSON
18 ALEX WATSON
19 DYLAN KERR
20 REINIER MOOR
21 MATTHEW LOCK
22 LES AFFUL
23 JAMIE CAMPBELL
24 STUART FRASER
25
26 GARY BIRCH 
27 GLENN CRONIN
28 CHRISTIAN ROBERTS/SHAUN GOFF
29
30
31 LEE ZABEK
32 NATHAN MURPHY 

Manager: NOEL BLAKE
Team Colours: Red & white

THE REAL SEASON BEGINS!
From the Hull City programme 11/08/2001 

The pre-season matches are over, the planning is over, this afternoon we all start the serious business of gaining League points. In what has been a hectic programme of friendly fixtures at St James' Park, we have witness the City play some excellent football, notably against Bristol City, which, if it can be reproduced consistently, augers well for the next nine months. The prize of promotion from the Third Division is going to be harder to attain than ever, with a number of strong looking teams all vying to taste success. The likes of Bristol Rovers, Luton Town, and this afternoon's visitors Hull City are all expected to be there or thereabouts come next April. Then we have those clubs who just missed out on promotion last season who are expected to mount a challenge again. Add to that the unknown quantity of Rushden & Diamonds, the Third Division would appear to be a keenly fought league this season. City boss Noel Blake has recruited five players to his squad. Martin Barlow and Sean McCarthy have made the switch from Plymouth Argyle. Jay Richardson arrives from Chelsea where he was a highly rated member of their reserve team. The experienced Alex Watson moves from Torquay United, whilst Dylan Kerr who played Scottish League football last season completes the quintet. With the injury to keeper Stuart Fraser, it maybe that someone will have been brought in as cover for Arjan Van Heusden before todays game. Whatever the result today, the League is not a sprint - it's marathon of 46 games. Both Exeter City and Hull City will want to get their season of to the perfect start. With Hull having been rejuvenated since the club came out of administration, and a whole host of summer signings, they are expected to bring a huge travelling support with them to add to the opening day of the season atmosphere. There will be a lot of highs and lows for Exeter City before the end of the season, hopefully more of the former than the latter, and the improvement we saw in Midfielder Martin Barlow, one of City's close season signings attendances at matches last season, will continue, as the club makes progress off the field as well with the redeveloped ground and the newly opened St James' Centre. 

Youth Teams 

City Youth Scheme Update 

The Exeter City's youth programme underwent a staffing overhaul Iduring the summer. Eamonn Dolan, who was previously the Centre of Excellence Manager now has overall responsible for the scheme, with the title of Director of Youth Football. Taking over as Centre of Excellence Manager is Tiv Lowe, whilst Mike Radford remains as Youth Development Officer. Tiv Lowe has a wealth of experience at local level, having played for a number of clubs, including Yeovil Town. He is now in charge of the sides up through the various age groups, until the players make their way through the ranks to trainee, then coming under the auspices of Mike Radford, who looks after the Under 17 and 19s teams on the Football League Youth Alliance. The creation of the Centre of Excellence a couple of years ago was a very important step for the Grecians, and gave them a channel for players at a very young age to progress right through the system. This season, no fewer than nine youngsters were signed as trainees having shown great potential with the centre of excellence sides. Already this season we have seen a number of trainees play in the pre-season first team matches, notably Leslie Afful, Jamie Bradford, Shaun Goff, Marcus Gross, Matthew Lock and Reinier Moor. In order to support the thriving youth scheme, associate director Julian Tagg has hit upon a scheme whereby sponsors of the various Centre of Excellence teams can earn a percentage of any future transfer fee if and when a player is sold on.

"Exeter City has to find £20,000 every year to finance its Centre of Excellence and I decided to go out and try to raise it myself with this specific idea," explained Tagg. "If sponsors do receive a part of a fee for a player, it's entirely their prerogative what they do with it. they might want to reinvest it in the club, or just keep it for themselves." For an annual investment of £2,000 in one of City's seven youth sides entitles sponsors to five per cent of money received for any of the youngsters in that age group For each subsequent year of sponsorship an extra five per cent of the transfer fee is shared out by the club up to a limit of 20 per cent. So far local companies Allparts, Exsports, Prestige Nursing and Laser Summer camps have agreed to support four of the teams. "I might be in charge in name only, but everyone as far as I am concerned is on a equal footing," said Dolan. "We all have specific jobs to do and are as important as each other. It has been hard work getting the Centre of Excellence set up, but now we feel that progress is being made. Players are starting to come through, as proved with the intake of trainees this season. "The big advantage now is that we will have been able to monitor young players from the Under 11 age group. By the time they reach 15 or 16 we will have a very good idea as to their potential. We will know them and they will know the club. We have some very good lads at the Centre of Excellence who could go all the way through the system."


CITY YOUTH CAMP

Once again the Exeter City youth squad have been spending part of their pre- season training schedule with the Royal Marines at Poole. A party of 20 players and three staff travelled to Dorset where they were put through a fitness course, as well as playing one friendly match. "The weeks Summer Camp is invaluable in building team spirit and discipline, and is excellent preparation for the long hard season ahead," explained Youth Development Officer Mike Radford. "The week consists of a varied programme of activities, including intense physical training, football coaching sessions, swimming circuits and leisure activities, with games such as soft ball, short cricket, football rounders and five-a-side competitions. We are very fortunate and privileged to be able to use all the excellent facilities at the Camp. We shall also be playing a friendly match against local opposition, Christchurch AFC." Royal Marines Poole have been very generous and supportive over the years, but this season the sum of £600 needed to be raised to cover the cost of the squad's accommodation and vitaling. However, the cost has been partly met by various sponsorships

"We have already received excellent financial support from Bill Wylie (Devondale Electrical Distributors), The Jubilee Club, Pinhoe, Derek Hawkins of Topsham Road, Exeter, Ken Baker from the club office and Keith Hartshorn from the club's commercial department," added Radford.

CITY IN THE COMMUNITY

Exeter City's Football in the Community Scheme are currently out and about the area with a series of summer soccer coaching schools organised. There are also several up and coming courses as follows:-

Aug 13th-16th: King George V Playing Fields, Exeter - Cost £35; Aug 13th & 14th: Colyton Grammar School Playing Fields. £20; Aug 17th Girls Day at Woodbury Park, £10; Aug 20th-23rd: Simmons Park, Okehampton. £35; Aug 20th- 23rd: Mountbatten Playing Fields, Honiton. £35; Aug 28th & 29th: Culm Valley Sports Centre, Cullompton. £20; Aug 28th-31st: Woodbury Park. £35; Aug 30th & 31st: Lords Meadow Playing Fields, Crediton. £20