Fred Mitcheson, who had played for Port Vale and Plymouth Argyle in the 1930s, appeared as a guest for Exeter City during 1945/46 when two interim league competitions - Division Three South (South of Thames) [played until Christmas] and the Division Three South Cup (Southern Section) [played from January] - were organised ahead of a return to ‘normal’ league football in 1946/47. Also playing for the Grecians in friendly games in 1944/45, he later retired to Brixham where he ran a pub. 

Having played for Jarrow, Fred started his professional career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1932 but didn’t have a league outing before moving to Port Vale a year later where he scored 5 goals in 49 appearances. Signing for Plymouth Argyle in November 1935 (93 league matches netting 25 goals), he joined Ipswich Town in 1939 in time to make three appearances in the abandoned 1939/40 season. 

Remaining on the books of Ipswich throughout the war, Fred turned out as a guest player for Exeter City in 1944/45 when he scored a hat trick in his debut for the Grecians in a 6-2 win at Yeovil Town in February 1945. Staying on the scene, he subsequently scored twice for City in nine Division Three South (South of the Thames) fixtures in 1945/46. 

Joining the newly-named Yeovil Town in 1946, he became an assistant trainer with Plymouth Argyle ahead of running a pub in Brixham where he died in 1994.