FRIDAY 18th OCTOBER 1957. BLACKMAN STAYS WITH IPSWICH.

Chalk up a defeat for glorious Devon, after Ron Blackman the Ipswich centre forward and his wife decided that they preferred East Anglia to Devon. Mr and Mrs Blackman looked over the City and a house yesterday, they stayed overnight at the City manager Bill Thompson's house and they met the City chairman Mr A,S,Line at St James's Park this morning. Then came the blow, their home is established in Ipswich. They are happy there and feel that they could not be as happy in Exeter, The City chairman said that he was naturally disappointed that Blackman could not be persuaded to sign, and the search for forwards would go on,

SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER 1957.

CITY LUCKY THAT DEFENCE SHONE.

EXETER CITY 2
Hunter; FoleyMitchell; John, Harvey, Simpson; Robinson, Currie, Atkinson, Churns, Wilson,

NORWICH CITY 2
Oxford; McCrohan, Ashman; Wilson, Butler, Stewart; Gavin, Gordon, Hunt, Crowe, Coxon,

Scorers
Exeter City Foley, Robinson,
Norwich Coxon, Ashman

Attendance 7,414,

Exeter City remain only one spot away from the depths of the Third Division South. They drew with Norwich City instead of scoring the goals that their superiority earned them and starting on the trek to the halfway mark of the League table. It is no longer news, but established fact that the present strength of the team is not good enough and Exeter look certain to finish the season below halfway and become a Fourth Division founder member City scored two goals and should have had moreThe first came in the eleventh minute, Foley scored his first ever League goal and danced with joy when his 30 yard lob was missed by Oxford and it bounced into the net via an upright. The second goal came in the 53rd minute, a perfectly placed header by Robinson following an equally perfectly placed centre from Wilson,

Norwich had equalised in the 41st minute, Hunter should have saved Coxon's low drive, They equalised the second time nine minutes from time when fullback Ashman moved up with his attack, breatsed down a clearance and shot into the net. City's forwards were woeful but luckily for Exeter, the defence held out when under threat, Harvey had a great game with Mitchell and John not far behind him.

Southern League

BEDFORD 6,
EXETER CITY RESERVES 0

Bell, Beer, MacDonald; Lightfoot, Packer, Waterman; Cleverley, Atkins, Rapley, Hill, Skuse,

HARVEY IN SOUTH X1.

Keith Harvey Exeter City's centre half has been selected to play for the Third Division South against the Third Division North at Selhurst Park on October 30th This is Harvey's first representative game and he is the first City player to gain such an honour for many years.

Harvey, Crediton born, has been with City for five years, joining the club as a 17 year old, he was spotted by an e City centre half Fred Davey and Harvey eventually took Davey's place in the first team, Harvey has been the subject of inquiries by Newcastle United, W.B.A and more recently Bristol City.

TUESDAY 22nd OCTOBER 1957.

ROVERS EXCHANGE DEAL?

It is understood that Bristol Rovers have offered winger George Petheridge to Exeter City in exchange for young David Robinson,

WEDNESDAY 23rd OCTOBER 1957

Southern League 

DARTFORD 1,
EXETER CITY RESERVES 4
Hunter ; Foley, MacDonald; John, Mitchell, Currie; Wilson, Atkins, Rapley, Hill, Robinson,

Scorers Exeter City Hill 4,

BIRCH FOR CITY ?

As well as the Bristol Rovers player exchange deal offer which was confirmed today by the City chairman Mr A.S.Line, he said that Exeter had been in touch with the former City boss Norman Dodgin of Barrow about the possibility of signing inside forward Brian Birch who formely played for Lincoln City and Manchester United. 

THURSDAY 24th OCTOBER 1957.

OFFER FOR CURRIE IS ACCEPTED.

Workington transferred former City forward Jim Dailey to Rochdale last week and they have come for a replacement to Exeter City again. Terms have been agreed for the transfer of Jim Currie and now the decision rests with the player who travelled North today in company with Frank Houghton to discuss the move,

GORDON DALE IS CITY OBJECTIVE.

Exeter City's board of directors have given manager Bill Thompson the go ahead to sign Portsmouth winger Gordon Dale. A substantial fee is required for his transfer. City tried to sign him earlier in the season when a fee of £7,000 was quotedThe player has recently recovered from an injury and is playing brilliantly on reports réceived,

Further news on the Brian Birch transfer. It appears that Barrow manager Norman Dodgin approached Exeter City first. He is interested in a couple of clubs transfer listed players and suggested that Exeter might be interested in Birch with a view to setting up an exchange deal,

Meanwhile City have decided not to pursue the exchange deal suggested by Bristol Rovers involving George Petheridge and David Robinson,

FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER 1957.

DALE SIGNS FOR CITY - £7,000 FEE.

Gordon Dale, Portsmouth winger signed on the dotted line for Exeter City at lunch time today. Exeter City have paid out their highest ever fee believed to be £7,000 for the player who cost Pompey £20,000 when they signed him from Chesterfield. He will meet up with the City team at Bournemouth tomorrow where he will make his debut at outside left,

CITY 'A' EXIT.

Exeter City's A' side have been ruled out of the Devon Senior cup for failing to raise a team to meet Heavitree in last week's first round tie, due to injuries and flu, The rules state that in the event of a club failing to fulfil a fixture without sufficient reason for doing so, results in that club forfeiting the match,