08 April
On this day in:-
1945
Exeter City had suffered badly from the financial point of view during the war years, and the club's directors launched an appeal for £5,000 as they issued their report and statement of accounts for the year ended June 1944 The sum of money was required to pay the summer wages, engage a first class manager, renovate St James Park and do everything that was necessary to get the club up and running again to take their place in the Third Division South of the Football League, whenever that may arise. The report of the directors stated that when war broke out, the 1939-40 season had only just begun. Considerable success was being achieved in the League matches and a good year was contemplated, but the closing down of the game meant that the whole of the summer wages for 1939, an item running to nearly £2,000 was entirely thrown away, entailing heavy losses to the Company. Since September 1939, St James' Park and the stands had been requisitioned by the military and the income received from that source was only just sufficient to cover expenditure.
1956
Exeter City caused a minor sensation when they left 30-year old in-form forward Ted Buckle out of their side for their visit to Shrewsbury town a game they lost 2-0. However, the reasons for this surprise move were revealed 24 hours after the match. Club chairman Sydney Thomas would say no more than the player had been dropped because of an internal agreement between Exeter City and Buckle's former club, Everton. It appears that if Buckle had played one more Third Division match for the Grecians, then the club would have had to pay Everton a further sum of £500 on top of the £1,500 transfer fee already paid. The Everton club secretary could not understand why his club had been used as an excuse for the dropping of Buckle and furthermore they were not pressing Exeter City for the money, nor had it been discussed at boardroom level at Goodison Park. Exeter City manager Norman Dodgin, and director Albert Line refused to make any comment on the Buckle saga which had upset so many supporters.
1958
Mike Cleverley was signed as a full time professional. The wing-half, a product of Exeter City's 'Ateam had his National Service cut from 2 years to less than 12 months, as he had been invalided out by ear trouble. ironically, it had been ear trouble that kept Keith Harvey on City's playing staff and away from the forces. Inside forward Johnny Nicholl underwent a successful cartilage operation to his left knee. The £4,500 signing from Cardiff City was expected to move into a house in Exeter during the summer, instead of commuting from his Wolverhampton base.
1961
City get a rare away win 1-0 at Accrington Stanley at Peel Park. Less than 12 months later Accrington had resigned from the Football League.
1965
Three apprentices were about to be signed by Exeter City manager Ellis Stuttard, all of whom were 15-years old and local boys. The three were Phil Richardson, an inside forward and former Vincent Thompson schoolboy, who had played for Foxhayes and the Exeter and District Schools side. Bobby House, also an inside forward and went to the same school as Richardson, and played for the same teams, as Exmouth Amateurs. The third player was Chris Taylor, a centre-half, who attended John Stocker School, and was also a member of the Exeter and District Schools side.
1967
After several days of speculation on whether Jock Basford was resigning as manager of Exeter City, and the emphatic denial of such a situation arising by chairman Les Kerslake, the club did a complete about turn, by sacking Basford. Mr Kerslake said that Basford was not under contract to Exeter City FC and had been relieved of his duties as team manager and also given notice to terminate his employment with the club. Basfordwho had joined Exeter as trainer in 1965, was told of the board of directors decision by Mr Kerslake following a meeting held two days earlier. yet only that day, the City chairman had been quoted in the Express and Echo as saying there was no question of Basford resigning instead, only hours later, the board decided to sack him! Approaches had been made to former City manager Frank Broome, who was in Australia, to return to St James' Park for a second spell in charge. The general running of the club in the meantime was left to the board. Broome had originally been appointed as manager in January 1958 and left to become manager of Southend United in May 1960.
1977
It was an Exeter 'Good Friday' for City as an Alan Beer goal secured at 1-0 Win at Torquay keeping the promotion push going.
1989
Darran Rowbotham talked his way into trouble with Exeter City manager Terry Cooper Martin Bodenham became the fifth referee of the season to take exception to the Welshman's backchat as Darran was booked for dissent That resulted in an automatic club fine as well as Cooper commenting: "If we could play darran in a muzzle, we would be alright." 19-year old goalkeeper Kevin Miller had been put on standby to possibly make his Football League debut following the of goalkeeper Dave Walter- sent off against Peterborough United - and the club's other keeper Richard Smeath sidelined with a thigh injuryMiller, had been training with the City in preparation for a possible call up into the first team. City manager Terry Cooper was full of praise for Miller's club Newquay, who had agreed to release the player, despite their quest to retain the South Western League championship. Two players had been offered trainee places for the following season, Tony Frankland from Basingstoke and Lee Annunziata from Exeter Youth Development Officer Mike Radford hoped to recruit a few others, and as a result was holding a trial for 26 young hopefuls at the Cat and Fiddle who were to travel from all over the country. He revealed that it was hoped to take on at least eight trainees.
1990
Exeter City supporters were distinctly unhappy with the ticket allocation that they had received for the match at Torquay United. Around 3,000 City fans wanted to go to the game, but Plainmoor officials had allocated just 700 tickets for the visitors end of the groundThis was hopelessly inadequate, as the Grecians charged towards the Fourth Division championship. There was further bad news concerning the knee injury sustained by Darran Rowbotham It was revealed that he would not play again that season and that the injury was so serious that he was unlikely to make the start of the next season either. Manager Terry Cooper said: "There are two or three experts in England and we will do all we can to get Darran the best treatment." Defender Angus McPherson had his loan arrangement extended until 6th May The 21-year old was on loan from Glasgow Rangers and had already made a big impression on both the management and the supporters with his consistent displays.
1994
A packed Fans Forum were told that Exeter City FC were more than £900,000 in debt when the latest set of accounts for the 12 months to June 1992 were published the previous December. Director Murray Couch admitted that City had undoubtedly sunk deeper into debt since then. Manager Terry Cooper, who had generated £530,000 from the sales of Shaun Taylor, Richard Dryden and Murray Jones in the closing days of his previous St James' Park reign, was seen as the man to find new playing assets, both to finance a rebuild of the Exeter ranks and offset the losses. Meanwhile it was believed that the Exeter City Council planners were about to turn down the Club's application to turn the Big Bank into an all-seater grandstand. The objections were believed to be with regards to it's height. It had been suggested that the top tier of the stand, which housed the proposed executive boxes, be left out of the scheme, but this would mean a loss of around £60,000 in revenue per year and therefore put the whole scheme in jeopardy.
Birthdays
1945
Exeter City had suffered badly from the financial point of view during the war years, and the club's directors launched an appeal for £5,000 as they issued their report and statement of accounts for the year ended June 1944 The sum of money was required to pay the summer wages, engage a first class manager, renovate St James Park and do everything that was necessary to get the club up and running again to take their place in the Third Division South of the Football League, whenever that may arise. The report of the directors stated that when war broke out, the 1939-40 season had only just begun. Considerable success was being achieved in the League matches and a good year was contemplated, but the closing down of the game meant that the whole of the summer wages for 1939, an item running to nearly £2,000 was entirely thrown away, entailing heavy losses to the Company. Since September 1939, St James' Park and the stands had been requisitioned by the military and the income received from that source was only just sufficient to cover expenditure.
1956
Exeter City caused a minor sensation when they left 30-year old in-form forward Ted Buckle out of their side for their visit to Shrewsbury town a game they lost 2-0. However, the reasons for this surprise move were revealed 24 hours after the match. Club chairman Sydney Thomas would say no more than the player had been dropped because of an internal agreement between Exeter City and Buckle's former club, Everton. It appears that if Buckle had played one more Third Division match for the Grecians, then the club would have had to pay Everton a further sum of £500 on top of the £1,500 transfer fee already paid. The Everton club secretary could not understand why his club had been used as an excuse for the dropping of Buckle and furthermore they were not pressing Exeter City for the money, nor had it been discussed at boardroom level at Goodison Park. Exeter City manager Norman Dodgin, and director Albert Line refused to make any comment on the Buckle saga which had upset so many supporters.
1958
Mike Cleverley was signed as a full time professional. The wing-half, a product of Exeter City's 'Ateam had his National Service cut from 2 years to less than 12 months, as he had been invalided out by ear trouble. ironically, it had been ear trouble that kept Keith Harvey on City's playing staff and away from the forces. Inside forward Johnny Nicholl underwent a successful cartilage operation to his left knee. The £4,500 signing from Cardiff City was expected to move into a house in Exeter during the summer, instead of commuting from his Wolverhampton base.
1961
City get a rare away win 1-0 at Accrington Stanley at Peel Park. Less than 12 months later Accrington had resigned from the Football League.
1965
Three apprentices were about to be signed by Exeter City manager Ellis Stuttard, all of whom were 15-years old and local boys. The three were Phil Richardson, an inside forward and former Vincent Thompson schoolboy, who had played for Foxhayes and the Exeter and District Schools side. Bobby House, also an inside forward and went to the same school as Richardson, and played for the same teams, as Exmouth Amateurs. The third player was Chris Taylor, a centre-half, who attended John Stocker School, and was also a member of the Exeter and District Schools side.
1967
After several days of speculation on whether Jock Basford was resigning as manager of Exeter City, and the emphatic denial of such a situation arising by chairman Les Kerslake, the club did a complete about turn, by sacking Basford. Mr Kerslake said that Basford was not under contract to Exeter City FC and had been relieved of his duties as team manager and also given notice to terminate his employment with the club. Basfordwho had joined Exeter as trainer in 1965, was told of the board of directors decision by Mr Kerslake following a meeting held two days earlier. yet only that day, the City chairman had been quoted in the Express and Echo as saying there was no question of Basford resigning instead, only hours later, the board decided to sack him! Approaches had been made to former City manager Frank Broome, who was in Australia, to return to St James' Park for a second spell in charge. The general running of the club in the meantime was left to the board. Broome had originally been appointed as manager in January 1958 and left to become manager of Southend United in May 1960.
1977
It was an Exeter 'Good Friday' for City as an Alan Beer goal secured at 1-0 Win at Torquay keeping the promotion push going.
1989
Darran Rowbotham talked his way into trouble with Exeter City manager Terry Cooper Martin Bodenham became the fifth referee of the season to take exception to the Welshman's backchat as Darran was booked for dissent That resulted in an automatic club fine as well as Cooper commenting: "If we could play darran in a muzzle, we would be alright." 19-year old goalkeeper Kevin Miller had been put on standby to possibly make his Football League debut following the of goalkeeper Dave Walter- sent off against Peterborough United - and the club's other keeper Richard Smeath sidelined with a thigh injuryMiller, had been training with the City in preparation for a possible call up into the first team. City manager Terry Cooper was full of praise for Miller's club Newquay, who had agreed to release the player, despite their quest to retain the South Western League championship. Two players had been offered trainee places for the following season, Tony Frankland from Basingstoke and Lee Annunziata from Exeter Youth Development Officer Mike Radford hoped to recruit a few others, and as a result was holding a trial for 26 young hopefuls at the Cat and Fiddle who were to travel from all over the country. He revealed that it was hoped to take on at least eight trainees.
1990
Exeter City supporters were distinctly unhappy with the ticket allocation that they had received for the match at Torquay United. Around 3,000 City fans wanted to go to the game, but Plainmoor officials had allocated just 700 tickets for the visitors end of the groundThis was hopelessly inadequate, as the Grecians charged towards the Fourth Division championship. There was further bad news concerning the knee injury sustained by Darran Rowbotham It was revealed that he would not play again that season and that the injury was so serious that he was unlikely to make the start of the next season either. Manager Terry Cooper said: "There are two or three experts in England and we will do all we can to get Darran the best treatment." Defender Angus McPherson had his loan arrangement extended until 6th May The 21-year old was on loan from Glasgow Rangers and had already made a big impression on both the management and the supporters with his consistent displays.
1994
A packed Fans Forum were told that Exeter City FC were more than £900,000 in debt when the latest set of accounts for the 12 months to June 1992 were published the previous December. Director Murray Couch admitted that City had undoubtedly sunk deeper into debt since then. Manager Terry Cooper, who had generated £530,000 from the sales of Shaun Taylor, Richard Dryden and Murray Jones in the closing days of his previous St James' Park reign, was seen as the man to find new playing assets, both to finance a rebuild of the Exeter ranks and offset the losses. Meanwhile it was believed that the Exeter City Council planners were about to turn down the Club's application to turn the Big Bank into an all-seater grandstand. The objections were believed to be with regards to it's height. It had been suggested that the top tier of the stand, which housed the proposed executive boxes, be left out of the scheme, but this would mean a loss of around £60,000 in revenue per year and therefore put the whole scheme in jeopardy.
Birthdays
|
Archie |
Blue |
08/04 |
1940 |
|
Brian |
McDermott |
08/04 |
1961 |
|
Lee |
Rogers |
08/04 |
1967 |
|
Peter |
McArdle |
08/04 |
1911 |
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