GARTH DYKES was born in Lancashire and in 1990 has had two other books published by Breedon Books, after the publication of Exeter City 1904-1990 "The complete record", the others being Oldham Athletic: A Complete Record 1899-1988 New Brighton: A Complete Record of the Rakers in the Football League 1922-1951. Garth took over the statistical side of the Exeter book after the death of his close friend, Alex Wilson.

Exeter City FC -The Complete Record 1904-1990 book was the brainchild of the late Alex Wilson, an Exeter man who followed the fortunes of the Grecians from his boyhood days in Devon in the 1920s until his death in Leicester in August 1989. Indeed, Alex was working on the manuscript right up to the time he entered hospital and had already delivered several sections of the book to the publishers.

One chapter in particular is uniquely his the story of his beloved St James' Park. He claimed that there was no better place to be a Saturday afternoon than at the home of Exeter City.

After Alex's death, two of his friends undertook to finish the work in his memory. Maurice Golesworthy, well-known for his work on sports history in general, is based in Exmouth and as a former Exeter City correspondent, his deep local knowledge of the club and its personalities proved invaluable.

Garth Dykes, author of two other books for Breedon, had accompanied Alex on many trips to watch Exeter City when they were in the Midlands and also to Colindale Newspaper Library, where the two studied volumes of crumbling Victorian and Edwardian newspapers, researching details for their respective club history books. It was inevitable that Garth would also want to see Alex's book on Exeter City see the light of day.

Thus, Maurice and Garth took the groundwork laid by Alex and this is the result, the first modern history of one of the oldest football clubs. It is fitting that it should be published in a year when Exeter City Football Club ended one of their most successful seasons as Fourth Division champions.