Joe Gorman worked for Exeter City between 2023 and 2025, firstly as chief financial officer and then as chief executive. His departure, along with chairman Nick Hawker, marked the start of a difficult and disruptive period for the club. 

Originally from Gloucestershire, Mr Gorman had worked in a variety of finance roles in a number of companies including spells working for himself. Having worked in London for many years, he initially moved to Devon to work for a maritime services business in Brixham. Subsequently, after a spell working as a finance and operational specialist on a consultancy basis, he joined Exeter City as chief finance officer in October 2023.

Within a year he had become City’s chief executive as a replacement for Jeremy Tipper with the position intended to oversee finance, marketing and human relations alongside ensuring the club operated efficiently and sustainably in the context of a long-term strategy. At the time of his appointment Mr Gorman was praised by chairman Nick Hawker for his ”real drive and determination”. 

With City playing for a third season in League One, and performing well off-the-field, Mr Gorman gave an interview to the Business of Sport podcast during April 2025 regarding City’s fan-ownership business model. In this interview he provided insights into City’s modus operandi, spoke of the Grecians becoming a ‘top fifty’ club and surmised there might be limits as to how far a purely fan-owned model could take the club.  

Two months after the interview Mr Gorman left Exeter City, along with chairman Nick Hawker, after concerns had emerged about the authorisation of a mid-season players’ break in Spain and a general over-estimation of the club’s revenue-earning capacity. Consequently, over the summer and autumn of 2025, matters became pressing as the club was forced to borrow £600,000 from the supporters' trust whilst Clive Harrison (Mr Hawker’s replacement) passed the chairman’s baton to the returning Richard Pym who, in turn, relinquished his position early in 2026. During this period the club made a number of redundancies together with Mr Pym warning of likely drastic cuts to the playing budget in 2026/27.

Explaining Mr Gorman's departure the Exeter City board released a statement in October 2025 stating:

“In early June, the Club became concerned about certain operational matters. At that stage, Joe Gorman, the Chief Executive, tendered his resignation. He was placed on garden leave. Three main issues emerged, and these were the subject of an investigation by the Club board. An external partner was engaged to review the detail of this investigation and report back to the board. The summary findings were:

Firstly, financial forecasts which the Club and Trust boards relied upon to make decisions for future years were found to have been overstated.

Secondly, the Club and Trust have an agreement to ensure that contracts costing £50,000 or over per annum or in total, including management staff but excluding players’ contracts, are all approved by the Trust board. The investigation found that one material transaction had breached this agreement.

Thirdly, there is one further matter which at this time is still subject to legal process. We anticipate this will be resolved in the coming weeks, and as soon as it is we will explain that in detail.

As a result of the investigation, a disciplinary process involving Mr Gorman began, and concluded in early September, when he departed the Club with immediate effect. We cannot go into more detail on what is a confidential staff management matter”

Mr Gorman remained in football in becoming chief executive of Isthmian League Hashtag United in November 2025.

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In January 2026 Mr Gorman used social media to offer his response to the events that led to his dismissal. His thousand-word statement was reported in full by Stuart James in the Western Morning News and reproduced on the Devon Live website under the headline "Former Exeter City CEO Joe Gorman slams ‘vindictiveness’ as he breaks silence".

The club responded: 

"Exeter City Football Club acknowledges the recent public statement made by its former Chief Executive. Following his resignation in June 2025, an internal review was conducted. This led to a disciplinary process which was supported by external legal advice. The Club determined three counts of gross misconduct and one of misconduct in relation to his employment. He did not appeal these findings".