2020-2021 and 2025-2026 Richard Pym

Biographical Text

Richard Pym was initially the fifth chair of Exeter City in the era of supporter/community ownership and served between 2020 and 2021 before returning to the role in November 2025. A former senior figure with Burtons, Selfridges, Halfords and the Alliance and Leicester, he was also the grandson of Exeter City, Bolton Wanderers and England goalkeeper Dick Pym. A particular challenge of Richard’s first spell at the helm was the Covid-19 pandemic with his role being to chair meetings and offer guidance as opposed to having any day-to-day involvement. In returning to the club four years later Mr Pym was tasked with retrieving a difficult situation - which had seen the supporters' trust making a £400,000 loan to the club and a chief executive relieved of his duties - but was to depart the scene just a few months later in February 2026.  

Ten years after first looking beyond the immediate ranks of people heavily involved with the supporters' trust when appointing a board chair - which at that stage resulted in the appointment of former Devon County Council executive Edward Chorlton - Exeter City approached Richard Pym, a senior figure in the world of retailing and banking, with a similar invitation in 2020. The timing had a degree of significance because it was almost a hundred years since his grandfather Dick Pym, the Topsham fisherman who went on to play in goal for England and win three FA Cup winners medals, had left Exeter City to join Bolton Wanderers.

A retailer by background, Mr Pym had been an executive director of the Burton Group, a director of Selfridges and chairman of Halfords before a spell as chief executive of the Alliance and Leicester. Also chairing banks in Ireland and Sweden, he was awarded the CBE in 2015 after acting as chair of UK Asset Resolution, a public body. 

With a remit to chair meetings at St James' Park, and to provide guidance and a general steer, his status was that of a non-voting director. Now semi-retired, he was reported to be ready to divide his time between London  and Devon and was intending to spend up to two years helping Exeter City.

In the event Mr Pym stood down after eighteen months and on departure was reported as saying:

“When I joined the board as chairman, I had hoped to serve for a maximum of two years but when I looked at the requirements of the club over the next six months and compared it to my own time availability then I knew it was time to hand over. I joined the board because the club was supporter-owned and it has been a privilege to serve a club my grandfather played for a century ago."

His successor Nick Hawker acknowledged Mr Pym's contribution during the Covid-19 pandemic describing the period as having been "particularly challenging" and how Mr Pym had "stepped in and steadied the ship and led the board with purpose and fortitude as we navigated the uncertain landscape.”

With Nick Hawker serving until the summer of 2025, when Clive Harrison took over as interim chair for an often-challenging four month period, Mr Pym was re-appointed chair of the club in November 2025 after rejoining the board a few weeks earlier. Providing a statement through the club website he alluded to the situation facing the club at the time which had started with an enforced £400,000 loan from the trust to the club:

“I am determined to resolve the current issues at Exeter City Football Club (and) want to thank Exeter City Supporters’ Trust and all fans for their patience over the last few months whilst both the Club and Trust boards worked together on a number of issues that arose this summer...As the incoming new Independent Club Chair, I want to provide you with greater insight into these issues, what has been happening behind the scenes, and how the Club board intends to fully resolve them". 

Within a few weeks of Mr Pym returning to the chair (at the instigation of outgoing acting chair Clive Harrison according to a later report in the Express and Echo), the club's financial situation came under further pressure following a fire that damaged the ground's control centre and news of a further £200,000 loan from the trust.

However, within three months of returning to the helm, Mr Pym stepped down once more at the start of February 2026 to be replaced on an interim basis by Laurence Overend. The official club statement announcing Mr Pym's departure noted that, after the internal and financial issues of 2025, he had made "a vital contribution towards securing the future of the football club" which included "finalising the agreement for forward financing of deferred transfer payments and the creation of a plan for subsequent loan support". Mr Pym had also proposed a new share rights isue designed to increase the Trust’s shareholding in the club and provide opportunities for new investment from outside the club.

During his return to St James' Park Mr Pym had warned supporters of a possible significant reduction in the playing budget for 2026/27 - having already overseen a number of non-playing redundancies - and had advised the Trust that it should be prepared to contribute at least £500,000 to the club each season. His second spell in the chair was also notable for City's FA Cup tie at Manchester City and whether, and how, either the club or Trust had requested a larger share of the gate receipts over and above the £180,000 that was reported as the Grecians' earnings from the game. 

In addition, shortly before his departure, Mr Pym made a promise to purchase the 'Jungle Path' (between the Adam Stansfield stand and the Big Bank) from Network Rail offering this action as an apology for £25,000 of supporter-raised funds that had gone missing due to the failure of a project to equip a medical recovery room at St James' Park    

        

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