1963-64 BACKGROUND
It is worth remembering that football was a very different game in so many ways in those days. Division 4 had only been set up in 1958 upon the dissolution of the old Divisions 3 North and South. City were in fact one of only 6 teams never to leave Division 3 South during its entire existence from 1921 (the others were Brighton, Northampton, Southend, Swindon and Watford).
City had finished 24^th of 24 teams in that final year, and, as they had many times before, had the ignominy of asking the other teams in the league to be re-elected, there being no automatic relegation or promotion from the league. There were always ambitious non-league teams interested in joining but the “old-boys network” always seemed to allow those in the bottom 4 who had to apply for re-election back in. The revised set-up of four divisions (1 to 4) comprised 92 teams. Twenty-two in each of the first and second and twenty-four in each the third and fourth. Two teams were relegated at the end of each season from Divisions 1 and 2 to be replaced by the champions and runners up from the division below. Four teams were automatically relegated from Division Three and replaced by the top four in Division 4. There were no play-offs. Winning teams earned two points. One point for a draw. Teams level on points were separated by goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded) as against goal difference (goals scored less conceded) which is the case today. Half-time lasted 10 minutes. Evening matches usually kicked-off at 7-30, though some teams chose to start at 7-15. There were no substitutes in those days, assistant managers were extremely rare, probably non-existent at City’s level. There were no squad numbers, players wore numbers 2-11 on the back of their shirts (right back to left wing) depending on which position they were playing that day. Goalies tended not to have numbers on the back of their green jumpers! Referees and linesmen wore all black. Although St John ambulance staff were always present at games, physios were something for the future. The first port of call to an injured player was usually a cold sponge applied by the trainer. This usually did the trick, especially on a cold wet winter evening! You would not see teams go through pre-match warm up routines half an hour before kick-off as you would today. A five minute “kick around” before the match started was all I remember! There were no red or yellow cards, though players could still have their name taken (be booked or yellow carded as we’d say today) or sent off. There were no fourth officials and no boards to indicate added time at the end of each half. Sponsorship did not exist as it does today, nor did the names of the players appear on the back of their shirts. The home kit was also worn for away games unless there was a colour clash with the home team. The away team would have to change in such circumstances. In 63-64 City wore all red shirts and shorts with white “stockings” – no stripes!
There was no crowd segregation. Smoking was permitted in all areas. St James Park consisted of the old wooden grandstand, the “cowshed” opposite (on an elevated bank), the “big bank” which was open to the elements and the St James Road end – of which the less said the better! The training ground was a patch behind the big bank where in later years the Centre Spot was built and is now the site of a block of student flats. Leather balls were still in use. These were heavy - even more so in muddy conditions, heading could be fun! Pitches were not always in great condition although the City groundsman, Sonny Clarke, took pride in keeping ours in exceptionally good nick.
The match day programme (in red, black and white) cost 4d (less than 2 pence in today’s money) and comprised “club chatter” by revered local sports expert and City enthusiast  Maurice Golesworthy, a centre spread showing the likely team line-ups, a few stats, pen pictures of the opposition, ads for local businesses and a grid for half time scores on the back page. The front cover, like so many programmes of the day, was an aerial photograph of the ground.                 
Digitised examples appear in the archive here
TV coverage was all but non-existent at our level and in any event, it would have been in monochrome. Pre match entertainment involved the playing of the same few uninspiring scratchy 45s over a “tannoy” system that was not great on a good day and worse on a bad one! Occasionally there would be a military marching band doing its best not to mash the pitch up too much! Chanting from the terraces was not as “orchestrated” as today!! “Up the City” comments about the usefulness or otherwise of the referee and sometimes the players, cheering and booing and the cry “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy” was about it. Half time scores were put up manually on a grid behind each goal near the right corner flag at the beginning of the second half. Derek, Malcolm and I all had responsibility for half time scores at one time or another. You would have to refer to your programme to see which match was signified by the corresponding letter A-T. There were, of course no mobile phones or anything better than crackly transistor radios in those days to find out how your “second favourite” team was doing! 
CLOSE SEASON:
The previous manager, Cyril Spiers, had left before the 62-63 season had ended and 33-year-old Jack Edwards, who he had brought to City as trainer by Spiers, was given the caretaker role, with some success, elevating the team from 22^nd to 17^th by seasons end. His reward was to be confirmed as manager in May.
Twelve players retained
Only twelve of the previous season’s players had been retained. Two, Ray Carter and Colin Tinsley, had subsequently left. Those remaining were:- four who had been with us since Division 3 South days, Keith Harvey, Les McDonald, the veteran Arnold Mitchell and Graham Rees. Northern Irishman Eric Welsh who had been with us since 1959, Derek Grace, John Henderson, Roy Patrick and two second season Northern Irishmen, Des Anderson and Cecil Smyth, who were in “digs” in Sylvan Road a couple of doors down from my pal Malcolm. They would see us kicking a ball against his garden wall in the summer holidays and chat to us. They were very nice and friendly young men.
Experienced players are brought in to reinforce the squad. Alan Barnett, a goalkeeper, from Grimsby, Dermot Curtis a Republic of Ireland international centre forward, from Ipswich and John Edgar, a well-travelled proven goal scorer, from Hartlepools. Centre half George Northcott joins from Cheltenham and another forward George Spiers from Crusaders in Northern Ireland. Two promising apprentices Peter Quarrington and Peter Rutley members of last year’s successful youth cup squad are given professional contracts. More recruitment is to follow as the season unfolds.
Given the history of the club – never out of Division 3 South and the three previous seasons finishes of 21^st, 18^th and 17^th what was to come would have been beyond the wildest dreams of most long-suffering City fans!

• In popular culture the “Merseybeat” established by the success of the Beatles was taking hold of modern music. Sonny Liston was World Champion Heavyweight boxing champion.

THE SEASON BEGINS
The season begins well on 24 August as City kick off with a 2-1 win away at Bradford City – John Henderson getting both goals, however two days later we suffer a 3-0 set-back at Carlisle, whose inside-right Hugh McIlmoyle scores two. A 0-0 at home to Lincoln meant we end August in a familiar 17^th   
September proves more fruitful. A 0-0 draw at Gillingham, our first home win 1-0 against Carlisle in which Dermot scores his first for us in the first minute, before a 1-1 at home to Southport, in which he scores another. Wins at Aldershot and at home to Doncaster in which Dermot is made captain for the day, follow. John Henderson adds three more to his tally during this spell.

• Dermot makes history.
  Dermot Curtis becomes the first City player to win a senior international cap when he plays for the Republic of Ireland in a 0-0 draw in Austria in Vienna on 25th.

Back home a 1-1 at Hartlepools United, Keith gets his first of the season, and we’re in “uncharted territory” , 4^th after 9 games.

• Jimmy Parkhill signs from Cliftonville after a trial so we now have a reserve goalie.

Squeezed in between the league successes we get a win at Oxford, in the League Cup, where triallist Irishman John Cochrane scores the only goal. On 25^th we lose 1-0 at Hull in Round 2.

• We sign Brian Symington from Brighton.
• The Beatles have their second number 1 with “She Loves You”.

October is a busy month. Nine games 4 draws, 3 defeats including our first in 10 games at Chester and 2 wins.

• Peter Phoenix, a winger, signs from Rochdale for a moderate fee on 8^th.

The 1-0 at home to York includes Cecil’s first for the club. The 5-0 win at home to Tranmere includes goals from Peter, his first for us and the first of the season for both Arnold and Graham. The 1-1 draw at Barrow sees Alan Barnett save a penalty and Keith equalise with a penalty for us - with the last kick of the match.

• Two more signings on 25^th. Ray Gough from Linfield and what will prove to be a watershed moment when Alan Banks, a prolific goal-scorer for Southern League Cambridge City, signs for a club record fee (said at the time to have been in the order of between £5000 to £7000 not confirmed).  Alan had scored 8 times in 10 games whilst at Second division Liverpool before his move to Cambridge and it was, they who recieved the bulk of the fee (possibiy because Liverpool retained his league registration). Who could have imagined how significant this signing was to prove!

2nd November and Alan makes an impressive home debut in 1-0 defeat to Rochdale in which we lose our unbeaten home record in front of a crowd of 6249. On 8^th Jack receives a reprimand from the FA following an incident at the home match with Darlington in October. The next day Dermot scores the first in a 2.0 win at Oxford, Alan gets the second, his first for the club, with a flying header. My pal Derek and I travel up on the train. This is my first away game outside of Devon. We get complementary grandstand tickets from the players and travel back with the team. A great thrill! An FA cup game against Shrewsbury follows, Alan is cup tied. We win 2-1 despite being behind to a first minute penalty. Des Anderson scores the winner, his first for the club, in 72^nd minute.

• Whilst at youth club on Friday night (22 November) I hear the tragic news that John F Kennedy has been assassinated. I am devastated as the whole world seems to be. What a waste.

However, life must go on and we’re off to Newport the following morning for another away-day. Alan scores yet again four minutes from time in a 1-0 win and again we travel back with the team. A mix of emotions, happy days amid such sadness. The next game is brought forward to a Friday night under floodlights. Stockport the visitors and another win. Graham Rees and Alan in the goals in a 2-0 win. The month finishes with us in 4^th position. Could the dream that none of us dared have really come true
December and an FA Cup tie at home to 3^rd division Bristol City. The match is all ticket and I’m not in my usual seat. 15077 see us lose 2.0. Alan Barnett saves a penalty from Brian Clark and former England centre forward and Bristol legend John Atyeo scores both of their goals, the second in the 89^th minute. The rest of the month sees us unbeaten. A 4-1 win at home to Bradford City, our first double of the season. Alan Barnett concedes his first penalty in four. There are draws at Lincoln and at home to Brighton and a win away at Brighton, where Adrian Thorne, an ex-Brighton player signed only 2 weeks earlier from Plymouth scores our first in a 2-1 victory. It was he who misses the easiest chance seen that season in the return game, on Boxing Day. After a good run down the wing he rounds the keeper then shoots wide of the post as an open goal stares him in the face as we drew 0-0 in front of 9875, our biggest home attendance so far this season. 

• George Northcott leaves the club and re-joins Cheltenham having played 1 league and 2 cup games for us.

REFLECTING ON THE SEASON SO FAR
From a personal point of view, I have only missed the autographs of five players who have played against us at St James Park. Four of those were from Brighton. We have been told to go to Exeter Central station to see them after the game. It seems we were given false information! The highlight is being the first in our “gang” to get Alan Banks’ autograph. I was in such a hurry when I saw what I thought was him walking towards the ground before the Rochdale game that, in a fluster, I dropped some of my papers at his feet. It was he, however, who in a recognisably Liverpudlian accent said “I’m terribly sorry” but it was my fault not his! What a lovely man, how could he not become my hero? I have really got the bug as City seem close to something special and nothing seems more important at this moment. I spend new-years-eve up-dating the players pen pictures and imagining what the new year might have in store.

1964 MOVING TOWARDS SEASONS END
January begins with two home games. We
beat Workington 2-1 and are held to a 0-0 draw in front of our first 10000+ attendance, by Gillingham in a “dirty game” which saw their left-back Dennis Hunt have his name taken.
A 1-1 draw at Southport in which Alan scores after 50 seconds is followed by our first defeat in ten league games, 2-3 at Bradford P A.

• Peter Phoenix leaves the club and joins Southport.

February and a 1-0 loss at Doncaster. Alan Riding scores 5 for the reserves the same afternoon in a Western league game against Glastonbury which ended 6-2. As the month proceeds, we win three more games and draw the other. Graham gets the winner 5 minutes from time at home to Hartlepools and equalises 3 minutes from time at Darlington. George Ley gets his first for the club in a 3-0 success at home to Chester and Alan gets both in a 2-1 win on a Friday night win at York. My buddy Derek and I go to Torquay, on his motorbike to see them draw 2-2 with Lincoln on the 15^th whilst City are drawing 1-1 at Darlington. Might we have been spying on our Easter opponents?

• On 25^th Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston to become World Heavyweight boxing Champion

March starts with a poor 0-0 draw at home to Barrow. Cecil gets married in Belfast and City break their Rochdale hoodoo with a 3-1 away win. Alan and Adrian with two, get the goals.

• Dave Hancock signs from Torquay for £1000 on the 16^th, beating the transfer deadline by 15 minutes.

Dave makes his debut in a 3-2 home win against Oxford in very muddy conditions. The 76th minute winner is treated as an own goal by defender Maurice Kyle, though Graham hoped he might have been credited. Two Easter holiday derby draws at home (0-0) in which three goals are disallowed and away (1-1) to Torquay and we are still in with a chance of promotion.
It is announced that City made £2000 from the Easter games (all ticket home attendance 16141 and 13655 away)
April starts with a 3-1 win at home to Newport. Alan Barnett has flu and misses his first game of the season; his replacement Jimmy Parkhill makes an impressive debut.  Alan gets 2 more goals.

• After the match the gateman tells us that Ken Dodd who is appearing at the ABC theatre that evening is about to leave the ground. Inevitably we get his autograph.

Two away matches in three days follow. A 0-0 at Stockport on Saturday is followed by a win at Chesterfield on Monday night where Alan Banks scores the only goal. For the moment we are TOP OF THE LEAGUE! and twelve matches unbeaten.
The following weekend (18^th) and the bubble seems to have burst - gloom sets in. Alan Banks is ruled out “under doctors’ orders” and Bradford P A win at St James Park 3-2 completing the double over us. The following Tuesday night we beat Chesterfield 6-1 a fit again Alan and Adrian score two each. Dermot and Graham, the others. This is the first time I’ve seen us score six in a game! A total of 19171 watch these two games. Excitement has reached a new level. Suddenly one more point should be enough for promotion. 

A MAGICAL 36 HOURS
It is Friday night 24 April. I had expected I would miss the climax to the season. My pal Derek has a ticket for the sold-out coach trip to Workington, who are already assured of promotion. A paperboy’s income is insufficient to cover the cost. At the last minute, my luck changes and someone we know, John Radford, decides to go on the train with the majority of travelling fans. Somehow, I have his ticket. No youth club for me tonight. Paul Street bus and coach station at 11.00 pm is surely not usually this lively! A single coach is ready for a long trip north. The roads to the North West are not great. I celebrated my 15^th birthday last month and am probably the youngest on the coach. It is a very male dominated coachload. There is an air of nervous anticipation and hope as much as expectation. We arrive in Cumberland very early on Saturday morning. The driver has had to drive around for a while as nowhere is open when we get to Workington. What a dismal and depressing place it seems! We eventually find a tiny café serving breakfasts. There is a juke box and “Juliet” by the Four Pennies is being played time and time and time again! (very annoying – I love my music – but this!). By mid-morning we are walking to the railway station to meet the remaining travelling support who will soon arrive by train. Whilst we wait, we are “amused” by the stationmaster, who asks if Exeter is in Lancashire or Yorkshire! Eventually a flood of noisy fans arrives. Many are waving rattles. They tell us they had purchased them from Woolworths in Preston whilst waiting for the connecting train. Preston are in the cup final next month. Apparently, there are no longer any rattles left in Woolworths for their fans! Arriving at the ground, we are at first impressed. A large high grandstand suggests a ground far superior to what we are used to. Reality dawns when we see a smaller, what appears to be a “training” pitch next to it. The former belongs to Workington Town (rugby league) and the “training pitch” is Borough Park – the home of the football club where we will be “sweating” on the outcome of this afternoons match. The ground makes St James Park look half decent. The match is a nail-biting affair. Most of the home crowd are there to cheer on their already promoted heroes the rest of us desperate to do the same for ours. There is a lot of nervous tension in the air. The noise from our support and especially from the rattles is great. None of the “Preston” rattles can compare with the large heavy brute Derek has taken (as he does to every game), which he whizzes around his head at every opportunity, often whilst he is chanting “Oggy, oggy, oggy”!  I have witnessed this rattle cause injury to an un- suspecting fan behind him on at least one occasion. Some important saves from Alan Barnett help earn us a point and we draw 0-0. The match seems to last forever, no one seems to care how bad it has been.  Now only a very high scoring win for Bradford City at York tonight can prevent us gaining the first promotion in our history.  Our goal average is far superior to theirs. The journey home is another involving the minimum of sleep. Some bright spark announces that Bradford have a big lead at half time (in fact they lose 0-1) 
Promotion is assured.
We arrive in Exeter in the early hours and some of us trek to St David’s station to welcome the team back. We sleep on benches in the waiting room and are awoken by a din sometime later. There is a huge mass of fans which has made its way down, many waving banners. The most memorable one of which simply says, “THANKS BANKS AND ALL THE RANKS”.

When the train arrives, bedlam ensues as players, directors and fans disembark and are welcomed by the throng. Westward TV cameras and the press are there to record the occasion for posterity, we are minor celebrities for a moment!

• Home for lunch, a good night’s sleep and off to school the next morning to be quizzed about the weekend by classmates and our geography teacher (Oz) who refers to me sneeringly by my first name (every pupil at Hele’s is referred to by surname only). I guess that’s the price of “fame”!

To add to our joy the following Tuesday we entertain Plymouth, who had narrowly avoided relegation from Division Two by goal average, in the final of the Devon Professional Bowl. An Adrian Thorne hat-trick and an inevitable goal from Alan Banks gave us a 4-0 win. Things cannot get much better!
AND WHAT ELSE?
On a personal level I finish the season having missed no more autographs. This paled into insignificance given what the season had delivered. 248/253 is not a bad effort anyway.

Amongst the signatures are:

Ron Atkinson, Oxford, who will manage Manchester United and Aston Villa amongst several other teams.
Keith Birkenshaw, Workington, who went on to manage Spurs to three trophies.
Eric Harrison, Halifax, who developed and mentored the Manchester United “class of 1992”. 
Stan Milburn, Rochdale, the cousin of “Wor” Jackie, the Newcastle and England folk hero. He is also the uncle of World Cup winners Jack and Bobby Charlton.
Tony Collins, managed Rochdale between 1960 and 1967, becoming the first black manager in the Football League and leading them to the 1962 Football League Cup Final
19-year-old Kevin Hector from Bradford PA who will go on to become a Derby hero and England international – he scored in both games against us.
By contrast there were also several players in the twilight of their career who had enjoyed success at the top level.
Ted Burgin, Rochdale, then of Sheffield United, was a member of the England 1954 World Cup finals squad, in Switzerland.
Colin Webster, Newport, played in the 1958 FA Cup final for Manchester United and for Wales in the World Cup finals in Sweden, the same year.
Harry Leyland, Tranmere, played in the 1960 FA Cup final for Blackburn.
Colin Booth, Doncaster, twice won Division 1 Championship medals with Wolves in the late 1950s.

FOOTNOTE:

• The week Alan Banks signed for us Gerry and the Pacemakers released “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which gets to number and will become the Liverpool FC anthem and at the end of the 63-64 season Alan Banks’ beloved Liverpool were crowned Division 1 champions.
• Preston lost 3-2 to West Ham in the Cup Final to a last-minute Ronnie Boyce goal.
• Juliet, the song from the Workington café juke box got to no 1 in May. I still don’t like it despite good memories of a great day!

On the football side of things.

City used 22 players during the league season, 6 of whom played over 40 games and 8 less than 10. Eric Welsh who had a long-term injury, did not play at all. Two years later as a Carlisle player he will earn 4 caps for Northern Ireland as a “deputy” for George Best. 
We scored 62 goals and conceded 37 (goal average 1.676). We are promoted in 4^th place with 58 points behind Gillingham (champions) 60, Carlisle 60 and Workington 59.

• Our highest home attendance was 16141 against Torquay 27th March 1964
• Highest away attendance 13655 also against Torquay 30 March 1964
• Lowest home attendance 5336 against Southport 14 September 1963
• Lowest away attendance 1618 also against Southport 18 January 1964
• Average home league attendance 7272, average away 5534. Season average 6403
• Total home / away 294545 

OTHER STATS:

Doubles achieved

Bradford City 2-1 and 4-1

York City 2-1 and 1-0

​​​​​Oxford United 2-0 and 3-2

Chesterfield 1-0 and 6-1

Doubles against

Bradford PA 2-3 and 2-3

(The top scorer in division 4 (and the whole football league) was:- 
Hugh McIlmoyle – Carlisle with 39 goals in the league.
44 including those scored in cup competitions.
He moved later in the year to Division 1 Wolves for a reported £30,000.)

City league Goalscorers:

Goalscorers:	League Goals
John Henderson​	6
Dermot Curtis​	9
Keith Harvey​	5
Cecil Smyth​​1	1
Peter Phoenix​	1
Arnold Mitchell ​	3
Graham Rees​	6
Alan Banks​​	18
Derek Grace​​	4
Adrian Thorne​	6
George Ley ​​	1
Own goals​​	2

Total goals =62

At the end of the season the following players were released:

Jimmy Parkhill, Peter Quarrington, Ray Gough, Brian Symington, John Henderson (Doncaster £3000), John Edgar (Scarborough £500) & George Spiers

POSTSCRIPT:

Just after Christmas the following season Jack Edwards who’d been undermined by the board resigned. Most fans felt he had been badly done by and that this should not have been allowed to happen. It signalled the end of the dream. That season we finished 17^th!! in Division 3. His replacement Ellis Stuttard, whose arrival at the club (via Plymouth) was the reason behind Jack’s departure, managed only to get us relegated the following season. We were back to square one and it would be some years before the good times returned. My love of City never dimmed. I served on committee the newly formed Supporters Club, set up following promotion, fulfilling a variety of functions up until the time I left school.  I then played for local teams until work took me away in my mid-twenties.  I continued to follow City closely from “a distance” taking in the occasional l game until my return to Exeter in 1998.

I am now a season ticket holder and sit by my old friend Malcolm, who, himself, avidly records City stats. Derek, a well-known character around St James Park for many seasons, sadly passed away some years ago, having been confined to a wheelchair in his later years. Whatever became of Chris and John or Derek’s rattle! I do not know.

Although there have been good cup runs, promotions even Wembley appearances since then nothing compares, in my mind, to those heady, history making days those many years ago.

C’mon you Reds!
Up the City!!