SATURDAY 1st FEBRUARY 1969.

REFEREE STARS IN THE FARCE OF RAIN AND MUD.

NEWPORT COUNTY 2 EXETER CITY 1

Exeter Team 
Shearing; Smyth, Balson; Kirkham, Sharples, Newman; Pleat, Curtis, Rowlands, Mitten, Whatling.

Scorers:
Newport Hill, Buck.
Exeter Kirkham,

Attendance: 1,427,

The farce at Somerton Park, a farce made bigger by the actions of one man the referee Mr E, Wallace of Swindon who extended the half time interval by about 30 minutes while 22 players sat shivering in their cold saturated kit in the dressing rooms. The reason for the delay was the condition of the pitch, already waterloggedI lashed down with rain in the first half, Mr Wallace made two pitch Inspections during the interval and decided to wait and see if the rain stopped, it did, but the pitch was a sea of mud, Amazingly he ordered the game to restart, a ridiculous decision when it should have been abandoned without doubtThe game finished 30 minutes later than planned, Rain, hail, and a gale force windWe had everything in the first half, Newport with the wind behind them looked the better sideThey scored two quick goals through Hill and Buck after 5 and 15 minutes, and also hit a post. Although the wind dropped in the second half, Exeter came more into the game and John Kirkham scored after 57 minutes, Dermot Curtis shot wide when he should have equalised, The second half conditions were terriblePlayers were ankle deep in mud, The pitch got worse as the game wore on. The pitch would have kept 22 youngsters happy who wanted to make mud pies for there was no shortage of material. It cetainly did not make the 22 footballers happy, nor one imagines the Newport County groundstaff.

Match Summary 

It was surprising that this game ever started and even more amazing that it ran its full course, for never have we played in such atrocious conditions. Play was held up after the interval for a further 25 minutes while the referee made up his mind whether or not to allow it to be resumed on a pitch which was a sea of mud. Under these conditions the game was a farce and there is no point in commenting on the play except to record the fact that Hill and Buck scored for Newport in the first 15 minutes and Johnny Kirkham got our goal mid-way through the second half.

INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE.

John Newman, the Exeter City captain and half back, hopes to gain his full F.A, Coaching badge this Summer. He holds the preliminary award, and is already serving the City as coach in addition to playingExeter City have a limited playing staff, and Newman's services are invaluable to manager Frank Broome before each match they have a lengthy discussion on the tactics to be employed, and it is Newman's job to implement the agreed plan out on the pitch.

MONDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 1969.

CITY FANS EJECTED.

During the first half of Exeter City's game at Newport County, 15 young City supporters were ejected from the ground for using abusive language and behaving in a bad manner. The troubles began at the Cromwell Road end of the ground quite early in the game, A folding chair was thrown onto the cinder track and smashedTwo or three City supporters went onto the Speedway track shouting. The Police moved in and ejected them from the ground.

WEDNESDAY 5th FEBRUARY 1969.

APOLOGY SENT TO NEWPORT COUNTY.

A letter of apology has been sent to Newport County Football Club and the secretary of the Newport Supporters Club following incidents involving some young Exeter City fans during last Saturday's match with the City at Somerton Park, Some 15 supporters were ejected during the game, A meeting was held last night by the Exeter City Supporters Club who held a full discussion on the incidents. They deplored the behaviour of a minority section of supporters at the game, Letters of apology have been sent to the Newport club expressing the views of the City Supporters Club.

FRIDAY 7th FEBRUARY 1969.

EXETER CITY SACK FRANK BROOME

Frank Broome has been sacked as manager of Exeter City Football Club. Team duties will be controlled by trainer Bert Edwards and team captain John Newman, who will be given a free hand with the playing side of the club, The announcement came from St James' Park today following a meeting of the board of directors last night, In a short statement the board announced; "The board of directors of Exeter City Football Club have unaminously decided to dispense with the services of Mr Frank Broome as manager. They feel with the set up of only one team the services of a manager in the old sense are not required and that to realise the full potential of our present team, the club must fall into line with the modern trend of football today by employing a track suit manager. There will be no panic in appointing a successor and for the time being team duties will be shared between Bert Edwards and John Newman," Broome's dismissal comes just under two years after he took over as manager at St JamesFark for the second timeHe succeeded Jock Basford who was dismissed as manager in 1967. Less than a week later Broome accepted the position from Australia and on 9th May, 1967 he returned to this country and took over as the Exeter bossBroome arrived at the Park early today and said he was disgusted by the decision. later he saw the playing staff to say goodbye and wish them the best of luck, Bert Edwards officially took over as trainer at St James' Park in July 1967, although he has been associated with coaching at Exeter City for some time. A former G.P,O, telephone engineer, he lives in Exeter, John Newman joined Exeter in November 1967 from Plymouth Argyle and has a vast amount of football experience behind him including an appearance in the 1956 FA Cup Final,

SATURDAY 8th FEBRUARY 1969.

EXETER MATCH IS POSTPONED.

Exeter City's match against Halifax Town was called off an hour before kick off because of the ground conditions. Referee Leo Callaghan inspected the pitch before lunch and decided to have another Look and make a decision at 2pm, Just over an inch of snow was covering the ground, but the problem was the ice underneath the snow following last night's heavy frost before the snow came."

MONDAY 10th FEBRUARY 1969.

ARGYLE VERSUS CITY IS OFF.

This evening's scheduled Devon Professional Bowl match between Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle is off. Another victim of the weather conditions. The pitch is covered in snow and ice.

SATURDAY 15th FEBRUARY 1969

Exeter City for the second week running are without a match because of the weather. They were due to play at Swansea Town but the game was called off as the pitch is frozen, The City party telphoned the Swansea club from Bridgwateras arranged and were told of the decision and postponement.

NO MORE COACHES FOR CITY SUPPORTERS.

Decisions to disband the junior section committee and stop all sponsored away match coaches forthwith were made by the Exeter City Supporters Club committee following serious allegations made in two letters from Newport County Football Club, and the supporters club against Exeter supporters on the Welsh Club's ground recently, In a statement issued today after an extraordinary meeting of the committee, the chairman Mr Hawker said; "After intensive probes certain allegations could not in fact be accepted but the committee were satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to cause serious concern, The information contained in these letters was so alarming that immediate action had to be taken to show these supporters that any adverse behaviour reflects immediately on the Exeter City Supporters Club, and the parent club,"

IT SEEMS THAT FRANK BROOME WAS THE SCAPEGOAT.

Mr L.W, Kerslake, Mr F. Dart, Mr. J,R, Cowley, and Mr J. Rodgers should take a long hard look at themselves. They are the directors of Exeter City Football Club who dismissed the manager Frank Broome, Either they were at fault for dismiising a man doing a good job, or they were at fault for appointing the wrong man in the first place, The directors said that the team need a track suit manager. If that is so then why did they appoint Broome, who is over 50, and clearly could not be expected to race around with his players during training? What makes the directors error more serious is the fact that Broome was manager between 1958 and 1960. His ability should have been well known to them. They hardly took a gamble when they appointed him ? It seems that Broome like some of his predecessors is simply the scapegoat for City's lack of success in the League, Obviously the chairman, Les Kerslake and his fellow directors feel they have made the right decision in dismissing him, so now will they admit publicly that they were wrong in appointing him ?

MONDAY 17th FEBRUARY 1969.

CITY OUT OF BOWL BUT NO TEARS.
DEVON PROFESSIONAL BOWL.

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 1 EXETER CITY 0

Exeter Team
Shearing; Smyth, Blain; Kirkham, Sharples, Newman; Pleat, Curtis, Rowlands, Balson, Mitten,

Scorer: Plymouth; Bickle.

Attendance : 4,599,

Exeter City are out of the Devon Professional Bowl, but one imagines that there will be not many tears shed as a result of this defeat, It is League points that City need to pull away from Fourth Division troubleThe City were somewhat unfortunate not to take the game into extra time. They hit the bar and had a goal disallowed. Conditions at Home Park were bad. Parts of the pitch were icebound and players often slipped and slid their way through the match, Considering the conditions the game was a good one. The goal that beat the City came in the 61st minute, Former Exeter City winger Eric Welsh hit a hard and low cross into the net, Two minutes later Dave Pleat thought he had equalised, but it was ruled out by the referee for a rather dubious offside decision, Just after half time Jimmy Blain hit the bar with a tremendous 25 yard shot and 10 minutes from the end Campbell Crawford had a chance, but he shot over the topAn important aspect for the City was that they did not suffer any serious injuiresThey could not afford them with a small staff on a night when a bad injury could have been a distinct possibility. 

WEDNESDAY 19th FEBRUARY 1969.

FRED BINNEY SIGNS FOR CITY.

Exeter City have signed Fred Binney from Torquay United on loan until the end of the season, With Binney's arrival, John Rowlands who joined Exeter on loan at the end of last month is off to South Africa where he is to play for Capetown F.C, which is managed by former Plymouth Argyle player, Frank Lord. Plymouth born Binney is 22. He has made two League appearances for Torquay this season and has been substitute on a number of occasions, In 16 Western League games he has scored 14 goals.

FRIDAY 21st FEBRUARY 1969.

JOHN WINGATE TO SIGN FOR CITY.

Exeter City are hoping to sign Devon County centre forward John Wingate later today, Wingate who plays for Dawlish Town has been on trial recently with Plymouth Argyle and if he joins City it will be as an amateur. He has played before for Exeter in the youth and colts teams a couple of seasons ago. He is expected to visit St James' Park and sign the necessary forms.

CITY VERSUS WREXHAM IS POSTPONED,

Exeter City's home match with Wrexham has been postponed early today. The St James Park pitch is still blanketed by four or five inches of snow. In addition the ground was frozen hard underneath, This means that there has not been a Fourth Division fixture at the Park since 14th December,

CASH SHORTAGE.

The sacking of Frank Broome as Exeter City manager can be studied from any angle, but one always sees the same old trouble, a shortage of money. This has been at the root of such troubles many times in the past and there is no doubt it will happen many more times and more often in the future. Exeter City sacked Broome who had been in charge of the club for less than two years because they wanted to economise and maybe have a player manager as the official statement put it a track suit manager". If you look at it from the other side of the coin there is no doubt that Broome was fired because of the situation which developed through his failure to persuade the club to find enough money to buy players he needed to ensure success. Broome said he was disgusted with the decision and that he had not been given a real chance of improving Exeter City's position. Of course money does not grow on trees and there are those who can sympathise with the board of directors in their present predicament, but sympathy did not help Broome and it will not help Exeter City either.

SATURDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 1969.

ERIC WELSH ON TRIAL.

Eric Welsh, 25 year old Carlisle United winger is on trial with Plymouth Argyle and he is desperately keen to impress Argyle manager Billy Bingham that he is fully fit and back to his old form, Belfast born Eric missed the whole of last season through injury, Plymouth officials know all about Welsh who first broke into English football with Exeter City. He left St James' Park in 1965 in an exchange deal for Jimmy Blain from Carlisle United. Welsh was capped for Northern Ireland whose boss vas Billy Bingham, Welsh scored the only goal of the game for Argyle against Exeter in last weeks Devon Professional Bowl match.