For anyone wondering why this site is rarely updated, I am now editor of Vital Exeter City (http://www.exeter.vitalfootball.co.uk/) and blog on The Times Online and FourFourTwo’s Talentspotter.

Please check out these blogs, comments and feedback are always much appreciated!

On their way in?

Having not paid a significant sum for a player for many a year and manager Paul Tisdale’s fondness for a settled squad I think we can rule out a plethora of star arrivals and a few tweaks here and there sounds far more likely.

Our six forwards have played musical chairs this season with the majority of them being given a chance with Adam Stansfield being handed the staring role as the central striker on most occasions. His statistics of six goals in 22 appearances masks the worryingly high number of guilt-edged chances and one-on-ones he has missed and his ability to harry and harass defenders has helped him keep his place in the side despite his woeful form in front of goal. With five strikers already on the books, signing a sixth might be pushing it but with Richard Logan mysteriously out of favour and Stansfield woefully out of form I would ideally like to see a proven goal scorer join the ranks.

We have been linked with Hereford striker Steve Guinan which, after seeing a lot of Hereford matches last year, would be an awful signing for the club. Tisdale is far more likely to go for a player on a free transfer or from the lower leagues. He could do much worse than enquire about FC United’s Kyle Wilson, the club have said they would let him move to a league club and with 22 goals in 24 appearances this season he could be just the clinical forward we are looking for.

We may also see some defensive cover pursued in the window. This could be the offer of a longer deal to Fred Murray, who is currently at the club on a short-term basis and has impressed when called into action, or another mystery signing. One of the main themes of Tisdale’s signings is that, with the exception of one or two (Rob Edwards, Marcus Stewart etc) they are plucked from obscurity and definitely not household names.

Just look at Neil Saunders, Matt Taylor, Ryan Harley and Ben Watson. So we shouldn’t be expecting any big names to be gracing St James Park in January, but being an Exeter City fan is full of surprises at the moment so you just never know.

The Exit Door

Creative midfielders are not two-a-penny in League Two, a sad fact that means the vultures are circling overhead waiting to pounce on Exeter’s playmaker Ryan Harley. Signed from Western Super Mare in Spring 2008, he made an instant impact and forced his way into the team , played a vital role in the club’s promotion. Two footed and with fantastic vision, Harley has his admirers but here’s hoping his recent injury and slight dip in form has shaken potential suitors off his case!

Another player under close scrutiny from visiting scouts is 21-year-old Exeter youth product Dan Seaborne. The defender broke into the side at the start of last season and made the centre back position his own as he captained the Grecians to the Play Off Final win over Cambridge. Seaborne has been linked with a variety of clubs in recent months, most notably Crystal Palace and Portsmouth. In fact many fans suggested he was on the brink of deadline day move to the South Coast but the deal could not be completed in time. Contracted past the end of this season, any suitors will be asked to pay a hefty for Seaborne. Let’s hope it puts them off.

Dean Moxey is another home-grown talent who is receiving admiring glances. Arguably the club’s most consistent performers in recent weeks, Moxey stepped into the left-back slot vacated by Wolves-bound George Friend, and made it his own. Notable mentions also go to Matt Gill and Matt Taylor who are two of our most consistent performers and could easily come under the spotlight in January.

Five years ago Wales were the self-proclaimed ‘best supported side in Europe’ with over 70,000 passionate Welshman rocking the Millennium Stadium on five occasions as the side battled for a place in Euro 2004. In a country of rugby lovers, the public found their enthusiasm for their football and at £5 a ticket demand rocketed. The team responded with a historic victory over Italy but eventually fell short. It hasn’t been the same since.

Five years on and their attendances at this fantastic arena would make half the Championship blush. The visits of Germany and Ireland in recent years have just hit the 25,000 mark while 10,000 of the committed Welsh public dragged themselves to see the visits of Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. Watching these matches is an uncomfortable and thoroughly unenjoyable experience.

Put 10,000 people in a small ground and they could make one hell of a din. In a 74, 500 seater stadium it feels ridiculous and very amateur. You can almost hear the players in-game conversations in a ghost-town atmosphere that must surely effect the players. The infuriating over-use of air-horns make these vital qualifiers feel more like a celebrity soccer tournament.

The bitter disappointment amongst supporters after missing out on Euro 2004 was compounded when the Welsh FA binned their bargain ticket prices. After over 55,000 watched Wales struggle against Northern Ireland and Poland crowds plummeted. With the exception of the visit of the old enemy in 2005, home games have never threatened to be anything but a washout.

A severe lack of promotion means it’s never really obvious if the country has a football team let alone one in a group with Germany and Russia. Arsenal’s recent Carling Cup tie with Sheffield United saw £10 tickets introduced and adverts on the back of the Metro. If the marketing team of Arsenal can manage such simple PR tricks you have to ask why a national football association isn’t doing the same?

A student in the capital can watch Cardiff City for £10 but is then expected to pay a credit-crunch inducing £20 to watch the mighty Liechtenstein. I know where I’d rather and it seems that thousands agree.

While Northern Ireland and Scotland put up a real fight for Euro 2008 in front of intimidating home crowds, the Welsh were being embarrassed 5-1 by Slovakia in front of a half empty ground. The atmosphere at Welsh matches is light years away from the vocal and visible fans that drove their celtic neighbours to historic victories and it could harm their chances.
This Welsh side has bags of potential, but it is a shame they may only get the chance to prove it at such a morale-sapping venue. Joe Ledley and Wayne Hennessey join a squad with eleven Premiership players in its ranks. They face a crucial Millennium Stadium double header with Finland and Germany in the spring where victory in both would keep their hopes of qualification alive. But will anyone be there to watch it?

It’s Christmas time again. The time of year all football fans love, giving you the chance to see your team on Boxing Day without the hassles of work and long distances to travel. It’s also the time of year when sports journalists are as lazy as you or me and we can’t escape a cheesy Christmas pun in your club’s match reports.

Every goal conceded becomes a gift, every win will provide Christmas cheer. Not forgetting of course that customary shot of a Father Christmas look-a-like on Match Of The Day. (or Ken Bates!)

Here’s a festive checklist of puns, metaphors and cringe-worthy chrismassy headlines to keep an eye out for in your team’s Boxing Day match report:

• One side will provide ‘no Christmas cheer’.
• This Christmas cheer could even be ‘in short supply’
• A player or team will put in a poor performance and be suffering from a ‘Christmas hangover’
• A chairman or manager will be described as ’scrooge’, or even a defender who was scrooge like in his performance
• A defender will ‘gift’ a ‘Christmas present’ to a striker, or be in the ‘festive mood’
• An off form player will have ‘eaten too much turkey’
• Is an old face returning to your club? Look out for the ‘ghost of Christmas past’ pun being heavily overused, or is a youngster the star performer, then he will surely be the ‘ghost of Christmas future’?
• The ‘three point Christmas present’ we all crave could be given
• Will your team’s display be described as a ‘pantomime performance’?
• Or will you be on the end of the text book ‘Boxing Day stuffing’ pun
• The star performer becomes the ‘star of Christmas’
• One side will benefit from the ‘boxing day bargins’ or some ‘Christmas charity’.
• The game could be a ‘Boxing Day feast of football’, or make ‘the fans wish they stayed at home for a classic film’.
• ‘SAINT NIC’ Expect this headline for any goal scoring Nic, Nicky, Nick or even Nico – Anelka, Butt, Bendtner or even Kranjcar . (In Anelka’s case don’t hold your breath for a ‘jolly saint Nic’!)
• Will we witness a catchy tabloid headline involving ‘Silent Knight’? (only suitable if Zat Knight is….quiet?)
• Defeated managers across the land will call for the introduction of a Christmas break
• Whilst other managers will blame the ‘busy schedule’ for appalling performances!
• Roque Santa Cruz will no doubt feature heavily in any match previews and if he scores/ demands a move expect to never hear the end of ‘Santa’s various gifts and good will to all men….

Peter Evans

We all love to see our side playing quality football. As Brian Clough said: “If God wanted us to play football in the air, then he would have built a pitch in the clouds” and this season Exeter City have won praise from all quarters for being a side full of creative and free flowing football who have passed our way through teams and won with style without needing to ‘play football in the air’.

But sometimes to be successful you need a Plan B. On many occasions this season our players and fans have said that at times in recent weeks we have lacked one.

After Saturday’s match I think we have found one and it got us out of jail.

An experimental line-up saw our two most creative midfielders playing behind Watson and Stansfield; two short and pacey strikers with the obvious intention of running at a huge Lincoln backline that included own goal specialist Frank Sinclair.

74 minutes in it and it was obvious that this plan was dying on its feet. We were one nil down and struggling to create any real chances. Neil Saunders, an out-and-out winger, had started on the right hand flank and our other creative winger Dean Moxey was restricted at wing-back, but wingers can only be so useful with two 5ftsomething strikers ahead of them.

You could argue that too often this season Tisdale’s substitutions have been like-for-like when the side is struggling. He may take off a speed merchant for another pacey player or take off a creative but slow striker (Stewart) for another (Basham) and the side get stuck in the same rut. But this time the change in tactics was spot on.

Enter Craig McAllister. The target man and lower league journeyman has not started a league game this season so plenty of eyebrows were raised when Tisdale whipped out his Big Mac but the Scotsman’s impact was immediate, our side not only gained a focal point of the attack but the afternoon swung in City’s favour.

Tisdale sent on a left back and pushed our previous left-back (converted winger Moxey) upfront alongside the double substitutes of Basham and McAllister. It had an instant impact. Two minutes after McAllister’s arrival he rose to meet a Rory Delap-esque long throw with a superb header for his first Football League goal: 1-1.

15 minutes of explosive football followed with both sides throwing the kitchen sink at the match with McAllister and Moxey performing impeccably upfront. Without a win in 4 games, City needed a goal.

A string of chances followed and just as it looked like we would have to make do with a draw, we grabbed an unforgettable 92nd minute winner. Basham and McAllister superbly flicked on a ball into the path of the third forward Dean Moxey who fire homed in front of an ecstatic Big Bank and the product of the Exeter youth team loved every minute of the chaos that followed.

How about that for use of substitutions? In a similar vein to last season’s Play Off win at Torquay, where all three of Tisdale’s subs scored, this proved his reading of the game is second to none.  I must admit that a forward line of the barely used target man McAllister, Basham and our left-back at the start of play didn’t look like the combination to break down a resolute back line and score two goals in fifteen minutes but it was proved wrong.

Long may it continue. I think that McAllister should undoubtedly get a few extended run outs in the side, either as an impact sub or from the start.  With my favoured striker of the ‘famous five’ (Basham, Logan, Watson, Stewart, Stansfield and McAllister) Richard Logan mysteriously out of favour and when he is selected chosen to play an almost midfield role in a 4-3-3 it could well be a chance for City to play with a bigger presence through the middle instead of opting for the smaller striker in the middle of two others, a tactic that was beginning to be found out.

We are still in the Play Off mix with almost half of the season gone and face some vital matches in the next month or so which could define where are season is heading.

Before our relegation to the Conference our fans sat through years of tedious mediocrity as we spent many a season spent ambling between 12th and 16th position in the Old Division Three with little chance of relegation or promotion. So with a Play Off challenge, a 6-1 defeat, an FA Cup upset and two last-gasp goals in our last few matches being an Exeter fan is seemingly anything but dull and long may it continue.

“People were talking about bubbles bursting but my simple answer to a bubble bursting is to blow another bubble,” Hull boss Phil Brown said this week.

As a Exeter City fan I’ve have my fingers crossed that we will be able to do the same. Our bubble is currently coming along quite nicely, on the back of a 3-1 away win at Port Vale and a six game unbeaten streak we sit in 5th place in League Two and could even go top with a win at Barnet on Saturday. The garden is looking incredibly rosy from an Exeter perspective and when that bubble does burst I hope it’s just a case of blowing another one, as it’s currently an amazing time to be a City fan.

All this positive talk about Hull and Exeter’s rosy outlook inspired me to wonder how little we hear of the positive side of football. TV critic Charlie Brooker once wrote how positive things “are far duller to read and write about than the rubbish, the stupid, the grotesque, the gowdy” and it seems the press are always keen to put the foot into football.

It’s frequently hammered home that everything you once loved about the sport in the so-called ‘golden years’ has evaporated and you’re just left with a horrible mess and  nostalgic dreams of the ‘good old days’. Whether the blame is laid at the door of inflated ticket prices, foreigners, money-grabbing players, chairmen, the Big 4’ or just Mike Ashley it seems to make little difference.

Maybe listening to Alan Green has rotted my brain but it’s time we heard more about the brighter side of football, because plenty of supporters are having the time of their lives following their teams. For these fans those ‘golden years’ everyone nostalgically harps back to weren’t so much ‘golden’ – more a ‘muddy-puddle-brown’.

Would Hull fans swap their current heady days for those nostalgic weeks in 1998 when they were rooted to 92nd position in the Football League? Ditto Swansea fans in the upper realms of the Championship. Are they reminiscing about that classic Division Three relegation dogfight with Exeter in 2003? Try telling them football has gone to the dogs.

The so called ‘downfall’ of football  the media bleats on about couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of my football viewing experience. Supporting Exeter City isn’t rubbish, stupid or even grotesque.

I’m not going to belittle you by suggesting that following a small club is the bee’s knees. We don’t own St James Park and haven’t paid a significant fee for a player since 2003. Just as our better players start to achieve something resembling hero status a bigger club will inevitably snap them up (two of our best players have left for the Championship in the past 12 months). We have been millions in debt and days from folding and our history of financial issues reads like an A-Z of football club mismanagement: Creditors Voluntary Agreement, Administration, Inland Revenue disputes and threats of liquidation,

We’ve clinched last minute deals to save the club’s future, had countless trips to Court, and that’s without mentioning our notorious ex-chairmen…. As our fans spillled onto the pitch, many in tears, following our relegation in 2003 it looked as if we’d seen the last ever competitive match by an Exeter City team with the club facing an extremely bleak future.

But here we are sitting in 5th position in League Two, financially stable and on the crest of a real wave. To fans of most clubs our situation wouldn’t seem remotely exciting, wonderful or amazing.

But it really is. Where do I start? I’ve already written plenty on the positives at Exeter City but in the best part of 150 words:

We can relate to our players who appreciate us and who are not only approachable but also friendly and most importantly love our club. We are a community club with a focus on youth and are financially sustainable. We have an ambitious young manager who plays football the right way, a talented squad who fit that same bill. We can afford to watch our side home and away without inducing our own credit-crunch. Our games kick off at 3pm on Saturdays and 7:45pm on Tuesdays, the way football was meant to be. We can stand on the terracing with our friends and move around as we please and our support feel likes it really makes a difference. Our club is run by the fans for the fans, and we aren’t treated like customers. There’s no scandal, no idiots about to sack out manager. Most importantly we have a club to be proud of.

I could go on…(and probably will at some point)

Maybe fans of other teams on the Fanzone (and any City fan) will post below (and the bloggers to focus their articles) on just why supporting their club is great, even if that thought process might be a bit of a struggle for some.

Maybe then people will realise that being a football fan for some supporters is probably as much fun you could have without being locked in a room with Joe Kinnear, a microphone and a swear-box!

Peter Evans

He may be The Times’ Player of the Week for League Two and City’s second top scorer with 3 goals this season from midfield but why has Ryan Harley, Exeter’s signing from Western Super Mare made such a difference to their side?

Football is an unpredictable game. We all know that. But sometimes it’s unfortunately all too predictable.

We all know when an ex-player returns to play against his old club it always seems to end in a goal and Sean Canham’s return to St James Park on Saturday resulted in, not only a goal, but a 94th minute equaliser to deny Exeter all three points.

Ironically Canham has scored more League goals in his three substitute appearances for Notts County than any of our six forwards have managed in nine starts in all competitions.

It’s predictably the forward line where our goal scoring issues have been so far this campaign. After nine games our defence had scored two goals between them. Our midfield had managed five. But our string of 6 strikers could only muster Ben Watson’s smart finish a fortnight ago at home to Accrington.

Ex-Premiership top goal-scorer Marcus Stewart and last season’s 19-goal hero Richard Logan join Adam Stansfield (one of the worst culprits so far unfortunately), Craig McAllister and Steve Basham in the forward line of shame.

On the positive side, some of our strikers have put in some superb performances. Marcus Stewart was easily man of the match against Accrington while Stansfield’s performance at Bradford last week was described by some as his best game for the club.

Paul Tisdale has tried a three man striker force on most occasions this season, with two players dropping deep to play almost attacking midfield positions out on the flanks and one striker (usually Stansfield) as the central striker.

But Stansfield’s main talents are his ability to chase down the flanks, hustle and scare defenders but not his finishing in front of goal. (11 Goals in 40 starts last season for example in contrast to Logan’s 19 in 32). With the other two strikers playing very deep in the 4-3-3 formation it’s not surprising that 5 of the forwards are yet to open their accounts for the season.

I think that Stewart has long been a midfielder (albeit a very competent one for Yeovil last season) and that’s where I see his future at the club. McAllister and Watson both seem like good impact players while Basham has had little chance to impress this season.

Richard Logan is one hitman who hasn’t yet been given a real chance in the position where I believe he is most dangerous this season – as the central striker. His assist for the second goal on Saturday shows what a danger he can be in the box and he could be the out-and-out goal-scorer to compliment some pace on the wings. (Moxey, Stansfield, Watson)

I think a return to a 4-4-2 formation with Moxey returning in midfield with Harley, Gill and Edwards or Stewart with Logan and Stansfield or Watson as the two strikers offers City the greatest potential for attack in the coming weeks.

I have complete faith in Paul Tisdale (Play Off’s in successive seasons have definitely earned him that) to solve our striker riddle and I’m confident that eventually our goal-scoring crisis will ease and the team who scored almost 100 goals last season will start scoring by the hatful.

But if only that was as predictable as that Sean Canham goal….

Like many football fans throughout Britain I watched in amazement on Monday as Fergie smuggled Berbatov into Old Trafford while across Manchester Robinho became the most expensive player in British football history as the transfer window slammed shut.

But it was a far less glamorous deal that really interested Exeter fans as our promising young left back George Friend moved to Wolves on deadline day in an deal thought to be worth around £350k with plenty of additional fees. Wolves were thought to have faced stiff competition from other Premiership and Championship clubs to sign Friend but his transfer news came completely out of the blue for City fans.

Friend is undoubtedly a significant loss for the team. He had made the left back slot his own and put in plenty of impressive performances at the tailend of last season and the beginning of this one. Despite the blow of losing such one of our best players, the club deserves plenty of respect for haggling such a good deal that could eventually equal our record transfer sale.

They didn’t bite the hand off the first interested party leaving us with a measly sum for a player who had been at the club for 10 years, but kept rejecting bids until they finally accepted one which the management believed was a fair amount for such an impressive prospect.

This deal also highlights the importance of the youth systems at clubs such as Exeter. The side that clinched the long-awaited return to the Football League featured three players who came through our youth system; Dan Seaborne, George Friend and Dean Moxey whose corner set up the only goal of the game. In addition there is also Liam Sercombe, a young midfielder who made his Football League debut last weekend, tipped by many to be quite a talent.

Throughout all our financial worries of the last five or six years the club stuck by its youth system, a decision which is now paying dividends and a choice that many other clubs should take into account before scrapping their youth systems when a little strapped for cash.

We may not have paid for any signings since our last spell in the League, (apart from Paul Jones who arrived for a ‘nominal fee’) but we have constantly given chances to young players, either those from our own academy or others that were bought in at a young age and developed at the club. As a fan it’s always that extra bit special to see a home-grown player own coming through and performing so well for your club.

The emphasis on youth development has been a talking point at another ‘City’ this week, on the blue side of Manchester. Man City fans (and in fact chairman Gary Cook) have been quick to reiterate the importance of their very impressive academy, which is producing a plethora of quality footballers, in the club’s exciting future.

Their academy has produced Wright Phillips, Richards, Sturridge, Johnson and Ireland amongst others and there are said to be plenty more bright talents waiting to make the breakthrough (including many England youth internationals). The club were today linked with a move for Ronaldo (the more rotund Brazilian one) who hasn’t played for months following another serious injury. Would all supporters really rather see Ronaldo leading the line and picking up a huge wage than the hugely talented Daniel Sturridge being given a chance alongside Robinho et al?

Picture courtesy of Cheggers

Article taken from the Times Online blog

Whether Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or any other glamorous side, there are those certain type of supporters who have unfortunately grown up with Sky Sports, Soccer Saturday and their side on the box more often than the Only Fools and Horses Christmas Specials! You know the sort of fan, whose idea of driving their team on involves subscribing to the TV channel and subsiqeuntly helping to fund Frank Lampard’s £135,000 a week paycheque.

These type of fans love telling everyone and anyone just how successful “we” are and revelling in the glory whilst expecting congratulations for their long distance lover’s success. Is it really any wonder that armchair supporters get “looked down on and mocked” and give the other fans of their club a bad name? When these people expect their fellow football fans recognition for their team’s performance.  Their team who plays its home games 250 miles away at a stadium they’ve never seen outside their living room, a stadium filled with thousands of fans experiencing a side of fandom they have never encountered.

Sky make it far too easy for these fans to follow their club from their armchair. Why would they want to get soaking wet and out of pocket to go along to watch their local team when they can watch every game their side plays on Football First?

As I’m sure you do, I know many fans like these, supporters who’s match day viewing is not at Southend, Southport or Sunderland but Soccer Saturday and 6-0-6. Lower league clubs throughout Britain are dying (some literally) for the support of these long-distance lovers from Exeter who spend their Saturday afternoons in front of Jeff Stelling. They are missing out on a lot of the unique and awesome experiences of being a football fan. But in many cases these fans don’t admit that their fandom is any different to those of those fans who travel up and down England and Europe week after week. They class themselves as equals to the die-hards who spend their weekends in the service stations of Britain following their club.

Of course any fan that sees their team in action can tell you nothing rivals the match going experience. That watching the match on television is undoubtedly a watered-down version of the real thing.  From the away games to the atmosphere, attending the football match itself is meant to be the crucial part of being a fan. A notion being bypassed by thousands of supporters every week.

Whether you’re one of the Norwegian Grecian’s who flew over for Saturday’s Exeter match, or a fan that walked round the corner to the ground, you all had that shared experience. You were feeling the atmosphere, the drama and the joy of Exeter’s return to the league whilst the armchair fans waited for Football First. Aren’t these long distance lovers jealous that we can experience our local team’s highs and lows every week in the flesh?

As an Exeter City fan I could take a liking to a Premiership side to liven up Match Of The Day. I could play as Arsenal on Football Manager long into the night. But at the end of the day I have a football team that give me a sense of belonging, that I’ve created bonds with and who’s history I feel I have played an active role in.

Those electric atmospheres, the demoralising defeats at some Non League outpost, the 6.30am bus to Carlisle. These are the sorts of experiences that define football supporters. I expect all bloggers can post all night about tales of epic journeys, unforgettable last minute celebrations and those wet, windy and miserable nights. Without any of these are you really a supporter at all? Aren’t you just a follower? Or a consumer? Or an interested party?

You wouldn’t start a relationship with someone living 250 miles away with the intention of never visiting would you?! You might boast about to your friends, they might give you regular updates of their lives but it wouldn’t be a real relationship at all would it?

Taken from my blog at The Times Online