Stickied League 2 Transfer Rumours/Confirmed Transfers 2023/24

[Moomin]

Don't think Exeter have underachieved tbf, they seem to have spent most of their history at about the right level for the size of club they are.

These days Exeter are run exactly how all lower division sides should be imo.

I agree. I’m happy with how we’re ran. Yes we are probably only ever going to be a L1 or L2 club, but I’d sooner that than become a Bury.

 

[Moomin]

You have never been higher than lge 1 the old 3rd division in your history. Staggering under achievers

Yeah good one. A club our size generally are always going to be at that level.

Just like Bolton, with your fanbase you should never drop below the second tier...Oh wait, unlucky.

 

[masi51]

If your aspirations are to be at best a L1 club seeing you are a one club City with nothing around you.
Sorry but i do not see any point !

 

[masi51]

Yeah good one. A club our size generally are always going to be at that level.

Just like Bolton, with your fanbase you should never drop below the second tier...Oh wait, unlucky.

Come on !
Are you really happy with that

 

[Bottega Don]

Yeah good one. A club our size generally are always going to be at that level.

Just like Bolton, with your fanbase you should never drop below the second tier...Oh wait, unlucky.

Does Exeter not have room for growth as a club?

You get similarish attendance to us despite being a much bigger area, don't you think if the club went up the leagues the fanbase would grow? I feel like without any teams that closeby you must have quite a large scope for growth.

EDIT: Just looked into it and you averaged around 1k more than us last season, so not as similar size attendances as I previously thought.

 

[Moomin]

Come on !
Are you really happy with that

Of course, I’d love to make it to the Championship and clubs like Wycombe, Yeovil and Burton have proven it’s possible.

However, to say we’ve underachieved is, frankly, moronic.

 

[Chris FGR]

Getting to the Championship didn't do Yeovil much good though. I know they're a smaller club, but still.

Clubs like Bolton can afford to go down the boom and bust route, because lets face it, there will probably always be someone there to pick up the pieces and stop them going under altogether due to the size of their fanbase. Smaller clubs don't always have that luxury.

Would be better if all clubs were at least part fan owned imo.

 

[masi51]

Of course, I’d love to make it to the Championship and clubs like Wycombe, Yeovil and Burton have proven it’s possible.

However, to say we’ve underachieved is, frankly, moronic.

116 years.....Honours 4th div champions 1989/90..........want to rephrase the moronic?

 

[Moomin]

Does Exeter not have room for growth as a club?

You get similarish attendance to us despite being a much bigger area, don't you think if the club went up the leagues the fanbase would grow? I feel like without any teams that closeby you must have quite a large scope for growth.

Yeah, I think we do have potential to have a decent fan base if we progressed enough. We’ve got a big catchment and despite Rugby being popular with the chiefs, we’ve shown that we can pull in decent crowds.

I look at Lincoln who are a similar sized club and think we could pull in similar crowds, or greater if we did really well.

When Tisdale was at his peak with us and we finished just outside the L1 play offs in 2010, we had a vision of making the Championship but we lost the spine of our squad, didn’t replace then well enough and we slipped. Had we made it, we’d have packed the ground every game in the Championship.

 

[shoddycollins]

Disagree on the autos part. We spent the majority of the season in the top 3 and were only 3 points off the top when the season stopped, so I wouldn’t say we were some way short at all.

You have run out of steam towards the end of the season in previous years though.

 

[Moomin]

116 years.....Honours 4th div champions 1989/90..........want to rephrase the moronic?

No.

So you’re saying a club our size should be spending a chunk of our history in the second tier?

We could have won 10 division 4 titles but still never made the second tier. If your statement was “only winning one Div 4 title in 116 years is proof of underachieving”, then I’d agree with you. But that’s not what you said.

 

[Moomin]

You have run out of steam towards the end of the season in previous years though.

But we were never regulars in the top 3 in any of those seasons.

 

[shoddycollins]

If your aspirations are to be at best a L1 club seeing you are a one club City with nothing around you.
Sorry but i do not see any point !

A one city club, but I think the egg-chasing is the main competition to football down that way, and they have a pretty successful one on their doorstep. As for nothing around them, well that also means few areas they can draw extra fans from.

Anyway, what are Bolton's aspirations these days? Surely not to find a way back into European football?

 

[Indian Dan]

If your aspirations are to be at best a L1 club seeing you are a one club City with nothing around you.
Sorry but i do not see any point !

You don’t see a point in supporting a club that’s not . . . What exactly?

A busted flush ex PL club?

 

[Chris FGR]

Getting to the Championship and being competitive takes a fuck load of outlay, look at the amount Lansdown has had to pump into Bristol City to get them established there. Bournemouth really went shit or bust too, which 9 times out of 10 could have totally fucked them up.

Is it really worth putting a clubs future on the line just to try and compete at Championship level? Imo unless you can average at least 12-15k crowds it's too much of a stretch for most clubs

 

[masi51]

You don’t see a point in supporting a club that’s not . . . What exactly?

A busted flush ex PL club?

no where did i say i dont see the point of supporting a club.........i was aiming that to the board of directors

 

[Casey]

Be careful on the idea of rising through the divisions will bring in more fans. It will but not in the amounts you probably think.

I think for the lower league clubs being at the right end of the table and playing attractive football will get more fans through the door than shithousing your way up the divisions and then dropping back down. Throw in the occasional cup run and add onto that being a force for good in the local community and your fan base will grow and more will stay with you when the bad times come around.

Bolton may be the exception that proves the rule (I just remember those Big Sam tactics with Kevin Davies leading the line).

Casey

 

[Moomin]

Getting to the Championship and being competitive takes a fuck load of outlay, look at the amount Lansdown has had to pump into Bristol City to get them established there. Bournemouth really went shit or bust too, which 9 times out of 10 could have totally fucked them up.

Is it really worth putting a clubs future on the line just to try and compete at Championship level? Imo unless you can average at least 12-15k crowds it's too much of a stretch for most clubs

Is the correct answer. We may do a Wycombe one day, which would be amazing. But it will be interesting to see if it affects them if/ when they come back down.

Also look at Peterborough, they’ve spent millions and still struggle to make the play offs!

 

[masi51]

This is about Exeter not Bolton...Quite happy to carry on if you want to change it to Bolton

 

[Moomin]

I was aiming that to the board of directors

I don’t think they post on here mate.

 

[masi51]

Is the correct answer. We may do a Wycombe one day, which would be amazing. But it will be interesting to see if it affects them if/ when they come back down.

Also look at Peterborough, they’ve spent millions and still struggle to make the play offs!

Preston and Brentford are the models to follow....It can be done and the club can make money

 

[Indian Dan]

no where did i say i dont see the point of supporting a club.........i was aiming that to the board of directors

You never mentioned the directors. You said, and I quote

‘If your aspirations are to just be a L1 club, I don’t see the point’

 

[masi51]

I don’t think they post on here mate.

you would be amazed at where they look

 

[pontoonlew]

Apparently we have Theo Robinson on trial. Something tells me he might not be very good but his record lately looks alright?

 

[Indian Dan]

Nowt wrong with Theo

 

[Huntsman94]

Preston and Brentford are the models to follow....It can be done and the club can make money

I think Brentford's model of scrapping the Academy and focusing more on recruitment and developing players at a 18-21 age group has worked really really well.

On the flip side to that however you have Exeter that have a brilliant Academy setup and are able to generate revenue through selling players and putting sell on fees into any future deals. That said, their catchment area is much much bigger than what Brentford have.

 

[shoddycollins]

On our trialists, Joe Fryer has a little niggle and has gone back to Boro for treatment. In light of the fact he hasn't played for two years Boro understandably want to get him with their physio for a check-up any time he tweaks something to make sure it isn't related to his leg-break and to make sure that he isn't playing through something that could make things worse. He might be back, we don't know, we have two keepers now so if Fryer does return on loan it's likely to be with Boro paying his full wages and us helping bring him through.

Junior Mondal missed the Gateshead match with a niggle, but we hope to give him a run our in our next friendly

Dean Furman's paperwork wasn't done in time for him to feature against Gateshead but he'll be available for our next friendly.

 

[Moomin]

I think Brentford's model of scrapping the Academy and focusing more on recruitment and developing players at a 18-21 age group has worked really really well.

On the flip side to that however you have Exeter that have a brilliant Academy setup and are able to generate revenue through selling players and putting sell on fees into any future deals. That said, their catchment area is much much bigger than what Brentford have.

We’d struggle to adopt a Brentford style model. Being in London it must be much easier to attract talent to that area, than it would be for us.

Our academy is something I and all ECFC fans are hugely proud of and there’s no way we’d scrap it.

 

[Huntsman94]

We’d struggle to adopt a Brentford style model. Being in London it must be much easier to attract talent to that area, than it would be for us.

Our academy is something I and all ECFC fans are hugely proud of and there’s no way we’d scrap it.

I agree I don't think it would work for you and the way your Academy is run is a credit to the club. Similarly, Brentford have so many clubs within such a small radius that it was extremely tough for them to hang on to players through that U16 phase. I think we'll end up following a similar route having already scrapped our U15s-U9s age groups a couple of years back.

 

[masi51]

We’d struggle to adopt a Brentford style model. Being in London it must be much easier to attract talent to that area, than it would be for us.

Our academy is something I and all ECFC fans are hugely proud of and there’s no way we’d scrap it.

Brentfords model is not built on players from the London area but young French players