{"id":292087,"date":"2023-09-10T22:23:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T22:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=292087"},"modified":"2023-09-10T22:23:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T22:23:12","slug":"on-the-road-how-volunteers-brought-exeter-city-back-from-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/on-the-road-how-volunteers-brought-exeter-city-back-from-the-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"ON THE ROAD: How volunteers brought Exeter City back from the brink"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>ON THE ROAD: From padlocks and pasties to promotions and pride&#8230; how a volunteer army brought Exeter City back from the brink and into the Football League<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A volunteer army brought Exeter City back from the brink after uncertainty\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Locks were used by fans to keep owners John Russell and Mike Lewis out<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216; It&#8217;s All Kicking Off &#8216;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two padlocks dangle from the latch of the door to Exeter City\u2019s inner sanctum.<\/p>\n<p>They are innocuous amid corridors plastered with vintage photographs and the charming museum packed with memorabilia of all kinds from a golden boot won by club legend Tony Kellow to the pink boots worn by England international Ollie Watkins but they are heavy with significance.<\/p>\n<p>They were the locks used by fans to keep rogue owners John Russell and Mike Lewis out of St James Park. They represent an uprising, lasting symbols of the storming of the palace, and everything that has happened since.<\/p>\n<p>Julian Tagg gives them an affectionate rattle and recalls the day he locked the doors and retreated to the office used by Russell and Lewis, who ran up debts of \u00a34.8million and left Exeter in an existential crisis, sat down and wondered: \u2018Now what do we do?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>What they did do was take ownership of the club once it had been through the administration process and set about writing one of football\u2019s great success stories of the 21st century.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/20\/75271399-12502099-image-a-1_1694374366466.jpg\" height=\"363\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Exeter City were on the brink of going bust just 20 years ago but now sit in League One<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/20\/75271413-12502099-image-a-2_1694374367534.jpg\" height=\"373\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>This weekend saw the celebration of 20 years of Trust ownership for the home side<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/20\/75271415-12502099-image-a-3_1694374370268.jpg\" height=\"401\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>They faced Leyton Orient, third in the League One table after a 2-1 loss on the weekend<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>It involves five Wembley outings, three promotions and an FA Cup tie with Manchester United, a fabulous little stadium featuring the biggest free-standing terrace in the country, a swanky new \u00a33m training ground and a thriving academy, and a priceless connection with their community.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty years on from the day they took control, Tagg is president of the club and on Saturday, for the visit of Leyton Orient, a dozen of the original Supporters\u2019 Trust board were back inside that same office, now a match-day lounge, as guests to mark the anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>Exeter started the day on top of League One, higher than they had been in their 122-year existence, but they don\u2019t like to call it a miracle because it has been done with nothing more than hard work and commitment by people who loved their club.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We were a laughing stock,\u2019 admits Elaine Davis. \u2018We had Michael Jackson here walking round the pitch with an umbrella. Uri Geller as well, it was embarrassing. We were relegated out of the Football League but that was almost secondary.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/22\/75273675-12502099-image-a-20_1694379997898.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Julian Tagg is the Club President and Director of Football and External Affairs of Exeter City<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/22\/75273657-12502099-image-a-16_1694379918969.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Elaine Davis, Volunteer and Former Director of Exeter City was present against Leyton Orient<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/22\/75273655-12502099-image-a-17_1694379922190.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Di Lee cleaned at the training ground, washed kit and made soup for players and staff\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Davis is an ex-college librarian turned fundraiser for the club. It started when she joined an army of volunteers who spent a summer cleaning and renovating the ground, fuelled by pasties donated by a local bakery. \u2018We sat in the stands with our pasties and there was a frisson,\u2019 says Davis. \u2018This was our club and only a few weeks before we had thought it wouldn\u2019t be here.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Her most recent success has been to raise \u00a363,000 to equip the new training centre with exercise machines, kitchen equipment and analysis screens. \u2018I use that road quite a lot, and when I see the building, I well up,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n<p>There are many like her. Di Lee cleaned at the training ground, washed kit and made soup for players and staff. Her late husband John, a builder, did the odd jobs around the stadium.<\/p>\n<p>This volunteer army is still the bedrock of the club. Chairman Nick Hawker estimates it is worth a quarter of a million a year. \u2018I asked someone from another club how many volunteers they used and he looked at me like I was nuts,\u2019 says Hawker. \u2018He said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have volunteers\u201d but what they give you is humbling.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/20\/75271409-12502099-image-a-4_1694374376895.jpg\" height=\"671\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The club looked to raise \u00a3100,000 in a week 20 years ago as they looked to save their club<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/20\/75271453-12502099-image-a-5_1694374378981.jpg\" height=\"403\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The League One side are back and fighting for promotion in League One during the early stages<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/22\/75273667-12502099-image-a-18_1694379966321.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Members of the Original Trust Board come together to celebrate 20 years of Trust Ownership\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You create emotional ties, pride that goes beyond how you feel at 5pm on Saturday. It\u2019s about how you feel at 11am on Saturday morning because you\u2019re giving up your day to show off our club. I\u2019m most proud of that ethos.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>A windfall of \u00a31m from a replayed FA Cup tie against Manchester United in 2005 was vital, and Exeter were rewarded for a decision to keep the academy open when it was prime for early cost-cutting. \u2018It would have taken two minutes to close down and 10 years to build back,\u2019 says Tagg, a PE and sports psychology teacher.<\/p>\n<p>Money from the sale of Matt Grimes to Swansea for \u00a31.75m in 2015 helped install a 3G pitch at the training ground. Ethan Ampadu joined Chelsea in a deal worth up to \u00a32.5m and Watkins joined Brentford for \u00a31.8m. The sell-on fee when Watkins moved on to Aston Villa for \u00a328m has effectively built Exeter\u2019s new training centre.<\/p>\n<p>Bigger clubs have started to swoop for their scholars, but Exeter continue to bring a steady stream of graduates into the first team. Sixteen-year-old Jake Richards made his League One debut on Saturday and 18-year-old Sonny Cox started up front.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We develop people,\u2019 says Hawker. \u2018We have to be patient with the managers because they will lose games as they bring players through.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Exeter have come to appreciate the value of slow and steady growth and they have learned to absorb disappointment, which came in handy when Ruel Sotiriou won the game for Orient in stoppage time and knocked the home side off the top.<\/p>\n<p>They want success on the pitch but they know from bitter experience there is more to it. They have the padlocks to prove it.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12502099\/ON-ROAD-padlocks-pasties-promotions-pride-volunteer-army-brought-Exeter-City-brink-Football-League.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ON THE ROAD: From padlocks and pasties to promotions and pride&#8230; 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