Thoughts from a neutral

[grecianred]

Must say from an "enjoyment" perspective I have to disagree with the good Dr.

Maybe it's the masochist streak in me, but I found an odd pleasure in going to some of the odd-spots of Conference folklore. I missed Leigh RMI but managed to take in Canvey Island, Stafford, Grays etc.

It was also during the 5 Conference years that I got to know shedloads more City fans, mainly through Exeweb but also I felt a real sense of "Community" at away matches. Where previously there was a bit of an unwelcoming air about City (especially on my rare trips "home"), now things are a lot friendlier.

i think i'd agree totally there. i've had some great times watching city in the conference. seeing us draw at leigh when i decided to wear only a t shirt was utterly ace. going to southport in the bitter cold watching bucks score the only goal in a truly dire game was fantastic. sometimes the bad times make the good ones feel that much better - losing 4-0 at kiddy was shocking but also pretty funny, heading out of the car park with the windows open at radiohead's no suprises blaring out was hilarious.

we're back were we like to think we belong and hopefully it can be a springboard to something more but i think in the future (atleast some of us) will look back on some pretty decent memories of the conf...

 

[jambo]

While the years in the conf provided some obscure pleasures in unmentionable backwaters; & the (relatively) heady experience of consistently challenging for promotion; I think Dave is right to remind us of just how bad things had become for the Club, how close it was to extinction, & just what it was that provided the grounds on which the Club has been successful in building.

Nor should the lessons of history be forgotten. Just as the current economic meltdown is a consequence of obscene credit abuse, so the upper echelons of UK football are also founded on so much bad debt, & will, in due course, come tumbling down. Football in this country may come to its senses...but there's very little in the way of precedent to offer hope for such an outcome.

In the meantime, City are currently doing it in the right way - a Club firmly rooted in its community, strongly linked to its fan base, on financially solid ground, developing within its means, investing in youth, playing attractive football, fairly (as evidenced by Matt Taylor on Saturday), & achieving success on the pitch (which is not, of course, to say that everything is perfect!).

One way we could jeopardise all this is by forgetting both our recent, & longer term, history, abandon the principles on which we are currently developing, & start trying to buy success &/or living beyond our means.

That's why I believe we should value both the new & younger fans who are coming to the Park & contributing to Exeweb, whilst simultaneously continuing to listen to, & respecting, the views of those people who were instrumental in creating the conditions which have enabled our Club to get to where it is today (&, hopefully, beyond to even better things) - however much we may not always want to hear what they have to say!!

 

[Draig Wrecsam]

I can see where folk are coming from when they say they enjoy the Conference in some ways, its certainly nice to be nearer the top of the league than the bottom for once!

We've had seemingly years of sh*t thrown at us both on and off the pitch, and I think we all had time to accept the fact we were going to lose our league status. It has been good to visit some new grounds, but then under Brian Little being outplayed and outbattled at places like Altrincham and Grays does quickly being to lose its appeal.

It's just my luck that we're starting to pick up now I can't get to matches, hopefully Dean Saunders can prove the man to get us back into the league. I think it's vital we go up this year, the Conference could be even tougher next season when you consider Luton and Bournemouth could well be coming down.

Thanks for the welcome as well, I don't think I'll be considering myself a 'neutral' much longer, especially when i see Chester are down here in a few weeks

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

I can see where folk are coming from when they say they enjoy the Conference in some ways, its certainly nice to be nearer the top of the league than the bottom for once!

Much, much better!

being outplayed and outbattled at places like Altrincham and Grays does quickly being to lose its appeal.

That's only true at first. Once you get out of the mindset of being a league club and that whole 'shame of losing to a non-league club in the FA Cup' thing you begin to realise that 'little' clubs like Altrincham & Grays have some pretty damn fine players (Wolves signed Michael Kightly from Grays to name one). Conference clubs seem to me to give talented youngsters more of a chance than League clubs.

I think it's vital we go up this year, the Conference could be even tougher next season when you consider Luton and Bournemouth could well be coming down.

I'm not so sure about that. I remember attending the first Trust meeting in the SJC after we'd been relegated and there was some idiot there who would only accept us going straight back up. I think if by some miracle we had done we'd have bounced straight back down. Also, it's a hell of a lot easier said than done, as I'm sure you are aware! I think in the five years we were there only Shrewsbury (who came down with us) and Carlisle managed to do it. Cambridge, Kidderminster, Rushden, York, Torquay (and Boston were relegated before they even got a chance!). I'm not sure what state Wrexham's finances are in but it seems in general the longer a club is down there, the stronger they become. Of course there are the examples of Halifax and Scarborough to serve as a warning and if you're not perennial challengers for promotion then apathy can take hold of the fans and the gates dwindle but Wrexham are a much beter supported club than either of those.

Thanks for the welcome as well, I don't think I'll be considering myself a 'neutral' much longer, especially when i see Chester are down here in a few weeks

Geddon bauy

 

[David Treharne]

Thanks for the welcome as well, I don't think I'll be considering myself a 'neutral' much longer, especially when i see Chester are down here in a few weeks

Though from what I glean from a fairly informed source at Chester they are in a free fall situation as well. Your #1 Club was pillaged by people whose interests had little to do with football, and a lot to do with the acquisition of the ground for redevelopment - and Chester are facing the same scenario - though not for the first time! It's encouraging that you are prepared to come and watch City-because a huge amount of our active support has and does come from people who have been students in Exeter and just continue with the 'habit' . Welcome along!

 

[tisdale 1]

and if you go into the big bank if you under 17 you get in for a fiver in the atmosphere stand ( big bank).

ha atmosphere it is sh*te! you get more life in a morgue than SJP away games are so much better.

 

[Red Lion]

Perhaps I'm being over sensitive at ten o'clock on a Monday morning, but I can't agree with either of the above statements.
"It was neither a 'necessary evil' nor ' a bit of fun' and you ought to add 'lots of heartache' to that statement.
The Club came as close to closing on 8th September 2003 as it could possibly have done with a press statement already prepared saying that the Trust was about to walk away from the the Club. That was followed in rapid succession by the threat of a (at least) 10 point deduction, ejection from the Conference, a CVA that was only accepted because of direct intervention by several political figures and the realisation that unless something dramatic happened the Club couldn't go on in any way shape or form in the way that it had done for at lest 10 to 12 years.
You also need to remember 'Red or Dead' the Red Card Loan scheme and threat of legal action against others than those who were eventually brought to to book for events that had a far wider causation.
This was only the start of the long process so please don't try to rewrite the events that took place by suggesting that they were ' a bit of fun'. They weren't and Exeter City as a Club is lucky to be alive, yet alone to have so many people who persevered and worked so hard to save it,many of whom are no longer directly involved. perhaps ask them if they regarded it as 'a bit of fun'

Oh dear, someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning, didn't they?

A supporter from another club, who's team is new in the conference/BSP, has come on here expressing an interest in our club. I merely enquired about his feelings about the conference, and gave him a very brief view of how I felt about our time there.

If I had the time, say sitting in a bar and chatting I would be very interested in how his, and many other clubs came about the misfortune to be in that league, and if he was interested tell him how lucky we are to still have a Club.

However I don't feel the need for chapter and verse about Wrexham's, or anyone else's woes on Word On Well Street. I didn't feel the need to share our's with him. I just know that as a supporter, while I'm delighted we are back where we belong, the dreaded conference was nowhere near as grim as I expected it to be. Judging by the way the attendances stayed fairly consistent (improved on our latter league crowds?) a lot of people seemed to feel the same way.

So Mr. Treharne, you don't think our time in the Conference was a necessary evil? By that, do you mean we didn't deserve to get relegated under the previous regime? Do you think, if we had stayed up in 2003, once our real financial mire was uncovered, and some of the better players, and our manager couldn't get out fast enough, we would have faired as well in Division 4? (whatever they called it 5 years ago)

I think Eammo did a fantastic job with an almost impossible situation that first season. I have a feeling though that if we'd stayed in the Football League we would have been the whipping boys, then relegated that season.
Of course this is all speculation now, but how would the Trust have prosperred with a relegation in its debut season?

All of us old enough remember the bad times. All of us are very grateful to those that stepped up to the plate and kept our Club going.

I've expressed my gratitude many times on this forum. Do you think I have to do it every time I bring up the past?

Should I always mention how much money Ivor Doble has ploughed into the Club over the years as well?

 

[ajeffery3]

ha atmosphere it is sh*te! you get more life in a morgue than SJP away games are so much better.

Depends where in BB you stand.

Still i agree that away games have the best atmosphere. I've been to Bradford and Macclesfield away this season so far and they are always a good laugh. (apart from the stewards at Bradford being a bunch of c**ks) Still for most away games i tend to stand near the drum and just sing for the full 90min's.

 

[MJP_Exeter]

I think when SJP is in full flow it has a cracking atmosphere. BUt the atmosphere away at Bournemouth was the best so far as we just sang and sang all game long whereas i think at SJP its still to easy to boo.

 

[David Treharne]

Oh dear, someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning, didn't they?
Should I always mention how much money Ivor Doble has ploughed into the Club over the years as well?

Probably.
In answer to the second part of the post, "almost certainly not" and you may be nearer to gleaning some "truth" than you realise.