Matt Taylor - 2 Years As ECFC Manager...

[Spoonz Red E]

That might be the case although I think I'd argue that for most of that time the club moved forward off the pitch more than it did on the pitch and I don't see that as much now

Well ...
On the pitch.
I've been watching games since the 1960's and I can't remember a time until now when a serious challenge for promotion was as consistent as it has been for the last 5 years.
Seven or eight home grown players common in our league line-ups.

Off the pitch.
U16s winning the national floodlit cup last year.
U18s holding up consistently in their leagues and cups.
U23s almost making it to Wembley last season.
Women's team being shaped into an academy system with college support and gaining promotions up through their leagues .
More material development made to the training ground with further development planned.
Becoming one of the highest ranked clubs for Matchday experience (Gold award)

I don't know about you but I think that's pretty good going.

 

[Snoop Fog]

Well ...
On the pitch.
I've been watching games since the 1960's and I can't remember a time until now when a serious challenge for promotion was as consistent as it has been for the last 5 years.
Seven or eight home grown players common in our league line-ups.

Off the pitch.
U16s winning the national floodlit cup last year.
U18s holding up consistently in their leagues and cups.
U23s almost making it to Wembley last season.
Women's team being shaped into an academy system with college support and gaining promotions up through their leagues .
More material development made to the training ground with further development planned.
Becoming one of the highest ranked clubs for Matchday experience (Gold award)

I don't know about you but I think that's pretty good going.

What about the pitch though?

 

[fred binneys head]

That might be the case although I think I'd argue that for most of that time the club moved forward off the pitch more than it did on the pitch and I don't see that as much now

People generally don’t see much when they close their eyes.

 

[tonykellowfan]

I thought Exeweb was for fans of the club? Some people.

 

[Moomin Grecian]

Rubbish ! He has already served two of three games he is suspended for, Tuesday v Walsall will be the third.

Oh yeah. Woops

 

[dommers]

I've been watching games since the 1960's and I can't remember a time until now when a serious challenge for promotion was as consistent as it has been for the last 5 years.

But that's consistency. If we'd have moved forward in those in those 5 years then we'd have got promoted once.

 

[raleighnc]

It feels like another season of deja vu, will we scrape into the play offs or not and if we do will we choke at the hurdle? It seems that with a decent squad of experienced players and fantastic academy output we simply can’t put things together such that League one is a possibility. Questions about toughness, mental fortitude, resilience, perseverance etc exist today as much as when Tisdale was prancing around here. Must be the laid back West Country air.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

But that's consistency. If we'd have moved forward in those in those 5 years then we'd have got promoted once.

It took us 5 years to get out of the Conference.
3 years of knocking on the door but not quite getting promoted or in the playoffs.
1 year of losing and Wembley.
Then promotion via Wembley.
All the while building the club back piece by piece.

I regarded then, and still regard now, all those years as progress - including the 4 with no promotion.

 

[Boyo]

Some statistical perspective of how Matt stacks up in City managerial history sorted by win percentage.**

Manager	Start Date	End Date	P	W	D	L	% W	% D	% W&D
Alex Inglethorpe	18-Oct-04	25-Jun-06	70	35	14	21	50.0	20.0	70.0
Matt Taylor	01-Jun-18	Current	142	64	38	40	45.1	26.8	71.8
Bobby Saxton	01-Jan-77	05-Jan-79	96	41	28	27	42.7	29.2	71.9
Eamonn Dolan	09-Jun-03	07-Oct-04	54	23	16	15	42.6	29.6	72.2
Frank Broome	01-Jan-58	31-May-60	111	46	26	39	41.4	23.4	64.9
Billy McDevitt	01-Feb-29	30-Sep-35	276	111	62	103	40.2	22.5	62.7
Jack Edwards	01-Feb-63	31-Jan-65	92	36	34	24	39.1	37.0	76.1
Paul Tisdale	26-Jun-06	01-Jun-18	626	241	159	226	38.5	25.4	63.9
Gary Peters	25-Feb-03	24-May-03	13	5	5	3	38.5	38.5	76.9
Johnny Newman	01-Apr-69	21-Dec-76	357	137	91	129	38.4	25.5	63.9
Terry Cooper	09-May-88	01-Aug-91	212	78	47	87	36.8	22.2	59.0
Fred Mavin	01-Jan-23	01-Nov-27	205	75	42	88	36.6	20.5	57.1
Brian Godfrey	01-Jan-79	01-Jun-83	208	74	52	82	35.6	25.0	60.6
Arthur Chadwick	01-Apr-08	31-Dec-22	415	144	100	171	34.7	24.1	58.8
George Roughton	01-Aug-45	01-Mar-52	275	95	58	122	34.5	21.1	55.6
John Cornforth	24-Sep-01	06-Oct-02	44	14	11	19	31.8	25.0	56.8
Norman Dodgin	01-Apr-53	30-Apr-57	191	60	48	83	31.4	25.1	56.5
Jock Basford	01-Jun-66	30-Apr-67	46	14	15	17	30.4	32.6	63.0
Dave Wilson	01-Mar-28	01-Feb-29	56	17	12	27	30.4	21.4	51.8
Colin Appleton	01-May-85	11-Dec-87	64	19	24	21	29.7	37.5	67.2
Peter Fox	01-Aug-95	09-Jan-00	230	68	68	94	29.6	29.6	59.1
Jim Iley	07-Jun-84	30-Apr-85	46	13	14	19	28.3	30.4	58.7
Glen Wilson	01-Jun-60	30-Apr-62	46	13	11	20	28.3	23.9	52.2
Norman Kirkman	01-Mar-52	04-Mar-53	58	16	17	25	27.6	29.3	56.9
Alan Ball	06-Aug-91	20-Jan-94	114	31	35	48	27.2	30.7	57.9
Cyril Spiers	01-May-62	01-Feb-63	26	7	4	15	26.9	15.4	42.3
Jack English	01-Oct-35	31-May-39	160	43	48	69	26.9	30.0	56.9
Bill Thompson	01-May-57	01-Jan-58	27	7	5	15	25.9	18.5	44.4
Ellis Stuttard	01-Feb-65	01-Jun-66	66	17	20	29	25.8	30.3	56.1
Noel Blake	10-Jan-00	24-Sep-01	60	15	18	27	25.0	30.0	55.0
Frank Broome	01-May-67	01-Feb-69	74	17	24	33	23.0	32.4	55.4
Terry Cooper	24-Jan-94	31-Jul-95	66	13	15	38	19.7	22.7	42.4
Neil McNab	17-Oct-02	25-Feb-03	20	3	7	10	15.0	35.0	50.0
John Delve	11-Dec-87	08-May-88	27	4	9	14	14.8	33.3	48.1
Gerry Francis	20-Jul-83	14-May-84	46	6	15	25	13.0	32.6	45.7

**Thanks to the magnificent Grecian Archive for the stats on previous managers. Matt's stats updated to present, taken from Soccerbase.

Really interesting numbers and I must say I'm amazed that Inglethorpe is top of the tree. Whilst none of us will ever forget the games against Man Utd, my abiding memory of Inglethorpe was the end of his second and final season, where the quality of players and the style of football, really was poor. We ended in our lowest ever position and missed the Conference playoffs by 11 points.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

But that's consistency. If we'd have moved forward in those in those 5 years then we'd have got promoted once.

Also .. if we want to get back into League 1 and be comfortable there for the long term , isn't consistency the best platform?