Compare and Contrast Exeter City 1994 to 2022

[SaintJames]

It can be hard to pinpoint the word "nadir" when it comes City's history. 1994/95 would certainly be a strong candidate and then 2002/03 happened. The mid/late 80's would be a candidate from an attendance point of view although that was more a general malaise in English football as a whole.

At the time you pick 2002/03 as the absolute low point but now you can see it was the shock that kick started a revival. We also had a better side that season than in 1994/95. 94/95 was a low point followed by a false dawn. That is why I question whether there would have been the support to get us through that period had we been relegated.

It can be a warning from history in a "be grateful for what you've got" kind of way but really should be used in "look how far we have come" context. Then we can still look at how far we can still go.

Good post Rosey. It's hard for anyone under 40 who is a City fan to truly understand or even to believe just how crap we were particularly in the twenty years before Trust ownership (with the exception of 89/90). I have three boys, two of whom work for the club and to try to explain that for almost the entirety of our history (aside from the last 15 years) we almost always finished in the bottom ten of League Two. To understand that getting a crowd in excess of 3,000 was for many years unheard of and that when I travelled away I may only see an occasional win and often saw that match with less than 50 City fans present. They look at me like I'm an alien from outer space. The only good thing back then was that you were always guaranteed a pasty and we never ran out at half time

 

[iscalad]

The past is a different country

 

[gilbertshoot]

Christ! We were a sack of ***** back then. The club now, the ground, the set up - all on a different planet compared to back then. Great times, folks. Make the most of it.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Good post Rosey. It's hard for anyone under 40 who is a City fan to truly understand or even to believe just how crap we were particularly in the twenty years before Trust ownership (with the exception of 89/90). I have three boys, two of whom work for the club and to try to explain that for almost the entirety of our history (aside from the last 15 years) we almost always finished in the bottom ten of League Two. To understand that getting a crowd in excess of 3,000 was for many years unheard of and that when I travelled away I may only see an occasional win and often saw that match with less than 50 City fans present. They look at me like I'm an alien from outer space. The only good thing back then was that you were always guaranteed a pasty and we never ran out at half time

My first game watching City was in 1982. In the 22 seasons until the Trust took over, we came in the top half of the table twice. 1989/90 is to be cherished. The other time came due to a late winner on the last day of the season by Chris Curran against Halifax that secured us twelfth. Glory hunters we weren't .

 

[fred binneys head]

My first game watching City was in 1982. In the 22 seasons until the Trust took over, we came in the top half of the table twice. 1989/90 is to be cherished. The other time came due to a late winner on the last day of the season by Chris Curran against Halifax that secured us twelfth. Glory hunters we weren't .

Took us above argyle too after they lost at Carlisle in the last minute (Jimmy Glass).

I think.

 

[Bridgy 81]

Although I started following City in 1981 and was a very frequent attender through the 80s I’m afraid the 90s are a complete blur to me as due to a complicated work and family situation, although I was still signed up to the cause, that decade somehow passed me by.
But I felt the need to and was able to return physically when we were relegated in the early 2000s.
Strangely I enjoyed our time in the Conference, or whatever it was called then.
Since then it’s been pretty good.
But now I think it‘s the best it’s been in my 40 years.
The differences in a lot of ways between when I started and now is incredible.
Where we’ll end up, who knows, but don’t knock it at the moment because some of us are living the dream.

 

[antman]

This season as a promoted team we are no longer "punching above our weight" which they always said about us on previous stays in the third tier. If you would have said to me in the 90s we could achieve this without any outside investment I would have doubted it.

It is a momentous, yet delicate time when we need to make sure we can keep up the standards on the field while facing the inevitable loss of players at the end (or even middle of) this season.

 

[Cowshed Grecian]

And yet somehow, after 20 years of improvement under Trust stewardship, some would have you believe selling up to a private individual now would lead us to the sunlit uplands...

Some would also have you believe it’s been it’s been a remarkable improvement over the last 20-30 years! Theoretically we still run out of pies at half time and can’t seem to pre plan or determine what our actual capacity crowd is!

 

[gilbertshoot]

And yet somehow, after 20 years of improvement under Trust stewardship, some would have you believe selling up to a private individual now would lead us to the sunlit uplands...

'Sunlit uplands'.......oh, Christ!

 

[tonykellowfan]

I started supporting Exeter in the early 80s.

I've said it before, but in my first 20 years of supporting the club we only had 1 season when we won more games than we lost.