Fan Q&A

[Red Lion]

Interesting. Only saw your lot 3/4 times last season, but I look at your squad and think you should have challenged for at least the top 7.

I'd agree with that. It was like having a decent car (won't go as far as to say a sports car ) and just as you'd got the engine cooking and were ready to go into overdrive (showing my age) you decided it would be much better to slam it into second gear.
IMHO there is a serious lack of ambition at our Club. Not sure if changing the manager will make any difference......

 

[Pobbop]

Tisdale is frustratingly stubborn and sometimes seems to try something 'clever' rather than the simple, obvious and accepted way. I'm not sure that we'd do that much better with someone else, after all Tisdale himself got the team to dizzying heights compared to our history. At the very core we're just not very could, rarely ever have been and probably won't be in the future either.

This pretty much echoes my view. Hard to say we'd be stagnating under Tisdale, at 16th, as that's probably Exeter's natural position, or lower.

Tisdale was great for 5 years, don't believe the one person who calls him lucky, he worked miracles. In general the fans have been happy to keep him through most polls (even on this place, which is generally described as a negative joke, by most City supporters I talk too), yet there's utterly no doubt that now we've worked our way into a decent financial position, we need to kick on, and normal fans are turning with the poor home-form particularly. We just shouldn't carry on shopping in Poundland, when we aren't in financial distress. Yet most fans are sane enough to not go back to the days where are spending kept on getting us in nearfatal financial problems, whilst not ever actually finish any higher in the League than Tis has done.

So I wouldn't be that distressed if Tis was to go, and would cheer him off the piych for his final match, but I would still be wary of someone coming in, because I have been used too much worse times.

The dislikers should realise that the huge reason we're in a financial position that we're rightfully looking up is hugely down to Tisdale (not solely BTW, I mean not sure anyone is an island)

Old-school manager, no thanks had enough of them, and BH even though their are physical teams that do well in the division, it's certainly not exclusive to them.

BTW BigTrees admits himself he is openly negative of Tisdale, any reason you chose him?

 

[richard_portland]

If I remember correctly I looked at our league finishes back to the early seventies and worked out an average(including our conference seasons) Think it worked out that our average placing during that period was ninth or tenth in the division we are currently in.

Although we have had times when we have finished around the bottom of the division I would dispute that 16th or lower should be our natural position. Think that viewpoint is severely lacking in ambition. Imo it's alwaysimportant to look to improved what has gone before, but think a lot of fans who I have read say give Tisdale one more season are always likely to keep saying that even if that one more season sees us in mid table again with poor home form(that's a general view rather than directed specifically at yourself)

 

[Avening Posse]

I'm not convinced an old school manager would do better with our current mix of players, not enough of them suit that style in my view. I find it frustrating that we undoubtably have a few who are very good for this level, but the sum of the parts haven't added up in the past 2 or 3 seasons because we have been very weak in certain areas as well. Tis is clearly trying to blend it with the resources available, and last season we really should have done better. I'm not as optimistic as I was this time last summer but we have new additions who are not inexperienced or past it, so let's see.....

 

[suffolklad]

Its an interesting read,but for me if you haven't got the finances you can't have a team, City cannot sustain themselves on home gates alone, so for me home gates are not important. What is important is home form and it right to be critical of that. For the last couple of seasons Tis has relied on "experience" slow experience, hopefully with the young guns and new entries quicker, fitter football will be encouraged. Will we still compete with the likes of the wombles etc. Probably not, but i for one would not want to watch that sort of play week in week out.
It easy to be critical of Tisdale, no one should doubt that he is fully committed to ECFC and making it a success. Has he become stale, I don't think so his plan has never been the "i want it now approach" sure thats what some supporters want but sorry he see's it differently, its longer term and involves a planned youth structure whilst trying to have a financially sustainable / winning first team. The plan for last year almost worked to an extent, i could see what he was trying to do with the experienced
players, so OK a new plan for this year clearly a altered team structure with new blood and youth. Will it work, Time will tell.

 

[Gabriel]

This pretty much echoes my view. Hard to say we'd be stagnating under Tisdale, at 16th, as that's probably Exeter's natural position, or lower.

Tisdale was great for 5 years, don't believe the one person who calls him lucky, he worked miracles. In general the fans have been happy to keep him through most polls (even on this place, which is generally described as a negative joke, by most City supporters I talk too), yet there's utterly no doubt that now we've worked our way into a decent financial position, we need to kick on, and normal fans are turning with the poor home-form particularly. We just shouldn't carry on shopping in Poundland, when we aren't in financial distress. Yet most fans are sane enough to not go back to the days where are spending kept on getting us in nearfatal financial problems, whilst not ever actually finish any higher in the League than Tis has done.

So I wouldn't be that distressed if Tis was to go, and would cheer him off the piych for his final match, but I would still be wary of someone coming in, because I have been used too much worse times.

The dislikers should realise that the huge reason we're in a financial position that we're rightfully looking up is hugely down to Tisdale (not solely BTW, I mean not sure anyone is an island)

Old-school manager, no thanks had enough of them, and BH even though their are physical teams that do well in the division, it's certainly not exclusive to them.

BTW BigTrees admits himself he is openly negative of Tisdale, any reason you chose him?

Just felt he had some interesting views on the club. Can see the good things Tisdale has done for Exeter in terms of stabilizing the club financially but can also see why some demand more.

 

[Pobbop]

If I remember correctly I looked at our league finishes back to the early seventies and worked out an average(including our conference seasons) Think it worked out that our average placing during that period was ninth or tenth in the division we are currently in.

Although we have had times when we have finished around the bottom of the division I would dispute that 16th or lower should be our natural position. Think that viewpoint is severely lacking in ambition. Imo it's alwaysimportant to look to improved what has gone before, but think a lot of fans who I have read say give Tisdale one more season are always likely to keep saying that even if that one more season sees us in mid table again with poor home form(that's a general view rather than directed specifically at yourself)

I've pretty much said we do need more ambition now though, I'm just maintaining 16rg isn't the worse thing in the World, and on many occasions it would be okay. Oh and if Tisdale hadn't taken us from our lowest League position to highest, then it may well be different.

The reason why we'll probably say one more season is we just like not being financially destitute and worrying about the future of our club.

 

[PeteUSA]

The reason why we'll probably say one more season is we just like not being financially destitute and worrying about the future of our club.

You can say as many seasons as you like. Tisdale's only going when he's good and ready.

 

[richard_portland]

I've pretty much said we do need more ambition now though, I'm just maintaining 16rg isn't the worse thing in the World, and on many occasions it would be okay. Oh and if Tisdale hadn't taken us from our lowest League position to highest, then it may well be different.

The reason why we'll probably say one more season is we just like not being financially destitute and worrying about the future of our club.

For me it all comes down to whether we are getting the best out of our resources. If you think that with our squad 16th is acceptable then that is up to you. I think we should be doing better, and I am in no way suggesting we should take risks with our finances.

We just need value for money from our manager and players. We need to prioritise what we can do to grow that budget which is mainly trying to win home and cup games primarily to attract crowds and win prize money, and if we have assets then sometimes we will need to sell them on. Our away form is creditable, but winning the homes would be more valuable to us. I agree Tisdale did very well for five years, but the last five is the issue. A new manager performing that way for five years wouldn't survive imo, so Tisdale is still here because of that history.

I personally think whatever happens someone will always make an excuse for him. Our club seems to be the only one I can think of where this happens. I want to see either we improve or someone else is given a shot, or at the very least if we finish in mid table we do so by throwing everything we have into winning those matches. I can't agree that we have done that, especially with the squad we had last season.

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

Fair report - I'm far from excited about our signings so far and we're still in desperate need of a proven goal scorer & central midfielder but I doubt they will arrive...

I'm dreading next season to be fair - I reckon were in for more average fair...to be fair I won't be paying to watch it mind so don't suppose it matters