(FM20) Exeter City - The Kings Down South

[FM_Prospect]

 

EXETER CITY

THE KINGS DOWN SOUTH

Hello! and Welcome to my Exeter City journey!, I'm rather new to these forums and never really documented a save before with great success. So here is a look at the club Exeter City & where they currently stand at the moment. Exeter City Football Club have been around for a very long time, but never been promoted higher than League One, with previous Manager Matt Taylor stepping down as Manager from Exeter CIty, the plan is to obviously attempt to take Exeter to the top!, But along the way there has to be a plan...of course this is Football Manager and luck plays a big part!, but there are going to be obstacles that we cannot avoid in the beginning such as lack of finances and the state of the club facilities. In the past Exeter City have been a selling club, and ultimately the model of  Develop - Sell - Profit - Invest  shall remain the same until we achieve Financial Stability...(Or get taken over by a billionaire).

 

For those who are not familiar with the geography of England Exeter City Football club is located in the South of England and share a fierce rivalry with Plymouth, Also along the South Coast are other bigger clubs such as League One Portsmouth, and established Premier League clubs such as Bournemouth, Southampton, and Brighton. The long term aim is too make Exeter City the biggest club on the South Coast and compete among the giants of English Football. Financially we are safe for now, £782,602 is the bank balance at the moment, and below is a list of all previous sales and sell on fees. The funds from those sell on clauses will certainly help shape the clubs Financial situation in the future. As you can see we're projected to be £850,000 in debt by the end of the season which is concerning, but hopefully we can find a way to make the club more financially efficient. On a positive we currently have no debt!.

 

 

        

   

 

 

 

PREVIOUS SALES & SELL ON CLAUSES

Spoiler

2014/15 - Sold Matt Grimes to Swansea for £1.8M

 

2016/17 sold Ollie Watkins to Brentford for £1.8M

 

2017/18 - Sold Ethan Ampadu to Chelsea (on loan at RB Leipzig) for £2.5M

 

2018/19 sold Jordan Storey to Preston for *Undisclosed

 

*2018/19 sold Jayden Stockley to Preston for £750K (no sell on clause)*

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

Staff Signings

I'm not one to come into a club and fire everyone on the spot, I know a lot of people like to completely re-vamp there backroom staff but money is tight at Exeter, so i'll just fill in the gaps for positions that are available and let staff contracts run down rather than wasting money on termination fees. With Matt Taylor stepping away from football I've inherited his staff and the board have agreed I can hire my own Assistant Manager and Head of Youth Coach as they are the 2 positions that need will need occupying (*I'm going to try and get Matt Taylor back to the club as a coach in the future as he has done a terrific job in real life with Exeter City and would be a great story for him to re-join the club!).

As an "inexperienced" Football Manager with little reputation, I think it's wise to employ someone with some wisdom, tactical knowledge and respect and for this level of Football David Platt is a good signing and joins my backroom staff as an Assistant Manager. David Platt started was a Manchester United academy player before finding his feet in League 2 with Crewe and then eventually moving to the Premier League playing for Aston Villa before a few years in the Serie A playing for Bari, Juventus, and Sampdoria and then returning to England to play for Arsenal and briefly in the Championship for Nottingham Forrest. As a coach he has worked with the England International squad and Manchester City. I think this is a great first signing to the journey.

 

As I mentioned above, I'm only hiring the positions needed not revamping the whole backroom staff and a Head of Youth Coach is important to any long term save and is an important position we need filled!. Among all the candidates, Former Celtic Assistant Manager John Collins had the most appealing attributes and the personality that was perfect for the role and signed him up on a deal to be out Head of Youth Developments.

<a href="https://gyazo.com/162c6adeb0c212a2e4db04e28b90323d"><img src="https://i.gyazo.com/162c6adeb0c212a2e4db04e28b90323d.png" alt="Image from Gyazo" width="1840"/></a>

 

The Squad 2019/20

The squad I've inherited definitely has talent, but a lot of the players are on the wrong side of 30 and have contracts that most likely wont be renewed in the future. Randall Williams and Archie Collins both stand out as Youth Prospects who could develop into decent players and play key roles in the side for this season, I don't think there isn't a a lot of optimism about the defensive players or many of the current youth prospects at the club. So I already have an idea of positions of weakness for the future.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

reserved

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[deltablue]

Good luck at the best team in Devon (I was at Uni there).

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I didn't realize Exeter developed so many decent players, I am currently doing a Brentford with a similar approach except instead of concerntrating on youth I am buying young players and developing but I think once I get bored of my Brentford save I might give Exeter a try.

Good luck buddy.

[Bigshow1]

They always seem to develop some really good youngsters at Exeter. Should be a great career if you can keep hold of them long enough to help you climb the leagues.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Good luck at Exeter.

[FM_Prospect]

On 19/01/2020 at 19:23, deltablue said:

Good luck at the best team in Devon (I was at Uni there).

Thanks, I'm from Melbourne Australia so it's quite a distance from where I am!, really interested to learn more about the area and the club in general

 

On 20/01/2020 at 00:22, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I didn't realize Exeter developed so many decent players, I am currently doing a Brentford with a similar approach except instead of concerntrating on youth I am buying young players and developing but I think once I get bored of my Brentford save I might give Exeter a try.

Good luck buddy.

Thanks!, To be honest I had no idea also!, seems they have been lucky as there facilities in game are quite poor! Good luck at Brentford do you have a thread I could read about your save?

 

On 20/01/2020 at 17:57, Bigshow1 said:

They always seem to develop some really good youngsters at Exeter. Should be a great career if you can keep hold of them long enough to help you climb the leagues.

It seems so, and hopefully a few more continue to come through then ranks!

13 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Good luck at Exeter.

Cheers!  Thank you all for reading!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

13 minutes ago, FM_Prospect said:

Thanks!, To be honest I had no idea also!, seems they have been lucky as there facilities in game are quite poor! Good luck at Brentford do you have a thread I could read about your save?

Yeah I did a team guide recently.

Here is the link 

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[anagain]

Welcome to the forum and best of luck down Devon way.

I remember watching Bournemouth at St James Park some years back. Nice little ground. I had no idea they had a training ground called the Cat And Fiddle training ground. That is brilliant.

Exeter have stolen two players in my Bangor save...I have some connection. 

[FM_Prospect]

PRE-SEASON

 

Pre-Season went relatively well results wise, it was a good chance to see the squad in action and try to find a formation for the season, tho it didn't come with some frustration as we suffered some injuries very early in the campaign. The two Centre Backs Aaron Martin and Tom Parkes are both going to miss the start of the season with Lower Back stress Fractures, and young prospect Jack Sparkes is out with a groin strain. Lee Holems and Nigel Atangana were already injured when I arrived. The depth of quality within the squad is not fantastic so this hurts us for the start to the season.

 

The Media have predicted us to finish 15th and the board have set the vision for the club top finish in the top half, Aside from the injuries I feel there is enough talent within the squad to reach those targets, and a cup run would be nice...especially for the bank balance which has had a bit of a bump after the pre-season. tactically I settled on a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide formation, tho I would at some point like to play two strikers up top and try to develop a partnership between Nicky Ajose and Ryan Bowan. Due to injuries at the moment I am quite limited in what I can do with this squad.

 

 

First match of the season will be against Macclesfield Town, Let's hope for a good start!. Thanks to everyone who has read so far or left a comment so far!, Throughout the save I will do various reports on Clubs, Transfers, Players, and Competitions such as Champions League, Europa League, World Cup and the Euro's so if there is a player or club you would like to know more about let me know and I will post some information!.

 

Spoiler

Right after I posted this, Exeter City captain Jake Taylor picked up and injury and will miss the opening match of the season...things are going great!

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

August 2019/20

 

With a load of injuries, and our two starting Centre Backs injured for the next few weeks, the beginning was always going to be tough...and it was. Ryan Bowman hit the ground running scoring 2 goals against Macclesfield Town and then went missing for the next 2 matches as struggled to break down a stubborn Stevenage and got pummeled by the superior Championship side Brentford in the EFL Cup. We were clearly so far out of our league in this match with former Exeter City youth prospect Ollie Watkins causing us all sorts of problems on the left wing. We gave away a penalty within the opening 2 minutes of the match, Lee Martin then collected a red card 31 minutes in sending us down to 10 men, and to top it off Jack Sparkes gave away an own goal...What a disaster!.

 

 

We re-grouped on the training pitch and played really well against Promotion favorites Swindon Town beating them 1 - 0, Jake Taylor was excellent and averaged an 8.7 rating . We came out guns blazing against Oldham scoring early and then to add more misery to the start of this season goalscorer Randall Williams scored a lovely goal 14 minutes in...and then got injured at the 21 minute mark, and now will miss 6 weeks with an ankle injury!.

 

So the looking at the table, considering our injuries, and form we're still not doing to bad in 9th, As long as I finish in the top half my job will be safe. But this squad is clearly lacking some quality depth and possibly the medical team needs a few more staff to help keep these players on the pitch!. Center Backs Aaron Martin and Tom Parkes are not to far away from returning to fitness, as well as Nigel Antangana so for now it's just about trying to get the best results we possibly can!.

 

Current Injury List

Edited January 25, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

September 19/20

It all started off promising, Two wins to kick off the month a well fought draw against Port Vale and a comfortable win against Newport County seen us 3 wins out of 4. With players returning from injury I thought I could really finally see this team in ful strength action, well I was wrong....as we just incurred more injuries. Tom Parkes returned from Injury as a much needed Center Back as 35 year old Gary Warren and Pierce Sweeney who is a RIght Back have been paying the Center Back role while Tom Parkes and Aaron Martin have been injured, but Tom Parkes got injured on his first session back in training sidelining him for a further 4 to 8 weeks....Great!. With the injury crisis currently depleting my defense I decided to try and bring in some medical staff to get a handle on things, signing a Head of Sports Science and Sports Scientist, Hopefully they can add a little more knowledge and data to prevent these injuries!

October 19/20

Frustrating, Frustrated, Frustration!, what a terrible month, Along with my 2 starting Center Backs injured, Stand in Center Back Gary Warren picked up a ban for too many Yellow Cards, and Pierce Sweeney picked up a small injury forcing me to play players from the Under 18's squad who were so clearly not at this level of Football. It also seemed that our Forwards Ryan Bowman and Nicky Ajose forgot how to score!, just 1 goal for the month scored by returning from injury Lee Holmes...ONE GOAL!....A completely embarrassing month, The squad is losing faith and I'm sure the board will be knocking on my door very soon if things don't turn around fast....Real fast!. Only positive from October is we didn't lose to our rivals Plymouth taking a 0-0 draw, but they currently are top of the table!.

Things must improve defensively as we end October in 18th, Club vision says we must finish top half, we also need a bit of luck with injuries. I've taken a few players on trial to try and bring a bit more cover Defensively in to the squad, Currently former Gillingham defender Alex Lacey and former Hull City Defender Ondrej Mazuch are on trial for the month, Mazuch looks like he could be a great signing for this league, but also I don't want to spend a fortune for his wages. Hopefully the next update will have some better results or this FM Save may become a Journeyman!...

- Thanks for reading.

Edited January 26, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[anagain]

Good luck turning it around. Injuries really have hit you hard.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Oh dear, this isn't going very well.

[FM_Prospect]

On 27/01/2020 at 04:57, anagain said:

Good luck turning it around. Injuries really have hit you hard.

Thanks, definitely need some luck in this save!.

4 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Oh dear, this isn't going very well.

Terribly, incredibly frustrated with FM20 so far hopefully, I can manage to keep my job through this injury crisis and turn some things around!