A Realist wrote:[quote=
Added in 3 minutes 4 seconds:
They were also at the door of the league with the begging bowl out a few times recently. In fact a couple of times last season alone and at one point it was debatable whether they could start the season. They got exceptionally lucky with the sale of that lad to Swansea and they are the kind of things that only come round once in the proverbial blue moon. Barring his sale their fan ownership has been far from successful.
This is complete balderdash and bears no relation to reality in the slightest.
They were not in any danger of not starting the season. The issue they had was cash flow. They had not sold a player for a couple years and have had crap cup performances in the last few years, therefore there was no reserve income. They always knew they were going to get cash (season ticket sales etc) but did not have it at that point. At almost every other (lower league) club in the country the owner subs this during the summer months, or the bank overdraft will be used. The first is not an option for exeter, and whether the second is viable depends on their deal with the bank. A PFA loan is so low interest as to almost be free, so was a sensible option for them to take at the time. The fact it was a PFA loan means it was a public affair, rather than, say, Thea getting her cheque book out AGAIN. Believe me, we probably needed MORE of a sub last summer than Exeter to get through.
And as for being "exceptionally lucky" with the Grimes sale, this completely misses the point. It most definitely was not "lucky" . Exeter, since their fans took over, have decided to divert large (Very large) amounts of money into their youth setup compared to their turnover. They have decided to INVEST, speculating on a return the same as any other investor. The return on their investment is players into the first team, cutting playing budget costs, and the occasional player sale. They have consistently achieved this, with loads of the first team squad being ex youth teamers. They have also achieved regular sales, people like George Friend, Moxey, Grimes. The other option is to spend this money elsewhere, in which case they wouldn't have had a cash flow problem and wouldn't have had to borrow.
And their fan ownership has been far from successful? Conference play off final losers,conference play off final winners, promotion to league 1, had a go at the playoffs this year against a backdrop of long term injuries on much less money than a lot of teams around them. They have achieved all that while having a vibrant youth system, being community facing, living within their means and not going into debt.
I would take that for us all day long.
Could well be