Well, we’re second in the league and a couple of points will secure promotion.
So, whether your finishing your Grecian Ale Tribute, Thatcher’s Gold, or even your evening cocoa on Tuesday night, we’ll know whether Exeter City will be promoted to League One, whether we need to secure points in the remaining two games, or whether we get pipped at the post and the play-offs, and perhaps our not so favourite National Stadium, beckon.
The rollercoaster ride that I often talk about that is football, has reached a new peak of expectation and exhilaration, hold on!!
Throughout the club, you can see people daring to dream, to hope, whispering the ‘p’ word, just in case it happens. If we’re successful, it would be the club’s first time in League One for 10 years, and you can feel just how much everyone wants it.
The fans are feeling the same; the run in has been amazing, with sell-out crowds at SJP, the Big Bank in full cry is a sight and an atmosphere to behold - there’s nowhere that compares to St James Park on a match-day.
There was a brilliant turn out for the club awards night at the Great Hall on Saturday after the Rochdale match. After the trials and tribulations of Covid, it was great to be able to come together and celebrate with fans, sponsors, players, the management team, SJP staff and the many, many people who contribute to making our club the very special place it is.
Talking of special, this squad really has been something special this season, the camaraderie is palpable on and off the pitch and, at all times they’ve been amazing to watch. The game against Rochdale was the 18th clean sheet for Cam Dawson – who also made a couple of cracking saves – “we want you to stay” there’s a Big Bank song in there somewhere.
Pierce Sweeney made the Sky Bet League Two Team of the week for his performance, and it was great to see Matt Jay score with a diving header – and, boy, did the Big Bank erupt for that one.
Our Supporters’ Trust continues to do its stellar work; there are other Trusts out there in football, but nothing that gets close to what we have achieved. No Trust-owned club has been together so long, none so openly democratic and, with certainty, I can say none anywhere near so successful.
As a club, we keep striving to be the best we can, providing the best experience for our fans, progressing, taking on bigger and bigger hurdles, a new stand, surviving Covid, a new pitch and now a new training ground facility. Our club is in better shape now than it has ever been, but it’s certainly been a journey, with some difficult and challenging times, that we have faced and overcome together.
Of course, the football family extends beyond the first-team, there’s our successful Academy, who continue to produce fantastic young players – 18-year-old Alfie Pond, a former student of St Luke’s School in Exeter, was on the bench on Saturday – another in a long line of Academy graduates; there’s our partner charity, Exeter City Community Trust, who do so much to support people living in across Greater Exeter and our women’s team who followed a disappointing result against Torquay in the final of the Devon County Cup last week, with a 4-2 league victory against Chesham United on Sunday.
Our final home game, against Port Vale, is a sell-out already, so hopefully you’re one of the lucky ones who have ticket – and if not, keep an eye out for next season – the pre-season fixtures have already been announced. And don’t forget the future is VERY bright, the future’s red and white!
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