Heroes & Villains – Exeter City
Hero – Paul Tisdale
Very little was known about Paul Tisdale when he was unveiled to the press at St James’s Park in 2006.
Fans who had done their research on their new manager would have found out that he had guided Team Bath into the First Round of the FA Cup in 2002. After guiding the university side through all of the qualifying rounds and into the First Round Proper, where his side lost 4-2 to Mansfield Town live on BBC.
Exeter City was to prove to be his first foray into managing a professional club and he did remarkably well in that time.
In his first season at the Devon club, Tisdale guided City to the Play Off Final at Wembley. They played Morecambe and lost 2-1.
The club returned to Wembley twelve months later, this time they won 1-0 and reached the Promised Land of the Football League following a five year exile.
City didn’t last long in League Two, one season in fact, as they finished the season as runners-up and gained a second successive promotion.
In their second season in League One, the club finished the season in 8th place. This was the club’s joint-highest finish in their history, having also finished in the same position back in the 1979/80 season.
They finished second bottom in the following season (2011/12) and dropped down to League Two.
Exeter reached two consecutive Play-Off Finals at Wembley in Tisdale’s final two seasons at the club but lost them both.
All good things must come to an end though, and Tisdale left the club in 2018 to join Milton Keynes Dons. He had spent 12 years in charge at St James’s Park.
Villains – Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle are viewed by most Exeter fans as their fiercest rivals. City also have a bit of a friendly rivalry with Torquay United although both clubs have helped each other out during their financial hardships.
According to an article on the Devon Live website, Plymouth and Exeter City is the second biggest rivalry in English football. Only Portsmouth and Southampton is considered bigger by the site. I think that there must be a bias from Devon Live though!
Plymouth have been the more successful side of the two, reaching the FA Cup Semi Final in 1984 as well as spending time in the Championship in recent years. They have also stayed in the Football League for the last 100 years, whereas Exeter have spent five seasons in non-league.
Plymouth have a slightly better record against Exeter, with 36 wins to Exeter’s 29. There have been 26 draws between the two. In the last match between the two, Exeter won 4-0 at St James’s Park on 26th October 2019. One thing is for certain, Argyle fans will be itching to get their own back in the next game!
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