Difficult Times At Exeter City

There are big financial problems at Exter City.

Expenditure is exceeding income and cuts are planned.

And the club has asked the Supporters Trust to help out.

"The club has been spending more money than it’s been getting in,” said chairman Richard Pym as reported by DevonLive.

“That’s blindingly obvious to everyone and we are now trying to redress the balance.

"We are in the middle of cost cutting at St James Park and we’ve announced another wave of redundancies  so we have to bring the cost base down to something that is manageable for a club of our size. 

“We will have, what I would call, a rights issue that the Trust will be subscribing its loans to, as that’s the way they will pay for those shares, then the trust shareholding in the club as a percentage will increase.

“We are very appreciative of the Trust’s support to the to the to the club in this period where the club was being run on inadequate numbers and we found ourselves in June needing a rather rapid loan from the Trust."

Hints of a problem came last June when the club asked the Supporters Trust for a £400,000 loan to see it through the summer.

Then last week the club asked for a further loan to help with cash flow after a fire at their ground, St James Park.

Pym was asked if Exeter could complete the current season. He said that he couldn't promise anything but he expected Exeter to finish the season. 

"Once we get to the end of the season, then you have a reset, effectively,

“You can bring your playing budget into line with your income, and we will see where we are at that point, but we have to reasonably expect that the playing budget will be lower in 2026/27 than it started 25/26, unless there is a massive fundraising.

“That is the strategic issue we are grappling with. The league we compete in, indeed League Two as well, you’ve got owners funding massive losses. I mean, these figures are out of date, and were from a year ago, but the average loss in League One is £2-3 million and some are losing a lot more.”

Pym has asked the Supporters Trust if they could raise £500,000 per season to help with the running costs of the club.

Although Exeter have increased their budget by 40%  over the last two seasons, their manager has the lowest budget in League One.