What it means to be a community run club

Like or loathe the club, you can only respect what their Trust has done with the fans putting an emphasis on the long-term sustainability of the club, which protects the model as opposed to a boom and bust, let’s spend and get promoted this year approach. They can do that because like any trust, they are there to keep the club going for the next generation and are slowly building infrastructure, support and community involvement which is maximised from this model and helps massively with the running costs. An example of this engagement is that the Exeter City women played at Saint James Park last Sunday, getting a crowd of 1550 - link and to put that into context, in our league, only ourselves, Yeovil and Maidstone have higher average league attendance so far this season!

Of course Exeter had that Manchester United tie and have regular transfer fee infusions from their Academy, but they can’t have got to where they are without very good running of the club. I think the strength of the model is that you are constantly bringing in new people, new talent with fresh ideas and lots of motivation. It’s certainly an environment where their managers seem to thrive within, perhaps helped by not having to deal so much with short-term pressures and knowing the club have got their backs. You do need a good appointment process though for this policy to work.

I have met most and know some of their board and it’s a good team of people that want the best for the club and while there are always tensions within the fan base about what direction to pull in, it is an environment where the right decisions are generally made. I think this structure compares very favourably with our board which doesn’t have the same depth or transparency and consequently mistakes will be made. Illustratively, the Exeter board are two leagues above and riding high from where they started while our board is one league below from where they started despite apparently massive funding.

However, Exeter are where they are due to having their hand forced to keep the club going when no one else was willing and TUFC are where they are. Fortunately TUST have never been put in the same situation as Exeter were and have no desire to do so as that would mean a existential crisis threatening the club but they will be there if absolutely necessary to keep the club going for the next generation if and when that is needed. In the meantime, they have a very different role to play and it is just unfortunate that they are currently blocked from working with the club which is unable to take any form of constructive criticism.

At last a thread with grown-up opinions not resorting to name calling and ridicule.
TUST regrets not being able to work with the club as we have many ideas and projects we would like to share for the benefit of all. Exeter's 'model' is something many, many other clubs would love from Sheffield to Scunthorpe to Southend.

Wow, grown up opinions name calling and ridicule…in other words you mean someone who disagrees with you, and you don’t have the cognitive ability to understand or accept it. God help us…the Greys are out in force today! 

I will be making a comment or two on this thread sometime later and there will be a large amount of ridicule, a tiny bit of name calling and if you think my comments are childish, in all honesty I don’t give a shit! 🦦

It' a bit rich for someone who has a message/tag line from a Buddhist master concerning karma to admit that he will later be indulging in ridicule and name calling. Either live by the tenets that you espouse or delete your tag line.

In order not to exacerbate the drama going on in people’s heads I am going to keep this as simple as I can, no ridicule, any of that stuff just plain common sense.

Some fortunate men have sha&&ed Taylor Swift, and according to everyone on this thread (with one exception) you all believe by some God given right we should all be in line to sha& Taylor Swift! Well he did it and him did it, so I must do it…talk about going back to the primary school playground.

Exeter did well with a group of people in the right place at the right time, and because of that you all believe that there is a God given right that it should also happen to us. If this had happened to a club like Dagenham or something who are miles away, this subject would never be broached…fat chance!

Having to mention for the squilliance time the FA Cup run that Exeter had irks me but it has to be mentioned, and it’s mentioned because that is the catalyst to all this, without which in all likelihood there would only be one Devon team in the league!

Oh wait a minute, should we get taken over by the tust you think we should also play Man Utd…sometimes I think trying to educate a Trilobite that has been dead for 250 million years would be infinitely easier. 

Inspiration I will concede, but you leave Taylor Swift alone cause I’m sure I’m next! 🤨