Hartridge still admires Exeter despite Argyle move

New Plymouth Argyle signing Alex Hartridge says his move will not lessen the admiration he has for former club Exeter City.

Hartridge, 27, agreed a two-year deal at Argyle on Wednesday after leaving Burton Albion.

He came up through the youth ranks at Argyle's fierce Devon rivals, playing 154 games and helping Exeter win promotion to League One in 2022 before leaving in 2024.

He returned to St James Park for a loan spell last year, where he played a further 18 games.

"I'm not going to hide from the fact that I've got so much time for Exeter, and Exeter's given me the platform to have a career in the game and given me such great times and great memories," he told BBC Radio Devon.

"But I've never subscribed to the fact that by having an affiliation with one of the clubs I then hate the other, and I'm not going to be doing that.

"It's the club I'm playing for now, and I'm looking forward to learning more and building a connection with Plymouth Argyle and hopefully having as much success as I did in Exeter."

Hartridge is the second former Exeter player to join Plymouth in as many years.

Caleb Watts moved to Home Park directly from the Grecians last summer after turning down the offer of a new deal with Exeter.

Hartridge's route is more circuitous; he spent the 2024-25 season with Wycombe Wanderers before joining Burton last summer, for whom he made 43 appearances, including 38 League One starts.

"I'd like to think the performances I put in and the season I had last year would have put me on the radar of a lot of clubs, and as soon as I heard about Argyle being interested I was pretty excited about it," he said.

"You look at Argyle's results from Christmas onwards, and they're one of the best teams in the league," added Hartridge, whose move back to Devon allows him to be closer to his family.

"So something's going right there, and I hope to be a part of carrying that on.

"But every season is completely different, we're going to start on zero points like everyone else, so there is momentum there, but you can't just rely on that.

"It excites me that it's a club with really lofty ambitions to be above where they are now, and that's something that aligns with how I see it."