Exeter City and Trust 'reset' relationship

Exeter City's owners say they have "reset" the relationship between themselves and the club after a season of turmoil.

The Grecians were relegated to League Two in May after four years in the third tier following a difficult 12 months financially.

The club were forced to go to the Exeter City Supporters' Trust for loans of about £600,000 following an overspend in the 2024-25 season.

City's new club chairman Wilf Walsh and the Trust - which has owned the club since 2003 - have come together to clarify rules around the relationship between the two bodies, as well as an enhanced focus on City's academy and the local community.

"I think it's really important that the club has an open dialogue with its main shareholder and that there's a shared agenda and shared understanding of where we are," Walsh told BBC Sport.

"I think we lacked some really serious and rigorous financial oversight last year in terms of what the club was doing, what it was spending its money on.

"We've always had difficulties here, it's always been constrained in terms of our finances naturally because of trust ownership - we're not owned by a Russian oligarch or a group of business people, so it's always been tight.

"So any kind of slip in financial performance is felt quite hard here.

"We've overcome those barriers now, I'm not really interested in what went on in the past, I want to reset for the future and that's what this process is all about."

Exeter City are one of just two fan-owned clubs in the English Football League, alongside AFC Wimbledon.

Under its constitution, the Trust elects three directors while the club also nominates three directors to the board, with independent directors also appointed.

The day-to-day running of the club is done at club level, but for major decisions such as spending more than £50,000 or hiring key personnel, the Trust must give its approval.

City are facing a playing budget cut this summer following their relegation and have taken out a financing facility secured against the training ground - although they have not had to draw down on it as of yet.

However, despite short-term financial constraints, the club's owners are hopeful they will be better off in the long term.

"At the minute we're finding it difficult to compete, that's a fact, but I question what the footballing landscape will look like in 10 years' time," Exeter City Supporters' Trust trustee Matt Phillips says.

"There will be investors who decide to pull away, we've seen it at Sheffield Wednesday and the issues that they've had - there are many tales of clubs that are struggling with ownership.

"Is it sustainable us maintaining our course to some extent, and then when the footballing reality resets itself more broadly we're in a position to thrive?

"I think there is a role for supporter ownership into the future and I want to make sure that our club is really one of the teams that is leading that cause into the future."

Key to Exeter City's future is the club's academy.

The likes of England's Ollie Watkins, Wales' Ethan Ampadu and Coventry City's promotion-winning captain Matt Grimes all came up through the ranks at St James Park.

In their last financial accounts to 3 June 2025 Exeter made a profit of £350,000, but had they not had player sales and transfer clauses that would have turned into a £4.5m loss.

"I think we can be proud that there's a real cadre of players going around making a good living in the English Football League," added Walsh.

"Apart from the transfer money it generates - last season we picked up some tail payments from Ethan Ampadu and Matt Grimes, so these deals have got a long tail on them and they continue to support the club - the academy is paramount.

"Supporters want to see their own talent in the team and we need that in terms of selling them on in the future, so it's a real benefit for everyone concerned."

The Trust say they have no plans to relinquish control of the club but would always listen to anyone who had a serious proposal to invest money into it.

But in a world where more and more overseas owners are taking control of clubs lower down the pyramid and aiming for the stars, could Exeter's ownership model hold them back?

"I'm not going to worry about that," Exeter City Supporters' Trust chairman Pete Perflie says.

"We are going to focus on what we can do, what we can control and how we can move it forward.

"We've got some good ideas of how we can generate some extra income that's we're going to work to.

"I can't stop an American billionaire buying a National League club, so focus on what we can focus on and control what we can control."