Exeter show football can be done 'a different way'
"The big thing for me is showing everybody the values of the club," says Exeter City chief executive Joe Gorman.
He and his team at St James Park are getting ready for one of their biggest games in years as they host Premier League high-flyers Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup fourth round on Tuesday.
Exeter are a rarity in football - a fan-owned club who live within their means.
For more than two decades the Grecians have been owned by their supporters - they were the first professional club in England to do it, after the previous regime ran City into the ground.
In May 2003, chairman John Russell and vice-chairman Mike Lewis left the club with almost £5m of debt, holes in the training ground and a side that had been relegated into non-league football.
But off the back of savvy leadership and a focus on an academy that has provided millions of pounds in revenue, thanks to selling the likes of Ollie Watkins, Jay Stansfield and Ethan Ampadu, Exeter are thriving.
Thanks in part to those windfalls, the Grecians boast a multi-million-pound training complex, a ground that has had two new stands built in recent years, and they still have an academy that is the envy of most clubs in Leagues One and Two - all achieved through fan ownership rather than the benevolence of a vastly wealthy owner or the backing of major conglomerate.
"We are kind of sustainable in League One at the moment, but we're sustainable with one of the lowest budgets in the league, so it's that success looks slightly different for us," explains Gorman.
"My big thing within the club and when I came into the club is I never want to be 'little old Exeter City', we just have to do it a different way.
"The Exeter City way is doing things differently, and I don't think that takes away from our ambitions, it just makes them a bit harder to get to.
"We're constantly looking at progressing. I think what the last 20 years has indicated is that progression is probably smaller steps. We're never going to get the big bang, but if we're run properly, sustainably, we've shown that we can progress."
The importance of FA Cup replays
While for some top sides the FA Cup is a distraction from the league or European ambitions, there is no doubting the importance of the competition at St James Park.
Those dark days of the early 2000s were made a lot lighter thanks to the revenue Exeter got when they held Manchester United to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in the third round in 2005.
United brought back the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville for the replay 11 days later, which Sir Alex Ferguson's side won 2-0.
The money from those ties - plus a company voluntary agreement (CVA) - helped to wipe Exeter's debts and started them on a trajectory back to where they are now in League One.
But it is a situation which may never happen again, after replays were abolished this season - so Exeter will not benefit from a trip to the City Ground and the money that would bring should they hold Forest on Tuesday night.
"The Manchester United tie 20 years ago is historically associated with the club and to take that away it doesn't sit that well with lower league clubs," Gorman says.
He points to the example of Tamworth, who lost in extra time to Tottenham in the third round this year, rather than taking their visitors to a lucrative replay.
"That's generational wealth," says Gorman, "the kind that sets the club up for the next 20 years, and we've benefited from that.
"So for me I think it's a shame probably and it doesn't benefit the football pyramid."
Exeter will bring in around £650,000 in ticket revenue for Tuesday's sold-out match.
But Gorman estimates that they would at least double, if not quadruple, the gate money if the game was hosted by Forest.
"If we're on TV we can do different things with our corporate sponsors, hopefully give them a bit of a boost in terms of profile, and it shows the opportunity of being associated with Exeter," he says.
"They're the things that we kind of concentrate on, so it's very good in terms of being at home.
"Naturally from a complete non-emotional, financial, point of view, the ties are obviously better away, but I think to me the opportunity being at home, showing off what Exeter City is, is probably more than the financial reward of being on an away tie."
Future ambitions
But what about the future of the club?
Exeter's highest league finish is eighth in League One in 2011, when they were a point off the play-off places.
That season Brighton won the title and Southampton were promoted automatically, while Bournemouth lost in the play-off semi-finals. All three are now in the Premier League.
While reaching the top flight might be a bridge too far for a club with a stadium capacity of less than 9,000 and no mega-wealthy owner, could a berth in the Championship be too much to ask for one day?
"I would never rule it out. I think a lot of things have to go right for us," says Gorman.
"I think there's a lot to be said about the way we're run, and actually if you look at what successful clubs should look like I think we are the epitome of what a successful club should look like.
"For that to not allow us to get to the ambitions of the Championship as quickly as we can isn't a reflection on us, it's probably more of a reflection on football in general."
