Thinking the unthinkable

This is the first time I've uttered these words since the start of the season or, indeed, since starting this blog. I think Exeter are going to get relegated.

That's not to say we will, nor have I given up on a not-so-great escape - after all, we may be 22nd but are only three points off Gillingham in 18th. There's every chance that Tisdale and the players will turn it around. And we've got winnable games against Oldham, Southend and Bristol Rovers coming up.

But then Stockport and Brighton were meant to be winnable as well. That's Brighton who'd only won at home three times all season and Stockport who'd only won away twice and were generally acknowledged to be going down. It seems any team in need of a revival just needs to play us.

It's not just who we've lost to, it's the manner of the losses as well. As always, this comes caveatted by the fact I've not seen the games, but the response from fans hasn't been anger or a "so close" attitude we've had so many times this season. No, it's disappointed resignation.

Opposition fans, too, have commented on how poor we've been, how there is little fight until late in the game. And that, for me, is worrying. It's not that we appear to be battling and losing heroically. We just don't seem to be battling at all. It's almost as if the players have forgotten what it's like to win and don't believe we can win.

And that, for me, suggests there's a good chance we may go down. As long as the team's scrapping over every 50-50 ball and giving it their all, there remains a chance. If we get into the losing mindset, it's very hard to get out of it.

We can stay up, but we need a win, and even though average, low-scoring Oldham are next up at the Park, it's difficult to see where that win will come from.

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Ouch

Well, that was just plain embarrassing. Exeter being Exeter, it's hard to predict the result with any kind of accuracy, but you'd expect us to beat the bottom-placed team who look consigned to relegation, right?

While we all knew it was going to be a long hard slog this season, losing 1-0 at home to Stockport is a new low of sorts. Perhaps it's my fault. The only time I predict wins in the Gnet Prediction League, we lose. But surely predicting a win over the Hatters was safe enough? WRONG.

Thankfully I wasn't at the Park to witness our worst result of the season, but City can now go either of two ways from this. We can either raise the white flag and continue to limp along against teams we really should be beating, and consign ourselves to relegation, or we can look for a reaction starting with Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. That performance and result should tell us a lot about the team's character in the run-in.

At least Richard Logan got a rare start in the absence of Corr, Stewart and Stanno, and it looks as if he had the best chances. Fleetwood, according to reports, played decently as well. Perhaps we're just missing service from midfield at the moment.

Anyway, we also have another striker - Marcus Haber, on loan from West Brom, and wearer of the number 50 shirt, which is about the number of chances we seem to need to score at the moment. He's ex of the Vancouver Whitecaps, and US and Canada soccer fan seem to rate him highly, so it'll be interesting to see how he does in his short spell with us.

Quite where that leaves McAllister and Watson, other than out the squad, is anybody's guess. Big Mac is probably gone this summer, while Watson remains an enigma. I like both players and would be happy to see them stay, but if they're not getting game time and aren't crucial to the team, then it makes sense to make plans without them.

Speaking of strikers, HaL popped down to Imperial Fields yesterday to check on the development of Exeter loanee James Norwood, who was coming to the end of his spell at Sutton United.

Perhaps it was nerves, knowing that Exeter City's finest blogger was in the crowd, but young Jimmy didn't exactly cover himself in glory: a slightly anonymous game, a spot of petulance to earn a yellow card and a shocking dive for a penalty that went unpunished, young Mr Norwood was lucky to stay on the pitch. Perhaps he's been told he can take Barry Corr's place in the team and just misunderstood this.

Still, there were a few nice touches and he can hit a very good dead ball delivery and hopefully a spell in the Ryman League will have toughened him up. He's certainly a bright prospect. Let's hope the diving doesn't become a regular part of his game though. I'm not above a bit of gamesmanship myself, but there's no place for something Tom Daley would have considered too obvious.

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Why Barry Corr should never play for Exeter City again

Barry "Three Reds" Corr in full battle cry

There are players who, for whatever reason, frequently drink in the last chance chance saloon, and there are those who finish up their beverage, discover they've run out of credit, and make their way out, tail between legs, although in Barry Corr's case, this exit is probably accompanied by a sly punch towards whoever's the subject of his temper.

Yesterday, in the dying minutes of City's 1-0 loss to Millwall, Corr flies in for a tackle. It's high, dangerous and studs are showing and the referee, who had a poor game, gets his first major decision of the game correct and shows the Irish striker a red card.

Barry's doing well now. That's his third red card of the season. Add in the yellows he's picked up and he has as many cards as he has goals. And yet again, he's deprived Exeter of his services, this time when we're lacking Stanno and Marcus Stewart to injury. In total, he'll have missed 12 games this season, assuming he doesn't get sent off again on his return.

If I missed around a quarter of my work through my own stupidity, I'd rightly expect to be sacked. If Corr is still at this club at the start of next season, after his deal expires, he's a very lucky man indeed.

What's even more frustrating is just how stupid these cards have been. At Leeds he was shown a red for aiming a couple of sly rabbit punches to his opponent's back. At home to Southend, he aimed a very petulant off-the-ball kick right in front of the referee. And then there's his lunge at Millwall. All utterly needless.

It's not as if he's a Rooney-like player who has aggression as part of his game, or is a Scholes type, he can't tackle and will inevitably pick up cards. These were because he's failed to control his temper and cost his team badly. There have been a couple of other incidents where he's made a few stupid challenges that have been missed by the ref.

All this wouldn't matter if he was a player who regularly found the net and had made himself indispensable to the club. He's sadly not.

Let's caveat the following by saying that he does have a natural talent and ability, and there's clearly a good player in there. But we've yet to see it.

Corr came to City from Swindon after spending a large amount of time sidelined with a serious injury. He wasn't match fit when he arrived and needed games to get his sharpness back. It's telling that his best spell came in the run up to Southend at home, when he was starting to look like a decent player. And then he got sent off.

And this is before we take into account his performance at Millwall. Corr is a big, strong player, yet either missed or was bullied off the ball for virtually every header. His touch was shocking. And like Filippo Inzaghi, but nowhere near as talented, he appeared to be born offside. Any half promising move was stopped by the linesman's flag raised against Barry.

It's not the first time he's put in a performance like that. He'll now be out for another five matches. Quite simply, despite being a better player than at least McAllister and Watson, and possibly Logan and Fleetwood, he is an underperforming liability he can't be relied to stay on the pitch for 90s minutes.

It's now time for Logan, McAllister, Fleetwood and Watson to step up and lay claim to Corr's starting spot. Because he sure as hell doesn't deserve it when his ban ends.

Three red cards for violent, unnecessary conduct in a season is unacceptable. If I was Paul Tisdale (which fans should be thankful I'm not) then I'd fine Corr the maximum possible amount and tell him that unless he put in double effort into training and played out of his skin in the run in when he returned, then he was out of the door come the summer. And that's being generous. The striker can have no complaints if he never plays another game for our club.

It's a shame I've ended up ranting about Corr, because this detracts from some positive points from yesterday's game. Yes, we lost, albeit to a magnificent free kick from Neil Harris from a very dubious foul, but we competed and we spoilt the game. Not how I'd choose to take points, but at this stage it'll do.

Realistically it was always going to be a big ask to take three points, or even one, against a very good in-form Millwall side and we gave as good as we got. 39-year-old Andy Marriott was in inspired form, pulling off three world-class saves. Goldborne and Duffy were also superb, Sercombe played well, and despite a very scrappy first half, we were doing ok.

I don't blame Tisdale for bringing on a second striker (a very motivated and impressive cameo from Fleetwood) for Joe Burnell (he EXISTS!) but it did lose our shape and opened the game up. One-nil wasn't an unfair score, but a goalless draw would have also been fair. Once it opened up, Millwall looked the better side, although we also had our chances.

Still, let's put Millwall out of the way. We have a series of very winnable game between now and our home game against Colchester in April. There is a real chance we can put some points on the board.

Of course we'll have to do it without Stanno, Stewart, and Troy, all of whom are big losses. We'll also do it without Barry Corr, and, frankly, I think most City fans can live without him.

(Photo: Express and Echo: This Is Exeter)

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Today is not a good day to be a Grecian

It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife. Or something. Exeter City pay their first transfer fee for a player since 2003, and what does he go and do? Only gets bloody injured until the end of the season. Yes, Troy has damaged cartilage and requires surgery. Arse.

Even more worrying, and a huge loss to the team, is the injury that puts Stanno out for a month. He's not a regular scorer, but for working a gameplan and harrying defenders, there's no-one better. He's a serious contender for player of the season. He will miss be missed.

Troy's injury leaves us very light at the back. Big Rob will probably continue in central defence alongside Matt Taylor but we need cover in case either of them get injured. Plus, Edwards is 37 and can't play every game between now and the end of the season.

Up front, Stanno's injury probably means a recall for Fleetwood to play alongside Corr (although Stewart and Corr would be my preferred line up). It's no secret that Fleetwood hasn't exactly set the world on fire, so this is his chance to show he can cut it at this level. Let's hope so.

But all of this pales into insignificance with news of the death of former Grecians manager Brian Godfrey at the age of 69.

Godfrey's era started in 1979 before leaving in 1983, and included Exeter's memorable FA Cup run of 1981 when City knocked out Leicester and Newcastle before losing to Spurs in the quarter-finals.

In truth, Brian Godfrey's side was a bit before my time - I was born during that cup run year - but many fans speak of his side and era as one of the best they had witnessed at St James Park, and Godfrey is regularly mentioned as one of City's greatest ever managers.

RIP.

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Sorry, what's that you see in the distance? A winger, you say?

Business first, and the latest result that we haven't seen to make spurious analysis over. Yes, a 1-1 draw with Southampton is pretty respectable and is a point that most of us will happily take.

Danny Seaborne didn't score the winner, Bertie Cozic found a sixpence to turn on, and we gained a point against a side that would have really fancied their chances against us. What's more, we didn't just place nice football and lose. Corners have been turned.

That said, Millwall next up will be a very tough ask to get anything from. Let's mark it down as one of those games where any kind of result is a bonus.

No, what's more interesting is the run of fixtures after that until April 3rd, when we entertain Colchester. They are all winnable, and they're all against teams battling against relegation. There's a good chance that come April we could have racked some serious points on the board. Or we could still be struggling. But it's certainly a huge opportunity to make this season safe.

And we may do it with a couple of Forest youngsters. Joe Heath and James Reid were released by Forest earlier this week and they've been training with the club. It may come to naught, but the fact that one's a left back and the other's a winger (yes, a winger. Remember them. They used to look a bit like Wayne Carlisle and Lee Elam) is cause for optimism. Those are two areas a bit of strengthening wouldn't go amiss.

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Pitch in

We have a game today, not that you'd know it from the hot topic of the last week: a new pitch is the most concerning issue.

This isn't because Exeter fans get excited about the idea of a bit of grass, but more the manner in which is was presented to fans.

A bit of context to start: Exeter have needed a new pitch for a long time. A few months into his first season, I had a long chat with Paul Tisdale about the pitch. He cited the case of Yeovil Town, where manager Gary Johnson had relayed their pitch the season before they got promoted from the Conference. It could, Tisdale said, be as good for the club as a new signing.

There's also a practical element to a new pitch as well. City's away end and the Old Granstand badly need redevelopment, and the intention has been, for a long time, to shift the pitch a few metres towards the Big Bank, freeing up room for development. Plus, it would be an opportunity to sort out the drainage underneath the pitch.

Fair enough, and you wouldn't find many City fans who'd disagree with this. And nobody would dispute that this work would cost a lot of money. Money that the club needs to find from somewhere. Yet, when it was announced in the Express and Echo that the Trust was launching a fundraising drive to help pay for the £150,000 pitch-laying bill, Exeweb exploded.

Nothing new there. Sometimes you sense that if the collective of Exeweb found a fiver, they'd complain that it wasn't twenty. But the longer the complaints went on and the more people who joined in, the greater the sense that the Trust had scored some kind of PR own goal.

It wasn't that people objected to having to fund raise the pitch per se, or the cost, which seemed reasonable, but more the manner in which it was announced.

Like most other Trust members, the first I found out about it was through the Echo's website, which unfortunately only carries up to the first four paragraphs in an effort to encourage online readers to buy the paper (ignoring the likes of us who're in London, or outside the Echo's distribution area). This had the unfortunate impression that the Trust was going cap in hand to the fans and expecting them to foot the bill.

Trust members were, understandably, not happy. This was the first we'd heard about footing the pitch replacement bill. It also raised questions about why the money needed to be raised in this way.

Were we really so skint that we had to launch another fundraising drive? Why couldn't the club fund it? Where had the transfer fee cash gone? Others asked why the Trust needed to raise money for this when we were paying our interim chief executive thousands of pounds a month.

The latter isn't a view I necessarily subscribe to and, in the case of Norrie, we probably won't know whether or not he's been value fr money until after he's left. Such is the way of the world, yes.

Over the last few days, we've slowly, almost reluctantly, got out of those Trustees who've braved the bear pit that this fundraising initiative had been planned for a while and it was one of the Trustees who'd originally suggested that the Trust got involvd and launched a special fundraising drive. And that there are other forms of capital that can go into the project.

And therein comes the bit that doesn't sit easy with some Trust members, myself included. Over the years we've been happy to dip into our pockets, especially in those dark days when it looked like Exeter City might die.

But we're now in a different situation, we're not firefighting, so any new fundraising drive has to be explained to us, especially in tough economic times. Chances are the majority of us wouldn't mind chipping into help - after all, it strengthens the bond between fan and club to say "We paid for that pitch, it's ours," which is probably what the Trust had in mind when they first launched it.

The Trust probably thought they'd got a PR winner on their hands when they got the Echo to agree to a large amount of coverage. But it came as a bit of a shock to members. Again, many of us probably wouldn't have minded a bit of a heads up, even if it was a quick sketched outline and telling us the information would appear in the Echo. Just to be told there was a major initiative coming up would have been nice.

And then there's a response from the Trustees. I have every respect to them for braving Exeweb, but often the response seemed to be that as it was for the best of the club, there was no need to ask questions. Trust us, they said.

Well, we do. Mostly. But we've also been burned so badly by people asking us to trust them in the past, that you'll forgive us for being a bit cautious.

You may think, does this all matter? It's just people getting the hump for not being in the loop. Well yes. And also no.

One of the key parts of the Trust is communication between membership and Trustees, and that respect has to be there. We are the majority shareholder of the club, we elect the Trustee, some of whom sit on the club board. And while the playing aspect is something we leave to the club, matters like this are very much of interest to the Trust membership.

It's so vitally important that the Trust doesn't disconnect itself from the membership; that communication between the two is good. There will always be people who complain or feel they have the right to know more than can realistically be given out. But equally, when something as large and as significant as this comes up, we have the right to know what's going on.

Openness and transparency should be the watch-word for any good Supporters' Trust. Let's hope this is just a blip. If we'd been informed that we might be needed to pay for the new pitch when the idea was first mooted, all this need never have happened.

In other news, Exeter have a game against Southampton. And Joe Burnell has started. A-blimmin-mazing. Normal services will be resumed next week.

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Troy, Franchise and the predictable

I know what you're thinking. You're think HaL is sulking because Exeter have been playing badly, hence no updates. Right? WRONG. There's been a break in here due to something urgent and non-football related, which is now, very thankfully, over. Let's move on.

In a strange kind of way, despite the results this month, City took exactly what I expected them to take, just not in a way that was expected.

To whit, look at the fixtures and you'd think Carlisle at home would be three points, Yeovil would be a point, we may just scrape something from the MK Dons game, but best not to assume that, and Leeds would be a loss.

Shows what I know.

So, mix it up a bit and swap Leeds for Carlisle and Yeovil for Franchise FC and we're exactly where it's to be expected. Which is both good, insofar as we shouldn't be panicking, but bad because we failed to build on the Leeds game, which really was an extra three points in the grand scheme of things and one we could have used to push ourselves away from the relegation zone.

Look, you don't expect City to do things the easy way, do you?

So, the less said about Yeovil and Carlisle the better, largely because we weren't there and anything committed to this blog will be even more speculative, ridiculous and pig-ignorant than usual.

We also weren't at Franchise FC, having point blank refused to go back to the most soulless stadium ever to host a game in the history of the sport, ever (minus the hyperbole). This has nothing to do with the FA Cup loss. I'd still rather chew my own leg off than have to watch another game there.

Instead, HaL went to AFC Wimbledon v Workington in the FA Trophy, which was a reasonably entertaining game. Wimbledon were shocking, much worse than I've ever seen them play, while Workington were a very good stereotypical Cumbrian team, assuming stereotypical Cumbrian teams are packed with very tall lads who pay neat, direct football and don't let the opposition time to settle. The Reds away win at Kingsmeadow was well deserved.

Anyway, we weren't at that other place, but by all reports CIty gave a very good account of themselves, and there's nothing like a last-minute equaliser to lift the spirits.

It's also heartening to see Barry Corr being the man to score that goal. He's a very lucky man to not be frozen out after his latest indiscretion and many fans wouldn't have been sorry to see the back of him this month. But he's still here, and he's scoring, which is the main thing. And while Corr may not be the flavour of the month, us fans are fickle. If he knuckles down, scores and plays well, he'll soon be a terrace hero at St James Park. Such is football, and good luck to him.

Finally, comes the shocking news that Exeter City have signed a player on deadline day. Yes, an actual player who walks and speaks and other things. Wonders will never cease to amaze us.

That play is Troy Archibald-Henville, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because he's been on loan from Spurs for the past year. We've just decided to make his move permanent.

Again, HaL has been critical of Troy this season. For whatever reason, the mental side of his game has been found wanting at times. But there's no doubt he's a very talented player and, at just 21, the has a big future in the game. As well as a big name.

Troy knows what's expected of him and will benefit from regular coaching from Tis' team. There is a lot of talent to be unlocked there and his re-arrival means all those fretting about the lack of centre-halves can sleep easier tonight. Overall, we're impressed with this signing and would much rather have Troy on our team than not.

Up next is Southampton this weekend. I would try and predict a score, but given the results of this month, I've long since given up any form of predictions.

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