John O'Flynn signs, so he does

Go on, see if you can take a stab at the nationality of Exeter City's new signing.

Yep, Irish striker John O'Flynn is the latest addition to our pre-season recruitment drive, and somewhat of a surprise. It's the first time I've heard his name in any connection with the club.

Not that I'm complaining. The general reaction today is one of "bloody hell, we've signed what appears to be a decent striker." 15 goals for a struggling Barnet side last season is impressive and just about everyone I've spoken to on Twitter today thinks he'll do well for us. He could even be that mythical 20-goal striker we've been hunting for. Possibly. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves here.

With O'Flynn, Nardiello, Logan, Watson and young Jimmy Norwood (not forgetting Stanno - but we have no idea when he'll be back as he continues with his recovery. Best of luck Adam) that's a rather varied and tasty looking front line we've got.

Hopefully that means we've cooled our interest in Jamie Cureton, who we've had on trial. There's only room for one veteran striker on our books and Marcus Stewart fills that role nicely. Plus, we have enough strikers now.

As I've said before, I really like the way the squad's taking shape. It's balanced, has depth and is varied. We could probably do with one more defender, but aside from that, it looks impressive. O'Flynn is very much an added bonus.

We've also had some pre-season friendlies but I've not seen them so I'll deal with them at another time. Suffice to say, we won our first two against Clevedon and Bath, which mean we were going to win the league, then lost to Weston-Super-Mare and Crystal Palace, which means we're going to get relegated.

Such is life.

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Exeter City launch new away kit. World genuinely stops for a minute to gape

Look at Exeter City's new away kit. Isn't it beautiful?

I'm not normally one to get overly excited about football kits. A shirt is a shirt, and Exeter's has always been red and white stripes done in a slightly different way (including this abomination from our relegation season). The away kit is always interesting, and while I've liked both the plain black and plain white shirts, it's not been enough to buy them.

This, though, is the first Exeter kit in a long time where my first reaction is "That's nice. Really nice." The stripe is very retro and gives the shirt an elegant simplicity.

I was half tempted to get an away shirt regardless this season. Now there's no question of me not getting one.

(photo credit: Exeter City Official Site)

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Tisdale stays to lead Exeter into the promised land of the top half of League One

Hands off Swansea, you can't have our glorious leader. In what's now becoming an annual soap opera, Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale has turned down the chance to manage Swansea City in the Championship.

And breeeeathe.

Not that it felt like there was as much danger of him going this summer, as opposed to last summer, when he was close to heading to the Liberty Stadium.

This year, there's not even a hint of a dalliance, just a "thanks, but no thanks," to Swans chair Huw Jenkins, before turning his attention to plotting this year's escape to victory.

This summer Tisdale's been slowly putting a decent team together, has a modestly increased playing budget, and got a much-needed new pitch installed at St James Park. It would have taken some offer to see him leave at the moment.

But leave he no doubt will at some point - and few would begrudge him when he does.

He's currently one of the greatest and most successful managers in the club's history and has built a solid team that plays attractive football, and builds on his success year-on-year. It's inevitable a club will come in for him and as and when that time comes, we wish him well.

In the meantime, Tis has continued to build for this season by signing Daniel Nardiello on a free transfer. Yes, that Daniel Nardiello who was one the future at Manchester United.

If he can stay fit, he could be that striker we've been looking for. Whisper it, but I'm liking the way this squad is taking shape.

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Jake Thomson signs for Exeter

Finally. Some actual news to talk about rather than musing on who won't be coming to Exeter. City have signed Jake Thomson. He's a winger. You might remember one of those. We had a couple back in the Conference, under the names of Wayne Carlisle and Lee Elam. Although he can also play in defence or in the middle. Just the type of player that fits into Tisdale's system.

Thomson's also an international player, for Trinidad & Tobago no less, and was released by Southampton at the end of last season. The 21-year-old has made 14 senior appearances for the Saints and has had loan spells with Bournemouth and more recently, Torquay.

In short, he's exactly the sort of player that Tisdale likes. Young, with a lot of potential and a bit of versatility on the pitch. Plus he'll add some much needed pace to the squad. Torquay and Trinidad fans seem to rate him as a player who could be a talent if treated right.

Whether he'll be an automatic starter remains to be seen, but he fills a gap in the squad that we've not really had since Carlisle moved to Torquay United a couple of years ago.

So, yes, that's a couple of positions where we needed cover added to. All we need is a couple of strikers and we're in business. It's all a bit too relaxing.

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In other news, Neil Saunders has retired at the age of 27 after being released by us, which is a shame as the boy had talent but also horrendous luck with injuries.

I was at that Port Vale pre-season game where Nelly got injured and it was such a nothing tackle. Saunders just bumped into the defender, sat down on the grass and took around 18 months to get anywhere near fitness.

Tisdale was a big fan of Saunders and would have definitely started him that season, why Gianluca Vialli was known to be a fan when Nelly was a Watford trainee. Perhaps if we'd still been in the Conference, he had been a key player for us.

Sadly, that's a potential talent (I say potential as we never really saw the best of him even when fit) gone the way of knee injuries. Best of luck for the future Neil.

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