We'll Score Again has campaigned for this hardly ground-breaking concept on a regular basis and an article from the November 1993 WSA editorial spelt the agenda out to all concerned. Sadly the momentum was lost after the Club slipped into Administration. Now the Supporters efforts would be in vain because due to the financial ineptitude of those reputedly in charge all the powers of the Directors had been removed and now the affairs of the Club were being directed from the office of Ernst and Young. The Supporter's crusade went on hold for the duration of the period of Administration as others had to control the day to day affairs of the Club, and the Club's efforts were redirected into fund raising to stave off the Football Club's impending bankruptcy.

Prior to this completely dissatisfactory arrangement the Supporters Club had it spelt out to them in no uncertain terms by Mr. Carter who stormed into a Committee meeting and read out the Riot Act. Supporters themselves were a bit on the restless side because at that time we were two thirds of the way through a triple whammy. Administration : Relegation : Bottom of the Football League. It was the time of the Red Card protest, despite this unholy trinity, these words of protest fell on deaf ears. Mr. Carter huffed and puffed defending the Board's mismanagement with the now familiar stance "do you know how much money we have put into this Club?" It's about time that they took an unfamiliar stance an put their hands up and admitted that there were absolutely no financial controls in place at Exeter City FC. Our dear Club was once described as a leaking colander, by the very Administrators who had to assemble a rescue plan.

Thankfully no more? Unfortunately we now have a Club with less than no assets, a mere couple of months out of Administration still carrying a debts, according to a recent article in the Express and Echo. This told an all too familiar story, and yet we all hoped that those days were firmly behind us. The wage structure Peter Fox has to work with is a result of the previous financial suicide. It is acknowledged that our Board have invested heavily in Exeter City, think where we could have been if that money had been spent wisely. It is easy for the Supporters to moan especially with the benefit of hindsight, but should we (or could we) ever have afforded the luxury of a Trevor Morgan?

Back to Mr. Carter, after scolding the Committee for being so impertinent, said that if the Supporters wanted to participate in the decision making at Exeter City they would, like every other Director have to pay for the privilege. The 'sit down' money was £25,000 for non-executive Director or a mere £50,000 for full voting rights on the Board. It is no wonder Murray Couch swallowed a bit hard recently when the anecdote was recounted to him. Well unfortunately that kind of money was not readily to hand and whilst in Administration it might as well have been a million pounds as the Directors had little or no say as to how the Club should be run. Anyway you will recall it was our best season for several years under Administration, Frid for Chairman?

During this period it was business as usual for the Supporters Club and Murray Couch who kindly gave up many an evening and regularly attended our Committee meetings, did give signs that there may be a certain amount of new enlightenment on the Board. He intimated, even if he did not come right out and say it, that our quest would soon be over as soon as we come out of Administration we would have our prayers answered. In fact there was a lot of changes promised with the Trust also to be rewarded by being given a closer involvement.

Things didn't happen that way though and as soon as the Board re-took control of the Club it was business as usual for them also. When Ivor was tackled over the thorny issue of Sup-Rep at the fans forum it could have been November 1993 when the time aged comment - "we have invested heavily ......." was once more repeated. There is no need to stoop and use the argument that their money is only a loan and the fans' turnstile revenue is not.

Quite rightly at the Supporters Club AGM it was proposed and passed quite democratically that it was time to call a halt to the gifting of money to the Football Club. It was proposed at this meeting that all future donations to the Football Club be deemed as an equivalent to the Director's loans. If we needed to raise £25,000 to buy a place on the Board over the past couple of seasons the Supporters donations would have got us almost halfway there. Remember the £7,000 donation which launched the Exeter City Football Trust? Sadly it is not thought that any credit should be gained from this, but the slate is wiped clean and from now on every penny put the Club's way should be another millimetre up one of those 'church roof restoration' style thermometers towards the ultimate goal.

Coincidentally the next major donation by the Supporters is due very shortly - the Club Shop stock. It has to be realised that more or less every Club in the League has it's own shop and this Supporters Club would not hinder our Club's desire to take on this responsibility once more. If the likes of Wigan Athletic has a proper shop then why shouldn't we? (the Near Post was beset with problems apparently - ones like it wasn't making any money for example). However, the Football Club in it's usual arrogant manner did not have the courtesy to discuss the take over arrangements and assumed that they would take the stock, the Supporters would run it and they would help out by taking the cheques to the bank. Mr. Bird suggested that the stock should be given to them as the Football Club did the same when the Supporters launched it's shop. The truth is that 70% of this dubious merchandise remains unsold, this will come as no surprise to ex-patrons of the Near Post. The fact that our stock had been built up by hard work and the clever control of tight margins appeared lost on the Club's Commercial Manager.

Following the AGM it was resolved that this time the donation of the stock would not be a gift but merely a loan, towards the ultimate goal, at that time it would have amounted to a sizeable donation - at least £5,000 worth of goods and we were due to lay out a further £1,000. Would the Board have this? Think again. When raised by our Chairman, Dave Bennett, the reply was, "well it's no good you lot trying for a seat on the Board as a Director cannot be 'The Supporters Club' it has to be an individual". No problem you'd have thought the Chairman can be our representative at Board meetings - excellent. "oh but wait - he would then be personally liable for a proportion of any future debts incurred by the Club". Not quite in accordance with Company Law but then again we're only Supporters and we're stupid aren't we? Well that little gem was put to one side and has not resurfaced probably for fear of being laughed at, however, there was another even better put down around the corner. An ultimatum was set - "either you gift us the stock (and forget all this loan business) or you can keep it - oh and by the way we have interpreted the Lease with Exeter City Council to mean that we can not allow you to keep the shop in the Centre Spot car park as this would be sub-letting so can you remove it please?" Strange how things like a Lease can be interpreted one wonders if Ann Corr Catering knows that their position in the tea huts is that precarious. Furthermore, if Board would accept a loan from the Trust why not then from the Supporters? - strange indeed. The point still remains that they would rather have looked a gift horse in the mouth, than even let the Supporters Club put a down payment on a seat in the Boardroom.

It was eventually resolved at the September Committee meeting not to rock the boat and appear obstructive, and all attempts to find a way to keep the existing Supporters Club shop open for the benefit of Big Bankers and regulars in the Spot proved impossible on the Club's terms. Steve Darke therefore suggested that the best way of dealing with it is to let them have it all, lock stock and barrel. If they cock it up, well they have had their chance. Mr. Bird has promised to make a big splash about how the Supporters' Club have donated the Stock in the Programme and to put up a big sign in the shop to thank us for our previous efforts and the gift. This has all been heard before. When you visit the new shop please ask to see the sign. The biggest sign the Club has given Supporters is not actually written on a piece of paper, but is still worth a thousand words and is easily summarised in just two:
F*&% OFF