Gary Caldwell pre Wigan Athletic (H) | Exeter City Football Club

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell will take a close look at the Grecians’ injuries when this season ends, to ensure there is no such repeat next year.

While injuries are commonplace in football, the 2024/25 campaign has not been kind to Exeter, who have often been without several players at different stages of the season.

Pat Jones looks the latest player to have his season curtailed prematurely after pulling up with a serious-looking hamstring strain in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Stockport County, less than five minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute. Pierce Sweeney, Demetri Mitchell and Ryan Trevitt have already been ruled out for the rest of the campaign, while Yanic Wildschut hasn’t kicked a ball all season having suffered a serious knee injury in Exeter’s final pre-season friendly against Eastleigh.

With several other issues hampering their squad as well, it is no surprise Caldwell is keen to take a closer look to find any potential reasons why it keeps happening, but he feels it is not an issue isolated to Exeter.

“That’s modern day football,” he said. “There are so many games and it is difficult for players. I think the speed of the game is going up and it is something we are constantly trying to improve, that department – the sports science, the medical, how we prepare the players.

“It is something we are really going to look into for next season and try and change some things in pre-season to maybe prevent these, but it is not just us that has this problem, it is football and sport that has this problem across the board.

“I look at top Premier League teams spending millions and millions of pounds on staff, equipment and technology and still injuries are there.

“It is a difficult thing to deal with, but it is something we want to try and get better at next season because when we have most of the squad fit and available, we pick up good results and that has a big baring on our results, so we have to try and make it better next year.”

It was hard to have anything but sympathy for Jones on Saturday with the 21-year-old arriving on deadline day from Huddersfield Town. The Wales Under-21 international has been plagued by hamstring issues throughout his career and no sooner had he arrived in Devon than he suffered a problem in training. That delayed his debut until the end of December after he underwent an operation, but after 19 appearances for the Grecians – six from the start – his injury curse has struck again.

“Pat is not good,” Caldwell said. “He is getting a scan, but whenever you see a player running that fast with the reaction that he had, then it is never good, so he will have a scan.

“I really feel for him because he’s worked extremely hard and he has got himself to a level of fitness and played more games than he has probably played for a long time and we really felt he was coming into form by showing the quality that we know he has. To pick up this injury is a huge blow for him and I am really disappointed for him.”

Defender Ed Turns is a doubt for tonight’s League One clash with Wigan Athletic after he suffered a nasty facial wound in the weekend defeat to Stockport.

“Turnsy’s face was a mess after the game, but a big thanks to the Doc (Peter Riou) for stitching it, he has done a fantastic job because it was a huge cut on his cheekbone,” Caldwell said. “Thankfully there was no fracture or problem with his cheekbone, but it is a massive cut that the Doc has patched up. It won’t do much for his looks… but he didn’t have much anyway!”

Gary Caldwell pre Wigan Athletic (H) | Exeter City Football Club

A week ago, Exeter City were preparing for a League One trip to Barnsley keen to make amends for a lacklustre showing in going down to a 2-0 home defeat to Wrexham.

It feels like Deja-vu as, after an even worse performance in losing 2-0 at home to Stockport County at the weekend, the Grecians are looking to fare better once again when they welcome Wigan Athletic to St James Park tonight.

Last week, the players came through with flying colours as goals from Ryan Trevitt and Josh Magennis earned a 2-1 win at Oakwell. But that hard work was undone immediately with Exeter so poor against County at the weekend.

City’s contrasting form against teams at the top end of the table and those in the lower echelons of the division is stark, to say the least. But there is a growing dissatisfaction amongst the fanbase that are getting increasingly frustrated with the performances of their team, certainly at home. Evan manager Gary Caldwell himself declared the second half of Saturday’s game as ‘boring.’

Speaking at yesterday morning’s press call, Caldwell said: “We have no more injuries, but we have knocks and fatigue, which we have to get out of the players today. We need to pick players who look hungry, look ready and when I look in their eyes, I see that desire to go again.

“Body language in training is very important, we need to see players that are ready to put themselves out there and play at a level that is much, much better than Saturday and try and get three points.

“We have six games to go where every game is so important. There is still so much to play for in terms of points and whether we can beat last season’s total. Can we finish higher? We still have to get over that 50 point mark which, more often than not, secures your status in League One next season.

“I hope the players come in this morning with an eagerness to do something about Saturday and if we do the same as we did last week, we will be good again on Tuesday and turn this around quick.

If St James Park is supposed to be their fortress, then it is proving far too easy to breach this season with nine teams from 20 home league games heading back up the M5 with the three points stored on their team bus.

However, Exeter have a good record against those teams in and around them in the league table and Wigan arrive in town tonight as a team in transition having sacked manager – and good friend of Caldwell – Shaun Maloney at the start of March. Former Plymouth Argyle boss Ryan Lowe was appointed his successor ten days later, but with two draws and two defeats, he is still searching for his first win as Latics manager.

“They are in a difficult position in the league, similar to ourselves, and they need to pick up points,” Caldwell said. “When you come into a club with that need to win games, but also a team that is not as confident, or doing as well as it would like, it’s a challenge.

“Every game, they have been slightly different, so I think they are still searching for what their best team is and what their way of playing is going to be; I don’t think that will happen until next year. Short-term, I think they are looking to be hard to beat and to pick up points and win games.

“They played Orient at the weekend, who are higher up the league and very good at home, and they were very organised, hard to break down and they got a clean sheet and I think that is the foundation of what they are looking to do at the moment.

“We know that they have dangerous players higher up the pitch and if it does start to click, then it’s going to be a really difficult game.”

Caldwell added: “We can’t hide behind Saturday – it was really poor in so many aspects and we all have to take responsibility for that.

“What we did well last week, after (losing 2-0 to) Wrexham, we came back in and were honest with each other and we done something about it on the Tuesday night with a brilliant performance away at Barnsley.

“This is no different. We had the experience last week and the big thing for me is that, when we are poor, we have to hold our hands up and be honest and say that has to be better.”

Jack Fitzwater post Wigan Athletic (H) | Exeter City Football Club

Exeter City defender Jack Fitzwater said that the Grecians needed the wake-up call of falling behind to Wigan Athletic to really get going and fightback to earn a point. City drew 1-1 with the Latics at St James Park on Tuesday night to move one step closer to securing another season in League One.

After a first half short of any real goalmouth action, Wigan went ahead five minute after the break. Dale Taylor converted from the penalty spot after Maleace Asamoah had been brought down in the box.

That though sparked the Grecians into life and it was no less than they deserved when Reece Cole in the 69 ^th minute levelled it up with a half volley from the edge of the box that bounced into the top corner. But despite a late rally, City couldn’t find a winner as it finished 1-1.

“We probably needed it,” Fitzwater said of conceding the goal. “It was a little wake-up call, it happens in football and you behind and then rally. We were then winning first contacts, second balls, and Reece hits it and it goes in and everyone was delighted.

“We were straight back to try and get the winner, it wasn’t to be but we are delighted with the point but we know we can be better. We are on a decent run, we were desperate for the three points, and the second half was better and you could see the effort and desire to win and on another day we do.”

It was a first appearance for Fitzwater since January when he suffered a hamstring tear that seemed to have ruled him out for the season. But the 27-year-old recovered quicker than expected and with Ed Turns out after taking a whack to the face on Saturday, Gary Caldwell recalled him to start.

“I have been working hard to get back to fitness,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be back this quick, so pleased how it has gone and when the gaffer said I would be playing I was buzzing.”

City, who have now lost just two in ten, climb to 15 ^th on 49 points, now ten points clear of the relegation zone. Wigan rose to 18 ^th , seven clear of 21 ^st place Burton Albion. Exeter ’s next action sees them travel to 20 ^th placed Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and that is a game City are targeting to win, Fitzwater saying: “We go there desperate for three points, and we want to make it three wins out of three against them.”

PIERCE SWEENEY IS THE CLUB CAPTAIN OF EXETER CITY FC

Having just gone under the surgeon’s knife, I’m happy to report the surgery to fix my long-standing hip issue went entirely to plan and, assuming there are no unforeseen complications, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t play a full part in the forthcoming pre-season.

The keyhole surgery took place at a specialist clinic in London’s Harley Street and was carried out by the same surgeon who operated on the manager’s hips, so I knew I was in good hands.

Depending on what, exactly, he found on opening me up, I could have been on crutches for up to six weeks. Thank God, as it transpired, my cartilage and hips were in better shape than he’d envisaged and I was walking unaided just two or three days after the op.

Touch wood my rehabilitation will go to plan and I can play a full part in the 2025-26 campaign, which will be my testimonial season.

I still can’t quite believe how it’s gone since I first rocked up in Devon back in August 2016. As you probably won’t recall, I was signed as back up to Tom McCready and didn’t expect to be much more than a bit-part player in my first season at St James’ Park.

Unfortunately for Tom, he got injured a week before the start of the season and I ended up playing more than 30 games. The rest, as they say, is history; after more than 300 games for Exeter, the club, and the city, will always have a very special place in my heart and I want my testimonial season to be a celebration of that.

Since I last put pen to paper, we’ve enjoyed a fantastic 2-1 win at Barnsley last Tuesday and endured a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Stockport on Saturday.

I watched the Barnsley game at home on Grecian+ and thought we were thoroughly deserving of all three points. And I was made up for winning goalscorer Josh Magennis. It goes without saying, I’d have been delighted whoever had scored. However, Josh works his absolute socks off so I was especially pleased to see him grab such an important goal, jumping out of my seat when he robbed a Barnsley defender before smashing the ball home with less than 10 minutes to go.

The one disappointment last Tuesday was to see Ryan Trevitt limp off with a hamstring injury. Ryan, who opened the scoring at Oakwell, has been excellent for us over recent weeks and it’s desperate luck that, for the second season in a row, his loan spell with us has been cut short by injury.

On a more positive note, Ryan’s a brilliant footballer who has a great career ahead of him and while he’ll be gutted to miss out on the final few games of the season, I’ve no doubt he will learn from the experience and come back stronger.

Unfortunately, we came up short in our attempt to make it two wins inside the space of our days when we faced Stockport at SJP over the weekend.

As Gary [Caldwell] said afterwards, Stockport do the basics really well – that’s why they’re challenging for promotion just a year after coming up from League Two. Conversely, we didn’t do that at the weekend; conceding two really avoidable goals, albeit the second of them looked suspiciously offside.

We huffed and puffed a bit from thereon in, but didn’t threaten the visitor’s goal anywhere near as much as we would have liked to have done and, truth be told, could have few complaints with the final result.

As an aside, I couldn’t comprehend how the challenge which saw Ed Turns leave the pitch with his face covered in blood was only deemed worthy of a yellow card. If it was an elbow, as Ed told me afterwards he believed it had been, then surely that’s a straight red, so where the yellow came from I have no idea.

This is going to be my last column of the season. It’s been a long, tough 10 months and, as I’m not playing at the minute, it’s an opportune time to take a step back and enjoy some R&R.

While it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, on balance, I think we’ve enjoyed a pretty good campaign.

Of course, it was disappointing we weren’t able to maintain our early momentum, but we endured a lot of injuries and it was a double whammy to see the outstanding Tristan Crama curtail his season-long loan to sign for Millwall in January.

Plainly, we struggled a bit at the start of the year, but we’ve come back strongly since the Charlton game and if we go on to secure a fourth successive season in League One, as looks likely, I think we can be pretty happy with what we’ve achieved.

That’s not to say, we don’t aspire to do better still – with just a little more good fortune, I think we could easily be four of five places higher up the League One table than we are, while the club’s direction of travel is such that I’d like to think we can make a concerted challenge for the play-offs at some point in the next four or five years.

More immediately, with the season drawing to a close, it’s inevitable the players will be getting tired – mentally and physically – but they have to keep on grinding, get one another through it, and finish the campaign strongly.

For sure, we still have plenty to play for; as I write we’re just six points off a top-half finish with a game in hand on many of the teams above us, while it’s not mathematically impossible we could match or better the 61 points we bagged in 2023-24.

Looking a little further ahead, I’ve started giving some thought to who might get my vote as the players’ player of the season. Had Tristan remained with us after Christmas and continued his imperious form into the new year then he would been a stand-out candidate, as would Millenic Alli who had bagged 12 goals before departing for Luton in January.

However, I’m a firm believer that you need to feature week in week out over the course of a season to earn one of these accolades. That being the case, as things stand, my three-man shortlist comprises Jack McMillan, Josh Magennis, and Joe Whitworth.

Jack has played pretty much every minute of every game, featuring in five or six different positions, including left wingback, right wingback, right-sided centre-half, centre midfield, and No 10, over the course of the season, and invariably leaves everything out there.

As regular readers of this column will appreciate, I’m Josh Magennis’ No 1 fan – for me, the big man has been sensational this season, leading the line on his own in a lot of our games, and bagging 12 goals along the way. What’s more, Josh’s attitude and the way he goes about things, on and off the pitch, are an example to us all.

While Josh is nearing the end of his career, Joe’s a mere whippersnapper. Nevertheless, he’s kept 15 clean sheets and counting, consistently demonstrating why he’s held in such high regard by his parent club, Crystal Palace.

That being the case, while it would make a change if an on-loan goalkeeper didn’t scoop all the awards at our end-of-season bash, Joe would be a thoroughly deserving recipient.

It only remains for me to thank supporters for the fantastic support we’ve enjoyed home and away since we faced Rotherham at SJP at the beginning of August.

As ever, the fans have been different gravy – in particular all those who follow us up and down the country on a Tuesday night, arriving back in Exeter just about in time to set off for work the next day – and I only hope we’ve done our bit to make all their efforts worthwhile.

In any case, enjoy the break, and let’s catch up again at SJP in July!

Exeter City has kicked off a new era of clean energy with a fresh line-up—108 solar panels lighting up its Cliff Hill Training Ground.

The 108 panels, now operational on the roof of the main building, are expected to generate over 40 megawatt-hours of clean energy each year. This is projected to cut around nine tonnes of carbon emissions annually—equivalent to the amount absorbed by 415 trees.

The project was made possible through funding from Devon County Council ’s Green Impact Fund and was delivered by local electrical engineering specialists EX2 Group.

The club is aiming to achieve English Football League 'Green Club' status and plans to become a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework later in the year.

Travis Bramley, sustainability officer at Exeter City Football Club, said: “We’ve been promising fans solar for some time now and it feels fantastic to finally be delivering on this, thanks to the support of Devon County Council, the Supporters’ Trust and the expertise of EX2. We’re pleased to be working with a trusted local supplier and are excited to benefit from the carbon savings of this project, as well as the clear financial benefits.”

The Green Impact Fund is a £1.8 million capital grant scheme supported by the UK government under the Devon and Torbay Devolution Deal and administered by Devon County Council. Exeter City is one of many local businesses and community organisations to benefit from the initiative.

Installation of the panels was carried out by Eco-Tech, the specialist renewables division of EX2 Group. Sam Charters, divisional manager at Eco-Tech, said: “This is an excellent project for us—as well as our commitment to helping our community cut costs and carbon, the EX2 Group is a long-term supporter of Exeter City Football Club, so we are delighted to be working with them.

“By powering this site with renewable energy, the club is showing its commitment to its net zero goals and local community. We are looking forward to collaborating with them on further projects as they aim to reform the energy use across their sites.”

EX2 Group provides electrical and building services across the south-west and has previously worked on projects at St James Park, including electrical installations for the Adam Stansfield Stand. Its Eco-Tech division delivers low-carbon energy solutions, including solar photovoltaic systems, lighting controls, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.