Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire sat down with Football Lowdown to give his take on a wide array of issues, including Exeter City.
The Grecians suffered the heartbreak of a final-day relegation from League One last season, with a narrow defeat to Bradford City sealing their fate.
Exeter’s season turned on the departure of Gary Caldwell to Wigan Athletic, when the Devon outfit appeared to be looking forward to another third-tier campaign.
Instead, the south west side will be playing League Two football this campaign, for the first time in four years.
“Exeter had a tough season,” Maguire said, speaking exclusively to Football Lowdown. “From a footballing finance point of view, I look at it across three areas: personality, competence & integrity. To simplify that, do I like you, do I trust you, and can you do the job?
“The problem we have with Exeter is that there have been integrity issues and some unusual expenditure that the Trust [Exeter Supporters Trust] have had to dig out. They have been dug out in the past two to three seasons through add-ons from player sales.
“Had that not been the case, they would have lost an awful lot of money in 24/25, and they would have lost five million. I think there was some form of knock on from Ollie Watkins & Jay Stansfield.”
From a supporter’s perspective, that is extremely worrying. Selling players is part and parcel of the game, but relying on that money to avoid making substantial losses is an extremely unsustainable way to run a business. English football is at a tipping point in the next few years, hence the introduction of the new Squad Cost Rules that come into effect in the Championship this season.
Following Exeter’s relegation to the fourth tier, their position is precarious once again. As a lower-division club, they will have less money coming in, and therefore, they won’t be in as strong a position when it comes to player sales. Nevertheless, Maguire mentioned current England international Ollie Watkins, and he was sold when the Grecians were in the bottom tier of English professional football.
“You cannot go to a group of fans and say, ‘We’re £300,000 short on wages this month, here’s a bucket, fill it.'” Maguire added.
“Exeter’s finances have been challenging. They have struggled to match the level of wages that were being paid by other clubs. The average wage bill was around £9.5 million in 24/25; Exeter’s wouldn’t have been close to that.”
Earlier this year, Exeter’s Supporters’ Trust made national headlines when they called on Manchester City to give them a greater share of the gate receipts from their FA Cup tie. It was a move that was criticised by some, saying that a public callout wasn’t the way to go about business. It also highlighted the precarious financial position that the Grecians are in, ahead of their return to the fourth tier in August.