Welcome to today’s fourth division game against Exeter City, a fixture that I’m sure will evoke some very happy memories for many Grimsby fans. It’s doubtful that today’s game will live in the memory as long as those games from 1972 and 1991 but, hopefully, it will be entertaining and enjoyed by everybody here today.

Exeter City is currently a club on the ‘up’ having survived a number of financial problems in the early 2000s and relegation to the Conference in 2003. The reason why Exeter City managed to survive these problems and get the club heading in the right direction is the hard work and dedication of the Exeter City Supporters Trust (ECST).

ECST was formed in 2000 by a small group of fans who had heard of the success of the trust organisation at Northampton Town. This small group, supported by Supporters Direct, got the trust started with the aim of supporting the club. Once formed, ECST was quickly backed by a good number of other fans. However during the 2002-03 season, the club was taken over by a group of less than scrupulous individuals (two of whom have since been convicted of a number of criminal offences) not interested in the long term future of Exeter City FC. During this time the board of ECST convinced the rest of the membership that the trust should change its aim from supporting the club to owning it.

Following relegation to the Conference in 2003, ECST was invited to take over the running of the football club and in September 2003 paid £20,000 for a majority shareholding. What this actually bought was around £4,500,000 of debt and an organisation in a mess both on and off the pitch.

After a lot of hard work ECST managed to agree a CVA with the debtors and the opportunity to rebuild the football club.  With lots of fund raising and two FA Cup games against Manchester United, the CVA was finally paid off in December 2005. This left the football club debt free, without any money but, perhaps most importantly, owned and run by fans of the club.

Since December 2005, Exeter City Football Club has made progress on the pitch culminating in last season’s play off victory at Wembley, which earned them a return to the Football League. Just as important, ECST has maintained a majority shareholding in the football club and a membership of around 2500 (around half the average St James Park crowd). This differs from a number of other trusts whose membership isn’t large or has tailed off now the immediate danger of liquidation has been avoided. The continued support of fans and a steady supply of volunteers with differing skills and expertise to help organise, run and sit on the board of ECST have helped ensure that Exeter City FC can look to the future whilst being run by people with the football club at heart. ECST now has aims including owning more than 76% of the football club and maintaining a membership of over 3000.

As a set of supporters and as a trust there is a lot we can learn from the ECST story. Firstly we need to remember we are lucky that GTFC currently has a majority shareholder who has the interests of the football club at heart both on and off the pitch. Secondly, and for GTST perhaps most importantly, more members are required. It’s easier for a trust to claim to have a say in how the football club is run if they are representing more than half of the average home crowd. GTST also needs people who have the time, skills and dedication to help the Trust to meet its aims and ease the pressure on the current board, who are more or less the same people who were involved in forming GTST back in 2003.  If you think you can help in either respect please visit www.gtst.net or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it with your details.

Enjoy the game and have a safe journey home.

Ian Fitzgerald

GTST Member