I can only see ground expansion as justifiable with financial support from the council. It requires such a long-term return on investment, and no guarantee to improve our relative stature in the immediate term.

If funded through loans, I wouldn't be surprised if the burden of repayments leaves the playing budget for the next 10 years comparatively worse off even with another 2k on the average gate.

The way I see it, only a benevolent backer with more ambition than sense and a relaxed attitude to financial return will fundamentally transform our club. Until then we''l always continue to be a League Two club with stints in League One.

Fosu depends on how much he wants. If it's a top end salary they I wouldn't say it's justified keeping him on, but if reasonable I'd like us to take a gamble on him.

The security we get in league one is, if we get relegated we're still in the football league and you don't have to be a particularly "smaller" club to be in danger of dropping out of it. Look at Carlisle.

Of course, definitely prefer to be in League One then League Two. By security I mean purely in the sense of being considered an 'established' club in that particular division.

It’s a pretty nebulous term in a football context so I guess it’s up to you. As Shrewsbury will show this season a prolonged stay in the division gives you no security against relegation and every club is a bad transfer window away from the drop. So I guess it’s more about history than the future so it’s just how seasons constitute ‘established’.

You're right that every club is only one bad season away from relegation, but the chances of that happening will vary significantly by club based on budget which I'd argue determines how 'established' you are.

For instance, even though we've come close to relegation to non-league, I've always felt 'comfortable' in League Two. Something would have to go seriously wrong for us to be worse then the smaller clubs in that division, and even in the disaster years we've managed to stay up.

You never know what the future holds but I can't see us ever having that security in League One.  As things stand the objective will always be try to survive, and anything more than that is a bonus. I'd suspect the bookies will have close odds between us, Stevenage, Burton, Mansfield and the promoted teams as favourites for relegation next season.

Not to sound pessimistic. I think Nolan has made us quite dogged, and it'd be interesting to see the squad he builds over the summer.

On a related note - here's my campaign submission for Gabbiadini in preparation for the next vote. (15:33)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhN_YhvgUY

Shame that theres no Thornton

Arguably one of the most naturally talented we've had. Could easily been a Championship player if he applied himself.

I was listening to a podcast with Mick McCarthy and he described how Kev's brother (Sean) had exactly the same problem. Rated him as the best player at Sunderland but couldn't rely on him as he constantly turned up overweight or hungover.

Just looking at the G/A stats - it's crazy how productive Matty Taylor was for his in that first season. If we'd have kept the 15/16 squad and upgraded Byrom to Taylor I think we'd have been flying in League One.

It's also a shame to see how productive D'Ath was. Really thought he was going to kick on with us for a while.

I think to accommodate Taylor at that age you'd have to concede he's not going to do much running off-the-ball. We had him, Revell, Richards and Paul Anderson who were all blowing by the 70th minute mark.

I also rated D'Ath, but may have benefited from being in extremely good team for that division. Probably not the player you'd want went scrapping near the bottom, but was surprised he didn't sustain much of a league career after us. We've had no end of players who looked technically very good but ultimately ended up non-league.

Also not surprised Giles Coke failed to register a single assist despite being a relatively attacking, selfish player.

And by no means the best player, but Ryan Watson probably has a shout at best run of form. There was a patch where he either scored or looked to every game.

Ian Taylor
Bradley Johnson
Marc Leonard

[Round 5 - Center MidsEligible Players (>40 appearances since 2002/03)]

You can cast three votes; first preference 3 points, second preference 2 points, third preference 1 point.

Round 5 - Center Mids

Eligible Players (>40 appearances since 2002/03)

As does over 6 million in transfer fees and 20 international caps. You really are quite dull.

He's no doubt a good player, but we don't play in a manner that he's ever going to excel in. Same as Matt Grimes, ineffective for us, then went on to become a club captain with over 300 appearances in the Championship. Roberts will find himself a top-end League One club next season and do well.

Be interesting to see who Nolan brings in over the summer. As a club on a tight budget, might work well for us if he prioritizes work ethic and athleticism above all else as there should be plenty of players that fit that mould who won't demand a high salary. I'd expect us to become hard to beat but probably not great to watch.

Martin Smith
Hoskins

Holmes
Jacobs

[Round 4 - WingersEligible Players (>40 appearances since 2002/03)]

Bit short of time this week so will come back to tally the CB vote and will keep it open for the time being.

In the meantime, on to wide / attacking midfield selection. Some of these assigned positions are debatable, especially as 4-4-2 has become less common with players often switching between multiple positions. I've tried to keep the player count relatively balanced to avoid an over-abundance of strikers in the later round, but open to be challenged on this and will potentially include certain players (Hoskins) in subsequent votes.

You can cast two votes for each position (four in total); first preference 3 points, second preference 1 point.

Round 4 - Wingers

Eligible Players (>40 appearances since 2002/03)

Guthrie
Diamond
Langers

Last one difficult, Diamond's final season was up there, and Doig was consistently solid. Hughes and Reid had good and bad spells.

Sheering and Horsfall both up their in terms of ability but tainted by ditching us for lesser clubs.

NO GYPES, NO PARTY. 

Definitely the best ability wise, shame we couldn't hold on to him for a little longer. 

I was looking at those with sub 40 appearances and there's some great players in there. Gyepes, Ikechi Anya, Mark Little, Kev Thornton, Bauza, Lee Williamson.

[Round 3 - Centre backs. Deadline 19:00 Saturday 05/04]

You can cast three votes; first preference 3 points, second preference 2 points, third preference 1 point.

Round 3 - Centre backs. Deadline 19:00 Saturday 05/04

Eligible Players (>40 appearances since 2002/03)



Current XI

In my view a great Academy set-up is essential, it keeps Exeter afloat, but clubs need as many different income streams as possible to reduce their core dependency on club performance.

There's a lot of emotion tied up in local academies, but always feel you're financially better off to instead use that money to pick up one or two discarded graduates from higher divisions and hope they come good in their early 20s.

Crowe and Buchs currently firmly in the lead with 28 and 27 points.

Chambers, Holt and Jackman following with 15 and 16 points.

If we take away the fact that I would like to nominate Andy Holt for every position

That spell where he operated as essentially a targetman winger was probably his best. Can't remember what season but we'd essentially punt a long diagonal ball in his general vicinity which he'd knock-down for someone else to finish. 

RB : Chambers, then Crowe - I loved Crowe but I think Chambers just edges it.

I can't remember how Chambers played beyond being obviously a big talent that would inevitably move on to greater things. I know he eventually made his career as a CB in the Championship, but not sure if he ever played there for us.

I'm surprised we held on to Crowe for as long as we did. He had everything you'd want in a fullback, and was as technically as good as any midfielder we had at the time.  Apparently he rejoined us for a second stint in 2011 which I have absolutely no recollection of, so assume he wasn't half the player he was before the Leeds move.

Well, that depends on one thing. Whether or not any potential future owner of NTFC could negotiate the purchase of the stadium for a negligible amount. If that could be achieved, London Road would be very much the lesser proposition.

I've just done some quick googling on their stadium situation so correct me if I'm wrong.

From what I've gathered, MacAnthony has bought London Road stadium off their council with subsequent annual repayments. That puts him in a position to leverage transfer of that ownership in any future buy-out, which our owners currently can't.  For us to be a better proposition on that front, our council would both have to be open to the sale and for a lesser amount, neither of which are guaranteed. (irrespective of whether third party ownership is actually a good thing)

It also doesn't consider the further investment required to get us to the same stature of training facility, academy, and all the backroom infrastructure that has enabled them to continue to find and sell players at profit.

Not saying they're completely risk-free and I certainly wouldn't trust MacAnthony to act in the club's best interests if he couldn't find external investment. But with all that in mind, I still think as things stand they would attract more prospective buyers and have 20 years of comparative success under their belt since he took over.  And unless a mysterious Northamptonian benefactor materializes out of thin air, I'd suspect the next 20 years will pan out the same.

That's nothing against Thomas. I appreciate his stewardship and hope he continues to prop us up for as long as he can. But the reality is as a club we're miles away from where they are, and without a significant shift will always be rank underdogs in games against them for the foreseeable.

Right Back

1. Pedj Bojic
2. Jason Crowe

Left Back

1. Danny Jackman
2. David Buchanan