It is difficult to imagine there are too many other clubs where the manager can freely walk home from matches, regardless of the result, or has been gifted a tailor-made oak coffee table by a fan. Better still, the table in Gary Caldwell’s office at Exeter’s revamped Cliff Hill training base, given to him by a supporter who is a carpenter, has an integrated tactics board and the pitch dimensions are to the scale of the surface at their St James Park home. “The supporters go over and above in terms of what they give to this club,” Caldwell says.
Then again Exeter are somewhat unique given their status as a fan-owned club, the 20-year anniversary of which is this month, a cause for celebration and a move that has since prompted intrigue and praise in their model from rivals and government.
