Last year was 'a tough one' for City's Caldwell

WHEN Gary Caldwell was asked to sum up 2025 for Exeter City, he needed only three words: A hard one.

- DANIEL CLARK

Gary Caldwell after Exeter City's epic FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest, which the Grecians lost on penalties

(Frankie O'Keefe/PPAUK)

It was a year where the Grecians secured a fourth successive season in League One, have embarked on two fantastic FA Cup runs, and enjoyed a memorable Devon Derby win over their bitter rivals Plymouth Argyle.

But off-field issues with a stadium fire at St James Park, and financial problems behind the scenes which have led to redundancies at the club and a cut from what is already one of the lowest playing budgets in League One have made life in Devon that much harder.

The Grecians began the year with a decision that could have seen the year pan out differently in two very different ways: the sale of the club's leading marksman in Millenic Alli.

The Irishman left on deadline day to join Luton Town for a fee of around £1.5m. At the time, City were only just above the bottom four, in the midst of a run of eight games without a win, and Alli was the leading goalscorer.

It was a gamble to sell the marksman, but that was a fee City couldn’t turn down - and given what transpired later in the year, one that financially they simply had to accept.