Has the time come for Exeter City's Supporters' Trust to change the model in which the club is run?

WHEN the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust saved the club from being liquidated back in the summer of 2003, it did so with the promise that mistakes of the past would never be repeated.

- STUART JAMES

It is worth remembering the situation back then as it serves as a reminder of just how far the club have come on the Trust journey. Relegated from the Football League, crippled with debts of almost £5 million, a chairman and vice-chairman under arrest for fraudulent trading - crimes they pleaded guilty to in April 2007, with John Russell jailed for 21 months and Mike Lewis given 200 hours community service for playing a lesser part in the fraud - things were bleak.

A countdown to potential oblivion started when the club entered into a CVA, reducing that debt somewhat, but one we were struggling to pay off until Tony Cascarino plucked ball number 64 out of the velvet bag in the FA Cup third round draw in December 2004 and sent little old Exeter off to Manchester United for a dream and financially lucrative tie, one that finished 0-0 and led to a replay at SJP. Cascarino become a cult hero having never kicked a ball for the club - one that his magic fingers ultimately rescued.

The promise was to never let such a scenario arise again as the Trust adopted an ‘it’s my ball, I’m keeping it’ attitude. Anyone that would show the slightest interest in investing would have the boardroom door slammed firmly in their face, while the lies, deceit and dishonesty of the past would be replaced with an open, honest and transparent approach to trading and its supporters.

The intervening 22 years have been nothing but a joyride for supporters of Exeter City. That sense of genuinely feeling part of the club and being asked to part with hard earned cash to keep things going is as beautiful and meaningful as it is novel. There have been bumps in the road, but for every small step backwards, two forward would follow. For me, personally, it has been an absolute pleasure to have followed the journey in my role as a supporter and journalist from day one, but in all honesty, the club feels very different now. Some of it good, but some of it not so.