The Exeter City Courier
Squad19 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Jakke Van Britsom out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Exeter City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Nov 2035
Aaron Reid is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Exeter City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Tempers go at Exeter City
Felipe Guallama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom19 Nov 2035
Davide Stabile will join Exeter City for nothing
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Davide Stabile has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Exeter City have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Aaron Reid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Exeter City lose Thomas Murphy
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
No hiding place for Michele Basile
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Basile, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Skhanyiso Ncwane has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Exeter City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Felipe Guallama asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
In brief
- Market Youssef Nader told to find a new club
- Market The Jakke Van Britsom talk will not go away
- Market The clock does Felipe Guallama’s negotiating for him