“We have a lot of happy memories of Manchester! We lost the replay 2-0 at St James’ Park and Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t make the same mistake of fielding an inexperienced side in that game because the scorers were Ronaldo and Rooney!”
Aerial view of St James Park as it looked when City visited in 1996
Aerial view of St James Park as it looked when City visited in 1996
So, what of the connections mentioned earlier? While there aren’t many, there are a few notable links…
“We have beaten Manchester City!” says Weiler.
“On 7 May 1991, City kindly sent a team down for a testimonial for one of our players, Steve Neville, and we won the game 1-0 in front of 3,466.
“One of the strongest connections between our two clubs – of course – is Alan Ball.
“He was our manager from 1991 to 1994, and he then took over at City from 1995 to 1996.
“Ball brought his City team to St James’ Park on 8 August 1996, and Manchester City won that game 3-1 in front of an even bigger crowd of 5,314 that day.
Alan Ball (left) and Martin Phillips while at Exeter City (right)
Alan Ball (left) and Martin Phillips while at Exeter City (right)
“He famously signed our young winger Martin ‘Buster’ Phillips in 1995 for £500,000 and that money was most welcome, but I think he claimed Buster would become the first £10million footballer.”
Sadly, Buster Phillips’ time at City was a largely unhappy one, with just 15 appearances during a three-year stay, which included brief loan spells at Scunthorpe and a return to Exeter.
Perhaps the weight of expectation placed on his young shoulders was too much, with Ball’s lofty prediction probably doing the 18-year-old no favours.
Phillips remained Exeter’s record outgoing transfer for many years until Matt Grimes and later Ollie Watkins were sold for higher transfer fees.
David Oldfield, who played for the Blues between 1989 and 1990 and made 30 appearances, is also The Grecians’ current youth team manager.
Ex-City striker David Oldfield , now Under-18s coach at Exeter City
Ex-City striker David Oldfield , now Under-18s coach at Exeter City
Backed by 8,000 this weekend, have Exeter City fans travelled in such numbers many times before? It seems they have…
“We played Liverpool in a FA Cup replay 2016 and took several thousand to Anfield – this after a 2-2 draw at St James Park where they played a depleted side.
“We also travelled in big numbers for that game at Old Trafford in 2006 – it’s an odd fact that we were one of the few clubs never to play at the old Wembley Stadium, but we have had already played at the new Wembley five times and obviously we took thousands there on each occasion as well – bar during COVID when nobody went!”