9th January 2026
January 9 – Manchester City will not offer Exeter City any additional share of the gate receipts from Saturday’s third-round FA Cup tie, despite a request from the League One club framed as a “statement of solidarity.”
The decision sticks to competition rules, but it also raises a bigger question about responsibility within an increasingly fragile football pyramid.
Exeter, majority owned by its supporters’ trust, will bring 8,000 fans to a sold-out Etihad Stadium to face the seven-time FA Cup winners. Under FA Cup regulations, both clubs receive 45% of gate receipts, with the remaining 10% going to the FA.
The match is expected to generate between £250,000 and £400,000 for Exeter in ticketing revenue, but peanuts compared to City’s star striker, Erling Haaland, who earns a reported £525,000 a week.
Earlier in the week, Exeter’s supporters’ trust published a statement, later shared by the club, explaining why they had reached out to City.
“In recognition of Exeter City’s supporter-ownership model and the financial realities faced by fan-owned clubs, the club have written to Manchester City to ask whether they would consider voluntarily transferring a portion of their share of the matchday gate receipts to Exeter City … It would have a tangible impact on their finances and would stand as a strong statement of solidarity with sustainable, fan-owned football.”
City has acknowledged the request but will not deviate from standard policy. For a club of City’s size and wealth, that stance feels narrowly procedural. No one expects Premier League giants to underwrite the lower leagues, but moments like the FA Cup are often held up as symbols of shared history and mutual dependence.
Exeter’s reality is stark. The club has made two rounds of redundancies this season, relied on £600,000 in loans from its supporters’ trust, and absorbed around £100,000 in fire damage at St James Park. If clubs like Exeter struggle to survive, the long-term health of the pyramid weakens, and that ecosystem ultimately supports everyone at the top, including City.
Manchester City have developed a habit of doing the wrong thing when it wouldn’t have hurt them to do the right thing for football in England as a whole. The long awaited verdict and sanctions expected from the more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules they are accused of will reflect how good citizens they have really been.
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