Financially-troubled League One club Exeter City are to make more redundancies to cut more costs, says general manager Clive Harrison.
The Grecians, who currently sit 20th with 17 points from 16 games played, 1 point above the drop zone, are implementing cost-cutting measures amid cash flow challenges following the departure of their former CEO and a shift back to sustainable operations.
General Manager Clive Harrison said to James Vickery of BBC Radio Devon of living within means, supported by loans from the Supporters’ Trust (initial £400k, additional £200k), which may convert to shares to boost the Trust’s ownership toward 75%.
As it stands, staff, players, and taxes are paid on time, and the cash flow is secure for 3-4 months, with daily monitoring in place.
Complacency under previous leadership led to over-investment and inaccurate financial reporting, prompting a board review and restructuring.
He also said that manager Gary Caldwell is focused on academy development, player sales, and targeted recruitment rather than heavy spending, no extra January budget unless departures or a FA Cup run.
Have a read of the insightful interview which emerged this week…
🔴 Exeter City general manager, Clive Harrison, has been talking to @jsvickery about club finances.
– There will be redundancies at the club– No extra money in the budget for January– Club previously ‘too complacent’ with finances
Listen here:#ecfchttps://t.co/WNrMf6DlG6
— BBC Sport Devon (@bbcdevonsport) November 27, 2025
Clive Harrison: I think it’s well documented now that we’ve gone through a period of having to restructure our finances following the departure of our former CEO, change of tact, getting back to being Exeter City a little bit more, living within our means, so lots of financial changes I guess. The money from the supporters trust is what I would imagine it’s provided for to support the football club and it’s in the form of a loan so that together with the other loans hopefully will be turned into shares and provide the benefit of an extra shareholding for the trust.”
James Vickery: Now usually if a owner of a football club lends money to the football club it doesn’t particularly make headlines does it? But the way Exeter City is run, fans who pay their money into the trust will be probably quite concerned by this news. What reassurances can you give them about the club’s finances today?
Clive: I think it’s a positive that they know. I think if we were any other football club you’re not going to see the trust accounts every month in their trust board meetings that are open to supporters. The accounts are shared there and the original loan of four hundred thousand and the second loan of two hundred thousand are quite visible to all members at that point. I think if you were, you know, any other football club pretty much you wouldn’t have even known that happens, but of course it does happen. It happens on a monthly basis and certainly other clubs are much larger sums of money by their owners.
James: How secure is the club financially at the moment?
Clive: So we are managing our cash flows. Currently everything looks pretty steady for the next three or four months. I don’t think there’s any doubt that while we want to maintain the trust model we do need to evolve with football. Football is evolving and I said at the AGM about Exeter City raising their playing budget by a million pounds in two years while everybody else is doing it by three, three and a half. The highest playing budget in the league is 19. It’s just not at our level and Gary’s been really good in finding other ways of improving our on pitch performance that don’t cost so much money as in player sales. Lots of clubs go out and buy lots of players, sometimes players they don’t need, while we get the players that fit with us at Exeter City and that Gary and his team can see how they fit into the system, how he can improve them, how he can bring younger players in from the academy and how they can grow into the first team. I t’s the way we’ve always done it. It’s much harder in League One than it is in League Two. Certainly the step up from academy to league two is clearly easier than from academy to League One. But we’re still doing a really good job at that. I think historically Exeter City has never been a rich club. We’ve had money when we have developed our own players and been able to sell them on and we’ve obviously, from the players behind me on the wall there, seen where the gaps have been covered in previous years. We’ve always known that that’s not guaranteed and that at some point we will go through a process of having to be steady and spend what we have. I don’t think things are any different. We just haven’t got that transfer money right now.
James: You mentioned cash flow. Anytime any business mentions cash flow there are concerns. Are staff being paid?
Clive: They are being paid, yes. Players, staff are all being paid on time while our taxes and everything are up to date. We’re not in default of anything so we’re in a really good place. The other benefit to be in Exeter City is that we don’t have loans. Other than the ones from the supporters trust who are our owners, we don’t have loans with anybody else.
James: You mentioned there about things seem okay for the next three or four months. What happens beyond that?
Clive: I think we continue in the way we have been doing. The most important thing to us is that we can pay our staff and our players and that we can meet our obligations to taxman etc. I think where we’ve been in the last year or so or two is that we’ve taken our eye off the ball there a little bit. Because we’ve had that extra money we haven’t managed that in a way that we probably should do as Exeter City.
James: Why has that happened?
Clive: I think it’s just that we were under a period of time there that we were investing to grow. I think generally we probably set our sights too high there. I think Gary agrees now that where we are as a football club and Abby with the women’s team, we all understand where we are as a club. What is achievable? A push for the playoffs and things like that would be fantastic. But actually that has to come from doing the things we do in the way we do it rather than throwing extra money at it like so many football clubs do.
James: Has someone not been doing their job properly? Is that what this boils down to?
Clive: I think it’s just a little bit of complacency around having some money. Obviously that was under a different regime with a different approach to growing the club. You can see how a lot of clubs do throw money at things and it works. I think we got away from being at Exeter City that we know we’ve got a new standard and we’ve got the money to build it. We don’t borrow the money to build it and that’s where we’re getting back to now.
James: How has that all got past a club board and a trust board? I think there are some very intelligent people on both. How has this happened?
Clive: There are and I think we’ve had a review process following the departure of the CEO. We’ve released about as much as we can regarding that. I think those statements pretty much cover the items that we looked at. I guess it was a misinformation around the cash flow at the time and certainly that process has all been investigated. Everything’s been put into place that we now know exactly how much money we’ve got every morning. We know what’s going out for the next three or four months and that’s why I’m able to say we’re okay for the next three or four months because I can see that every morning when I come into work. Nobody can see too far into the future. We win a couple of cup games and everything changes but that’s football.
James: So the cup run is very important this season then?
Clive: Well I think it’s important every season.
James: But particularly this season?
Clive: Yeah sure it is. I think it is because we haven’t got that transfer revenue. I think that’s the difference for the last four or five years. We’ve had that money that we can invest. You don’t have to look at your bank account every morning kind of thing. But we’re back to doing things the way we were doing it a couple of years ago.
James: You sound very confident that things in the short term are okay but do you not think it’s a shame that all of this has had to happen to get back on the straight and narrow?
Clive: I think decisions were made about how to approach push Exeter City forward. I think they’re legitimate ways of doing that. I just think they didn’t work for us and people can judge for lots of different reasons why that hasn’t worked. I think it’s quite legitimate it hasn’t worked. I think we got into a situation where some of the information we were given as a board, both boards, wasn’t correct. There’s very little you can do about that. I guess you learn the lessons once that’s happened and you put your safeguards into place. You don’t expect that kind of thing to happen. So I guess there is accountability right across the boards without any doubt but actually we are where we are now. We need to keep Exeter City on track, get it back to being what it was and enable Gary to do his job and put on an entertaining game of football basically on a Saturday.
James: It’s the current academy model will always be well regarded in football but at the who’s the next star that’s going to bring Exeter City a bit of much-needed cash?
Clive: I think there’s lots of great talent in the academy and often as with Ollie Watkins and others they’ve suddenly sprung to the fore. You’ve seen the talent at younger ages but a couple of games in the first team were a lone away to Weston. Suddenly changes the dynamic of that player’s profile and their future and it’s really difficult. You can’t predict it and that’s why we all know that there’s a period of time where we won’t produce a player for a year or two and we have to be in a position to manage those two years financially.
James: Is the club in that position right now?
Clive: So we’re not but that’s what we’re looking to get to now. I think the events of the last six months or so have brought that much closer. We could probably look at the situation and say we’re 18 months or two years away from being in that position but actually the events have really brought that upon us right now. Not necessarily a bad thing because you have to address it one way or the other and it’s right there before you and everybody’s working to do that.
James: Money’s tight clearly. The budget in January normally a time where Gary will want to strengthen depending on where Exeter are. I mean at the moment wrong end of the table but doing okay above the relegation places. It has been a solid start including a Devon Derby win. Will there be more money for Gary as there was last season to strengthen in January?
Clive: Well right here and right now no. Not unless Gary does some of the movement himself within his squad. Can’t keep just bringing players in and adding it to the wage bill. If there are opportunities for Gary to take during January then he’ll take them but we’re certainly not guaranteeing many money at the moment.
James: And if it is looking a bit tricky or trickier in terms of the league position in January will anything change your mind there about releasing any funds?
Clive: So the funds would be good if we win. If we have a couple of wins in the FA Cup and we have money available then that’s fine but as we stand here right now we don’t. So can’t make those promises and I guess that’s the lesson learned from the last couple of years.
James: Okay so what reassurances can you give fans? I mean what is your message to the fans who will be listening to this? You’ve been very honest which is great and that’s what fans want because they feel maybe there hasn’t been that transparency maybe over the last six months or so which has led to all sorts of rumours swirling around both on social media and on the terraces as well. But what’s your message to the fans today Clive?
Clive: Well my message is a gratitude. A lot of gratitude to the way they’ve rallied behind the club throughout the last six months. There are rumours around and we’ve been in a position where we haven’t been able to talk about as much as we would like to and obviously I’m sorry for that but we have to take the legal advice we’re given and we’re here to protect the football club and not to damage it further. After the fire, what a response that’s been from supporters, members, trust members, sponsors, suppliers, they’ve all rallied behind us. As a community club we are. We say we are and when we get into these difficulties the community really does come to the fore and support the club which is brilliant.
James: I guess with everything going on I mean the way the community has rallied around has been a really good story to come out of a bad situation but that fire was the last thing you needed.
Clive: It was, it was but it’s galvanised support around the club you know. It’s not something you would ever think of happening especially when we’re going through a difficult period you know. I’ve said it’s another bump in the road but everybody just rallies behind the club and that’s what’s so great. Often you know we don’t, we’ve put a financial appeal out there to help us get through the Burton game and into the FA Cup tie next Saturday. People are rallied around that. We’ll get the insurance money at some stage. We don’t know when but actually we’re a football club and without football I think everybody realises that we just need to get on with it and certainly the staff have been brilliant. Suppliers, supporters, everybody has been really brilliant and that you know you could look at that social media image of the place burning down and feel really depressed but actually you come out of this with a new energy you know that people really do get behind this football club.
James: I want to take you back really quickly to something you said right at the beginning of the interview in terms of the loan and maybe shares. Tell me a little bit more about that. How would that work?
Clive: So essentially we would have a share issue, share rights issue that would allow all shareholders to purchase extra shares or convert in the case of the trust their loans to shares. So it works across all shareholders not just the trust. It’s unlikely that the non-trust shareholders will take up huge amount because there’s so many of them and the numbers are so small. So basically by taking up the share issue the loans can be converted to shares giving the trust a higher shareholding in the football club. It’s always been their aim to get the 75%. This might not do that but it’ll certainly move them closer.
James: What is the future when it comes to the supporter owned model because is it really working at league one level for Exeter?
Clive: So it works as principle financially and the challenges that football is presenting us at the moment are the real difficult things. I think raising the shares gives the trust more options to maintain trust ownership while encouraging other investment. There are lots of options. It’s for the trust and trust members to make those decisions once the board bring as many options as we can to the table. I don’t think we should dismiss anything. If there’s an option it’s for the trust to make that decision.
James: Is it time to look for an outward investor?
Clive: Certainly that’s one of the options without doubt.
James: Does it feel as if we’re at that point now?
Clive: It feels like we have to evolve now definitely.
James: But you have to tread carefully with that.
Clive: We do and you know we’re a supporter owned club. Ultimately the trust and its members will decide on which option to take. I think we do have to be realistic. We’re realistic in the fact that we can’t guarantee selling a player every year to fill the gap. So there’s only so much money you can bring into the business. We have to get back to a sustainable level of spend. We hope to do that for early next year so that we don’t have the pressures we have on cash flow. You know reduce our outgoings in order to level out our cash flow. I think it does have to evolve in one way or another and it’s not ultimately for me to decide that. It’s for me and the board I think to put those options in front of the trust.
James: One final question you mentioned there about reducing costs. Are you looking at redundancies at the football club right now?
Clive: Yeah I think it’s common knowledge now that we will have to have a second round of redundancies. The staff are all aware of that. So it’s extremely unfortunate especially at this time of the year and if you’re looking for reasons for making loans to football clubs keeping people on the payroll through Christmas and into the new year is certainly a very good reason to be doing that.
James: I don’t like talking about people’s jobs and people’s livelihoods and I know you don’t either but how many roles are maybe you looking at cutting and how much money are you looking at saving?
Clive: It’s an evolving feast I think. We probably need to reorganise in many areas. It’s not simply take three or four jobs from here and there because actually you need to maintain a football club running to including to bring the money in in the first place and you are talking about people. You’re talking about their lives and people come to work for football clubs because it’s a fantastic environment to work in. So we need to be very careful, very considerate and we’ll be doing that over the next few weeks. We don’t want to leave it too long because obviously people want some security about what’s going to happen into the new year.
