Tisdale facing questions for first time in Exeter career — opposition focus Monday, 5th Aug 2013 17:06 by Clive Whittingham Exeter manager Paul Tisdale is seen as one of the Football League’s brightest talents, but discontent is rising after relegation in 2011/12 and a disappointing season last time out. OverviewQPR’s first away match in the 2010/11 promotion season was at Sheffield United and was about as one sided as anyone had dared hope prior to kick off. Rangers were magnificent in scoring three goals without reply to secure a second big win of the opening week and really put a marker down for the rest of the season. They miraculously remained unbeaten for the first 19 games of the season all but guaranteeing their promotion spot. Sheffield United meanwhile were heading in the opposite direction. They’d finished third in 2008/09 but lost in the play-off final and with their final parachute payment from the Premier League following a relegation in 2006 spent they missed out on the top six altogether in 2009/10 winning just four of their last 17 fixtures. A midweek defeat at Hartlepool in the League Cup had preceded the QPR mauling and that evening, as Rangers headed back to London, the Blades’ chairman Kevin McCabe called manager Kevin Blackwell in and terminated his contract. This was no great surprise. Sheffield United were, by this stage, a poor team playing poorly. Fans had grown tired of watching Blackwell’s brand of long ball football and although he was stand offish against criticism off it he no longer had results of matches to back himself up. Crowds were down and the team looked closer to League One than a return to the Premier League — which of course is exactly what happened. The writing was on the wall. That night on the Football League Show Steve Claridge was asked for his assessment of the situation. He looked down at a pad of notes, looked back up and offered: “Well, it is a bit early Manish isn’t it? Two games into the season.” It’s this that irritates football fans about experts. Paid money, in Claridge’s case out of the license fee, to offer some sort of insight and expertise to the layman and all they can do is trot out worthless platitudes, clichés and stuff that any old halfwit could have told you. Frequently in fear of upsetting mates in the game there is never a managerial sacking that is justified: it’s always too early, he’s never been given a proper chance, he’s always had a lot of injuries to deal with. Quite often you’ll find the pundit simply repeats back to what you’ve just seen on the screen: “Well he’s got in down the right side there, thrown in the cross and he’s totally unmarked at the back post, left with a simple task of heading home really so that’s a goal.” It’s why Gary Neville has been such a breath of fresh air. Strong opinions, backed up with facts and evidence, often about things the standard football fan watching at home would never have noticed at the time. Claridge clearly had no clue about the situation at Sheffield United that had been bubbling away for months before Blackwell’s sacking and hadn’t been bothered to do any research beyond checking what date it was, how many games had been played, and proffering us the cutting opinion that it was “a bit early” to be sacking a manager. The lower down the leagues you go the sketchier the knowledge becomes. Exeter City cross the radar of the average football fan for 30 seconds a week when very brief highlights of their game are shown backed by general voiced over comments like “inconsistent home form” and “record breaking run of away wins”. Consequently the chances are the only things you know about the Grecians’ manager Paul Tisdale is that he’s one of the best managers in the lower leagues and he dresses nicely — because these are the only two things the media ever offer up about him and his club. He does a good job while wearing some nice hats. And on the face of it that’s fair enough. Tisdale, a perennial loanee as a player, led Team Bath to four promotions and a memorable run through four preliminary rounds of the FA Cup in his first job as a manager alongside legendary former QPR coach Ivor Powell. He was subsequently handed the task of reviving Exeter, then in the Conference, in 2006. They lost a play-off final at Wembley against Morecambe at the end of his first season but a year later went back to the national stadium to beat Cambridge 1-0 and return to the league. That’s no mean feat in itself, given that only four managers in the history of Exeter City have led the team to a promotion, but it was followed up with an impressive League Two campaign where they finished second and were promoted again. Successive promotions while playing tidy football and selling players on for profit — George Friend to Wolves, Jamie Mackie to Plymouth, Dean Moxey to Derby and so on.
They avoided relegation in the first season and then in 2010/11 finished eighth in the third tier — the club’s highest ever position. This is while competing against the likes of Leeds, Southampton, Huddersfield and several others in League One at that time with budgets and facilities that absolutely dwarfed what City had at their disposal. Tisdale’s tactics were called into question and the word ‘stale’ was used several times. The club gave him a two year rolling contract when the going was good to ensure a large amount of compensation when the offers from bigger clubs came in, but with Exeter now in decline and many supporters believing his time is just about up it’s become a millstone which means the club cannot afford to sack him and the pressure to succeed just isn’t there. Others said he did well last season considering he had to put almost an entirely new team together in the summer but none of the Exeter fans who responded to our questions believed they would mount a promotion push this season. But then there’s always the case of Alan Curbishley at Charlton to teach football fans to be careful what they wish for. While he was achieving steady midtable finishes in the Premier League with the Addicks the Saturday evening radio phone ins were full of season ticket holders saying Curbishley had “taken the club as far as he can” when in actual fact he’d taken the club as far as anybody was ever likely to. Charlton were relegated soon after his departure and have never been close to a return. Exeter City have, for almost their entire existence, played in the bottom division of English football and when you consider there are seven (including MK Dons) clubs in League One who have played in the Premier League and others such as Crawley and Notts County with much greater budgets at their disposal, is it realistic to expect Exeter to pay any more than an occasional passing visit to that league? Keeping the club solvent and halfway up League Two is probably an achievement in itself, but because Tisdale did so well previously it’s seen as a decline. The grass isn’t always greener, Sheffield United were also relegated once Blackwell had left. And Tisdale does dress very nicely indeed. InterviewSo, slightly different this week with a whole clutch of answers from a range of Exeter fans. You read all the answers we got here and a selection of thoughts follows below. Thanks to all who took part. What was your assessment of Exeter's 2012/13 campaign? It seemed to tail off rather with one win from the last 11 matches, why was that? “We had most of our midfield injured near the end of the season, and tried playing long ball with one small forward which failed spectacularly.” “We were great on the road and notched up a club record of eleven away wins. At home, it was an entirely different story and we were extremely frustrating to watch at times. I think we were found out towards the end of the season and, coupled with a few injuries to key players such as Matt Oakley, ran out of steam.” “I predicted 10th before the season started, we finished 10th. Of course, this doesn't tell the full story of a team battling for promotion only to fall away spectacularly - we had a tough run in and injuries to key players (particularly Matt Oakley and Kevin Amankwaah) didn't help, but confidence was lost too.” “We did far better than anyone expected with an almost brand new team that Tisdale put together in the close season. That is until we lost the 'engine' of the team when four of our most influential players Oakley, Sercombe, Doherty and Gow got injured at the start of the 'run in'. As a result we played absolute shite in the last dozen or so games.” “Our most imaginative players were out injured, and our supposedly imaginative manager wasn't able to inspire the fit players to complete the job, and also seemed unprepared to give any young players a chance to gain experience and make a name for themselves.” Who has come and gone this summer? Is the team stronger this season? Where do weaknesses still exist? Leavers: Kevin Amankwaah to Northamton Town, Jamie Cureton to Cheltenham Town and Guillem Bauza (no club yet), Elliott Frear to Salisbury City. Joiners: Sam Parkin (from St Mirren), David Wheeler (from Staines Town), Doug Berqvist (from Aldershot Town) “Hard to know if the team is stronger. The defensive options are largely unchanged but, on the limited evidence so far, we are looking a bit more solid at the back. I think Artur Krysiak in goal is maturing and will be a big player for us this season, despite some random shaky moments on occasion.” “Key change is the loss of Cureton to Cheltenham. We don't have a goal poacher, and despite our 2-1 win on Saturday I think we'll have problems scoring. Our defence can still be done by speed.” “Nobody that the manager wanted to offer a deal to has left, and little has come in. Look weaker, especially up front, and the main weakness is not having a right back full stop.” Paul Tisdale is, I believe, the league's longest serving manager now, QPR have had 11 permanent managers during his spell at Exeter. How do you rate the job he's doing and has there been any hint of him being changed? “In my opinion Tisdale has done a remarkable job given the resources that he has had available to him. Historically we have mainly been a bottom ten League Two club struggling to avoid relegation or re-election. Tisdale has changed that. He has also taken the club to its highest ever position in the Football League. However, he has shown himself to be overly cautious and not a risk taker. Exeter City has not sacked a manager for ten years and given that Tisdale is highly thought of by the decision makers it is unlikely that he will be removed any time soon. Rumoured to enjoy a very lucrative two year rolling contract.” “The Football League's longest serving manager, yes. If you include the Premier League then Wenger has been in charge longer. No doubt he has done well for us but he is not popular with some of the fans, largely owing to his failure to kick on past our eighth place finish in League One a couple of seasons ago and our painful fall from the dizzy heights in the latter part of last season in League Two. Personally, I doubt if anyone else could have done any better with the limited budget he has to work with. I just wish he could get us on a decent cup run (starting tomorrow evening!) as we've fallen at the first hurdle in most of the cup competitions too many times in his time here. For a club like ours, always struggling financially, the value of the money earned from a decent cup run cannot be over-emphasised. It was the money earned from our 0-0 at old Trafford in the 3rd round of the FA cup in 2005 and the replay here at St. James Park that probably saved our club from extinction in our darkest hour, but that was under Alex Inglethorpe.” “The job he's DONE has been amazing, but last year seemed to lose his flair and imagination, resulting in some very mediocre home performances, yet some stirring efforts away. Living with the luxury of a two year rolling contract which was designed to make the club some money when a big club came in for him, but his star is not shining as brightly as it was, and there has to be a question now of how the club dispense with his services as and when they wish to.” “After we peaked at eight in league one a few seasons back things have gone downhill after the break-up of that team. We have definitely had our share of injuries to key players but the home form in last two seasons and type have football has been a lot worse leading to a split between those who still think he is right for the job and those who think it is time for a change. I fall in the second group but as he is on a two year rolling contract we can't afford to sack him. For me he has to target specifically home games, derbies and cup matches to increase revenue by providing better attacking performances to watch and stop our budget shrinking any further. He was linked with Swindon recently but doesn't seem to be any truth in that and in any case believe he will stay as it is the safer option.”
Aims and predictions for Exeter this season... “We so need a cup run, not just for the extra money but to get the fans excited. I think we will be in the top third of the table, not sure we have what it takes to compete for promotion.” “Given the budgetary constraints, survival in the league is the first target... anything better than that is a big bonus. The general air on the forum seemed to be one of pleasant surprise after the first league game last Saturday.” Players we should be watching out for.... “I think Artur Krysiak, our Polish keeper, will emerge as a talent this season. Some would disagree but, if he can control his apparent nervy moments and just crack on he could be the best in League Two this term. I also think David Wheeler will be a great acquisition once he beds into the higher level and our Northern Ireland Under 19/Under21 international, Jamie Reid, is also one to watch.” “Watch out for Gosling or Reid if they get a chance. Failing that then Gow could start, he will either look like a world beater or he'll just dribble around for 90 minutes with sod all end product.” “Jamie Reid broke through at the end of last season with two stunning goals at AFC Wimbledon, earning him a Northern Ireland U21 call-up. He looks to have a bright future.” “Scott Bennett... Our secret weapon... Born to destroy... Quite what we haven't worked out, but born to destroy.” Scout ReportExeter have made something of a habit in recent times of wringing the last usefulness out of veteran strikers. Last time Rangers came here, in 2009, Marcus Stewart was leading the line aged 37 after a long career with the likes of Bristol Rovers, Ipswich and Huddersfield. Stewart only managed nine goals in more than 70 appearances for the Grecians but they’ve twice benefited from Jamie Cureton’s Indian summers — 20 goals in 46 appearances in 2010/11 and then 21 in 42 last season before a summer move to Cheltenham Town. The hope is that Sam Parkin can be that man this season. Rangers fans will no doubt remember the big lumbering target man from his early days as a Chelsea trainee on loan at Northampton and then later at Swindon Town. Allegedly a boyhood QPR fan he has scored four times against the R’s in eight appearances for three different clubs — Northampton, Swindon and Ipswich. Advancing years, a succession of knee injuries and no little weight gain have blighted his career wince a £340,000 move to Luton in 2006 and he’s rattled around Orient, Walsall, Queen of the South, St Johnstone and St Mirren since we last saw him but a goal on his Exeter debut in a win against Bristol Rovers at the weekend suggests he has something to offer. Many of the Exeter fans we spoke to today pointed to a lack of height in the attack last season which often led t diminutive Jamie Cureton fielding long balls, and Parkin certainly addresses that. Judging by the recent pre-season friendly between Exeter and QPR he may have found a new best friend in Jake Gosling. The 19 year old wide player is a product of Exeter’s youth set up with a loan spell at Dorchester already under his belt but on several occasions against Rangers during the summer he slung over testing left foot crosses that caused panic in the Rangers back line. On that occasion Irishman John O’Flynn led the line and was pretty wasteful with the chances that came his way but it was certainly a warning sign. That said, little can be told from pre-season friendlies (particularly the first one of the summer) and Gosling wasn’t involved in Saturday’s game against Bristol Rovers.
They won that one 2-1, their first opening day win for five seasons, thanks in no small part to another player QPR have a bit of history with. Danny Coles was part of the Bristol City team the R’s battled against for League One promotion in 2002/03 and 2003/04. He opened the scoring on Saturday by arriving late at the far post to powerfully head home a deep corner — watch out for that move on Tuesday — and then cleared an injury time effort from the visitors off the line to preserve the victory. Another member of that City side, who later went on to join Rangers for an ill-fated spell, was Tommy Doherty and he is now part of the Exeter midfield. Best known at Rangers for some lively behaviour on and off the field — twice he was sent off in his time at QPR for grasping an opponent by the throat — Doherty was in typical bite-your-legs mode for the friendly between the two sides a month ago. Now aged 34 and having recently dropped into non-league with first Newport and then Bath he must have figured his career was on the wane but Tisdale wrung 32 appearances out of him last season and he’s going around again this term. Likewise former Southampton midfielder Matt Oakley, mentioned as a key man by many of the Exeter fans who spoke to LFW, and Alan Gow who has frequently gone from the sublime to the ridiculous during his 11-club career. Links >>> Official site >>> Exe Web site and forum >>> Supporters Trust >>> Express & Echo local paper >>> Western Morning News local paper >>> Vital Exeter site Tweet @loftforwords Picture — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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