Exeter City: Bizarre Bradford City deal left supporters puzzled | OneFootball

Sam Stubbs' time at Exeter City was frustrating with injuries holding him back but when he moved to Bradford City there was a bit surprise.

What Exeter City would give to have the 2021/22 version of Sam Stubbs in their current squad.

Gary Caldwell's Grecians are in shocking form and are shipping goals left, right and centre as they struggle to cope with injuries and the departure of their best player, the formerly-on-loan Tristan Crama.

While the current crop of Grecians defenders are lining up down the corridor outside the Cliff Hill physio room, Stubbs also rocked up to Devon injured following a long-term knee injury in January of 2021.

The centre-back was also forced to self-isolate on arrival, but those 10 days were nothing compared to the 10 months he would have to wait to make his City bow following a series of setbacks in his recovery from surgery on an injury sustained while playing for Fleetwood Town.

Stubbs was set to be a City stalwart

Then City boss Matt Taylor was very excited at Stubbs' arrival and made it clear he was a player he wanted to build a side around for years to come.

"I got a fantastic reference from [Taylor's former Exeter teammate] George Friend, who was at Middlesbrough when Sam was a young lad," Taylor said at the time.

"He's an old-school centre-half and you don't get many of those profiles within a young body.

"He's a player we're looking to build a team around - we're going to have to be patient, because of the Covid issue to start with and the fact that he had a knee operation midway through December to clear out a bit of cartilage damage.

"That suggests he won't be coming in to play straight away, but I'm sure we'll see his value in the next month or so."

When he was finally back and fit Stubbs was excellent. So where did it all go wrong?

Stubbs played half a season and then left

Following his January 2021 arrival Stubbs did, eventually, become a key player and, essentially, he was at Exeter for 24 months, only playing an active part for six of those, but his 20-odd appearances were vital and helped City to promotion into League One.

He was well liked for his performances and it was expected that he would become a key player for City in the third tier now fighting fit with a good spell under his belt but, just six months later and with only two League One appearances to his name, he left the club to join Bradford City in the league below.

By this time Taylor had also left Exeter to take the reins at Rotherham United and new City boss Gary Caldwell clearly didn't fancy Stubbs for one reason or another.

It was a bizarre fall from grace and there were suspicions that he was injured, and Caldwell hinted that he couldn't get fit in the club's announcement of his departure.

"He’s been an amazing servant for the club in difficult circumstances for himself with injuries," The Scot explained. "But he always gave one hundred percent on or off the pitch and even though he didn’t contribute on the pitch for me, he contributed a lot off it with his character and personality.”

Stubbs was another to be forced out under Caldwell

Taylor had spoken about fluid on the knee for Stubbs but no sooner had he left St James Park was he was pretty much straight into first-team action for The Bantams, making his full debut on the 11th of February 2023.

Indeed, he would actually go on to make almost double the number of appearances for Bradford as he did Exeter over the next couple of seasons, racking up 55 games before joining Cheltenham Town on loan over the summer.

Stubbs' absence from the first team in his final six months in Devon's capital was a source of contention for Grecians and many wondered what he had to do to get a game.

Injuries were blamed but, in reality, Caldwell probably decided that he wasn't good enough on the ball.

Whatever the real reason, seeing him playing week-in-week-out for Bradford straight away was a bit of a kick in the teeth to a fanbase who were keen to see one of their best players in action.