Matt Taylor must work his magic once again to seal Exeter City transfer windfalls | OneFootball

Matt Taylor is back at Exeter City and his remit is simple; make history repeat itself.

One win in 12 games.

That run was, apparently, good enough for Matt Taylor to be handed the permanent manager's job at Exeter City after a disastrous spell as interim boss following Gary Caldwell's defection to Wigan Athletic in February.

Caldwell's departure pulled the rug from under what had been a good season for the Grecians, and they hurtled into a death slide that saw them win one of their last 20 League One matches on the way to relegation back to League Two.

That kind of record would be enough at 99.9% of other clubs for the man in charge to be chased out of the town by an angry mob carrying pitchforks, but not Exeter.

Exeter City like, or have, to do things differently and on Thursday they announced that Taylor would actually be taking over permanently for the 2026/27 season despite overseeing the capitulation in the final quarter of last season.

There's much more going on than just the results on the pitch though. The long-term future of the club seems to be in the balance and those in positions of power at St James Park have decided that their former captain is the man to steady the ship.

Matt Taylor needs a repeat of history

After all, he's done it before, taking City from League Two to League One in his first stint, via a second-placed finish in the 2021/22 season.

During that successful first reign in the Grecians' dugout, Taylor brought through a number of young players from the club's academy who were both effective on the pitch and also went on to net the club tidy, much needed transfer receipts through sales or compensation fees.

Exeter have been making it plainly clear to all who will listen that financial constraints mean they're going to have a small budget for next season and that the kids are going to have to be alright.

And, to be fair, there are certainly some reasons to be optimistic when looking through the wreckage of the squad that remains after the fallout from the Caldwell era.

The first time around, Taylor brought through the likes of Joel Randall, Archie Collins, Alex Hartridge, Matt Jay, Josh Key, Cheick Diabaté and Harry Kite from the youth set-up and all went on to become important regular first-team players, with many moving on to ply their trade in League One or above.

He was able to sprinkle in some experienced quality through the signings of Nicky Law, Jevani Brown, Lee Martin and Timothée Dieng, while Sam Nombe and Randell Williams were brought in young and cheap before being sold on for nice profits.

There's talent in the current crop of City kids with Charlie Cummins announcing himself towards the end of last season, Ed James reminding everyone how good he can be if given a chance, and Liam Oakes being one of the few homegrown players to get games during Caldwell's tenure.

Kieran Wilson has shown flashes of his ability but will need to make a big step-up, while Tom Dean has made a few appearances and Luca Woodhouse will be better for having gone through the ups and downs of a rigorous League One campaign.

Exeter might have nice mix of quality and youth

There's a few old heads still hanging around and everyone will be praying that a new contract can be thrashed out with club captain Pierce Sweeney, whose current deal is up and cannot be matched on his former terms under the revised budget for 2026/27.

Jake Doyle-Hayes, Johnny Yfeko, Reece Cole and Jack Fitzwater should be huge for City next season if they can stay fit and who knows, we may even get a look at the elusive Pedro Borges.

If City can get a good deal for Jayden Wareham, who will surely be sold this summer, that will ease the financial concerns a little, but Taylor has admitted that any windfall from the striker's sale won't go far given the huge hole he's got in his budget.

Taylor was able to turn the Covid season into a positive for Exeter, blooding young players in behind-closed-doors games and that eventually put the club in good stead, even if it delivered some short-term pain on the pitch.

And that, it seems, is what we're going to be served up next season.

So while Taylor's run of results towards the end of the season just finished should mean he's banished from the EX4 postcode forever, he's actually been welcomed back with open arms as the club board ask him to repeat history and work wonders with a small budget while bringing along the next crop of Randall, Key and Collins' to get the club's coffers back to where they should be while keeping the club competitive on the pitch.

It won't be an easy task but, despite all that unfolded last season, it feels like Taylor is probably the right man for the job.