Exeter City backed to re-appoint Matt Taylor after Gary Caldwell's Wigan Athletic exit | OneFootball

Exeter City have lost Gary Caldwell to Wigan, and FLW's pundit feels that his club should go back to the future with his replacement.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Exeter City are in the hunt for a new manager after Wigan Athletic stepped in for their former boss Gary Caldwell.

Following a difficult start to the season, the Grecians had managed to pull themselves clear of the relegation fight and into mid-table, but with a third of the season still to play there remains a possibility that they could get dragged back in.

All of this means that the race is now on to appoint a replacement, and with talk of severe budget cuts coming to the club when their expenditure is already amongst the lowest in the division, it might not be an easy task for somebody who doesn't know and understand how the club is run.

"He's proved he can build a good team" - Exeter urged to pursue Matt Taylor as their next manager

With all this in mind, FLW have spoken to our Exeter City fan pundit Dylan Verschoren about who he'd want to step into Caldwell's shoes at St James' Park, and he wanted to take a moment to wish the club's former manager well in his new position: "First off, I want to wish Caldwell the best of luck at Wigan. Obviously all his family live up there, and we've got budget cuts coming up, so it makes complete sense and I wish him the best. He really turned nothing into something and did really well with a shoestring budget."

For Dylan, there is no doubt whatsoever about who Exeter should be trying to persuade to return to the club: "For me, the most realistic number one choice and the one I'd go for is Matt Taylor. I wouldn't appoint him for immediate success, because when he first came in it took him quite a while that he needed to get us promoted - he's the one who got us promoted."

But Dylan is also aware of the club's financial challenges, and knows that Caldwell's replacement will have his work cut out at the club: "I think that no matter who we appoint, we're going to really struggle now in the league. I think we were going to anyway, but especially with a new manager coming in. He's not going to have the team he wants and he's not going to have any budget. Either way, we're going to be in a relegation battle."

And with this in mind, he feels that the club should can rebuild under these difficult circumstances: "Our best choice is to go for a manager who can build a future, and to help us maybe go back up, or if were lucky enough and we stay up, who can build a good enough team over the summer to stay in League One. But I'm going to be realistic. I think we can stay up, obviously, but our time's coming soon."

There's one aspect of the club in which Dylan feels that Matt Taylor could even be a better fit for the club than Gary Caldwell: "So I'd say Taylor. He's proved he can build a good team on a shoestring budget, like he did in 2021-22, when we got promoted, and he knows the academy very well, which is something very important to me because, as an Exeter fan, I'd love to see us use the academy a bit more. It's one thing that I didn't like about Caldwell, he didn't really use the academy, though he had results on the pitch."

The former manager is Dylan's choice, and our pundit reckons that Taylor could be for Exeter City as well: "Matt Taylor uses the academy, knows the club really well, a legend for the promotion and a former player as well, he'd be my first choice and probably the club's too, since he's out of work at the moment. He'd be my first choice."

Matt Taylor hasn't been able to make things work anywhere other than at Exeter City

Exeter City fans can certainly be forgiven feeling disappointed in losing Gary Caldwell to Wigan Athletic. As recently as Boxing Day they were in the League One relegation places with just four wins from their first 22 games of the season. But since then, their improved run of form has pushed them towards mid-table and provided a small buffer between the club and the division's bottom four.

Matt Taylor has history with Exeter, both as a player and a manager. He first signed for the club in 2007 after impressing for the Team Bath university team, and went on to make 160 appearances for the Grecians over the next four years before moving on to Charlton Athletic in 2011.

He returned as the club's manager with big shoes to fill in replacing Paul Tisdale, who'd been in charge at Exeter for the previous twelve years. But Taylor acquitted himself well, managing three consecutive top half appearances - they reached the 2020 play-off final before losing to Northampton Town - before winning promotion in 2022 as runners-up on goal difference to Forest Green Rovers.

But Taylor's time with the club was coming to an end. His achievements at Exeter hadn't gone unnoticed, and in October 2022 he moved on to Rotherham United. But he hasn't been especially successful elsewhere. He was sacked by Rotherham after 13 months with the team in the League One relegation places, and although he wasn't out of work for long - he was snapped by Bristol Rovers just three weeks after being released by Rotherham - and was nominated for the League Two Manager of the Month Award for his first month in charge at The Memorial Ground, he couldn't turn the team's fortunes around and was sacked in the middle of December.

Calling for the return of a manger can be interpreted as wanting to turn the clock back to happier times, but in the case of Matt Taylor and Exeter City, it might just work. The Grecians aren't that far above the relegation places, but another three or four wins should keep them safe in League One for another year, giving him the opportunity to build for next season. Given the budget cuts, it's unlikely to be an easy task, but Exeter fans could at least conclude that it's better to have someone who knows the club inside-out for such a job than someone who doesn't.