Pierce Sweeney situation is giving Exeter City a headache - they need to act | OneFootball

Exeter City great Pierce Sweeney's contract is up this summer and the club - and player - need to do everything possible to keep him at St James Park.

End-of-season retained lists are not usually something to look forward to in the lower reaches of the EFL.

The transactional nature of League One and Two careers means that well-liked players come and go, causing the whole rebuilding and planning process to start all over again every 12 months.

Exeter City's retained list was met with added dread this year after the misery of relegation from League One was heightened by apocalyptic declarations from manager Matt Taylor about the future of the club amid the news of ongoing financial concerns and a heavily-reduced budget for the 2026/27 campaign.

The newly-appointed boss, who oversaw one win from 12 games on the way to relegation under his interim care at the end of last season, revealed that everyone who was out of contract would be released as there was no money to offer them respectable fresh terms.

However, when the retained list was confirmed, there were a couple of positive surprises in there.

Exeter's retained list was not a complete disaster

Reece Cole's one-year extension option had been taken up, along with a slew of young players' as well, and popular long-serving captain Pierce Sweeney was officially in discussions over a new contract.

Six senior pros were leaving at the end of their deals, most painfully the Finnish wing back Ilmari Niskanen who had gone from berated to beloved during his time at Exeter, and it is going to be a very youthful-looking squad to take on the rigours League Two next season.

But Cole staying is a big boost, provided he can improve his fitness, and the news that Sweeney's time at St James Park may not be over was unexpected given all the doom-mongering that had come immediately after the end of the season.

Exeter want to keep Pierce Sweeney

"We're going to offer him [the best] that we possibly can at this moment in time," Taylor told DevonLive. "He's been the mainstay of this football club for such a long period of time and I think everyone knows what I think of Pierce Sweeney and my trust in him as a player.

"I'm more desperate than anyone else to re-sign Pierce Sweeney. But it's got to be right for him. It's got to be right for the football club.

"He's got a connection with his football club in his area and I know his family are here as well. Not to say there's any pressure on his decision, but I'd love Pierce to re-sign for this football club, but it's got to be right for him and the football club."

Sweeney celebrated 10 years at St James Park last season with a testimonial match and a number of events across the season to raise funds for charity.

He's in City's top 10 all-time appearance makers and has never really looked like leaving, other than that ill-fated dalliance with Swindon Town in 2021 that lasted less than a week.

Exeter and Sweeney will have to compromise

Sweeney repeatedly stated at his testimonial events that he'd love to stay, and he would provide much-needed experience and know-how to a squad sorely lacking in it at this level.

Exeter have been burned by financial mismanagement during the Gary Caldwell era and will now have to pay the price in extinguishing the flames, but if there is a way to get Sweeney to stay it simply has to happen.

And, for his part, if the Irishman really wants to stay, it seems like he will have to do so on largely-reduced terms as well, so there's going to have to be a bit of give and take on both sides.

However, as Taylor has said, there's not going to be any pressure on Sweeney to commit, and it has to be right for everyone.

It would just be criminal if City weren't doing all they could to keep their long-serving captain and if he was to depart it would be a huge blow for next season's prospects.

Sweeney arrived in EX4 as a 1931 Fund player in 2016. Perhaps it would be fitting if he was to stay as a result of the fan-funded pot which is ordinarily reserved to pay the wages of a future prospect that the club wouldn't usually have taken a gamble on.

The fans brought him to Exeter a decade ago through the 1931 Fund. It would be money well spent if it was used to keep him in the building to help steady the ship through the rocky waters of next season.