Exeter City need to see Gary Caldwell repeat Reading FC, Wycombe transfer magic | OneFootball

Exeter City boss Gary Caldwell pulled off a masterstroke signing Jayden Wareham from Reading and Luca Woodhouse from Wycombe, he'll need to repeat it.

It took a while for Exeter City's season to get going, but the Grecians are motoring now.

Gary Caldwell's side are rising up the League One table on the back of some strong home form that has seen them record five wins in their last six games at St James Park, conceding just one goal in that time.

The Devon side now have the joint-best defensive record in the third tier, going level with Stevenage on 23 conceded thanks to a 3-0 victory over the Boro at the weekend.

City picked up only three wins in their first 10 League One matches this season, but have now won five of their last eight to clamber from the relegation zone to 13th, six points off the play-offs with two games in hand over Huddersfield in sixth in a congested League One midfield.

Jayden Wareham's fine goal-scoring form

One of the big reasons for this rise has been the fine form of Jayden Wareham, a summer signing from Tuesday night's opponents Reading over the summer.

Wareham made 55 appearances for the Royals over two seasons, largely from the bench, scoring just seven times, with all of those goals coming last term.

He's already got 12 in all competitions since his summer move, and he's racked up 32 appearances for the Grecians already.

He's got four in his last eight, including one from the spot, pure No. 9 finishes and even a smart 89th-minute flick to salvage a point away at Huddersfield.

The striker is thriving as City's main man and that promise of first-team action seemed to be the clincher in him deciding to reject a new deal at Reading and head to the south west.

Caldwell made no secret of his desire to get Wareham through the door and the Grecians even splashed out on a small compensation fee for the Ascot-born forward as he's under 24 years of age.

Luca Woodhouse proving Wycombe wrong

Another summer signing who's taken a little longer to get going but is seemingly up to full speed now is Luca Woodhouse.

The left-sided defender picked up the man of the match award on Saturday and his form, added to that of the whole backline, is making the continued absence of Johnly Yfeko barely noticeable.

Woodhouse spent last season in the National League at Aldershot but was then released by Wycombe Wanderers.

He was brought in as a development project but has recently established himself as a solid first-team regular.

He's got 18 appearances to his name this season, though only 12 have come in the league, and he's now started seven games since mid-December.

Exeter's lifeblood has, for the last couple of decades, been developing young players and Wareham, 22, and Woodhouse, 21, are certainly two of their best hopes of turning handy profits in the next couple of windows.

While things are going swimmingly on the pitch, sadly the boat appears to be on choppy waters off it.

Exeter's financial troubles will have huge implications

At a Fans' Forum last Friday night, club chairman Richard Pym admitted: "The position within the club, going into next season, there will be a very big reduction in the playing budget, compared to where we entered this season.

"You are looking at £1-1.5 million less in the budget for players. That is to get the thing into cash equilibrium," DevonLive reported.

"What will change that is if we get transfer receipts – and we should get some transfer receipts," Pym concluded slightly tantalisingly.

That's, roughly, an estimated 25% reduction to what is already said to be the lowest budget in the third tier by Capology.

Caldwell has done an amazing job at St James Park in helping City to punch well above their weight, but having a budget that would struggle in League Two would be a crushing blow to any hopes of survival, let alone success, next season.

Pym has hinted at future 'transfer receipts', which could be anything from sales in the current squad to the sells-ons from the likes of Jake Richards, Josh Key, Jay Stansfield and others.

Whatever happens, Caldwell and his team will have to pull some rabbits like Wareham or Woodhouse out of their hats once again next summer, and you wonder how long he will put up with the endless uphill battle at Exeter if his stock continues to rise.