The 1983/84 Season

- The season started with great optimism as Exeter City made headline news with the appointment of former England international Gerry Francis as playermanager.

That optimism continued as City arranged a meet the manager evening at both Tiverton Town and Exmouth Town.

- It soon became evident that whilst the City directors had done well to get such a high profile appointment to manage the club, they then failed to back him in the transfer market, and as a result Francis was left to sign free transfers, non-contract players and loanees.

- It proved to be one of the most disastrous the Grecians finished rock bottom of the Third Division and were relegated, and Francis left his job as player-manager before it ended.

It took until December before City registered a home victory when they defeated Hull City 2-1 with goals from Hugh Atkinson and Ray Pratt.

- Amongst the high profile signings on short contacts, thanks to the various contacts that Francis had, were Welsh International centrehalf Ian Evans, who featured in the opening four games and then former England man, Peter Taylor, who managed 8 appearances before returning to the club he was signed from, Maidstone United.

- Needless to say attendances dipped alarmingly, and this was so in contrast with the hopes at the opening game when 4,742 were present to see Walsall win 1-0. Things got so bad that by the time Southend United visited the Park in March 1984, only 1,782 bothered to make their way through the St James' Park Pratt turnstiles.

- City were knocked out at the first round stage in both the F.A. Cup and the Football League Cup, losing to Maidstone United and Cardiff City respectively.

- Two players were brought in on long term loans, namely Tottenham Hotspur defender Simon Webster and midfielder Mark O'Connor from Queen's Park Rangers and both were regulars in the struggling City team. Considering what a poor time City had, Ray Pratt did remarkably well to top score with 16 goals. Almost a third of the number of the goals scored by the entire team.

- Stan McEwan scored nine goals in 28 matches, but wanted a transfer, and so he was a big loss to City as he moved on to Hull City for a fee of £5,000 in February 1984.

-There was much discontent off the field as well, as City director Dan McCauley wanted to give the manager more money to work with, which included the issue of a further £60,000 of shares but the other board members did not. 

As a result of McCauley's public differences with the board, he was removed as a director.In December 1983 the club announced that they had made a loss of £92,983 for year ending May 1983. They were in total deficit of £299,291. Wages costs for the season accounted for £287,815, whilst in the plus side the commercial department raised £93,250 - an increase of £11,000.

- Exeter City appointed their first ever official club chaplain. Richard Chewter, 29, said that since he had moved to Exeter two years ago, he had become a supporter of the club. He added: "I do not pray for goals, I pray for souls."

- Exeter City's associate schoolboy goalkeeper, Howard Whitehouse made his full debut for England Schools against Switzerland in May 1984. He had already played 45 minutes for the side in West Germany the previous month. Despite the impressive start to his career, Whitehouse never became a full time professional with City.