Exeter City will use pre-season to shape side for upcoming season

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell is looking forward to using the six weeks of pre-season before the action proper gets under way to shape the Grecians further into the side they can be. The City boss had to straight into the job when he was appointed mid-season to replace Matt Taylor after he left to join Rotherham United and jumped into a hectic schedule of games straight away.

The Scot did start to implement his ideas and change the style of play as the season progressed, moving towards a more possession based approach as City ended their first campaign back in the third tier after a decade away in 14 ^th place. At no stage during the season were they under any threat of relegation in what was an impressive return to that level.

Caldwell’s ambitions and ideas could be seen clearly as the season went on and while after initially making some tweaks in January, both in style of play, and the personnel recruited to the club, it didn’t pay dividends with the results immediately. But as time went on, the club started to get the rewards that they had deserved as they produced some outstanding performances, including the 5-0 and 3-1 wins over Accrington Stanley and Barnsley in a matter of days in March.

Read More – Exeter City to spend pre-season time wisely to build a foundation

There is still plenty of work to do, the manager admitted, and the six defeats in a row, albeit all against sides in the top seven, showed the fine margins at the level, as on another day, City could have won the first five of them, before being hammered at Ipswich Town. With six weeks though on the training ground free from the distraction of competitive football, Caldwell will get the time he wants and needs to further develop the vision and prepare for the upcoming challenge of the forthcoming season.

“It is big to have six weeks with no interruptions in terms of emotional high and lows of competitive games,” he said. “That time, we will spend wisely, not just about working physically but socially, psychologically, technically, tactically, and working on every department of the game for the team and the individual.

“It is about getting to know people and building the foundation of everything that will bring us through the ten months and the vision of what we want the club to be next season and to represent. We have seen how difficult this league is, have seen the challenges, but with the togetherness and support and how we are all aligned in the same direction, then it is a powerful thing, and we are all looking forward to the challenge of next season.”

While Caldwell had done his research on the Grecians before his appointment – and the detail he provided in his interview was one of the key reasons why he was given the job – he admits it doesn’t quite compare to actually knowing the club and the players as people rather than viewing from the outside. He had watched every game of the season before his appointment, but had to juggle the immediacy of the schedule, including his first game at Derby County the day after he took the job, as well as learning about the club and what makes each person tick.