Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell was happy with the set of fixtures dished out to the Grecians with their 2023/24 League One campaign starting at Wycombe Wanderers and ending at home to Oxford United.

In between, the Grecians face a hectic Christmas period of four games in just nine days, starting at Cambridge United on Saturday December 23. They then face Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth at St James Park on Boxing Day – the seventh season in a row with a home Boxing Day fixture – and December 29 respectively, before a trip to Reading on New Year’s Day.

The Grecians also don’t have a block of tough games against ‘big clubs’ in the third tier, like they had twice in 2022/23, both when Caldwell first took charge and again at the back end of the season when City had to play all of the top six in the last seven games.

Read More Exeter City 2023/24 League One fixture list in full

“The fixtures do look a bit more evenly spread, but you never know what clubs are going to do well, or who will struggle; I think everyone starts the season with real hope that they can achieve something when they go into a season and that’s the great thing about football,” Caldwell said.

“We don’t know how the games will look until the season gets going but Matt (Taylor) certainly left me with a brilliant run of games last year when I first came to the club, so he could obviously see it coming! And then the back end, we had a really difficult run where we actually performed well in five of the games and then took our only real hammering (at Ipswich) which was a great learning experience and something we will use to remind the players of what you need to be to win games of football against the top teams in this league.”

However, all the focus is now on Wycombe and a six-week build-up between now and the start of the season from when the players return to pre-season training next week. Last season, City performed superbly at Adams Park, but were left to rue great goalkeeping and several missed chances in a 1-1 draw.

“We were watching it back earlier actually and there was a bit that came up where we rotated Harry Kite, who was playing in midfield to wing-back and Josh Key came inside and we all said how well we played that day,” Caldwell said.

“It was in that difficult period where we were struggling to get results but our performances and the way we were playing was changing and we were controlling games a lot more. We made an error leading to the first goal, which was down to the way I asked the team to play, and I said to Kev (Nicholson) and Perks (David Perkins) ‘This is big – how do they react to this? Do they keep doing as we are asking of them, or do they go into themselves a little bit?’ And the response was really emphatic that day in how we played and dominated a team that’s consistently been in the play-offs or the Championship the last few seasons.

“We really should have won that day bit for good saves, missed opportunities – we really dominated the game from start to finish and it was a thoroughly enjoyable performance which probably set us off on a bit of a run, but the mentality was the thing that day and how we reacted to a mistake.

“I always think with the fixtures, you have to play everyone twice and when you play them, you don’t have to be in form, out of form or know what the situation is until the season starts, but playing away from home is always difficult, playing a team that is often at the top end of this league will be a challenge, but I think we showed many times in the last year – home and away – that when we are at our best, we can cause teams problems.

“We will get a lot of work done in the meantime and before that day comes, but we will be ready for that challenge when it does come.”

The stand out game for Caldwell, though, is a return to his former club Wigan Athletic on Saturday, February 10. Caldwell was a player at the DW Stadium during their Premier League glory years and part of the squad that beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup in 2013. He then managed the Latics and won League One with them before his departure in October 2016.

“I was there for many years as a player and went on to become manager and won this league with them as a manager,” he said. “It is a club that is close to my heart and this year, we had the ten-year anniversary of winning the FA Cup, so I was back at the stadium to see some of the players and Roberto (Martinez) and some staff that I haven’t seen for a while, which was amazing.

“Those games will be special, but they are what they are, they are games of football and we have to go and win them, but it will be special to go back to the DW – for both me and Perks.”

However, Wigan start the season on minus eight points due to not paying their players in time, which followed previous breaches of EFL financial rules.

“I speak to Shaun Maloney (Wigan manager) a lot, he’s a really close friend of mine and Graham Barrow, who was here for a short period and works for Wigan now and it was a really precarious position the club were in,” Caldwell said.

“They weren’t sure how it was going to go, but thankfully they have a buyer, thankfully it’s a local man who has the club at heart and will do the best for the football club, but it’s been a really worrying time, it wasn’t so long ago they had the same situation when they did go into administration.

“They start the season on minus eight points, but at least the club is still going and they hopefully have an owner that looks after the club in a more considered way and keeps it going.”

Now the fixtures are out, thoughts turn to pre-season and the return of the players to training. The City squad are back for fitness testing on Friday and Saturday, before pre-season proper gets under way on Monday.

“It is exciting to see the players again and get on the grass and start working,” he added. “We have pre-season planned, a good games schedule, and then we build up the quality of games. I am happy to spend six weeks with the players and get a lot of work into them and important we can start to build the culture we want.”

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Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell was happy with the set of fixtures dished out to the Grecians with their 2023/24 League One campaign starting at Wycombe Wanderers and ending at home to Oxford United.

In between, the Grecians face a hectic Christmas period of four games in just nine days, starting at Cambridge United on Saturday December 23. They then face Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth at St James Park on Boxing Day – the seventh season in a row with a home Boxing Day fixture – and December 29 respectively, before a trip to Reading on New Year’s Day.

The Grecians also don’t have a block of tough games against ‘big clubs’ in the third tier, like they had twice in 2022/23, both when Caldwell first took charge and again at the back end of the season when City had to play all of the top six in the last seven games.

Read More Exeter City 2023/24 League One fixture list in full

“The fixtures do look a bit more evenly spread, but you never know what clubs are going to do well, or who will struggle; I think everyone starts the season with real hope that they can achieve something when they go into a season and that’s the great thing about football,” Caldwell said.

“We don’t know how the games will look until the season gets going but Matt (Taylor) certainly left me with a brilliant run of games last year when I first came to the club, so he could obviously see it coming! And then the back end, we had a really difficult run where we actually performed well in five of the games and then took our only real hammering (at Ipswich) which was a great learning experience and something we will use to remind the players of what you need to be to win games of football against the top teams in this league.”

However, all the focus is now on Wycombe and a six-week build-up between now and the start of the season from when the players return to pre-season training next week. Last season, City performed superbly at Adams Park, but were left to rue great goalkeeping and several missed chances in a 1-1 draw.

“We were watching it back earlier actually and there was a bit that came up where we rotated Harry Kite, who was playing in midfield to wing-back and Josh Key came inside and we all said how well we played that day,” Caldwell said.

“It was in that difficult period where we were struggling to get results but our performances and the way we were playing was changing and we were controlling games a lot more. We made an error leading to the first goal, which was down to the way I asked the team to play, and I said to Kev (Nicholson) and Perks (David Perkins) ‘This is big – how do they react to this? Do they keep doing as we are asking of them, or do they go into themselves a little bit?’ And the response was really emphatic that day in how we played and dominated a team that’s consistently been in the play-offs or the Championship the last few seasons.

“We really should have won that day bit for good saves, missed opportunities – we really dominated the game from start to finish and it was a thoroughly enjoyable performance which probably set us off on a bit of a run, but the mentality was the thing that day and how we reacted to a mistake.

“I always think with the fixtures, you have to play everyone twice and when you play them, you don’t have to be in form, out of form or know what the situation is until the season starts, but playing away from home is always difficult, playing a team that is often at the top end of this league will be a challenge, but I think we showed many times in the last year – home and away – that when we are at our best, we can cause teams problems.

“We will get a lot of work done in the meantime and before that day comes, but we will be ready for that challenge when it does come.”

The stand out game for Caldwell, though, is a return to his former club Wigan Athletic on Saturday, February 10. Caldwell was a player at the DW Stadium during their Premier League glory years and part of the squad that beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup in 2013. He then managed the Latics and won League One with them before his departure in October 2016.

“I was there for many years as a player and went on to become manager and won this league with them as a manager,” he said. “It is a club that is close to my heart and this year, we had the ten-year anniversary of winning the FA Cup, so I was back at the stadium to see some of the players and Roberto (Martinez) and some staff that I haven’t seen for a while, which was amazing.

“Those games will be special, but they are what they are, they are games of football and we have to go and win them, but it will be special to go back to the DW – for both me and Perks.”

However, Wigan start the season on minus eight points due to not paying their players in time, which followed previous breaches of EFL financial rules.

“I speak to Shaun Maloney (Wigan manager) a lot, he’s a really close friend of mine and Graham Barrow, who was here for a short period and works for Wigan now and it was a really precarious position the club were in,” Caldwell said.

“They weren’t sure how it was going to go, but thankfully they have a buyer, thankfully it’s a local man who has the club at heart and will do the best for the football club, but it’s been a really worrying time, it wasn’t so long ago they had the same situation when they did go into administration.

“They start the season on minus eight points, but at least the club is still going and they hopefully have an owner that looks after the club in a more considered way and keeps it going.”

Now the fixtures are out, thoughts turn to pre-season and the return of the players to training. The City squad are back for fitness testing on Friday and Saturday, before pre-season proper gets under way on Monday.

“It is exciting to see the players again and get on the grass and start working,” he added. “We have pre-season planned, a good games schedule, and then we build up the quality of games. I am happy to spend six weeks with the players and get a lot of work into them and important we can start to build the culture we want.”

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