Having earned promotion back to the Football League, playing good football with a first class squad, over the summer we have taken the opportunity to step up our professionalism off the pitch at St James Park. This has involved everything from reviewing our internal structures, commencing a full IT and process review and action plan, to the establishment of revised detailed budgets to enable us to compete effectively and within our means for life in Coca Cola League 2 and, ultimately, beyond.

We will once again strive to achieve a balanced break-even budget this season. Our turnover has continued to increase healthily year on year and we have been extremely encouraged by our record breaking season ticket sales (now over the 1000 landmark) and by the rapid increase in the value of our commercial sales. Thank you again to all who are backing us in these, and other, ways.

However, in the spirit of openness which underpins what we are about, we wish to take this opportunity to fully advise our supporters, and the people of Exeter, Devon and beyond of the material facts that we discussed at our Board meeting last Friday, when we considered our matchday gate prices for the 2008-9 season.

At the end of last season we met with Paul Tisdale and jointly agreed a revised playing budget that met all of our expectations for the coming season. The increase in this budget will also be accompanied by some notable increases in our costs as a result of being in the Football League this season. For example:
? A levy of 3% of our home gate revenue for each match will be taken by the Football League
? We have been obliged to undertake some alterations to the stadium
? Although they are still being negotiated, our police and stewarding costs will increase significantly.

As a fans owned club, here for the benefit of the community we have no wealthy benefactor to step in if we get our budgets wrong or to bankroll us in a different way, so we must balance the books with our revised budget for the new season.

We previously committed to holding our gate prices flat for two years until the end of last season. We would like to thank our loyal supporters for continuing to back the club in good numbers during our time in the Football Conference. Although our revenue from commercial sources is rising in an encouraging fashion, the added pressure on club finances means that we continue to tightly manage our cashflow. The Supporters' Trust and our other fan groups continue to provide welcome regular contributions from their growing memberships and, to this end, we would urge as many of our fans as possible to join them and thereby assist in increasing their support. This is the context for our discussions on matchday pricing for the coming season.

We have made the progress we have by all pulling together in recent years. We now have a thriving football team and a club at the heart of all that is great in this City and County of ours. In short, we have proven that by working together we can and will succeed. As a Board, and with the backing of the Supporters' Trust, we wish to do all that we can to provide the opportunity for the people of Exeter and beyond to support the club from the terraces and the stands back in the Football League this season.

We will therefore hold gate prices at the same level as for the past two years, making it even easier for our crowd numbers to swell dramatically through the schemes we are announcing below. If all of our other planning assumptions hold good, we do need our matchday supporter numbers to grow in order to meet our budgets for this season. In reality we should be putting our gate prices up, but we are delighted to announce an innovative approach that, as befits a community club, we believe is the first of its kind in football.

Exeter City will hold its admission prices flat for a third consecutive full season, and for our first back in the Football League, if the average number of HOME fans at St James' Park for the league matches until 31st December 2008 is 4,000 or more. The average number of home fans at St James Park for season 2007-8 was 3,533 (away fans averaged an additional 171) so we are calling for the backing of just over 450 new regular home fans this season.

As a club we have excelled at pulling together and we feel that it is right to do this to achieve our goals for this season and beyond, without resorting to price increases. We will separately announce the number of home fans at each game this season and publicise the average so that we can all achieve this target together. If, however, we are unable to achieve the 4,000 figure, we will regrettably introduce the following revised matchday prices from 3rd January 2009 (current prices in brackets):

Flybe Stand: Adult £17 (£16); Concessions £11 (£10); Under 18s £11 (£10)
Stagecoach Stand (Old Grandstand): Adult £16 (£15); Concessions £10 (£9); Under 18s £6 (£6)
Blackthorn Big Bank: Adult £14 (£13); Concessions £8 (£8); Under 18s £5 (£5).

We would take this opportunity to remind all supporters that our season tickets have been held at last year's prices. We will also once again be selling a half-season ticket from December 2008. In addition, by joining the City Foundation (details at www.exetercityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/TheCityFoundation) all season ticket holders can freeze the price of their ticket for life. Each of these deals provides excellent opportunities to avoid the impact of any increase in gate prices.

We are very much a family and community club. We are therefore launching an extension to our successful Family matchday ticket scheme to introduce discount priced Family Tickets for next season, as follows:

Flybe Stand Family Ticket: Adult & Child: £21; Concession & Child £15
Stagecoach Stand Family Ticket: Adult & Child: £18; Concession & Child £12.

For each ticket a child will enjoy coming to the match for half price. Full details of these tickets will be published separately.

Our common goal is to achieve an average of at least 4,000 home fans supporting the Grecians in our return to the Football League. Alongside this 'rallying call' we have also created a number of opportunities to really begin to 'Pack the Park':

? A minimum of 50 tickets for each home match next season will be given by our Football in the Community team to school children from across the area (please contact the FiTC team on 01392 255611 or jamie.vittles@exetercityfc.co.uk if you would like to work with FiTC on this scheme). Each child will need to be accompanied by a paying adult
? All season ticket holders will receive their tickets in the coming weeks. We are delighted to be including a voucher for a free match ticket in each season ticket book and would ask that our season ticket holders please take advantage of this to invite someone new along to experience a match at St James' Park
? Later in July, we will be enclosing a free full colour leaflet insert with every copy of the Exeter Times, distributed free to every home in Exeter and the surrounding district. This leaflet will have a copy of our 2008-9 fixture schedule for everyone to keep or to pin up at home, in their club, or workplace, or wherever it will be seen by potential supporters of the club
? On the bottom of the leaflet in the Exeter Times will be a tear off voucher entitling a child, accompanied by a paying adult, to free entry to a match at St James' Park. Please don't let these go to waste!
? We will be making further improvements to the overall matchday experience at St James' Park for the new season. We will be offering further enhancements to our in-stadium catering (including much requested bacon rolls!), are looking afresh at the entertainment we offer before the match and at half-time, and are in the middle of a full revamp of the way we run our bars.

We are all looking forward to a successful and exciting return to the Football League. An average of 25,000 people have supported us on our two trips to Wembley alone and we are now seeking your backing to help us achieve the next step of our ambitions together. Thank you for your support. Together we are stronger!

The Board of Directors
Exeter City FC
2nd July 2008