The Board of Exeter City Football Club has agreed to repay in full the money contributed by supporters towards a proposed Recovery Room, after the company contracted to provide the facility ceased trading.
During the 2024-25 season the need for a Recovery Room at the Cliff Hill Training Ground to aid players’ recovery was identified. The facility was expected to cost in the region of £50,000, half of which was raised through supporter contributions, for which the Club is extremely grateful.
The deposit was paid, but the company did not provide the facility and subsequently ceased trading. Since then, several unsuccessful attempts have been made to recover the money. The Club Board has now agreed to replace the £25,000 raised by supporters.
Following the guidelines set out by the Fundraising Regulator, Elaine Davis, who led the original fundraising campaign, will contact those supporter groups and donors who contributed. They will be offered a refund or the option to contribute to a future fundraising project. There are also anonymous donations and money raised through events where we are unable to trace donors. This money will be ringfenced and will contribute to an alternative future project.
The decision to replace the lost donations was made by the Club Board after a final letter of claim was sent via lawyers to the company demanding payment within seven days of receipt. The deadline for response passed last week and that demand proved unsuccessful.
The Club has assessed whether it would be realistic to take further steps to pursue the debt by taking the company to court. The legal advice is that any action to pursue the money via the courts would cost more than the sum recoverable with little likelihood of recouping either those costs or the outstanding sums - meaning the Club could end up significantly worse off.
We are deeply sorry that this occurred and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to this fund. This was an extremely unfortunate incident, and we have improved our due diligence processes to do everything we can to prevent this from happening again.