Play your part in tonight’s Devon Derby
Exeter City Football Club and manager Paul Tisdale are calling on fans to turn out in their droves to play their part in tonight’s Devon Derby against Torquay United. Normal ticketing applies – simply pay on the turnstiles or at the ticket booths as usual!
It has been widely publicised that the club will receive a broadcasting rights fee of £30,000 from Sky Sports, who are showing the game live. This of course will be a welcome injection as the club attempts to realise its npower League 1 ambitions.
However when the club was undertaking its financial planning in pre-season, this fixture was earmarked as potentially one of the largest attendances of the 2012/13 campaign. Therefore we would love to still see as many City fans in the stands and on the terraces so that we are able to recoup and invest as much of the £30,000 fee as possible. Any negative effect on attendance at the game caused by fans staying at home would also mean a less positive impact of the fee we receive from Sky.
Another positive effect of being shown live on Sky Sports is the opportunity to showcase our passionate and vibrant support at the Park to the rest of the world. So please come along and help create another special atmosphere this evening.
City manager Paul Tisdale said: “When supporters come and pay to watch the club play, they’re investing in the club. You’re promoting your team and the potential for future success.
“So I hope they come – it makes a better atmosphere to have more supporters there than not, and after winning our last home game, I hope we’ll win the next as well.”
Five years ago, Exeter and Torquay had their first clash at the Park for five years – the Grecians triumphed in an incredible 4-3 fixture on that occasion in front of Setanta’s cameras, with 7,839 fans parking the Park in the promotion push from the Conference.
Now we welcome back the Gulls for the first time in almost another five years – and a similarly impressive attendance (and score, for that matter!) would be welcome as we look to get straight back into League 1.
We’ll be welcoming back former City player Martin Ling as Gulls manager – as well as former City captain Chris Todd (who won promotion with Torquay in 2009), who will be conducting the 50/50 Draw at half-time and taking a Q&A from fans in Hospitality.
And we’ll also be ready to applaud our striker Jamie Cureton as he gets set to reach 700 appearances in English football this evening – an incredible feat in anyone’s book!
Being selected by Sky for the ‘Monday Night Live’ match not only reflects the appeal and importance of our local derby, but also represents an additional and very valuable return for the many loyal sponsors who choose to showcase their brands through the club to the two million viewers every week seeing match highlights via BBC1, Sky Sports and the regional news programmes. It will give some of our local supporters a period of sustained national airtime.
So we’ll look forward to seeing you at St James Park this evening for a special Devon Derby under the floodlights.