Grecian supporters approaching six-figures donated to the club
A group of Exeter City supporters is urging loyal fans to help them raise £30,000 to sign a new player.Members of the 1931 Fund want fellow Grecians to pay them £19 per month. The money raised will be used to cover the wages of an extra player, who will wear number 31 in Paul Tisdale’s squad.
Since its inception in 2009, the 1931 Fund has raised £70,000 to pay for James Norwood, Callum McNish and Elliott Chamberlain to spend a total of five seasons with the club, as well as part-funding the crucial signing of Graham Cummins at the height of City’s off-field difficulties last year.
The coming 2015/16 season is the fund’s most ambitious yet. With the wealth of young talent at the club limiting the need to bring in teenagers from elsewhere, the group are striving to raise £30,000 to enable the Exeter City squad to be strengthened by the recruitment of their new Number 31.
Fund organiser Alan Crockford said: “Although £30,000 isn’t a great deal of money in modern football, we’re sure it’s enough for City to take a chance on a player with potential who deserves an opportunity at Exeter and will wear our number 31 shirt with pride.
“To raise that sum, we’ll need a lot of committed City fans to either join us or support our fundraising this season. Being realistic, around £30,000 is the budget we need to give City, and there’s a further incentive to reach that figure and take the 1931 Fund’s total raised to £100,000.
“It’s not easy, but we own our club and we all have to play our part. There isn’t a local butcher or scrap metal dealer, let alone an oligarch, who’ll treat us to lots of new signings, so it’s up to us to drive Exeter City forward.
“We’re urging City fans everywhere – especially those like me who love the club but don’t pay to watch games as often as we’d like – to sign up to the 1931 Fund if £19 per month is affordable. Working together like this, we can make that new signing happen.”
The 1931 Fund is run on behalf of the Supporters’ Trust by the Exeter Exiles and currently has around 65 members paying £19 per month. They chose the 1931 Fund name and shirt number 31 for their player because 1931 was the year of City’s greatest FA Cup run and record crowd of 20,984 at St James Park.
To reach their £30,000 target, the fund needs new members now, and will also be raising money in partnership with Exeter City during the season. To join up and for more information, please visit www.exeterexiles.co.uk or email exiles@sky.com.