A Tottenham team of Hoddle, Ardiles and Archibald were the opponents that stopped Exeter City the last time the Devon club went beyond the third round of the FA Cup.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” says Nick Hawker, the chairman of Exeter City Supporters’ Trust – which owns the club – since 2017 and a fan for much longer.
Exeter’s manager, Gary Caldwell, has a grand FA Cup history of his own, having lifted the trophy as club captain when Wigan shocked Manchester City in the 2013 final.
The stairway that connects them is flanked by a timeline of the club’s history, with markers for the 1931 and 1981 Cup runs, as well as for their tour of South America in 1914, when they faced a combined team of players from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo – widely recognised to be the first match featuring a Brazilian national team.
‘Why can’t it be us?’: Exeter target FA Cup shock and fly fan-ownership flag League One side with rich cup history are proud to be doing it their own way before Nottingham Forest’s visit.
