Exeter City were formed in 1904 when two local sides, Exeter United and Sidwells United, joined forces and made their home St James’ Park – a former pig-rearing patch.
Initially, the club wore green and white colours but they soon changed their strip to the more familiar red and white stripes – the colours still use today.
Their first ever match saw City beat the 110th Battery of the Royal Artillery 2-1 in the East Devon League in front of a crowd of 600. After starting in the East Devon League, the club entered the stronger Southern League in 1908, the same year they turned professional.
In 1920, Exeter were invited by the Football League to become founder members of Division Three South, and their first league match was in August that year against Brentford.
In 1931, the Grecians reached the sixth round of the FA Cup, losing 4-2 in a replay against Sunderland in front of a record attendance of 20,984 at St James’ Park.
City then continued to play in Division Three South right up until the reorganisation of the leagues, which saw the creation of Division Four in 1958.
The club won promotion for the first time in their history in the 1963-64 season, but were relegated back to Division Four just two years later. They remained in the basement division until 1977 when, under manager Bobby Saxton, they finally achieved promotion again.
City lasted seven seasons in the higher league before being relegated, but in the 1989-90 campaign they were runaway winners of Division Four under manager Terry Cooper.
Relegation occurred again four years later and for the next decade the club faced a long list of financial problems and, after administration in 1996, City were relegated from the Football League in 2003.
Five years later, the club returned to the Football League under the guidance of highly-regarded young manager Paul Tisdale, winning the play-offs at Wembley against Cambridge.
And things got even better in the 2008/09 season when the Grecians finished in second place to secure back-to-back promotions.
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