Exeter City's preperation for Wrexham trip affected by snow

THE wintry weather that struck the region – and in particular Exeter – had a significant impact on Gary Caldwell’s training plans ahead of Exeter City’s League One trip to Wrexham on Saturday.

As he logged on for his usual Thursday morning presser, the City boss had not long arrived having endured a nightmare journey across town to get to work. He was one of few that had made it, though, with most of the players still at home or stuck in heavy traffic jams caused by the snowfall.

“It’s not great and it’s not something that happens a lot down in Devon and in Exeter,” Caldwell said. “The city centre was gridlocked when I left this morning, a lot of players haven’t made it in yet and the training ground is covered, so there will be no training on the grass today, or the AstroTurf, so we are looking at different things to do with the players.

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“We have meetings in terms of the tactical preparation, but we will do something physical with them and prepare them, hopefully, to be able to train on the grass tomorrow.

“It’s not good because there are things that we wanted to do on the grass but we can move that to tomorrow and adjust things. This is all part of the job really, you wake up every morning and you never know what’s going to happen and that is one of the parts of the job I love, how you need to adapt, you need to think on your feet and come up with ways to ultimately get the players ready for 3pm on Saturday to win a game of football.

“There are new indoor paddle courts across the road and we are looking at taking the group there, but it reminded me once of a time at Wigan where we were having a really difficult run, we were in a relegation battle. There was no snow, but Roberto (Martinez) took us for a game of Tennis one Thursday. We had a tennis competition and we ended up winning the game on the Saturday.

“There is no right or wrong way to coach the players and work on the plan for the week, you have to be flexible, you have to adapt to these situations and just get the players ready to win on Saturday.”

The Grecians head to north wales tomorrow, where they will be cheered on by over 1,200 travelling fans. The fact that City’s allocation sold out a month ago underlines just how much interest they have in a fixture that sees them take on a Wrexham team that are not just high in the table, but high in profile as well, given their Hollywood owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney , and Netflix documentary.

They also have the best home record in the EFL in 2024 and have won six and drawn the other of their seven league games so far this campaign.

“We have to be ourselves and believe in what we do,” Caldwell said. “We know they are an excellent team and we know the club is very much on the up and the stadium will be full, it will be very noisy and we have to be prepared for that.

“We also have to be brave, we have to show our identity and play our way in a stadium and an environment that is pretty hostile and has a fantastic home crowd. We have to show that bravery and belief that our way will be better than theirs on the day and I am sure that, once we get through training tomorrow, the players will be ready to do that.”

On that travelling contingent, Caldwell said: “We will have incredible support there on Saturday – I am not sure if they are coming to watch us or get a glimpse of Ryan and Rob! We have incredible supporters and I have said it before and I’ll say it again it is incredible what they do for the club, not just in the way they travel away, but what they do for the club with fundraising, saving the club, or turning up at 12.30 for home games when it is on Sky. Whenever we have a call to arms, they always deliver.

“It is a long way, they are travelling in great numbers and we need them as it is a pretty hostile environment and we will need them to be heard and give the team energy through the game.

“It’s brilliant that they are going in such numbers, not so good for myself trying to get tickets as it’s a game close to my home and I need a few tickets, but I can’t wait to see them all and hopefully we are celebrating with them at the end.”