Julian Tagg is the Club president and director of external affairs of Exeter City FC

As another year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on another eventful the season here at Exeter City.

You know we wouldn’t want it any other way … from thrilling victories, to edge-of-your-seat moments, and the occasional match we’d prefer to forget, this season has already been a journey – and we’re only half way through!

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Off the pitch, our achievements continue to underline the strength of supporter ownership.

Over the last 20 years we’ve built a club that is recognised as a shining example in modern football – a flourishing academy producing players who excel at the highest levels, a state-of-the-art training ground to be proud of, and, most importantly, a sustainable future.

In an era where financial power often defines success, Exeter City remains a club driven by its community, passion, and commitment to doing things the right way. And sometimes that means things take a bit longer, but we always strive to improve the club in however we can.

The last couple of months have seen the construction of a covered area over the fanzone, another step towards adding to the brilliant supporter experience for all of our visitors to SJP.

We have a very hard-working team of staff, volunteers and ambassadors and we’re very grateful to every single one of them who contributes to making our club the unique and special place it is.

It has been an intense period of matches, playing the top six teams in as many games, rearranged fixtures and our cup games. We secured two home wins – a thrilling 5-3 against Barnet and 2-0 against Chesterfield to make it through to the next round of the FA Cup and next up in the competition, we’re facing Oxford United at SJP on January 11.

Our young stars were in action on a wet and windy Wednesday evening at SJP where they beat Bromley under 21s 3-1 in the Premier League Cup.

It was great to see two goals for Amani Richards and a fantastic goal deep into extra time for Sonny Cox. It was also a chance for Pat Jones to get out on the pitch following his recovery from injury, so we should be seeing more of him very soon.

Back to the league, we had Burton Albion away on Saturday, which I know will have been well supported by our travelling faithful.

A big shout out to them for their support this year. You can cover a lot of miles, at great cost, following Exeter City. But so often it’s the ‘City boys making all the noise’ and I know Gary and the team greatly value that support.

Making all the noise at the Birmingham game at SJP were 60 young players from Dawlish Town who could be heard loud and proud from their seats in the Stansfield stand.

They came along courtesy of the Tranckle brothers, who are the brains behind our sponsor Nevada Construction and head coaches at Dawlish Town to boot. It looks like they are taking care of the club and the next generation of players!

On another front, we have a new commercial manager, Chris Irwin. Now, he may be an ex-rugby league player (for which we forgive him), but working alongside our new CEO, Joe Gorman, we can already see the benefits to the club from this dynamic duo. It was also great to meet our new MP Steve Race recently and tell him more about the club and the charity.

The Exeter City Women finished their year in fine style with a hard won 1-0 victory over Lewes, which sees them move second in their league.

The team should be very proud of their achievements so far this season, their first in the third tier. They’ve also progressed to the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup which will see them host Sunderland at home on a date to be confirmed in the next few weeks.

Over at Exeter City Community Trust, they’ve had a busy year delivering health, wellbeing and education activities and services to people across Greater Exeter.

The fantastically festive Santa Run, which took over the city centre, was a sell out. Did you spot Gary, Kev, Perks and members of the Women’s Team taking part?

The ECCT team has recently launched a consultation on plans to improve the King George V Playing Fields on Topsham Road – you can find out more on their website – www.exetercct.org

Back to the men’s team, after the away trip to the Brewers, we have Bristol Rovers at home on Boxing Day – tickets are selling very quickly, so snap yours up now, if you fancy some festive football!

That match is followed by Crawley Town on December 29, then we’re away to Wycombe Wanderers on New Year’s Day and back at the Park for Bolton Wanderers on January 4.

Many thanks for all your support this year look forward to seeing you at SJP – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Up the City!