Text at top (next game etc)

Next Game: Banbury Away On Friday March 29th Kick-Off 3.00pm

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Stansfield's Funeral Today

The funeral of former Hereford United striker Adam Stansfield takes place at Exeter Cathedral this afternoon. A very large congregation is expected and the service may have to be relayed outside.

There have been many tributes to Stansfield. Another one apprears in this morning's Mirror written by Oliver Holt.

In it Holt suggests that it's players like Stansfield who have a connection with fans that many 'rootless millionaires' from the Premiership will never have.

A little boy had written a tribute to his hero and placed it carefully among the sea of flowers and football shirts strewn across the Big Bank.

He had put his card in a small blue frame and laid it lovingly on one of the shallow steps of the terrace at Exeter City's St James' Park ground.

He had begun with a formal heading and underlined it. "Stanno - 1978-2010", it said. Underneath, he had written out his meticulous message.

"Adam," he had written with heart-aching neatness, "you were such a great player for all your teams. You were my favourite player and you always will be. You will never be forgotten. My favourite goals were the 2 you scored against Southend United."

Then he had signed it. "Josh Gilmour (Age 10)," it said. "A massive City fan."


Holt wrote that the messages left to Stansfield, who recently died from cancer, told much about the footballer who was 'one of the icons of the lower leagues'.

"Adam, you were my favourite Red Army player," a lad called Thomas Prout had written alongside a picture he had had taken with Stansfield.

"Thank you for sending me a birthday card each year. I shall remember the good times I spent with you when I was mascot. I will miss you so much."


It was a mark of the man how Stansfield was at Exeter's first few days of pre-season training.

"It was a gesture that showed everyone he was still around," said Steve Perryman, Exeter's director of football.

"He trained and then he was bombarding the manager, Paul Tisdale, with questions. He wanted to know all about the team. What combination of strikers the manager was going to use, who was looking sharp, what the prospects for the new season were.

"He was ill again by then but I'm not surprised he did the session. Stan was a runner. He pulled the rest of the team along. The more tired he was, the more he ran. He was the engine of our train."


Holt summed up the Stansfield.

'Stansfield did not live in a flash house or drive a flash car. He lived on a nice, neat estate in the Devon town where he was born and he played out his career in the Conference and Leagues One and Two with Yeovil Town, Hereford United and Exeter.

'The reaction to his death, the way that it stunned the city where he played, emphasised again that the small clubs struggling to survive in England's lower leagues are still central to the identities of the communities in which they are based.

'Clubs like Exeter have had to fight tooth and nail for their very existence and men like Stansfield, who helped to lead them back into the Football League, have established a bond with their communities that most Premier League stars never will.

'Stansfield meant more to the fans of Exeter City than most of the rootless multi-millionaire players of the Premier League will ever mean to their supporters.'

The full article can be read at: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/oliver-holt/Why-players-like-Exeter-s-Adam-Stansfield-have-a-connection-with-fans-that-the-rootless-millionaires-of-the-Premier-League-never-will-Oliver-Holt-Column-article562879.html