The opening day of the January 2015, or Friday January 2nd to be precise, saw Exeter City experience a 'black Friday'.
It was 'black' in the sense that the ink used on the club accounts changed from red to black, as the Grecians received a £1.75 million windfall from the sale of star midfielder Matt Grimes to Premiership side Swansea City.
The fee has enabled Exeter manager Paul Tisdale to turn the loan signings of David Noble and Alex Nicholls into permanent ones, and further investment is planned for the club's youth department and training ground.
In recent years, several talented players have progressed through the Grecians' youth ranks such as Dean Moxey, George Friend and Danny Seaborne, but Grimes looks set to eclipse that trio; and the fee the Grecians received for him is three-and-a-half times what they received from Manchester City for Martin 'Buster' Phillips in 1995, which was £500,000.
Phillips had been hailed as Britain's first £10million footballer by former Grecians manager Alan Ball, but found first time football hard to come by at Maine Road as Ball was sacked following City's relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 1995-96 season.
Subsequent managerial changes saw him fall out of favour and eventually re-joined Ball at Portsmouth before returning to Devon with Plymouth Argyle and, later, Torquay United where he ended his career.
However, Grimes, who was capped by England Under-20's during his time at St James Park, could turn out to be a success for the Swans, who are of course managed by former Torquay United defender Garry Monk.
First of all, Grimes is joining a side that has gained a fine reputation for a short passing style that would suit him as a footballer.
And secondly, the Swans have proved to be adept and identifying and developing talent during their top-flight tenure with players such as Scott Sinclair, Joe Allen and Gyflli Sigurdsson all being sold on for big fees. Prior to his move to the South Walian outfit, when the Swans were first rumoured to have been interested in securing his signature, it was suggested that Monk didn't want Grimes going back to the Grecians on loan.
If that isn't an endorsement that the Swans boss doesn't see Grimes, who hails from Exminster, as a future Premiership player, I don't know what would.
