For a club whose highest ever league finish is eighth in League Two, finishing 14th and 13th in successive seasons in the same division for Exeter City represents a reasonable achievement for the club.
When you also take into account that the Grecians have lost Archie Collins, Josh Key, Jack Sparkes, Sam Nombe, Kevin MacDonald, Jake Caprice and Jevani Brown since the summer of 2023, then last season's 13th place finish in their second season under Gary Caldwell has possibly gone under the radar.
Last season was a season of great contrast for the Grecians as they went 100 days without a win between September and November 2023, but rallied to obtain 21 points from the last 30 available in the campaign to finish strongly.
Caldwell has once again found himself dealing with departures after Will Aimson has returned north to sign for Wigan Athletic, former youth products Harry Kite and Alex Hartridge decided their futures lay elsewhere. However, Caldwell has used his contacts north of the border to sign Jack McMillan and Jay Bird and the signing of Northern Ireland international Josh Magennis could prove to be a particularly shrewd acquisition if he can better last season's top scorer Reece Cole's tally of seven.
Teenage starlet Jack Richards, currently only 16 at the time of writing, is the club's latest youth starlet that the club are hoping will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Matt Grimes and Ollie Watkins.
In: Ryan Woods (Hull City), Jack McMillan (Partick Thistle), Jay Bird (Arbroath), Josh Magennis (Wigan Athletic), Ed Francis (Gateshead), Joe Whitworth (Crystal Palace, loan), Tristan Crama (Brentford B, loan), Johnly Yfeko (Rangers B, loan)
Out: Alex Hartridge (Wycombe Wanderers), Zak Jules (Rotherham United), Gary Woods (Greenock Morton), Tom Carroll (MK Dons), James Scott (St Mirren), Harry Kite,
Player to watch: Josh Magennis
Northern Ireland international Josh Magennis who appeared for the province in Euro 2016 is the Grecians highest profile signing of the summer
