Taylor's frank assessment of City's finances

March 25, 2021 - Exeter City's then manager Matt Taylor said the club would continue to have to sell their talented youngsters in order to survive even after even more money from the Ollie Watkins sale rolled in.

City earned £1.8m when they sold Watkins to Brentford in the summer of 2017, with a 15 percent sell-on clause, so when he moved to Villa in the summer of 2020 for £28m, that entitled City to pick up a further £3.3m as well as add ons.

The Grecians secured an extra £75,000 after the Aston Villa man made his England debut off the bench in the 5-0 win over San Marino – with Watkins netting the fifth of the five goals.

But asked whether the potential windfall from Watkins could mean that the Grecians would not need to sell some of their talented youngsters that summer, Taylor said they could have a short period of time – maybe two years tops – but that soon the money in the bank would run out.

Taylor left Exeter in October 2022 to join Championship side Rotherham. He is currently at Bristol Rovers.