Jamie Cureton’s new contract.

This is my first post of my first blog so bear with me. I’m going to start off with Jamie Cureton our top goalscorrer and player of the season who is now out of contract. Please bear in mind these are simply my opinions this is not a forum and I am not claiming that anything that follows is undeniable fact (even if it sounds like it) but please feel free to make comments etc.

Exeter City fans are currently facing a dilemma with Jamie Cureton who is now out of contract and rumoured to be in talks with his native Bristol Rovers despite their relegation this season. Jamie is now 35 and on the 28 August will turn 36. Despite this he has scored the mythical 20 goals this season for Exeter becoming that ’20 goal-a-season man’ that every club craves in the lower divisions and picking up the player of the year and golden boot trophy in teh process. Many doubted that a player whose career had floundered in recent years for whatever reason would make the grade, especially after a poor stint at League 2 Shrewsbury Town last season. Having seen Cureton play in his Bristol Rovers days I believed that this would not be the case and was delighted to see him sign. Those of us who had serious ‘real’ football withdrawal symptoms and made
the short trip to Clevedon outside Bristol for the first pre-season friendly this season were able to see Jamie’s excellent movement and positional sense and I for one was convinced. Once the season started quickly built up a successful partnership with cult hero Richard Logan despite both starting the season as second choice to new signings John O’Flynn and Daniel Nardiello who both sufffered from injury early on.

Jamie’s goals and success has helped fire city to our joint best post-war finish of 8^th in the  third tier and if it hadn’t been for a debacle at Tranmere in the third last game where we lost 4-0 we would have won our last eight games in a row and made the play-offs; unthinkable for a team who had only four seasons ago spent five painful but fun years in the non-league. Jamie, I imagine, will rightfully feel that he has repaid the faith and support of Exeter City and our manager Paul  Tisdale and may wish to end his career at Rovers where he made his name between  1996-2000.  He has undoubtedly earned the right to ask for a bigger wage our initial temporary contract was only extended to the season once Tisdale had managed to find some room in what is a very tight budget.

So here is the dilemma as I see it: to offer Cureton a new deal on more money and a year closer to forty as our main striker or to happily see him leave for a final swansong at Rovers and wish him all the best freeing up budget for younger players with the potential (of which we already have many) to grow their game and have their chance. Of course as fans we have nono direct say but we can discuss and think of our preference, as we always do.

It has to be taken into account that once a footballer reaches their age (and everyone has their own) they become at best ineffective and it can happen very suddenly, especially for players like Cureton who rely on a bit of  nippy pace to supplement the excellent reactions and movement he possesses. We have seen Marcus Stewart sign at this age Alex Russell at a similar age since we returned to the Football League and both have been of very questionable value on the  football pitch, although many fans may crucify me for saying so and it is obvious that the man himself, Mr. Tisdale, would disagree. Russell was only with us for a little over a season, while Stewart has taken more of a back role with only a handful of appearances before retiring this season. Fellow veteran Rob Edwards has also retired this season and is the exception he has been very  useful in the occasional game even at the twilight of his playing career but has struggled to play successive games and is not, despite his heroical Exeter career, been considered a first-team member in full this season. On a side point both Stewart and Edward will continue their roles as coaches and is another example of the club that has grown up around Tisdale and the fan-ownership, focused developing talent in all forms of the game. Internal appointments  used to be the cheap and weak option but now the way I see it is that our coaches are groomed for more advanced roles in the club and I would be disappointed not to see an internal appointment come the dreaded day when we have to appoint a new manager (I’m reasonably optimistic that this won’t be for another fifty years or so though).

Moving back to Cureton then it can be seen as a big gamble to give him a weighty contract on the premise of a key first team player (yes I have played too much football manager in my time) and
it is for these reasons that I would not be as devastated to see Jamie move on if indeed that is what come to pass. However, I can categorically say that I want Cureton here next season at all costs. He has clearly made a tremendous effort to take care of himself and keep his fitness levels up and unlike most players of his age he still carries pace and his reactions show no evidence of dwindling. The last time we had a player who proved he was genuinely capable of scoring twenty goals at any level was Sean Devine in the first year the conference (2003-4). Devine was a natural goal scorer but offered little else. In the following season his age caught up scoring a total, off the top of my head, of eleven goals but generally being a waste of space. Again though there is no sign of this from Cureton who is as much a part of our steady build up play and technical football as he is the final touch. A perfect example was wonderfully displayed in the Devon Derby at St James Park (note no apostrophe)
as Jamie set up our officially most improved player James Dunne. Jamie Cureton is still the perfect finisher for this level in a team which provides plenty of service to feet as we try, mostly successfully to. the flip side of the age issue as well is that we have just realeased two young (in the sense that they were when we signed them and they have been developing at City) strikers James Norwwod and Ben Watson, who although good footballers in the own right have not progressed to a level that justifies keeping them on. I’m am therefore desperatly hoping that Jamie will be offered an acceptable but reasonable contract and agree to stay on for at lease one more year.