Gloucester 34-31 Exeter

The Chiefs’ season could crumble in the next fortnight or still be bubbling with double delight into June.

And in the midst of it is an event that could be greatly more impactful, as the members of Exeter Rugby Club – the core entity behind the Chiefs – will vote on 7 May on whether to accept the takeover by the Black Knight group of American investors, that is being recommended by Tony Rowe, the club’s chairman and long-time major benefactor.

Speaking to Exeter supporters and others close to the club before this match, and with proxy votes already cast, there was a firm prediction the takeover will receive the 75 per cent backing it requires. And yet still questions to be answered.

The 700 or so members are sworn to secrecy on the details of the bid, but it is publicly known that Black Knight, led by the financial-services tycoon Bill Foley, already own AFC Bournemouth in football’s Premier League among a range of sporting investments.

John Lockyer, one of the four shareholders’ trustees of Exeter, and a member since 1970 as a former player among many roles, spoke in his capacity as a member when he told The i Paper on Sunday: “There is no Plan B. If this doesn’t go ahead, we could face being just a community club.”

The future of director of rugby Rob Baxter is reckoned to be assured, while any new owner would be advised to retain Manny Feyi-Waboso, the England wing who again showed his dynamic talent here.

Still there is a mix of optimism and doubt in the minds of the likes of Nick Brown: Exeter born and bred, and a season ticket holder since the old days at the County Ground, before the move to Sandy Park followed by promotion to the Premiership in 2010.

“I am a pint-half-full man,” Brown told The i Paper.

“So I am feeling relief with just a little trepidation. Bill Foley is 81, older than Tony Rowe, who is 77. Does Foley’s family love sport; will they want to keep it going if he is not around?

“Sandy Park is a piece of prime real estate. There is already housing built nearby. Will the club stay there or be shipped somewhere else?

“I used to sell programmes at the County Ground, when the crowds were nothing like they are now. I wouldn’t have dreamt of all the club have done, winning the Premiership and Europe.

“Now there is a feeling of the inevitable, because I and a few of my friends don’t think the club will be there in three years’ time if there isn’t some injection of money. But I want the club to maintain an identity, a home-grown attitude.”

Chairman Tony Rowe has given the bid his full support (Photo: Getty)

Long-time Exeter supporter Mark Haillwell likewise wants safeguards to “ensure we don’t become just another franchise in a global portfolio,” with guarantees for the retention of “our club culture and community roots”.

The Exeter Chiefs Supporters Club declined to express a view either way.

But on fans’ forums, one contributor said Sandy Park is protected for rugby purposes, while another expressed a preference for a “double billionaire” in Foley over a backer in Rowe who “needs to justify every penny”.

Exeter supporters have sought the views of Bournemouth counterparts, with mixed news of Black Knight’s influence at Vitality Stadium: new food and drink concessions, a “major shake-up” of matchday entertainment, and good results on the pitch, but with a hike in ticket prices and associated charges.

Brown has a partial warning: “It’s very results-driven at Sandy Park, because we haven’t got an established huge fan base, as we’ve come up so quickly: the fans drop off when the success drops off, very quickly, whereas Gloucester and Leicester and Northampton maintain their support at a fair level all the way through. So I’m looking at that growing.”

Chris Bentley played in Exeter’s second row more than 120 times, then worked under Rowe in the club’s commercial department. Bentley now runs an events business, regularly attends Chiefs’ matches, and will host their end-of-season dinner.

While many fans are hoping the long-planned expansion of Sandy Park will go ahead now, Bentley is also imagining Bournemouth might build an out-of-town stadium in Hampshire that could sometimes be used by the Chiefs.

“I spoke to a disappointed Exeter member last week who said ‘uh, Tony is going to sell the club for £9m,’” Bentley told The i Paper.

“There will be members who are worried about a foreign entity. But Tony has been the main player in the Chiefs’ story over the last 30 years and now he’s writing the final chapters, trying to hand it on to a stewardship that will see it continue to thrive. I reckon they should name a stand after him.”

Bentley cites Exeter’s modest population of 140,000 and remembers: “It was a battle to entice people to spend decent sums.

“The sponsors were the local butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, when we were trying to land [defence giant] Babcock, and Wrigley’s in Plymouth, and Kawasaki, the big engineering manufacturers down in Plymouth. We couldn’t get them.”

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Bentley sees a possible Wrexham effect for Exeter.

“The word was there were 60 suitors for the Chiefs and these guys [Black Knight] have come top of the log,” he says.

“Hopefully they’ll expand Sandy Park. There was a plan before Covid for an arena bolted on behind the South Stand, for 6000 standing or 1000 seats, to bring in musical acts and sweat the asset.

“I’m feeling they are going to have contacts with your global brand names, the Coca Colas, the McDonalds and so forth. If you look at Wrexham Football Club, their principal sponsor used to be Ifor Williams trailers; now it’s Aviation Gin and what have you.

“The tectonic plates in rugby are shifting. If fans want to hark back to something that existed before, I would suggest they go to watch Plymouth Albion or Taunton Titans.”

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