Anthony Scully: The Key to Exeter City's Revival
Anthony Scully arrived at Exeter City as a free agent with little fanfare and a short-term deal. A month later, he sounds like a man who has found his footballing home – and a team suddenly playing like it believes that too.
“I want to hopefully stay here for many more years to be honest because I absolutely love it,” the 27-year-old told BBC Radio Devon. “I've only been here a month but, I couldn't be happier.”
From slow start to sharp edge
Exeter’s season had started with a thud. Relegated and flat, they took just one win from their opening eight League Two matches. The mood around St James Park matched the numbers: anxious, impatient, uncertain.
Then Scully walked through the door.
The former Shrewsbury Town and Lincoln City forward signed a deal running only until next summer. On paper, it looked like a low-risk move for a club trying to steady itself. On the pitch, it has become something far more significant.
He scored on his debut in a 1-0 win over Rotherham United, a tight game decided by a new face who wasted no time introducing himself. That goal cracked something open. Exeter have not lost since.
A run that changes the room
Since Scully’s first outing, Exeter have pieced together a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions, each result adding another layer of belief.
After Rotherham, they went toe-to-toe with League One side Oxford United in the Jersey Mike's Trophy and held their nerve in a penalty shootout. That was followed by a landmark result: a first away win since January, delivered at Shrewsbury, on the ground Scully used to call home.
There was a draw at Colchester United – not spectacular, but the kind of solid point that keeps momentum ticking. Then came Tuesday night and a statement: a 2-0 win over previously unbeaten Crewe Alexandra, with Scully on the scoresheet again.
This is no gentle uptick. It is a team that looked stuck in reverse suddenly playing with clarity and edge.
Standards, not luck
Scully is clear about why the mood has shifted.
“From what I see each day in training, the way the lads train, how hard the staff work in terms of putting sessions on, the detail that goes into everything, these results aren't a fluke,” he said.
That word – detail – keeps coming back. For a side that stumbled out of the blocks, the margins matter. Scully talks about standards, application, the daily habits that underpin a run like this.
“At the end you can only control what you can control, and if we keep keeping our standards high and the detail is there and the application is there, there's no reason why this run can't continue.
“Football changes all the time, so all we can control is how we act every day in training, and since I've come in the standards have been brilliant, really, really high. So it's no surprise why we've gone on the run we have.”
A short contract, a long view
The irony is hard to miss. The player talking about long-term commitment is only tied to the club until next summer. Yet his influence already stretches beyond that expiry date.
He has brought goals. He has brought energy. More importantly, he has arrived at a fragile moment and behaved like someone intent on building, not just passing through.
Exeter’s hierarchy will know what comes next. Form like this, and words like his, turn a simple free transfer into a bigger decision. The club that started the season searching for direction now has a forward leading from the front and publicly declaring he wants to stay.
If the standards remain as high as Scully insists, the question will not be whether Exeter want him beyond next summer.
It will be whether they can afford to let him walk away.
