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![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e5887230-ebe8-11f0-9332-4db5e65f7000.jpg.webp.webp\")
BBC<\/p>\nJohn Ayresand<\/p>\n
Zhara Simpson,Devon<\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
Denise Watts said the Exeter City and Manchester City match up was “written in the stars”<\/p>\n
The former chairman of a football club said she would be returning to Manchester 21 years later to support her team again. <\/p>\n
Denise Watts, who served as the first female chairman of Exeter City Football Club between 2005 and 2010, said the game against Manchester City on Saturday at Etihad Stadium was “written in the stars”.<\/p>\n
Exeter City played Manchester United during the FA Cup Third Round at the Old Trafford in January 2005 and drew 0-0. They lost the replay 2-0.<\/p>\n
“We were so excited we get to go back to Manchester 21 years later,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Denise](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ee634ab0-ebe8-11f0-9332-4db5e65f7000.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Denise Watts holding a special shirt made to Commemorate the Exeter City and Manchester United match in 2005<\/p>\n
Watts said: “We’re then 21 years on playing Manchester City so we are kind of doing the Manchester thing, so it’s written in the stars.<\/p>\n
“It’s really important we get memories back and remember what those times were when we were back in the conference and how nervous we felt then.”<\/p>\n
Alongside her voluntary role, Watts worked full-time as a teacher and was a single mum to two teenage boys.<\/p>\n
She said when her boys were six and seven they asked to attend a football match, a day she had “always dreaded” but it turned out to be the beginning of her love for her local team.<\/p>\n
Watts said: “I was the only lady that worked full time and did this as a volunteer job. <\/p>\n
“I did it for love and for the football and I did it for all those fans.”<\/p>\n
Jake Banbury works at Exeter City as a steward on match days and said the game was going to be “absolutely massive”.<\/p>\n
![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f37c5cf0-ed6c-11f0-88e7-5d06f9172e94.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Jake Banbury said the match on Saturday was a “dream come true” for fans<\/p>\n
He said: “Considering what we’ve gone through as a club… it’s going to be dream come true for fans.<\/p>\n
“There’s going to be a great atmosphere. 8,000 tickets have sold.”<\/p>\n
Bambury, who has worked there for nine years, said he welcomed people into the stadium, helped them find their seats and even saved a person’s life. <\/p>\n
He said: “A person had a heart attack and I had to do CPR and call for an ambulance.<\/p>\n
“I just kept calm and knew exactly what to do.”<\/p>\n
“Thankfully he made a full recovery, and he even sent me a letter to say thank you for saving his life… I was honoured.”<\/p>\n
Bambury, who is autistic, said he also volunteered at the National Autistic Society and worked with adults and children with autism.<\/p>\n
About the match Bambury said: “Even if we do lose 3-0, i would still be happy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Ayresand Zhara Simpson,Devon BBC Denise Watts said the Exeter City and Manchester City match up was “written…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-684778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115865931498366491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}