Exeter City sign Graham Cummins as transfer embargo ends

Ribeiro (left) and Cummins have been training with Exeter City during pre-season

Exeter City have signed striker Graham Cummins after their two-month long transfer embargo was lifted on Friday.

City were after taking out a loan with the Professional Footballers' Association following cashflow problems in June.

Cummins is thought to have signed a 12-month deal at St James Park, while the Grecians are also hopeful of adding Welsh defender Christian Ribeiro.

Irishman Cummins, 26, was released by Preston in the summer.

Former Bristol City defender Ribeiro, meanwhile, was let go by Scunthorpe United in May.

The pair have both spent pre-season with Exeter, and Cummins is fit and ready to make his debut for manager Paul Tisdale's side in the Devon derby at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.

"I've changed my mentality this week to say this is where my season starts and there's no better place than Saturday," Cummins told BBC Radio Devon.

"I'm here to prove myself, I want to score and every striker is judged on scoring goals.

"I'll work hard for the team and I'm here to prove a point."

Since Exeter's transfer embargo, the club's and chairman have both resigned.

Vice-chairman Julian Tagg, reacting to the news of the lifting of the embargo, told BBC Sport: "It's been a target for a while.

"It's exactly how we scheduled it, but in football you never quite know what's going to happen, things can go particularly well or badly.

"But we're on schedule and a lot of effort's gone in.

"We're in a good place having paid it back to let Paul (Tisdale) carry on and go about his business."

Exeter City are owned by the club's fans via the Exeter City Supporters' Trust and Tagg says cashflow problems, like the one experienced by City during the summer, are more likely for a club without a wealthy benefactor.

"Anybody who's been in football or business will know cashflow is king and there's peaks and troughs in football all the time.

"We had a very difficult trough back in January when we lost around £49,000 through loss of games and those thins can happen and they affect you.

"We're working forwards to overcome the cashflow problem, which is a problem in lots of football clubs, but particularly now with the type of model that we have."