Exeter skipper Sweeney on Watkins, Stansfield & his love for City

Pierce Sweeney is Exeter City's longest-serving player

"I remember Ollie Watkins asked me when I was 22 or 23 what do I think about him going to Brentford? I said to him 'I'll drive you there myself'," recalls Pierce Sweeney of arguably Exeter City's greatest academy graduate.

The Irish defender, who turned 30 earlier this week, has pretty much seen it all at St James Park.

As his ninth season gets under way, he can recall three play-off final defeats at Wembley, a promotion to League One, a revamped stadium and a brand new training ground.

"I've played an awful lot of games," the club's captain tells BBC Radio Devon as he prepares for number 382 at Blackpool on Saturday.

"I think we've got 16 or 17 first-team staff now. I think when I signed here we had five or six.

"I've been living here nearly nine years now and I'm loving every minute, and I don't think I'll ever move."

England forward Ollie Watkins (left) played alongside Sweeney in the Irishman's first season at Exeter

Exeter's academy has been the pride of the club over the past two decades as a host of players have left to generate the fees that keeps the fan-owned side going.

Watkins propelled himself into the national conscience in the summer with his late winner for England in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands, but was moulded in the Exeter academy.

The now-Aston Villa striker was in the side when Sweeney made his debut eight years ago, while the club's newest big money spinner Jay Stansfield - who joined Birmingham City for more than £10m last month - also played alongside the Irishman.

And it is Sweeney they often ask for advice - his no-nonsense attitude on the field mirrored by an honesty and openness to tell people what he thinks off it.

"The last four months of football outside of this club has shone a light on the club even more with Watkins in the summer and obviously 'Stanno' going to Birmingham," he says.

"We've let an awful lot of really, really good players leave this football club for fees and I'm not surprised that 'Stanno' has gone for that sort of money.

"I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago before he signed - I don't know why he was looking for my advice - but I just said to him you either go with your heart or you go with your head and stay as a Premier League footballer for as long as you can.

"He's obviously gone with his heart and he's gone with the project at Birmingham and fair play to him, he's cemented his future."

Sweeney lifts Jay Stansfield into the air after the now-Birmingham striker scored a hat-trick on his final appearance at Exeter in the 2022-23 season

"I'm never going to sugar-coat a situation, I didn't do that with Stanno," he adds.

"They're obviously a fantastic football club in their own right, but what they're doing there is brilliant, they're getting really big backing.

"The same with Josh Key and previous players."

Sweeney recalls that Watkins was "debating whether to go or not" to Brentford when he consulted his team-mate for advice.

"If players see me in that light then brilliant," he said. "I'm obviously doing something right and I must talk a good game."

With 18 months left on his current deal and an eye on coaching when his career eventually comes to an end, Sweeney is already looking to the future.

But for a club that prides itself on its academy players going on to bigger and better things, it's an Irish youngster that City took a gamble on in 2016 that now epitomises what the fan-owned League One club is all about.

"I've been here an awful long time and whenever we get a new players, they always ask me why the club is the way it is with finances and how the club's run and it's hard to explain," he says.

"When you've been where this football club has been, at rock bottom, I think you take extra caution with money and how they approach things.

"The proof's in the pudding. We're probably overachieving every single season we're in League One, so whatever we're doing, we're doing right."