New Deal For Hux?

Last updated : 10 June 2004 By Dave Hobley

According to the latest published minutes, after successfully completing his 6-month "trial" period, the Trust (which, being the majority shareholder, is now fully responsible for the running of the club) has decided to take up its option to offer Hux a long-term contract.

Huxham, himself a former chairman of the Trust and the Club, took up the full time MD position in November amid a full scale board restructuring following the Trust's acquisition of (former club Chairman) Ivor Doble's controlling shares. He had until that point been running the club since May 2003 along with Terry Pavey and Julian Tagg following the departure of former City chairman John Russell and vice-Chairman Mike Lewis.

It was an inspirational first season of leading from the front. After pulling off the not-so-small act of actually getting the Grecians to the start of the 2003/4 campaign, Hux then continued as the club fended off legal challenges from both the Conference and the Inland Revenue, reduced its debt considerably by means of a CVA, narrowly missed out on the Conference play-offs on the last day and got to the FA Trophy Quarter Finals. However, he had his first major disagreement with fans soon after the season's close over the price structure employed for the Brazil Centenary match. This lead to his admission in late May that he would be forced to seriously reconsider his position if the event turned out to be a failure.

A crowd of over 6000 and national media attention marked the occasion otherwise and Brazil was comfortably added to the list of this season's many achievements.