Exeter FC finally look to have put the worst period in their history behind them after rising out of the Conference in 2008 following a five-year stint away from the Football League.

The Devon club were members of the Football League from 1920 to 2003, having been born in 1904 when two local sides merged Exeter United, formed in 1890, and St Sidwell's United.

The Grecians played in the Southern League Division One until 1920, when they became a founder member of Division Three South and there they remained until the reorganisation of the League in 1958, when the Exeter fc were placed in Division Four.

Promotion to Division Three followed in 1964 and Exeter FC spent the next 39 years switching between the League's lower two tiers.

In 1980-81, as a Third Division club, Exeter FC reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 50 years. Replay wins against Leicester City and Newcastle led to a showdown with First Division Tottenham at White Hart Lane, but the visitors lost 2-0 and Spurs went on to lift the Cup.

Exeter Football Club only trophy to date has been the Fourth Division Championship in 1990, when they were unbeaten the whole season at their St James Park home. The Grecians hadn't finished in the top half of any League table since 1981, but former England defender Terry Cooper put that right by leading them to a club record of 89 points.

The Grecians stayed in the third tier until 1994 when they were relegated to Division Three, starting a period of decline that saw them slip into the Conference nine years later.

In their fourth Conference season, 2006-07, Exeter FC came tantalisingly close to promotion by winning a place in the play-offs, but the Devon side lost out 2-1 in the Wembley final against Morecambe, with Lee Phillips providing the Grecians' single goal.

A year later defender Rob Edwards netted the winning goal at Wembley against Cambridge United in the play-off final that returned fourth-placed Exeter FC to the Football League fold.