Exeter City: Famous triple raid on ailing rivals pushed club to promotion | OneFootball

Exeter City pulled off a triple transfer in January 2007 and it's proven to be one of our best winter windows ever.

It was almost 20 years ago now but the January 2007 transfer window still stands up as one of the best ever for Exeter City.

With the Grecians still struggling to get out of the top tier of the non-league pyramid, then boss Paul Tisdale took the bull by the horns to strike a triple deal that would go a long way to changing the future of the supporter-owned club.

But it was the misfortune of fellow Blue Square Premier side Weymouth that brought it all about.

The Terras had enjoyed a meteoric rise up through the leagues, culminating in their 11th placed finish in the fifth tier in the 2006/07 season.

But the wheels had already come off in January that season and, with the money running out, the Dorset side put every single player up for sale.

When Tisdale pounced to sign right back Steve Tully, winger Lee Elam, and striker Richard Logan it ended up sealing Exeter's promotion back into the EFL 18 months later and, also, Weymouth's relegation to the Conference South in 2008/09.

City had a trademark near miss in a play-off final in the spring of 2007, losing 1-0 to Morecambe at Wembley, but they finally got the job done in 2007/08 with Logan top scoring for the Grecians and the great Rob Edwards scoring the only goal against Cambridge United at the scene of their devastation 12 months prior.

Trio powered Exeter City to promotion

For Elam, his best moment in a City shirt would come not long after joining from Weymouth, scoring a hat-trick against his old employers on debut just days after making the switch in a 4-0 win for City.

Elam would go on to become a bit of an impact sub at St James Park but did make 23 appearances as City went on to go up via the play-off before joining Altrincham in the summer of 2009.

Bizarrely, he wouldn't go on to score another goal for City and his tally remained at three throughout his whole time at St James Park.

Another man who lined up alongside Elam for Exeter that day was Tully, who had made his second debut for the Grecians a few days earlier in the home defeat to Ebbsfleet.

Tully went on to have plenty of great moments in a City shirt, from that winning penalty against Oxford United at the Kassam in the play-off semi final second leg shootout to being a key part of the squad that gained back-to-back promotions to League One and featuring in the side that finished 8th in the third tier - the club's joint-highest ever finish.

Tully and Logan became Exeter legends

He made 248 appearances for City across two spells, with him having a brief stint at St James Park in 2005.

His second was the stuff of legend though. He was a regular in Devon's capital for six and a half years and he still has a place in the heart of many City fans over a decade on.

Logan was probably the most important of the trio, in the short term anyway.

His exploits for City have been covered before but the lovable striker scored some vitally-important goals including in the Blue Square play-off semi-final at Torquay United and the winner at Rotherham United on the final day of the following season to send the Grecians into the third tier for the first time in almost 20 years.

It was an uncharacteristically bold January window from Exeter and has gone down as one of Tisdale's best spells of recruitment, especially in his early era at the club.

It feels unlikely that we're going to see a single player head to St James Park this month that could go on to have the impact of Tully or Logan, let alone two who could match their achievements.