Matt Oakley going to Exeter

[Saint Garrett]

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/story-16594363-detail/story.html

 

Matt Oakley was all set to retire from professional football following his release by Leicester City in May, but after having his appetite for the game invigorated at Exeter City, the former Premier League playmaker is considering extending his career by a further year.

 

Oakley has been a notable performer in Exeter's last two pre-season friendlies and the offer of a contract is not far away. All the 34-year-old has to do is prove he is over a long-standing ankle tendon injury and he will almost certainly be handed the number eight shirt that manager Paul Tisdale appears to have tantalisingly kept open for his former Southampton team-mate.

 

​Matt Oakley (right) holds Exeter City manager and former Southampton team-mate Paul Tisdale (left) in high esteem PICTURE: Phil Mingo/Pinnacle

 

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••.."He's done that on purpose to suck me in a little bit! If everything goes well, then I would love to come back," Oakley said. "I feel good. I had a bad injury, the tendon came away from the bone in my ankle, which is quite a nasty injury, so I have to make sure the muscles around it can handle dealing without that tendon. I have to do things in stages, so it's quite nice to play 45 minutes and not get to 65-70 minutes of a game.

 

"I have to be patient, do it in my own time and not be silly. I have to be realistic, I am 35 next month and my body doesn't recover like it used to, but as long as I am taking the right steps.

 

"Paul has been fantastic with me and is making sure that I'm not doing anything that I shouldn't be doing; he is being very cautious with me."

 

However, it is not just Tisdale that is being cautious, but Oakley too. He was all set to retire after his release by Leicester, but when Tisdale came calling, Oakley was keen to take things further, hence the reason he has been on trial with Exeter for the past fortnight.

 

Other clubs are sure to have shown interest, but for Oakley, it is Exeter or nothing as he reflects so fondly on a seven-game loan spell he had at the club last season.

 

"I wasn't looking to carry on playing," Oakley said. "I have just moved back to London and my girls are going back to school there, so my mind has been on that. I had a bad injury, I had two years at Leicester that I didn't really enjoy and then a month where I really did enjoy my football down here.

 

"I love the club, I love the way that it is progressing and the way that they play football, so it was a pretty simple conversation really between me and Paul to see where I was. It's a chance for me to see where I was fitness-wise. Paul asked me to come down and play a few games and then take it from there."

 

During his 18-year playing career, Oakley has played under a number of different managers at the three clubs he has represented. They include the likes of Alan Ball, Graeme Souness, Glenn Hoddle, Gordon Strachan and Harry Redknapp at Southampton; Billy Davies and Paul Jewell at Derby and Nigel Pearson, Paulo Sousa and Sven-Goran Eriksson at Leicester. Some have been good and some bad, but one manager that he does hold in high esteem is Tisdale.

 

"I have had 22 managers in my time and Paul is one of the best that I have seen," Oakley said. "I have never really looked at getting into coaching, but I will hopefully look at the best that I have been working with.

 

"I have kept friendly with him for 15-20 years, since I played with him at Southampton, and watched him progress with his management and his style.

 

"I have worked under some really poor managers and coaches. I have also worked with some good ones and Paul was fantastic when I came here last time, I liked his ideas and the way he was doing it, but I was only here for six weeks. This will give me more time to see what he's doing."

 

Oakley added: "I was at a point where I just wasn't enjoying football at Leicester. It was a tough time, there was lots of changes at the club and I came down here and saw a different side to it. There was a lot of structure, a lot of progressive ideas and good young players trying to play in a nice way."

 

 

 

One of my favourite players at Southampton, and always thought he was under appreciated here. Hope he can maximise his career and do a job for Exeter.