Western Morning News (Saturday)
Willmott would be glad to stay with the Grecians
Experienced winger enjoying a new lease of life following his loan move to Exeter
ROBBIE Willmott says his career has been given a new lease of life after his loan move to Exeter City - and he hopes to do enough to make it permanent.
The 30-year-old winger joined from fellow League Two club Newport County at the end of the January transfer window, and so far has contributed a goal and an assist in his three appearances.
But with Willmott out of contract at the end of the season and his future in Wales in doubt, he hopes to use his time at St James Park to put himself in the shop window - but he would like to stay in Devon.
“It’s been a good switch for me,” he said. “When you go on loan you want to hit the ground running and thankfully I have done that with a goal and an assist, and the staff and players made me feel welcome and that makes things easier, coming into such a great environment.
“At the moment Exeter’s been an amazing place for me. I’m a lot happier, I’m playing, I’m scoring, I’m assisting, so I’ve found a real new confidence in myself and I can only put that down to being at Exeter. It’s so far been brilliant for me and if I can carry it on it will be a brilliant end to the season for me.”
Having been a regular in the Exiles side for the last few seasons, Willmott had found opportunities limited this season, having made just five league starts before his January departure.
With him into his 30s, the winger said that he wanted to be playing regularly and felt that his career had stalled, but with a young family, including a six-month-old baby girl, his options for a departure were limited until the Grecians’ swoop for him.
“It’s been tough to move, but I felt I needed to do it as out of contract in the summer and wasn’t playing at Newport,” Willmott said.
“I felt it was important for my future to go out and express myself and get as much interest for the summer as I’m out of contract. I had to sit down with my partner and think about it and I had a couple of offers the day before deadline day that weren’t right location-wise.
“I turned a club down in the morning and was expecting to stay and then Exeter came in, and then I jumped at the chance, and I felt like I needed it to freshen things up and felt I needed to go somewhere again to find myself.
“I’m 30 and I want to be playing and contributing towards promotion and I wasn’t doing that for different reasons at Newport, so I felt I needed a change and my confidence levels were low.
“But this has given me a new lease of life. I didn’t want the season to fall apart and not play and I wanted to contribute to a season and Exeter gave me the chance and I want to carry that on for the end of the season.
He added: “I feel like I’ve got a real freedom to go and express myself and play how I want to play. It was tough at times at Newport, I played out of position a lot, but I was willing to do that, so I was playing in defensive roles.
“People look at me as a winger and say ‘he hasn’t scored in however many games’, but unfortunately I was either playing in defensive midfield or as a wing-back or as a right-back or left-back, so it was hard to score.
“When I was given the opportunities to play wide I think I got a fair few assists for Newport, and I’m out of contract in the summer so I need to get as much interest as possible but I also want to do as well as I can for Exeter.
“I want to repay the gaffer for taking a chance on me the day before deadline day and help the team get as far up the table as possible, and if something came about and was on the table, I would really consider it, so it is up to me to do enough so Exeter are interested in for me for the summer.”