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Exeter City director of football Steve Perryman has confirmed he is planning to end his 14-year spell at the Grecians in the summer.

The Tottenham Hotspur legend has told the Mail Online that he is planning to retire from day-to-day football at the end of the season following 50 years in the game.

Perryman, 66, reflected fondly on his time at City but revealed operating in a fan-owned club has become more political.

"The club was in disarray," he said of arriving at City in 2003. "The fraud squad were in and the supporters saved the club. I thought: 'Yeah, I'll go and help that.' They had no money so there was no point asking for money. I didn't really need money.

"It was great. We still have the volunteers, who come in and make lunch for the players.

"What we've achieved stands comparison to anyone; no bank overdraft, no loan. I don't like leaving the volunteers that keep this club going but I've got grandchildren to see grow up.

"Keith Burkinshaw said: 'Don't go to Exeter. It will look like you're desperate'. But I've helped — only helped — make us respectable again.

"And though we are still little Exeter City, I think people think: 'They can hold their own. They can produce players. They're surviving with no big sugar daddy'."

With the Supporters' Trust voting to serve notice on Paul Tisdale's contract in October last year when the Grecians were near the bottom of the EFL, Perryman also urged the club to negotiate a new deal with the manager, with an agreement yet to be reached.

He said: "They would be raving mad to not have Paul Tisdale over the next few years."

Perryman, though, says he is ready to step away from full-time football at the end of the campaign, but will still be willing to do short-term assignments.

He said: "I'm ready for retirement or to do something different. It's becoming a bit too political. I said I wouldn't get involved in that again. I've started to learn it's not only money people that are ego driven. There's more and more at this club and I don't want to be part of it. That's nudged me."