Exeter City: Birmingham City meeting puts Jay Stansfield under a different spotlight | OneFootball

Jay Stansfield will make an emotional return to Exeter with Birmingham on Tuesday and it's set to be a strange night.

It’s going to be a strange feeling watching Jay Stansfield return to St James Park on Tuesday night.

Assuming the forward is fit and available for Birmingham City’s trip to the South West next week, all eyes will once again be on the Exeter City academy product as he struts his stuff in EX4.

Except this time it will feel downright weird as Grecians watch the son of the late, great, Adam lining up against his boyhood club for the first time.

Over the years we’ve seen countless former players return to the Park looking to dish out some damage to their ex-employers, but this one will hit different.

Stanno Jnr is beloved at Exeter and has basically achieved honorary nephew status among the Grecian faithful, with everyone wishing him the best as he goes about forging a remarkable career in the game.

The Stansfield x Exeter City story is well known of course, and it started with his father Adam representing the club with distinction before his sad and untimely passing from cancer while a contracted player at the club aged just 31 in 2010.

Stansfield still loved at Exeter

As the years rolled by, there was hope that his eldest son Jay, who was coming through the City academy, would be the first to wear his old man’s No.9 shirt, which had been retired for nine seasons to honour his father.

Unfortunately, Fulham poached him from City’s youth set up before that became a reality, but the forward, who turned 22 on Sunday, did secure a dream loan return in the 2022/23 season that climaxed with the forward celebrating a teary final-day hat-trick in the shadow of the stand that bears his father’s name.

A loan to Blues followed the next season and the Birmingham faithful soon fell in love with Stanno Jnr, leading the club to break the bank to sign the England youth international on a permanent on deadline day in the summer.

From an Exeter point of view, the money from the sell-on clause was great, but seeing him celebrate scoring against Plymouth Argyle for Birmingham at Home Park by unveiling a message on his shirt that read, 'Once a red always a red' was worth way more than cold-hard cash.

This season, Stansfield has shot the lights out in League One and it's clear that he's playing at least one division below his level right now.

Stansfield: Once a red, always a red

For a young man who writes his own scripts, it feels nailed-on that he's going to score on Tuesday night. When that invariably happens, there's a good chance plenty in the home end will even applaud.

A 2-1 Exeter win with a very, very late Stansfield consolation would be the dream for Grecians, but the reality is that Gary Caldwell would probably snap your hand off for a point against a side who are heavy favourites to win the title.

It will be an emotional occasion and there's a good chance it's the last time City fans will get to see a Stansfield on the pitch at St James Park with Birmingham surely poised for promotion this season and their No.28 destined for a career in the Premier League sooner rather than later.

However the game plays out, the reaction from the City faithful on Tuesday will leave Jay in no doubt of the high regard he and his family are held in Devon's capital.

City supporters still chant, 'Sing a song for our Stanno, we will never let you go' for his old man at every game and Tuesday will be no different. Well, it may be even louder than usual.

This might be the final chance for the Grecian faithful to say thank you, good luck and goodbye to Jay as he continues his seemingly unstoppable rise up the footballing pyramid - and it's one they'll take with gusto.

Once a red, always a red, indeed.