‘I’ll remember this for ever’ were the words from Exeter’s Jay Stansfield as he honours his late father Adam, chatting with Jeff Stelling.
The 19 year old said he is honoured to wear father Adam’s number nine shirt at Exeter and plans to create new memories at the club, having joined on loan from Premier League returnees Fulham.
Saturday the 10th of September would have been Adam Stansfield’s 44th birthday. Stansfield sadly died of bowel cancer at the age of 31 while contracted to Exeter City.
The Grecians renamed a stand at St James Park in his honour and in a thoroughfare at the club’s Cliff Hill training base there is a shrine-like feature to the former striker: a “Stansfield 9” red-and-white-striped home shirt on a bust above a pair of his boots, beside pictures, a programme, team sheets and shirts from his three professional clubs: Yeovil, Hereford and Exeter.
Since his tragic death, Exeter City staff don’t recall a game where supporters have not proudly sung the name of Adam Stansfield.
💬 “I don’t usually speak about it much with my family, I keep him close to my heart. I want to make him proud and live in my own footsteps.”
Jay Stansfield caught up with @JeffStelling for @SkySportsNews last week 👉 https://t.co/Gq52Xw0yKM#ECFC #OneGrecianGoal pic.twitter.com/eSlUMVPhkL
— Exeter City FC (@OfficialECFC) September 12, 2022
Adam’s name and legacy lives on thanks to the Adam Stansfield Foundation and his eldest son, Jay.
His new manager, Matt Taylor, played alongside Jay’s dad for three years at Exeter with the transfer announcement video doing the rounds on social media, so far getting over 3.2m views.
Jay said: “My phone kept pinging. It is polite to reply and say thank you.”
His debut last weekend produced many a memory and afterwards a tearful Jay clapped fans looking on from the stand named after his father with his family made boardroom guests.
“It was emotional,” Jay says. “It hit me when I got out of my car with my two brothers. The next thing I hear is people singing as I’m walking into the ground. All they were singing was: ‘Sing a song for Stanno.’ To drive in and be able to hear them and see people waiting [for me], it set the tone for the day. It was crazy. I knew it was a big thing, coming back and taking the No 9 shirt, but I really didn’t think it would blow up as much as it has.”
Jay, who has moved back in with his family, made his Premier League debut at Wolves last month and his first top-flight start a week later in the win against Brentford.
“They say I got an assist … I hit the crossbar, it bounced down to Bobby [Decordova-Reid] and he scored but I’ll take it,” then at 10.30pm on deadline day he was putting the finishing touches to a homecoming. “I was thinking: ‘Do I take the No 9 shirt, do I not? Do I want to live in his footsteps or create a story for myself?’ But whatever number I took I knew I would be living in a shadow and the pressure would always be on me. Even if I’ve got ‘Stansfield’ and No 9 on my back, I’m me for who I am and that won’t change. I thought it would be a nice touch if I did take the No 9. To be able to wear it and run in front of that stand means so much to me and it’s something I’ll remember for ever.”
When Jay stepped off the bench against MK Dons for his debut emotions were high. Adam’s brother-in-law, Shaun Parkin, his voice cracking, says: “When the fans sing the ‘Stanno’ song, ‘We’ll never let you go’ when Jay ran on … and they were all chanting his name … it brings it all back. ‘Stanno, Stanno, Stanno.’ It is magical, it’s strange, it’s weird. It was quite choking, really. Adam would be laughing his socks off at what is going on down here. He would love what has happened to Jay but all these people singing songs about him 12 years after his passing.
“People raising money in his name; his sister [Andrea] jumping out of an aeroplane, Roger, his dad, running his first half-marathon at, I think, 65 with Andrea … it is very special.”
What a moment here at @OfficialECFC as Jay Stansfield comes on in the iconic number 9 shirt worn by his late father! pic.twitter.com/02Jat330s2
— Lewis Clarke (@lewis_clarke88) September 3, 2022
Jay has his dad’s shirts on the wall of his hallway alongside his own at home back in London but came across on another treasure at home in Tiverton. “When it was lockdown I was out in the garden playing with my brothers and I found a pair of boots under the bed,” Jay says. “They were old [Nike] Tiempo 90s. I asked Mum: ‘Can I wear them?’ I went out in the garden and wore them and in my head I was going to wear them in the next game. I thought it would be a nice touch but they didn’t last, the bottom fell off. I’ve got a lot of his boots in glass boxes. It is nice to have things around. Mum gave me his watch to wear to prom when I finished school. I like looking at photos but obviously it makes me upset, and I don’t always want to be upset. There are positives in life that I can take from it. I try to be as strong as possible and look like I’m OK when sometimes I’m not.”
Jay recalls the time he watched his Dad play at Wembley in 2008, with Rob Edwards netting for Exeter to seal promotion to the EFL, and takes to YouTube to watch it back. “I get a bit emotional if I hear his name from the commentators or things like that so I try to keep level-headed and not look or talk about him too much,” he says. “My mum was telling me a story about when he didn’t have a clue that he was going to start but he turned up and scored the winner against Oxford. I’ve sat and watched that game back.”
Jay also had some of his traits: “I always run with my hands in and with my thumb up, something he used to do as well.”
Same can be said when it comes to work ethic and wanting to score goals. Jay scored four hat-tricks in three games for Fulham Under-18s). “When he ran down the wing the first time, oh my God, it was deja vu,” says Exeter’s longstanding chairman, Julian Tagg via the Guardian.
💔🥺 In 2010, Adam Stansfield passed away of cancer while playing for Exeter City.
12 years later, his son Jay Stansfield has joined the club and inherited his number nine shirt, which has been retired since his father’s death.
Beautiful story. 🙏❤️
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 3, 2022
Paul Tisdale, the-then Exeter manager, brought in a psychiatrist to help the team cope with the loss of Adam Stansfield. “You know when a friend’s not there because the phone stops ringing,” says Tully, who briefly coached Jay as an under-16 at Exeter. “He wanted to be a physio and I remember him reading his books, learning the science, body parts – sometimes I had to test him – and I had aspirations to be a coach. He was saying: ‘Well, you want to be a manager, I’m a physio …’ We had these visions about what we wanted to do when we retired.
“When I see Jay on the pitch I just think: ‘We should be watching that game together, having a beer, laughing and joking.’”
At Yeovil Town, they have a picture of Adam on show in their garden of remembrance. “To this day he is the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with,” says Liam Sercombe, a former teammate of Adam. “You could play a poor pass to him but somehow he would end up making it look like a ‘worldie’ pass.”
Sercombe remembers when Adam joined Exeter on their pre-season trip to Saunton Sands about a month before his death and helping his team win points at a quiz night. He reflects on the time thousands turned out on the street and gathered outside Exeter Cathedral on the day of Adam’s funeral, when Tisdale described him as “the engine to our train”. “He loved being around the boys,” Sercombe says. “When I saw Jay’s interview the other day, it brought a tear to the eye.”
This is what fans had to say as Exeter’s Jay Stansfield honours his late father Adam…
@Minnsy1984: If you like football, if you don’t like football – you can’t help but love this story. Good luck to you Jay, except of course against #itfc 😂
@glyncharles65: If I took the number nine shirt, I can wear it with pride …..❤️❤️❤️
@ECFCJJ: “Lisa will be happy.”
@DeanParamount: What a story, the family the club just excellent. So many of us know what a great man Adam was and Jay has followed to become an excellent footballer and so level headed. Great interview Jeff can’t wait for his 1st goal at City
@grecian10681068: His Dad and the whole family will be very proud when he scores that first goal.
@FulhamLillies: Another fantastic interview from Jay Stansfield – showing so much maturity #proud
@Joe_obrienffc: Who’s cutting onions … go on the boy 🤍
@PFCJ96: Can’t help but smile watching this. What a brilliant lad.
@AF1308_: I have never wanted a player to succeed at another club like this
@dancrawford85: Ads would be so proud of you, Jay. All of us who knew him are. What’s more impressing than your footballing ability is the way you discuss something so personal with such maturity at just nineteen years of age #singasongforstanno #ecfc #ffc #coyw @as9foundation
@jake03PFC: I’ve never wanted to see a player do so well in my life, Go smash it Jay 👏👏👏
@Compo_7: The last 15 seconds hit hard… ‘Adam would be proud.’ #ECFC
@ConnorHugh26: The “Cheers Jeff” and the deadpan look in the camera at the end is great banter tbf
@Chats1: Well done Jay. A sensible, modest and articulate young man. A rarity in the game and a credit to his father.
@borojason: What a fantastic story this is his dad would be so proud of him really hope he does well there at Exeter, Adam stansfield was a true football legend.
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