Hull City midfielder and former Birmingham City and Stoke City player joins League One club

HULL CITY midfielder Ryan Woods has joined Exeter City on a two-year deal – fresh from leaving the Tigers on Monday after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

The former Birmingham City, Millwall, Stoke City and Brentford player joined from Blues on a three-year deal in the summer of 2022 and had a year left on his contract.

The 30-year-old had two loan spells in League One last term, initially joining Bristol Rovers on a season long-loan last summer after being told by then manager Liam Rosenior that he was no longer in the club's plans and was free to leave East Yorkshire.

His final City start came in mid-February 2023.

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Hull City midfielder Ryan Woods, who has left the East Yorkshire outfit after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.Hull City midfielder Ryan Woods, who has left the East Yorkshire outfit after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.
Hull City midfielder Ryan Woods, who has left the East Yorkshire outfit after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Woods was recalled by Hull in January after featuring 16 times for Rovers, including 12 League One appearances.

He subsequently moved out again on loan to Exeter, where he enjoyed a productive loan spell and made 14 appearances and impressed in helping the Grecians away from relegation danger and securing their third-tier status for another season.

He has now signed a permanent deal.

On joining, Woods said: “I have spoken before about the enjoyment factor I had last season - I hadn’t had that in such a long time – and my performance I think represented that on the pitch.

"When I settled, my love for football came back and if I’m honest the season ended too soon for me, I have really just been wanting this to happen because I couldn’t wait to come back.”

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Grecians manager Gary Caldwell added: “Woodsy was our number one target of the summer. I remember at Port Vale at the end of last season I grabbed him and shouted ‘one more year’ for him, and fortunately we’ve got him for a bit longer!”.

"I think we all saw last year the change in not only the results but the way in which we controlled games, got the team playing, and he really understood the pace of the game.

"Most importantly he is delighted to be here, and he was only ever going to come back here after everything was sorted with Hull."

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