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Pierce Sweeney could easily have been pulling on a Cheltenham Town shirt 10 years ago. Instead, the Irish defender embarked on a decade-long journey at Exeter City, making 435 appearances, captaining the Grecians, winning promotion to League One and establishing himself as one of the most consistent defenders in the EFL. Now, after a phone call from Steve Cotterill convinced him a fresh challenge was the right move, the 31-year-old is finally at Whaddon Road. His story begins in Bray, County Wicklow, a town that has also produced professional boxer Katie Taylor and international goalkeeper Darren Randolph. But it was a career in hurling that Sweeney initially dreamed of, until his best friend started playing football and invited him along at the age of eight. “Hurling was my first passion and I got the hang of it really quickly,” he says. “If it was a professional sport, I would have committed my life to it, as I have football.” He ended up joining Ardmore Rovers for a trophy-laden spell as a midfielder, scoring freely and attracting interest from a host of clubs in the Dublin area. “That put me in the shop window and I am grateful my mate asked me to go and train, or I probably wouldn’t have played football at all.” Sweeney was picked up at the age of 12 by Belvedere FC, who had a track record of producing players who moved to England. His manager there, Simon Kelly, was also from Bray and further success followed as Sweeney was converted into a defender, earning a move to then top-flight club Bray Wanderers before his 17th birthday. “I had the option of moving to England, but it wasn’t the right fit and my mother wouldn’t let me leave!” the affable Sweeney jokes. “I could have also joined Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk or St Patrick’s, who were all bigger, but I chose Bray as my hometown team and I stayed in school, although I had no real interest in education then.” It was not long before Sweeney was leaving home, however, as he signed for Reading in July 2012, moving into digs with a host family in Winnersh. Also living in the household was fellow Irish prospect and future Cheltenham captain Seán Long, who remains one of his closest friends. “I had the choice of Reading or Everton,” Sweeney recalls. “Reading showed me more love and a real want to sign me. There was also a big Irish connection there, with academy manager Eamonn Dolan and Noel Hunt and Ian Harte in the first team. Everton was a massive football club and always will be, but I didn’t feel right walking into that club for some reason, while I had a really good feeling at Reading and I had a fantastic four years there.” Sweeney was named FAI Under-19 International Player of the Year in 2013, capping an impressive first year with the Royals. “It was a big move and my mum came over to meet the host family. As long as she was comfortable, I was comfortable and they were fantastic. I am still in touch with Ken and Sandra now and they played a big part in me growing up. “Longy and me are good mates to this day and football is a strange game because after 11 years apart I am now living 15 minutes away from him. I'm sure him and his missus will be sick of me by the time my contract runs out!” The first-team managers during Sweeney’s time at the Madejski Stadium were Brian McDermott, Nigel Adkins and Steve Clarke. “I felt like they all liked me, but I was young, naïve and made mistakes, perhaps not quite understanding the opportunity I’d been given. "Steve Clarke and Nigel Adkins in particular said they wanted to push me into the first team, but in the off-season I made bad decisions and didn’t look after myself as well as I should have, giving them no choice but to try and push someone else. I felt like I was close to that senior debut and I am disappointed I didn’t get it, but looking back I wasn’t ready physically. I could handle the ball, but I would have been bullied so I understand it.” Off the field, Sweeney had a close-knit friendship group including Hunt, Paul McShane, Stephen Quinn, Simon Cox and Anton Ferdinand. “Noel really took me under his wing in my first year and all those lads got me involved in things, they were all fantastic.” Republic of Ireland youth international Sweeney was released by Reading in the summer of 2016, when he was chased by Cheltenham. “In my end-of-season meeting with McDermott, he mentioned Cheltenham, but I had a good friend at Exeter, Jake Taylor, who’d messaged me to ask what I was doing. He rang Paul Tisdale and organised for me to go there instead, so I could easily have ended up at Cheltenham 10 years ago.” Exeter fans made a £15,000 contribution to Sweeney’s wages through the 1931 Fund, which comes from monthly donations by supporters. “It adds a bit of pressure I suppose, but it’s a really nice initiative and they still do it to this day,” he says. “Tis was really good. Every manager I have worked under has had flaws, things people like and don’t like, but I loved how he went about his business. He was quite humble and would do anything for you. He knew how he wanted to win games and he was really good to me, giving me my first opportunity in men’s football. "We’re still in contact and I owe an awful lot to him. Without him taking a shine to me, I probably wouldn’t be here now. He let me get away with an awful lot, but when he needed to, he was also tough on me. I loved working with him, Steve Perryman and Mel Gwinnett; a fantastic trio.” Tisdale had been looking for a right-back who could play centre-back, while Sweeney was a centre-back who could play at right-back. “We may have stretched the truth, just to get in the door!” he laughs. “Thankfully, I played a couple of friendlies at right-back and I quickly understood how he wanted to play, which was four central defenders across the backline. I adapted well to it and probably played about 150 games as a right-back.” After Matt Taylor succeeded Tisdale and switched to a back three, Sweeney was tailor-made for the right centre-back position. “I flourished there and know that role to a tee.” He scored a well-taken goal in a 3-1 home win over Cheltenham early in Michael Duff’s reign as Robins boss in September 2018. “I remember it clearly and I’ve given (goalkeeper) Scott Flinders a bit of stick when I’ve seen him since! It was one of my best goals, Dean Moxey crossed it, a defender half-flicked it out, it dropped to me and I was able to sidewind it into the bottom left corner. I also had some banter with Nigel Atangana after he later joined Exeter. It was a nice moment for me, unfortunately for Cheltenham it wasn’t!” Sweeney became an integral part of an Exeter team that threatened several times to win promotion to League One, losing out in the play-offs three times in four seasons. He enjoyed successful partnerships with right wing-backs Randell Williams and academy graduate Josh Key, with the likes of Jordan Moore-Taylor and Troy Brown alongside him at centre-back. They finally secured automatic promotion in 2021/22, missing out on the title only by goal difference. “It was a massive relief to achieve what we’d been so close to previously and an unbelievable feeling for Exeter to get back to League One after 10 years. As great as it was, us staying in League One for four years was a bigger achievement, considering some of the clubs we were up against.” The only interruption to Sweeney’s decade at Exeter came in 2021, when he briefly joined Swindon Town. “That was a crazy couple of weeks. I was offered a contract by Exeter and went away on holiday to Portugal. Swindon made me a good offer and I flew home from my holiday early to meet them. I spoke to the manager John McGreal, who assured me everything was fine because there had been some noise about off-the-field issues. I felt Exeter wanted to go in a different direction and Swindon was a big club, so I signed the contract. It soon became apparent the club wasn’t ready to move forward with new players and luckily, the contract hadn’t been submitted so I was able to go back to Exeter, who still wanted me, and we got promoted that year.” Sweeney met his partner and mother of his two children early in his time at Exeter and their family home remains in Crediton. “The club has a unique way of working with budgets and the type of player they attract, which will be players not asking for massive money. That means they don’t always get their primary targets, but the players they’ve brought through from the academy are second to none. I think they’ve generated something like £45m in transfer fees since the club was taken over by the Supporters’ Trust in 2003, so it works and you can’t knock it, even if it might be frustrating at times for managers and players. I have the utmost respect for how they do things and the club nearly went bust in the early 2000s so they will never let it get to that point again.” Exeter certainly have a proud record of bringing talent through, including Key, current Leeds United captain Ethan Ampadu, Alfie Pond, Jake Richards, Archie Collins, Joel Randall and Alex Hartridge. One Cat & Fiddle graduate stands out above the rest and Sweeney had one year to enjoy playing in the same Grecians team: current England and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins. “I won’t sit here and fluff it up: nobody expected him to be an England international, but his nickname that year, given to him by Ryan Harley, was ‘Superstar’ because he was that good. He was untouchable, single-handedly winning us seven or eight games and everyone knew he was destined to be at least a Championship player. I don’t think many thought he’d end up being sold to Villa for £35m, playing in the Champions League and scoring a Euros semi-final winner though! “I remember Exeter rejected a bid from Derby in the January and Tis telling him to trust him because he’d get a better move in the summer. He ended up at Brentford with Dean Smith and the rest is history. He’s a really good kid, who is still exactly the same now. I will meet him in a couple of weeks for a round of golf and a coffee as he’s not too far from here. It’s unbelievable to see what he’s doing.” Some of Sweeney’s other highlights in an Exeter shirt are a 90th-minute winner at an empty Bolton Wanderers stadium in May 2021, delaying their League Two promotion until the final day. “We’d been warned there would be thousands of their fans outside the stadium and I had to be escorted out! I remember a social media clip went viral of a Bolton fan having a drink and saying ‘tastes like promotion’ but five minutes later I’d denied them. They went up in the end anyway, but that was a surreal moment. “In terms of League One, I’ll never forget playing at Sheffield Wednesday when we man-marked Barry Bannan and the atmosphere there. Cardiff away on Boxing Day, Derby away and the derby against Plymouth were all fantastic.” After four years of surviving, Exeter finally dropped back to League Two at the end of last season and for Sweeney it marked the end of an era as he opted to bring his time at St James Park to a close. “There is a financial element to the decision, of course. Exeter stretched to their best contract offer and I had some interest in League One, League Two and Scotland. Never in a million years did I expect Steve Cotterill to ring me. “I feel like I’d emptied my batteries for Exeter, giving everything emotionally and physically and it was the right time to let someone else step into my role. There is a young centre-half there, Ed James, who I have high hopes for. He’s 21 and a very physical player, who I have had a great relationship with and it was my time to leave. I was prepared to stay on less money, but they couldn’t get to where I see myself, so I was interested in something new.” It did not take Cotterill long to persuade Sweeney that Whaddon Road was the right place for him to spend the next part of his career. “I was never going to say no to speaking to him because of who he is and what he’s done in the game, but did I expect to be persuaded within one phone call? Probably not! “I like what he said to me and he wasn’t beating around the bush. Having spoken to Seán and other players, I know that when he wants something he makes sure he gets it. He told me what he wants to do this season and I wanted exactly the same thing. That’s not just surviving in League Two. Having experienced four years in League One against some fantastic teams, I want that again. “We have a new owner at this club and a lot of change with the infrastructure, along with the type of player the gaffer wants. The manager, the owner and the club’s ambition align with what I want, which is promotion during my time here and Cheltenham is the best fit for me at this moment. The gaffer wants personality and character and I like to get on the ball and show what I am about, so hopefully I can give him exactly that.” Sweeney has been living in a house with George Miller and Charlie McCann during his early weeks at Cheltenham. After two days of work at Seasons, the squad flew to Spain for a week-long training camp, which a grimacing Sweeney describes as “torture”. “We ran until our lips went purple! But it was good to get integrated with the group. I know Willo (James Wilson) from playing against him and his missus is Irish, with a few mutual friends. Charlie is close with Longy so we have that connection and I’ll hammer him if he steps out of line - I’ve made no secret of it and the manager has reassured him of that too! “I roomed with Joe Tomlinson and we got on well. At my age now, I will talk to all the lads and try to give them a boost if they are struggling in the runs. I have played a lot of football over the past 10 years so I will be seen as experienced. Spain was a fantastic trip, with great facilities and being in the hotel with all the lads for a week was valuable for getting to know all of them and the staff too.” Sweeney admits Cotterill’s pre-season demands have been on another level, but that too has helped bring the group closer together. “At Exeter, it’d be football-based on day one, then a fitness test on day two, with every day involving ball work. Here…well, it’s humbled me! We didn’t touch a ball for about four days, so it was mentally challenging, but we all got through it. The manager knows what he wants and he’s particular about pre-season. It’s been intense, but there has been no moaning. Every single player has got their head down and run. Everyone has struggled at some point and at other clubs they might have cracked, but there were no dummies spat out. I am feeling good and we’ll definitely be fit.” Cotterill wants to add one more defender to the squad, but he currently has Sweeney, Wilson and Robbie Cundy as his main centre-back options, with Jonathan Tomkinson and George Nurse also comfortable there if needed. Sweeney feels he brings something different to Wilson and Cundy, who were both part of last season’s squad. “I am not 6ft 3in, but my main attribute is communication…I shout at people! I organise and I'm comfortable in possession. I know my stature, but I won’t shy away from a fight and I think I will complement Willo and Cundy well. “I am looking forward to the pressure of being a ball-playing centre-back and I have no issue with that. At Exeter, some teams pressed me as I was one of the best in possession, while others dropped off as they didn’t want me to play around them; that’s a compliment in itself. I feel I have quite a good footballing brain and I am looking forward to seeing how those relationships at the back sort themselves out.” Sweeney rates Jack Wilshere and Gareth Barry as the best players he’s faced. Although he has picked up individual awards and experienced promotion, he cites captaining Exeter for two-and-a-half seasons in League One as the proudest achievement of his career. Outside of football, he enjoys golf and spending time back at home with his family in Devon. “I also love socialising and being around the lads. We are getting a dart board at the training ground and Willo is donating a pool table he had in his garage, so hopefully we’ll spend a few hours in the afternoons getting close and not just training and disappearing. A lot of care and investment has been put into improving the canteen, so there is no point in us only spending 20 minutes there.” As the interview draws to a close, Sweeney is keen to emphasise how driven he is to help Cheltenham be successful. “I am not shy in saying I am here to achieve something and while everyone may say that, I am here off the back of four years in League One. Joe Tomlinson is on the back of a promotion to League One and we want the play-offs or promotion, not just surviving. “We want to show we are a good team and be formidable at League Two level, winning games and with every single player wanting to achieve something. I have done it before at a similar sized club in Exeter and I can see this club achieving it too. I want teams to be frightened to play us.”