The fire at St James Park could not have come at a worse time for the Grecians.

The club has had to have a second loan from the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust to cover a large overspend last season.

City have had to crowdfund the £100,000 cost to repair the damage to their ground as they await any insurance payment, with fans currently raising around £75,000 – something which has impressed Caldwell.

“It’s amazing that aspect of our club, but also the wider football community,” he said. “Whenever things like this happen everyone rallies round.

“We worked extremely hard as a club to try to get the game back on and it just wasn’t going to happen pretty early in the week.

“When we assessed the damage we knew as a club early in the week, the wires and all the safety procedures that needed to be checked and double-checked before the game, we were never going to have the time to do that.

“I think we acted really responsibly as a club. We contacted the EFL and the game was called off in plenty of time so no one travelled, everyone knew, we never put Burton out, so the right decision I think was made.”

Caldwell, whose side travel to Bradford in the league on Saturday and then Luton in the Vertu Trophy on Tuesday before entertaining Wycombe in the FA Cup next weekend, added: “Now we focus back to league games away from home and hopefully a huge turnout when we return to St James Park in the FA Cup.”