'Exciting' former Portsmouth and West Ham winger offered career lifeline by League Two side
Anthony Scully’s wait to find a new club is finally over thanks to League Two Exeter City
Former Pompey forward Anthony Scully has been offered a career lifeline.
Not only that, the 27-year-old has also been thrown straight into the deep end by new employers.
Following his release by Shrewsbury at the end of last season, the one-time West Ham academy product spent 10 weeks at the PFA’s pre-season training camp as he searched for ways to extend his playing days.
There were no takers for the free-agent before the close of the transfer window. Meanwhile, the former Republic of Ireland under-21 international remained on the outside looking in as the 2026-27 season kicked off and has continued over the past eight weeks.
That’s until League Two Exeter City came knocking on his door!
On Saturday morning it was announced that Scully had joined the Grecians on a deal until the end of the season.
Confirmation of his arrival was accompanied by manager Matt Taylor claiming it was important to get the winger up to speed while managing his workload and match minutes sensibly.
Yet, within hours of revealing that plan of action, Taylor couldn’t resist naming his newest signing in his starting XI for their home game against Rotherham.
It’s a high-risk u-turn by the St James Park boss. Indeed, Scully hasn’t played a competitive game since coming on as a 71st-minute substitute for Shrewsbury against Crawley on April 18. Meanwhile, his last start for the Shrews dates back to a 1-0 defeat at Newport County on March 28.
Regardless, it’s a welcome turn of events for the attacker, whose two-year spell at Pompey was plagued by injury.
Signed for an undisclosed fee from Wigan in the summer of 2023, Scully was someone who John Mousinho tipped to really excite the Fratton faithful.
The PO4 new boy featured in the Blues’ first six games of their League One title-winning season. However, his encouraging start to life at Fratton Park came to an abrupt end soon afterwards after it was revealed he required surgery on a knee injury picked up in pre-season training.
Scully made his comeback in the 5-2 EFL Trophy defeat against Wimbledon in December 2023, before featuring in the league games against Fleetwood and Cheltenham.
Yet that game against the Robins would prove to be his last for the club, with an ankle injury then keeping the player out until the end of the season.
With Pompey back in the Championship, Scully was subsequently allowed to join Danny Cowley’s Colchester twice on loan during the 2024-25 campaign, where he also endured injury issues.
He was then released by the Blues at the end of that season as the Fratton Park club rejected the opportunity to extend his stay by another 12 months.
Scully went on to feature 35 times in all competitions for Shrewsbury last term, but was one of 10 players, which also included John Marquis, who were told they would not be offered fresh terms.
Putting all that behind him to join the Grecians, Scully said: ‘I'm only 27 and I'm coming into the best years of my career, so the next move for me was the most important football wise.
‘I want to be playing for a side and playing for a manager that has a style of football that suits me as a player, so that's why I held off from a few other options to hope that it would come. When Exeter came calling it was perfect.’