In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the televised second leg of the 2019–20 League Two play-off semi-final between Exeter City and Colchester United was played at St James Park without spectators.

The proceeds went to a charity set up to pay for the apprenticeship of a poor child from the parish of St Stephen, an arrangement that was supposed to be renewed "yearly to the world's end."

In 1921 the club was able to buy the site, thanks to money raised through the record breaking sale of Dick Pym to Bolton, and proceeded to develop the ground, adding a roof to the Cowshed stand and in 1926 rebuilding the Grandstand destroyed by fire the previous year.

In 2005, thanks largely to the money generated from the FA Cup third round match at Old Trafford the previous year, the club came out of administration and the Supporters Trust began again to look at the redevelopment of the ground.

In the meantime, much of the small scale maintenance and repair work has been undertaken by a volunteer workforce of fans organised by the Trust, using resources donated by local businesses.

In 2004, talks were held with the Exeter Chiefs rugby club, who were in with a good chance of obtaining promotion to the Zurich Premiership that season.

As part of the redevelopment, the club announced in October 2018 that the Old Grandstand's replacement would be named 'The Stagecoach Adam Stansfield Stand', in honour of the striker who died from cancer in 2010, at the age of 31.