Caldwell, 40, replaces Matt Taylor who left the club last month to take over at Rotherham after four and a half years in charge.

The Grecians won promotion under Taylor last season and are currently in play-off contention in League One, sitting three points outside the top six.

Caldwell's most notable management role came at Wigan Athletic, where he lifted the FA Cup in a famous victory over Manchester City in 2013 during a five year spell.

After finishing his playing career at the Latics he joined the backroom staff and took over from Malky Mackay in 2015 as the club were relegated from the Championship.

The Scot managed to engineer an immediate return to thee second tier before leaving the club in October 2016. His most recent coaching role was as assistant manager at Hibernian. 

In a joint statement, Nick Hawker, chair of Exeter City Supporters’ Trust, and Julian Tagg, club president, said the club was delighted that Gary had accepted the position.

“As a supporter-owned club, Exeter City is unique and it was vitally important that we chose the right person to continue our journey. The club is in a strong position, having been promoted to League One and made a great start to the campaign, which sees us in eighth position in the table. Gary brings a great deal of experience to our club and we’re excited and optimistic for the future.”

“We would also like to put on record our thanks to interim manager Kevin Nicholson and Jon Hill for stepping in to manage the team over the last couple of weeks.”