Paul Carden made a welcome return to Cambridge this summer after his successful loan spell last season, not just as a key member of the team but as Gary Brabin's right-hand man.

29-year-old 'Cards' was born and raised in Liverpool and played football at district and county level until the age of 14 when he signed schoolboy forms with Blackpool FC.

He turned pro with the Seasiders and stayed there until he was 19, making his debut in a televised derby against Preston in December 1996 at the age of 17.

"Gary Megson was the manager at the time and things were looking good until a new manager came in that summer and had his own ideas, as managers do," says Paul. "Sometimes young lads get cast aside while the manager concentrates on his first team and that was unfortunately what happened with me."

Towards the end of his first season as a pro he went on trial at Rochdale and joined them in March 1998, playing regularly for the rest of that season and the next and winning the Young Player of the Year award.

"I was really enjoying it there under Graham Barrow, but then there was a change of manager and the same thing happened again," he recalls. "It's all about opinions in football and they mean you either get jobs or get pushed aside, and I ended up joining Chester."

He signed for City in March 2000 when they were entrenched in a relegation battle at the bottom of League Two, and despite a late run of good form they were unable to escape the drop.

"I knew they were struggling when I signed but I just wanted to play football," he explains. "Ian Atkins signed me with ten games left and we only got relegated on goal difference in the end. In those last ten games we won six and drew two and we were the form team in the division, but unfortunately we were too far away from the next team and even with title-winning form we had too much to do with only ten games left."

It was the start of a four-year spell with Chester (broken only by a brief stint at Doncaster Rovers in 2001) and Paul made over 200 first-team appearances and led the side to the Conference title in 2004.

"It was a great time there and we did well - losing in the play-offs to Doncaster one season but the following season I was captain and we won the title, which was a great time. I had a season back in the League with Chester and I was captain and Player of the Year, but then Keith Curle took over and he told me he felt it was time for me to have a fresh challenge in my career and he wanted to bring in new faces and his own captain."

Carden took the decision philosophically and signed for former Chester boss Mark Wright at Peterborough United, spending the 2005-06 season there and ironically making his debut on the opening day against former club Chester.

"I had one full season up the road and I did really well," he recalls. "In my last season at Chester I won three Player of the Year awards and in my season at Peterborough I won a Player of the Year award, so in terms of how I was playing it was a good time for me.

"I was really enjoying my football and when you're enjoying things you tend to produce your best form. I played about 50 games that season but unfortunately I needed a double-hernia operation afterwards - when I came back for pre-season my stomach was really sore, and with about a week to go it turned out I needed a double hernia op, which set me back."

With Keith Alexander taking over as manager in the meantime, Paul found himself down the pecking order as the inevitable changes took place and frustration set in, as he explains.

"The team weren't playing well and I was sub or not even in the squad, which was one of the most frustrating times of my career because I felt I was capable of improving that team, but again it's all about opinions so I came to an agreement with him to mutually terminate my contract."

The hunt for first team football ended at Burton Albion where he spent the rest of the 2006-07 season, and he speaks highly of Brewers manager Nigel Clough.

"I just wanted to be playing football and I knew a couple of the lads there; Daryl Clare I knew well from Chester and he spoke really highly of the club and the manager, and it was exactly as he had described. It's a great little club and Nigel Clough is one of the best people I've worked with and for.

"He's a top man and he conducts himself in the best way. He's an example for everybody and I've got the utmost respect for him because he was really good to me and looked after me.

"What started out as a bad season at Peterborough ended on a high when I got called up to the England C team and captained that team to win the Four Nations Tournament. We were unbeaten and didn't concede a goal so that was a proud moment for me."

A return to the Football League followed when he signed for Accrington Stanley in the summer, but an injury in pre-season ruled him out of the first nine weeks - "the longest injury I've ever had" - and on his return to fitness he was again fighting for a place in a struggling side.

"I don't know any footballer who's happy sat in the stands, and if they are happy either they're on too much money or they're not the right type of people," he comments.

After playing just four games in the early stages of last season, a loan move to Cambridge United in November offered the chance for first team football and he now regards it as "one of the best moves I've ever made in my career."

Looking back at last season he admits he relished his key role in a promotion-chasing team: "When you're a footballer you need to be plying your trade at whatever level - there's no point calling yourself a footballer and training day in, day out, if you're not playing games at the end of the week," he states.

"You love playing games and that's what you're in it for, and it's frustrating when that's taken away from you because of someone else's opinion. It's a part of the game you grow to understand the more you get involved with it, but that doesn't make it any easier when you want to be playing and you're frustrated.

"In the new job I've got, I've come to realise that sometimes players are let down and you could be partly the reason behind that," he adds. "Your decision may open the door for somebody but close the door on somebody else and it's not a nice situation, but it's part of football and it's something I've been through as a player and I have to go through on the management side."

Cards was hugely disappointed at the way the season ended at Wembley, although he admits that but for Lee McEvilly's two late goals in the first play-off semi-final the season could have ended sooner.

"We were quite relaxed before the first leg at Burton but we didn't perform too well and then, as the song goes, Lee Mac came off the bench and scored twice and pulled us back into single-handedly. I was actually more nervous before the second leg at home - more nervous than I was going out at Wembley, which seems strange but probably because when you're at Wembley you've already made it there whereas in the second leg that finale was all still at stake.

"But I was happy with the way we played, especially in the second half, and I thought we deserved the win. It was one of the best nights of my career and the scenes at the end with the fans on the pitch were fantastic."

Unfortunately the final at Wembley was ultimately disappointing and - like manager and close friend Gary Brabin - Paul hopes the U's can bypass the play-off process this season.

"When you get the chance for a high in your career you have to try your best to grab it with both hands because there are a lot more highs than lows, especially at our level where you don't have the big wages to soften the blow like the big boys have got," he says.

"I've got a framed shirt and medal and photos from when we won the title at Chester and it still gives me goose bumps to look at it," he reveals. "We're hoping to go one better than we did last season and experience another high."

And giving an insight into his driven personality and mentality, he adds, "Wembley was a fantastic stadium to play at, but if you offered me the choice of winning promotion outright at somewhere like Farsley Celtic I would take that rather than losing at Wembley in the play-off final. As an experience, to play at probably the best stadium in the world was brilliant, but in terms of progression as a player and an achievement in your career it's not up there.

"To me, achievements mean actually achieving something, not just playing at a ground. I want to be successful and obviously my experience of Wembley wasn't a success; I'll never forget it but I'll never stop wondering 'what if we'd done this, or that?' and unfortunately no one gets the chance to wind the clock back."

Paul talks about this summer, Wrexham, his return to Cambridge United, Gary Brabin and his plans for the future in part two of this interview in the Kettering programme on Monday August 25th.

Andrea Thrussell
web@cambridge-united.co.uk

*A shorter version of this interview was published in the programme for the match against Barrow on Saturday 16th August, 2008.

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