A local lad who came through the youth and reserve ranks at Cambridge United, Dan Gleeson has established himself at right-back for the U's and also for the England 'C' side in the last two seasons.
Born and raised just a short distance from the ground, Dan watched United with his family as a youngster and he has the club at heart, which was clearly apparent during another interesting and frank interview with the 23-year-old.
We began with his thoughts on the season so far, and he has high hopes that the return of last season's top scorer Scott Rendell can help to improve our 'goals for' column.
"I don't think we've played as well as we can as a team yet but the season has been quite good so far. To be only six points off the top without really playing well is an achievement in itself, and I think all it needs is a few little things to click into place.
"Obviously a major thing is scoring goals, and as a team we know we're not scoring enough goals. If we had, I think the league table would be looking a lot different," he says, before adding, "I'm really pleased that Scott is back.
"He was a massive player for us last season and without his goals we wouldn't have got as close to getting promoted as we did. If he comes back in that same form, which I'm sure he will, he will be a massive plus for the team."
Although Scott has only been away for ten months since his February move to Peterborough United, Dan says he can see a difference in him: "I'm sure he's improved slightly as a player and he seems a lot more confident in his own ability, as you would be after getting a move to a higher club - albeit Peterborough!
"Hopefully that confidence will rub off on a few of the others and we'll start scoring goals and getting even higher in the table."
Further to the surprise news that leading scorer Lee McEvilly is joining Rochdale on loan with a view to a January transfer, Dan is convinced that Scott Rendell is the right choice to replace him and could even improve the team.
"Without sounding harsh on Macca, Scott will bring a lot more work-rate to the team. Macca scored a lot of goals and he's leading scorer at the moment with eight, but I think had he brought more work-rate to the team it could have been a lot more.
"At this level he's a very good player and he's got a move back to the Football League because he's got the ability to play at a higher level. He deserves that chance for scoring the goals that he has, but I think Scotty will provide a few more goals.
"With people like Mark Beesley and Danny Crow and Chris Holroyd too there's a lot of talent up front. At the moment we're not finishing our chances and we're all struggling to work out why, but it's not just down to the strikers to score goals; when they're not scoring we need to provide goals from elsewhere. Every team has games when their strikers don't score and we just need to keep battling on, and I'm sure we'll get our just rewards."
Looking back to the end of last season, which culminated in a second place finish, two thrilling Play-off semi-finals against Burton Albion, and then the crushing let-down of a 1-0 defeat to Exeter at Wembley, Dan gives his perspective on those weeks and the events of the summer.
"The first leg at Burton was terrible, particularly for myself," he begins. "I had probably one of my worst games of the season and as a team we didn't really click until the last 10-15 minutes. Without those two late goals from Lee McEvilly I think we'd have been dead and buried because Burton have a good habit of going away from home and stopping teams from playing, so it would have been hard with a two goal deficit.
"But back at the Abbey everyone believed we were going to do it and it was absolutely brilliant; the sight of the fans on the pitch after the game, and it was just a massive relief for everyone to have done something with the season and to finally give something back to the fans after the difficult years we've had.
"As it turned out it wasn't a great deal after all, but I'm sure everyone had a great day out at Wembley and realised that there are good times ahead" he adds. "It was a massive effort and achievement to finish second and go to Wembley but our target was to get promotion and the record books show we won nothing, so in the end it was very disappointing.
"And the most disappointing thing was to come away from Wembley knowing that a performance as good as almost any other in the season would have won the game and won promotion," he states. "But we went there and froze on the day, and it was probably our worst performance of the whole season.
"To do that in the final when there is so much at stake was very disappointing. If we'd played well and lost you'd hold your hands up and say 'fair play', but on the day we were terrible."
Exeter City suffered Play-off final defeat in 2007 but used that experience to their advantage in this year's final and recorded an efficient 1-0 win after a low key build-up and preparation. Asked if he thinks the experience of losing this year could stand United in similar stead in future, Glees has only one thought in his head: "Hopefully we won't have to go to Wembley this season and we can get automatic promotion.
"In an ideal world that would be everyone's way of doing it and we all hope we can go one better this season. Hopefully a few things will click into place and we can make up that small gap to the leaders, and I think we can definitely get promoted.
"Having just missed out last season in the manner we did, that has to be our aim this season and there's a lot more talent at the club this season. You only have to look at our strikers - we have five strikers who I think would play in any Conference team and would all score in the league above as well, so I think we have a massive chance."
Within days of the final, Dan, along with Wayne Hatswell and Michael Morrison, joined up with the England C team for a victorious Four Nations Tournament in Wales, then flew to the Caribbean where they drew against Grenada and beat Barbados.
"It was unbelievable out there; the weather was lovely and we got to play two different international sides from different cultures, and the experience was brilliant. I started the first game and came on for the last half hour of the second game and everything about the trip was great."
Dan has now been capped seven times for England and last week he was in Italy where they qualified for the final of the International Challenge Trophy with a 2-2 draw. But the most eventful part of the trip was the flight home from Naples, when a problem with the landing gear meant the plane had to make an emergency landing at Gatwick.
Taking up the tale, Dan admits it was a terrifying experience: "I shan't be flying again in the near future!
"We were about to land and they had to abort and take off again because the nose wheel hadn't come out properly, so we had to fly around for 25 minutes to get rid of the fuel and wait for the fire and ambulance services to get in place for an emergency landing.
"We had a long time to think about it while we were up there in the air and it was a horrible feeling; I was absolutely petrified. Fortunately the wheel came out far enough to land properly and we were all fine, but I won't be going on a plane for a little while."
That incident aside, he enjoys linking up with the England squads and feels he benefits from the experience: "The manager Paul Fairclough does a lot of psychological work with the players and we have a lot of meetings and sessions where we work in groups and get to know all the lads.
"Pulling on the England shirt and having the national anthem and everything is a very proud feeling, and the England set-up shows what a lot of talent there is in the Conference and what a strong league it is."
Manager Gary Brabin has described Dan as the best right-back in the division and he is enjoying working with the new manager, although he admits it was a shock when Jimmy Quinn left in the summer.
"Jimmy Quinn had called me when I was in Barbados to see how things were going, then about two weeks after getting back I was away with my girlfriend and George Rolls called to tell me the manager had been relieved of his duties, which was a big shock when you think about what we achieved last season.
"But the manager and the assistant and the coaching staff have been brilliant to all the lads and there's a great team ethic and a belief that we can achieve things this season.
"A few things are different this year; training is different because managers have their own styles and their own ways of talking to people, and he's a very good manager. He's a young manager and he's learning the game - as we all are - and he's very good to be around. He loves the game, he's bubbly and lively in training, the lads all get on with him, and it's only his first season as a manager so he can only get better.
"He's still learning and I'm sure being at a big club like Cambridge can only benefit him and will only benefit the club as well, so it's all good."
On Brabin's comments about him, Dan admits it was good to hear: "It does your confidence the world of good when your manager says things like that. I think I've been playing well for the club in recent weeks and it's nice when he says things like that about you. I'm 23 and I think there's still improvement to come from me and things I need to work on, and hopefully I can help to take the club higher and play higher."
Unsurprisingly, he is enjoying his football and being back at United after a brief spell with Notts County, and adds, "I'm loving it - the manager likes us to play football in the right way, which we enjoy and the fans like to see that as well. I wouldn't like to see a team that just boots it down the pitch and chases after it, so it's nice to play for a team and a manager that wants to play football."
Dan also pays credit to the players around him, who have formed a mean defensive unit this season.
"Josh Coulson is only young but he's stepped up a few times and he's a good player, and Wayne Hatswell, Phil Bolland and Tonks are all experienced and very good players, and playing alongside them can only improve me. We've got one of the best defensive records in the league; we've kept nine clean sheets and that's down to a lot of hard work, not only from the back four but Pottsy as well and the rest of the lads in midfield and up front too.
"As a team we defend well and hopefully with a few more goals and a little bit of luck here and there we can push on."
A theme of these interviews over recent seasons has been the praise from the players for the supporters. Their comments are volunteered generously and Dan is no different: "The support has been brilliant, as it has ever since I used to come up here and watch the games myself, and the lads appreciate the fans. They stay behind to cheer at the end of the 90 minutes - win, lose or draw - and hopefully they'll get their rewards at the end of the season.
"It definitely helps us, and when other teams see that level of support they know they're in for a game. At our home games there are very rarely many away fans, yet we take hundreds away every time; even to Altrincham last weekend when they had to travel and stand in the freezing cold, there were over 250 there, and the lads do really appreciate it."
We closed with Dan's thoughts on the FA Trophy draw that paired us with Histon for an unbelievable third year running, and means we will play our close neighbours Histon three times in as many weeks.
"I'm sure it's a fix!" Glees smiles, echoing the thoughts of many when they saw the draw. "But as a player you always look forward to those games and it's a local derby and another big game for the fans.
"I think we owe them one or two after last season when they came out on top in those three games, and this season they're flying, to be fair to them. They're doing very well but we'll go into it like every other game, believing we can win, and hopefully we'll show that on the pitch in the three games."
Andrea Thrussell
web@cambridge-united.co.uk
*An edited version of this interview was published in the programme for the match against Ebbsfleet United on Saturday 29th November, 2008.
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