Stuart Bimson

33-year-old Scouser Stuart Bimson signed off at Lincoln by setting up an equalising goal in last season's Division Three play-off final at the Millennium Stadium, but now he is concentrating on leading the U's to promotion.

'Bimmo' became John Taylor's third signing of the close-season in July and admits it was hard to leave the Imps, but as a family man with two young daughters the offer of a two year deal was too good to turn down.

"I first spoke to the Gaffer when I was on my UEFA A licence course and he was asking me what was going on at Lincoln, then we had a chat again about ten days before I signed.

"There was a one year deal on the table and I had to be honest with him and say I wasn't prepared to move my family for the sake of one year, because Lincoln had offered me one year.

"John had already phoned Keith Alexander at Lincoln and made him aware that he was interested in me, and he came back after that with a two year deal for me. I told him I owed it to Lincoln and the Gaffer there to tell them what was going on, and this was the day before we were going to Ireland for a few days and there was a board meeting that week, so I ended up going to Ireland, there was a board meeting on the Thursday and the Gaffer came out on the Friday and told me he couldn't do anything more. There was a one year deal on the table and that was all he could do, so I told him I'd probably be signing for Cambridge if the medical went OK."

Although his family was a major consideration, 'Bimmo' stresses that the decision was a footballing one too. "My missus told me I had to be happy with the decision and it was up to me, especially after being there for six or seven years and on the back of a really successful season. I really enjoyed my football there, but a two year deal at my age is something you can't really turn down.

"But not only that, the Gaffer's got big plans at Cambridge, he's a young, ambitious manager and he wants to get promoted this year. He signed good players in the summer that I knew about, and obviously having played twice last year I knew he had the basis of a good side and a chance of doing things, so on that basis I made the decision to sign."

Bimson's final game for Lincoln was the Play-off Final at the end of last season, which ended in a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth, although he won promotion with the Imps in 1998 and also reached the play-offs with previous club Bury.

Looking back on the day at the Millennium Stadium in May, he admits, "It was a fantastic experience. When you get to the age I am you wonder are you ever going to get the chance to play on the big stage with a good crowd with your family and friends there, and it was a roller coaster of a year but it just snowballed and kept on going.

"People kept writing us off and we kept on putting all the doubters in their place, and it ended up being a tremendous occasion, although it was a bitter disappointment for the day to end the way it did. We'd come such a long way - quite a few of the lads out of non-league - and the Gaffer worked absolute miracles to get a quality side together in such a short time.

"It was disappointing to leave but I had to go with my head a little bit rather than my heart, at least at the start, but I'm very glad to have made the move and I'm happy and settled."

There were at least familiar faces in the dressing room as he was reunited with two more Lincoln 'old boys', Terry Fleming and Justin Walker.

"It does help when you go into a new place, and to see those two there as soon as I walked in was really good, but all the lads have made me feel really welcome and I'm really enjoying it. I just need to make the next step now, which is to move down here and knock the travelling on the head."

Stuart has two young daughters, one who was two in April and the other who is just eleven weeks old, and he and his wife are preparing to move house in the near future: "We're hopefully in the process of getting rid of ours now and we've found somewhere down here so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

"All my missus' family are from the Hertfordshire area so it's really good for her and on the whole it's worked out quite well," he adds.

'Bimmo' is already UEFA A qualified so he is well prepared for the future after his playing career, whatever it brings: "In football it's often a case of being in the right place at the right time. I've got my qualification now and it's just a case of working hard, enjoying my football, and seeing what comes along when I'm coming to the end of my playing days.

"Obviously I worked with the Gaffer for two weeks in the summer and two weeks in the summer before when we were doing our coaching badges and he knows what I'm about as a coach, so maybe something might come up in the future when I finish playing.

"It's just waiting and seeing what's about when you're coming to the end but I think I'm prepared and I've got qualifications behind me now, and now I'm going to enjoy the rest of my playing days and see what happens."

A lifelong Liverpool fan, Bimson enjoyed last weekend's 3-0 derby win against Everton but thinks Gerard Houllier's men may fail to live up to the great expectations on Merseyside.

"I'd like to be optimistic and say they'll do well but I'm not sure," he says. "I think they're going to struggle to get into the Champions League this season. I think they need a few more players and whether he gets enough time to bring some more in, we'll have to wait and see.

"I think Houllier's under a bit of pressure because he hasn't produced what he set out to do, to bring the Championship and get them into the Champions League, and that's what they want back home, especially with Man U dictating play for the last ten years. It's a very bitter pill to swallow up there."

Admitting that being appointed team captain just days after signing for Cambridge United was a surprise, the new skipper adds that responsibility is shared on the pitch.

"John pulled me in on my second day and asked me how I felt about being captain, and I said I'd love it but I didn't want to put anyone's nose out of joint having only just walked in the door. He said it wouldn't be a problem and we had a meeting with the players and that was it.

"It's a compliment and I do enjoy the responsibility of the role, but when you go out on the pitch it's not about any one person, there's plenty of experience out there on that pitch now and they've all got to chip in. The young lads have got to grow up very quickly, and they are doing that from what I've seen. There are good young lads there who appreciate what the game's about and want to get further on in their careers.

"There's a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes and it's up to us older lads to help the younger lads if we can, but I'm enjoying the role of captain and long may it continue."

His early impressions of his new teammates are favourable and he feels that the hard work on at the training ground will soon start to pay off on the pitch.

"There's ability in the side and I think we've just got to establish a way of playing that is going to bring us success. I think we've learned a lot from the opening games, and the Gaffer's of the same mind. We know we've made mistakes but it's about how quickly we learn from those mistakes.

"We made mistakes in the way we started the game at home against Hull and we made mistakes at Rochdale and let them back in the game, and that was a good weekend for us really. Obviously it would've been nice to get the six points but sometimes that covers over the cracks, so it's good that things have been highlighted in the early part of the season.

"It gives us plenty of time to work on them - which we are doing behind the scenes, there's a lot of work going on at the training ground - and I think it'll be interesting to see how the next two or three weeks go and see how much we've learned, especially from Bank Holiday weekend and the way we played then.

"You can do as much work as you want on the training ground but it's about what goes on in the matches that matters and I think you saw that at Carlisle. They'd just got a big boost from their manager going on the Friday, they were all up for it, and if we had started the game the way we started against Hull we would have come unstuck. But we've learned our lesson from Hull and not tried to play too much football in the first ten minutes of a game, which let Hull get on top.

"We learned that and put it into practice against Carlisle and I think we could have come away - if we'd done things a little bit better at the top end of the pitch - with all three points. But it was a clean sheet, which we said before the game was what we wanted first and foremost, and if we got anything else if was going to be a bonus.

"We know we've got goals in the side, but as a squad we need to do better and keep a few more clean sheets, be a little bit tighter and harder to beat.

"If we can come through the next couple of weeks and gain some confidence and make the right decisions at the right time, I think we're in for a very good season. With the squad that we've got I think we've got a great chance of good things."

Pushed for a prediction about the season, he concludes, "It's about how quickly we learn our lessons, but we should expect to get play-offs at least - and I'll be very, very disappointed if we don't. Once you're in that position and once you've got that momentum going, as I found out last year, you end up being only three or four points off the automatic places and anything's possible then."

"The Quick Fire Round"

If you were on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and had to phone a friend, which teammate would you choose?

Justin Walker.

Favourite holiday destination, and describe why in one word.

Italy. Outstanding.

If you weren't a footballer, what would your job be now?

I'd be a property developer.

Who do you go to for financial advice?

I have a financial adviser.

What will you be doing in ten years' time?

Hopefully have two houses, one here and one in Italy, and be flitting between both.

Who is your best mate in the squad?

Probably Terry Fleming and Justin, because I've known them the longest.

Who has the best dress sense in the squad?

Probably the Gaffer.

And who has the worst?

Probably the Gaffer!

In a film of your life story who would you want to play you and why?

Robert De Niro, because he's the best at what he does.

Porsche or Ferrari?

Porsche.

Indian or Chinese?

Chinese.

Beer or lager?

Lager.

Boxers or briefs?

Boxers.

If you were given tickets for a gig, who would you want to see and why?

If I could wind the clock back a little bit it would be Bob Dylan in his heyday.

Three words your teammates might use to describe you?

"Pain in the.." - oh, that's four words!

A shorter version of this interview appeared in the programme for the match against Lincoln on Friday 5th September, 2003.

You can hear the full interview with Stuart on our U's World multimedia website. Click here for details about U's World.

Previous Featured Players this season:
21Sep03: Warren Goodhind
21Aug03: Dave Kitson
13Aug03: Justin Walker

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