Shane Tudor missed the closing stages of last season with two hamstring injuries but he still scored eleven goals in all competitions and he has set his sights higher for this season.

The 21-year-old joined Cambridge United on loan from Wolves in October 2001 and made the move permanent a month later. A lifelong Wolves supporter, he had been part of their senior squad from the age of 17 but it became clear his first team chances would be severely limited when Dave Jones took over as manager.

"Wolves were the team I supported as a boy and I went to every home game and a few away games for ten years, maybe longer," recalls Shane. "Dave Jones had a lot of money to spend so I thought if he's spending £15-20 million and I was on the bench at the time then it was going to be difficult.

"I had a couple of years left at Wolves to sit there and pick up my money but I decided to waive the two years and take a cut in wages and come here to play football."

Asked about the differences between Cambridge United and a club who had just moved to the magnificent Molineux Stadium and were gearing up for a push for the Premiership, 'Tudes' gives a frank reply.

"Obviously the training ground's a lot nicer and the stadium's a lot nicer, and my friends and family are all there, but I think the people appreciate you more at a smaller club.

"Everything's on a bigger scale there. It's like when you go on holiday; you can either go to Blackpool or you can go somewhere like Mexico and I think that's like the difference in the two clubs. There are better things at the bigger club but on the other side I think people appreciate you and they treat you better at the smaller club.

Shane has never looked back since the transfer, becoming a fixture in the first team squad for 18 months until last season was cruelly interrupted by back-to-back hamstring injuries. He had a hernia operation and missed the closing months of the season, something teammate and friend Dave Kitson believes had a big effect on the campaign.

"It was probably the hardest and most difficult time of my life," Shane admits. "People were doubting me, always asking questions, saying 'is he ever going to do it again? He's lost his pace'.

"I thought I'd come back firing on all cylinders but it took time for the body to adjust. But now it's back to where it was and the doubters are keeping quiet.

"To be honest, it drove me on to prove them wrong and scoring that goal a few weeks ago was something that I've looked forward to for the last six months. I picked the ball up in our box and scored in their box and it was like lifting something the size of this club off my shoulders."

Thinking positively, 'Tudes' believes the enforced break will prove to be of benefit later in the season because he will be fresher than many of the players around him, as he explains:

"I think in three or four months time, when I'm playing the best football of my life, then the rest I had after playing 80 or 90 games on the spin, which my body has never been used to, will have been a great benefit to me.

"Although people say it's been a hindrance and it's taking time to get back to playing at my best, in the long term I'll be playing better than I ever have done because I've had the rest and got the strength back in my hamstrings."

Shane has set his own targets for the rest of the season and after mounting his own private 'Goal of the Season' competition last season with several spectacular strikers, he wants even more this season.

"I'm good friends with Dave and he's always probably going to be the top goalscorer, although last year it was close at certain times," he says.

"I'm hoping to get onto his tail and get five or six goals in the coming weeks and try to get to seven or eight goals by January, and then take it onto the ten or fifteen goals that I definitely would have got last season, so I'm hoping to do that again this year. If you get into double figures as a midfielder in any team in any division you've had a good season."

Asked for his favourite among the eleven he scored last season, he selects two, and unsurprisingly the second goal is the one voted 'Goal of the Season' by the club website's voters.

"The one at Scunthorpe was a winner and that was towards the end of the game so I liked that one. At home I would probably have to say the one when I did my hamstring, (v Rochdale), although I twisted my back so it's got bad after-effects, but that was one of my better goals."

Shane has high hopes for the rest of the season and believes the team is poised to make a push for the upper reaches of the division, and he ends with a request to the supporters.

"I've always been lucky with the fans really, they've always been supportive and hearing your name chanted - especially when you've picked up the ball and you're running - is a big help.

"So please get behind the team, because we need you. We've let a few games slip in the last few weeks but we're not a mile away.

"Towards the end of the game when you're feeling tired and you can hear them shouting your name it drives you on and gives you that little bit more, so I think that's what we need to improve on; if the fans can get behind us that little bit more and encourage and start shouting for us I think it makes a massive difference."

"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?

It would be the one who had a phone so he could ring someone else!

Favourite holiday destination, and describe why in one word.

Mexico. Perfect.

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

I'd probably buy and renovate houses.

Who do you go to for financial advice?

Myself. I sometimes bounce ideas off Kits but I'm always looking into the future and I've been lucky with money and the buying and selling of houses.

What will you be doing in ten years' time?

Hopefully still playing but coming towards the end of my career. I'd like to progress into coaching and I'd like to work with fat children and help them to lose weight. I think that would be a great buzz.

Who is your best mate in the squad?

Dave. He lives over the road so it's easy to pop in, but I get on with all the players here.

Who has the best dress sense in the squad?

It's not too bad here, to be honest.

And who has the worst?

There are three or four - let's just say there are a few flowery shirts on a match day!

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

Justin Timberlake, if we could turn the roles around and I could be him for a few hours!

Porsche or Ferrari?

Porsche.

Indian or Chinese?

Indian.

Beer or lager?

I'd choose wine.

Boxers or briefs?

Neither!

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

If not an R'n'B band, it would be Justin Timberlake, just as long as I could get to the party afterwards and see some of the people who were there.

Three words your teammates might use to describe you?

Financially-aware. Small. Fashion-conscious

*A shorter version of this interview appeared in the programme for the match against Yeovil on 25th October, 2003.

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

Previous Featured Players this season:
11Dec03: Andy Duncan
04Dec03: Stevland Angus
28Nov03: John Turner
21Nov03: Luke Guttridge
29Oct03:  Stuart Bimson
21Sep03: Warren Goodhind
21Aug03: Dave Kitson
13Aug03: Justin Walker

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