The Wolves connection

"Number 44 - Wolverhampton Wanderers will play... number 49 - Cambridge United."

The FA Cup 3rd round draw put together two teams from widely differing leagues, but two teams who have shared in the careers of a number of players. There have been a number of players over the years who have pulled on both the Amber and Black of Cambridge United and the famous Old Gold of Wolves.

On the 2nd of November 1982 at the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge United gave a debut to a prodigious talent. Aged just 16 years and 228 days, Andy Sinton was to become the youngest player to ever pull on the Amber and Black; a record that he still holds to this day.

He was called into the first team after scoring four goals in a 19-0 win for the youth team against Oxford City in the 1st Round of the FA Youth Cup just four days earlier. The opponents that day were Wolves, and Cambridge entered the match having only won just once in their first twelve league fixtures leaving them bottom of the league.

Sinton would prove to be a influence in the match as Cambridge overcame their opponents 2-1 and the climb up the league began, Cambridge finished the season in a respectable 12th place and Wolves would gain promotion back to the top tier at the first time of asking, having been relegated in the previous season.

Born in Cramlington near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sinton would go on to make 104 appearances, scoring 15 goals, in his time at the Abbey before he was sold in December 1985 to Brentford for a cut price £25,000, only made bearable by the 40% sell on fee in the deal.

The left sided midfielder would prove a hit with Bees as he scored 34 goals in 182 games before top-flight QPR signed him in March 1989 for £350,000.

Whilst at the Loftus Road based club he would make his England debut in a 1-1 draw in Poland in November 1991. Over the next two years Andy made a further 11 appearances in his countries colours, the last of which came in Bologna as England came back from conceding an 8th second Davide Gualtieri goal to win 7-1 in what would be Graham Taylor's last game in charge following the failure to qualify for the World Cup in USA. Andy is to this day the only product over the Cambridge United youth set up to go on to represent England at Senior level.

August 1993 would see Sinton move for £2.75 million to Sheffield Wednesday following a further 191 appearances and 25 goals for QPR. After two and a half seasons incorporating 80 appearances and 3 goals he moved to Spurs for £1.5 million. Whilst with Tottenham he would win the League cup in 1999 and play in 100 games scoring seven times. When released by Spurs in the summer of 1999 he made his way to Molineux. After 81 games over a three year spell with Wolverhampton he dropped out of the league to sign for newly promoted Conference side Burton Albion where he would end his career after two seasons.

Andy is now the manager of British Gas Southern League side Fleet Town, a position he has held since the start of the 2005-06 season. Fleet are currently 3rd in their league, two points off top placed Didcot Town with two games in hand; they exited the FA Cup in the 3rd qualifying round respectably losing 2-1 away to giant-killing Havant & Waterlooville, the run being the best in the club's history.

Another player who delighted the crowds at the Abbey and Molineux was strong Defender-cum-Midfielder Floyd Streete. Jamaican born Streete was spotted playing for Rivet Sports Club in Luton by Cambridge's scouts, and in 1976 aged 17 Ron Atkinson offered him his first professional contract.

He made his U's bow in February 1977, at 17 years and 321 days, in a 2-0 home victory over Crewe Alexandra. He only scored one goal in the cup for Cambridge, but it will be remembered by all Cambridge fans that saw it, as he scored the only goal of the game at Molineux to secure a 4-1 aggregate win over holders Wolves in the League Cup second round second leg. 142 appearances and 20 goals came in his seven year career with Cambridge before a spell in Holland with Utrecht and SC Cambuur.

He returned to England and signed for Derby County in 1984 but would soon be picked up by Wolves manager Bill McGarry for £5,000. In the 1986/87 season he became the Wolves captain and in the following season he led his side to the Division Four title and the Sherpa Vans Trophy. In the next season Streete was named player of the season as his team won Division Three. He played 159 games in the Old Gold before moving to Reading in 1990 where he ended his career as a footballer before becoming a PE teacher.

Still plying his trade at Molineux is Jody Craddock. Craddock was signed by Cambridge in the summer of 1993 from Christchurch despite interest from Premier League clubs.

18 year old Jody would make his debut in a 0-0 draw at home to Stockport County in December 1993; a game in which Gary Johnson would also give Carlo Corazzin and Micah Hyde their first appearances for the club. The following four seasons would see the speedy central defender rack up 161 appearances and 5 goals, including being the only ever-present in the 1995/96 season.

In August 1997, just ten days after his 22nd birthday, he was signed by Sunderland. He was initially restricted to appearing only in the League Cup until October when experienced central defender Andy Melville was injured in 4-0 defeat at Reading, Jody came in to make his first league appearance in the following game, a 3-1 home victory over Huddersfield. After that game he became a permanent fixture in Peter Reid's team and soon became a fan's favourite earning the nickname 'Fanny', after the television cook Fanny Craddock.

After Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League in 2003, Craddock moved to Wolverhampton following their promotion to the Premier League in the Play-Offs. Wolves paid Sunderland £1,750,000 for his services after he had made 168 appearances scoring 2 goals for the Wearsiders. Four season on and Jody is still at Molineux, he had a loan spell at Stoke City to gain match fitness earlier this season, but he is still very much part of the first team picture in Mick McCarthy's side and has now surpassed 150 games for the Black Country side.

In February 1990, Cambridge United pounced to sign Steve Claridge from cash-strapped Aldershot for £75,000. Claridge with his own individual style with his socks around his ankles would fast become a fans favourite scoring 31 goals in 95 appearances before moving to Luton in July 1992 for £160,000 having just missed out on promotion to the Premier League.

Claridge and then manager John Beck's relationship had by that stage deteriorated to an unrecoverable level, with Beck not approving of Claridge's gambling problems and Claridge critical of Beck's 'long-ball' tactics. For one reason or another Luton wasn't the success he had hoped for despite 6 goals in 20 appearances; and with Beck now departed from Cambridge he made a hero's return to the Abbey in late November for a club record £195,000, a record which still stands to this day.

His second spell would prove just as popular with the fans, scoring 21 goals in a further 64 games. Birmingham City under the leadership of Barry Fry would be the next stop for the journeyman striker in a deal worth £350,000 in January 1994. After a spell at Leicester where he would score the winning goals in the play-off final to get to the Premier League in 1996 and also in the League Cup final of 1997, he moved to Wolves for £400,000 but after 6 games and no goals he was sold to his home town club, Portsmouth for £250,000.

Having played in more than 600 league fixtures and scoring nearly 200 goals, Claridge, now 41 appears to have hung up his boots having ended last season with Harrow Borough FC. Steve can still be seen on Sky Sports and heard summarising on BBC Radio Five Live.

Iwan Roberts played one season for Wolves in 1996/97. Signed from Leicester for £1.3 million he scored 12 goals in 38 games before moving to Norwich, where he would become a hero with the fans, for £1 million.

Iwan, aged 37, joined Cambridge United in their unsuccessful fight against relegation from the football league in March 2005 on loan from Gillingham.

He scored 3 goals in 11 appearances but it was to no avail as the U's dropped into the Conference.

Mark Venus is another who played for Wolves and had a brief spell with Cambridge later in his career. Venus joined the Molineux side for £40,000 from Leicester in March 1988, playing in 338 games and scoring 10 goals over his 9-year career with them. August '97 saw the end of Venus' association with Wolverhampton as he moved to Ipswich Town for £150,000. 16 goals in 184 games for the Suffolk side followed over the next six seasons. At the end of the 2002/03 season he was told that his contract wouldn't be renewed by Ipswich and he subsequently signed for Cambridge United for the season 2003/04.

Cambridge struggled that season and matters were only made worse with the sale of Dave Kitson in December for an initial £150,000, a fee that angered al Cambridge fans. Things were getting strained off the pitch as well and John Taylor and Mark Venus had a well publicised falling out, which led to Venus spending the rest of the season out on loan at Dagenham.

Venus left the U's the following summer to link up with former Ipswich Town team mate Tony Mowbray as his assistant at Hibs in Scotland. Mark is now the Assistant Manager of West Bromwich Albion, having followed Mowbray to the Hawthorns in October 2006.

Part 2 follows on Tuesday.

Neal Suckling

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