The club, which was formed in 1912 as Abbey United, played on Midsummer Common before the First World War.

After the war, matches were played on Stourbridge Common and this was the club's home ground when it played its first competitive matches as a member of Cambs League Division Three. The first competitive home match was a 12-0 win over Chesterton Rovers 2nd XI on September 10th, 1921.

The club's headquarters at this time were at the Mission Hut in River Lane, so home match days saw the goalposts and other match day paraphernalia carried alongside the river to the pitch.

Abbey United were promoted to Division One of the Cambs League at the end of the 1922/23 season and the Club celebrated with a move to a new ground at Station Farm, Barnwell. This land, which was hired from Mr Bert Rayment, was just off Newmarket Road and because of the furrows that ran the length of the pitch, was known locally as the 'Celery Trenches'.

The first match on the new ground was on September 8th 1923 when Abbey United beat Histon Institute 1-0 in Cambs League Division One.

With the move of ground, the club also changed its HQ to the 'Dog & Pheasant' public house on Newmarket Road. Mr Taverner, whose sons Fred and Charlie both played for United, kept the pub. Once again the goalposts were stored there and brought along the road on match days. The pub also served as the away team dressing room before the match.

* The Celery Trenches are now part of the Whitehill Road housing estate, close to the shop by the corner of Elfleda Road.

By the start of the 1930s, the Celery Trenches were beginning to hold Abbey United back. The Cambs FA declared that the uneven surface and lack of facilities made the ground unsuitable for Cambs League Division One football and after playing the first match of the 1930/31 season at the Trenches, United set up home on Parker's Piece in the middle of Cambridge.

The move to public land was neither popular nor successful. A number of key players left and the club suffered its first relegation at the end of the season.

The turning point in the club's history came in the summer of 1931 when Abbey United President Henry Clement Francis - a Cambridge solicitor - acquired land at the back of Mr Sindall's old works (subsequently the Corona works). He made the club two offers; either the whole parcel of land he had acquired, or a smaller area on which he would erect a grandstand for between 300 and 400 spectators.

The Officers of the club decided on the second option and the Vice-President, Mr R.J. Wadsworth was made responsible for the erection of dressing rooms opposite the Grandstand, to be ready the following year.

While the pitch was being levelled, the club were allowed to return to the Celery Trenches for one final season.

Situated in Newmarket Road, close to the former pitch, the new ground was officially opened on August 31st 1932 with a 2-0 win in a friendly match against the University Press. With Club President Major Francis out of town on business, Mr Wadsworth, accompanied by Mrs K.R.J. Saxon - the daughter of Major Francis - performed the opening ceremony.

This new ground is the site of the Abbey Stadium, but the only entrance was via a path from Newmarket Road. This ran beside the Corona Works to the site of the current 'Gate 01' behind the current uncovered area of terracing at the Newmarket Road end of the ground. Just inside the entrance was a wooden hut that served as the tea bar. Run for many years by 'Hubby' and Dot Spicer, it sold tea at 1d a cup.

The first season at the Abbey Ground was played with just a fence surrounding the ground, but the new wooden grandstand was completed in early 1934. This was on the site of the current main stand, although it was only about half the length of the current stand. It was officially opened on March 10th, 1934 and Abbey United celebrated by beating Gamlingay 1-0 in the Cambs League Premier Division.

The pitch was kept well trimmed by 'Bowler' Atkins' nanny goats, which he kept under the new stand.

Shortly after opening the new ground, the club took the first steps in solving another of their facilities problems with a 'tin hut' being built on the side of the ground now occupied by the Habbin Stand. This was the dressing room area with a small, bucket-filled bath in both the home and away dressing rooms. In between the two was the Referee's dressing room, which was little bigger than a broom cupboard and therefore had no bath. It was common practice for the officials to change at home and wear a coat over their kit when arriving and leaving the ground. The majority of the Abbey United players also adopted this practice.

Within a few seasons, the centre of the 'tin hut' was knocked out and a new, square, communal bath was put in with access from each dressing room.

The 1947/48 season saw the club in the United Counties League and in December 1947 a start was made on banking at the Newmarket Road end of the ground.

In May 1949, the club became a limited company, and they acquired the freehold to the ground and grandstand. Work began on building concrete terracing behind the Newmarket Road goal in 1949 with Jack Branch overseeing the work.

1951 saw the newly renamed Cambridge United complete the construction of the Supporters Club clubhouse and canteen. Once it was finished, in time for the start of the 1951/52 season, volunteers brought concrete slabs from the Atlas works in Coldhams Lane to continue the process of paving the west and south ends of the ground beginning.

The work on the terracing was carried out by supporters, and it continued through the next two summers.

Facilities were further improved in late 1951 with the construction of a bridge over the stream behind the west side of the ground, giving supporters access from Coldhams Common.

In the summer of 1954, terracing - in the form of railway sleepers - was added to the side of the ground now known as the Habbin Stand, and there was a further ground improvement in October that year when contractors put a roof over the Newmarket Road terrace. Other than the addition of crush barriers, this terrace has been virtually unaltered since.

October 21st 1957 saw the first match played at the Abbey under lights when Great Yarmouth Town were beaten 3-0 in a First Round replay of the East Anglian Cup. The floodlights themselves were attached to telegraph poles in the corners of the ground. This arrangement was only temporary and Len Seward donated £400 from his benefit match towards the cost of something a little more permanent.

The new lights were used on November 4th 1957, but severe gales later that evening caused extensive damage to the Newmarket Road roof, putting further demands on the team of volunteers who had just finished moving the dressing rooms to an area near the corner of the current main stand and the Newmarket Road terrace. The exit from which the players ran out can still be seen in the whitewashed block in the north-east corner of the ground, almost facing the current side entrance to the Harris Suite.

The Habbin was the next area to be upgraded when the railway sleepers were replaced by concrete in November 1959, but it wasn't until early 1960 that pay boxes and entrances were added to that side of the ground.

It is worth noting that much of the materials used for construction at this point were 'scrounged' from local firms and that a couple of corners may have been slightly cut. For example, old bedsteads, bikes and bottle tops were used instead of concrete for hardcore in some places, which might explain why the uncovered end of the Habbin Terrace dips in the middle to this day!

The start of the 1960/61 season saw the side terrace completed, but delays in gaining planning approval meant that work couldn't start on the roof until the end of the season. The Supporters' Club raised the money via jackpot tickets and tombola promotions, and initially there was only funding in place to roof the centre section.

The ground was referred to as The Abbey Stadium for the first time in 1961 when a number of redevelopment plans were announced. Various fund-raising initiatives, such as bucket collections, paid for this and new Southern League standard floodlight pylons.

The second stage of the side stand roof was complete in time for the start of the 1962/63 season. That season also saw the Supporters' Club replace the old wooden hut with a current brick structure and the new floodlight pylons erected. The new lights were used for the first time on March 11th 1963, but failed to illuminate a goal with the Southern League premier Division match against Bedford Town ending 0-0.

A giant step forward was taken in the summer of 1964 with the purchase of the 'Old Gardens', a large house next to the Corona Works and between the ground and Newmarket Road. Charlie Peters and George Mace who were the partners in Cambridge Oil Company in Stanley Road owned this property. The acquisition of the property would finally allow the club to have a 'front door' on Newmarket Road.

As the campaign for Football League membership got underway, construction of a steel framework for a new Grandstand on the Elfleda Road side of the ground began in October 1965. This stand ran from the south end of the ground, as it does now, but was only half of its current length. There was terracing to its north, while the concourse between the front of the stand and the pitch was a regular vantage point for many supporters.

Seats in this new stand were used for the first time on February 21st 1966, and United celebrated with a 4-1 win over Romford in the Southern League Premier Division. By this stage the paving at the south end of the ground had been turned into uncovered terracing.

The side terrace was named the Habbin Stand in 1967 in honour of Mr H. Habbin, President of the Supporters Club from its formation in 1947 to 1961. On the other side of the ground, the new main Grandstand, which included new changing rooms, was virtually complete in time for the start of the 1967/68 season. At this point a car park was created in front of the ground - in its current location - the Habbin Stand roof was completed, and crush barriers were added to all terraced areas.

It was in this condition that the stadium joined the Football League in 1970.

A new floodlight system, which produced three times the light of the old one, was used for the first time on August 2nd, 1976 when Dutch Second Division side Dordrecht visited for a pre-season friendly. United ran out 4-2 winners on the night.

The 1970s saw a steady increase in crowd trouble at football matches and the start of segregated areas for home and away supporters. After violence erupted at a Division Three match against Oxford on October 29th 1977, the decision was taken to erect steel fences behind each goal. The first fence, which was in front of the half of the Newmarket Road terrace on the Supporters Club side, was in place for the visit of Lincoln on November 12th. A fence, which ran the length of the south end of the ground and level with the front of the tea bar currently at the south end of the Habbin, was added soon after.

1978 saw the club promoted to the old Second Division and, in preparation for the new challenge, the seating capacity was increased by building seats on the concourse at the front of the main stand. The first portacabin building arrived in the front car park at this time.

A new bridge was built in the Coldhams Common corner of the ground in summer of 1979 and it was ready in time for the visit of Chelsea on September 29th.

The Black and Amber shop and Police box, which had been built at the north end of the Main Stand, were cleared in December 1979 ready for a £210,000 extension to the Grandstand. The contents of the Black and Amber shop were split between the portacabin in the front car park and a new Black and Amber shop sited where the tea bar is now between the home and away section of the Habbin Stand. Mike Heron, who travelled down from his home in Thirsk each home match, ran the shop, which was there for three years.

The extension to the stand would provide an additional 1,600 seats and work began in March 1980, shortly after the financing had been secured thanks to the sale of striker Alan Biley to Derby County for £450,000. The timing was perfect as the steelwork was in place just before the start of a national steel strike!

Work on the stand extension was not complete for pre-season but had finished in time for the first match of the season, a 3-0 win on August 16th 1980 over - ironically - a Derby County side that included Alan Biley.

The summer of 1981 saw a number of changes in and around the Abbey Stadium. A new tarmac car park was laid behind the main stand, 'box-section' crush barriers replaced the old cylinder-style type and, most noticeably, 374 bench seats were added to the Habbin stand slightly to the north of the tea bar. These seats were for visiting fans and, with the fence in front and the seats bolted onto the terrace, the view from the seats was far from perfect.

A second portacabin was added in the front car park in 1985.

A new catering outlet was constructed in the old dressing rooms near the Cut Throat Lane entrance before the start of the 1986/87 season, and improved floodlights were in place in time for the Littlewoods Cup tie against Ipswich Town on October 28th, 1986.

The collection of portacabins grew to its current shape when 'infill' was added in 1988.

The face of the Abbey Stadium was further changed on April 15th 1989 by events that took place 120 miles away. The Hillsborough disaster meant that the fencing-in of supporters was no longer acceptable, and the fences at the Abbey were removed in time for the start of the following season.

It was another 11 years before the next changes started to occur at the Abbey when, after a lengthy campaign, the green light was given for a major redevelopment. The operation began with the club buying a number of houses in Elfleda Road, reducing the size of their gardens and re-selling the properties. The extra area acquired was used to increase the size of the car park behind the main stand.

The first part of the ground to benefit from the redevelopment was the south end, and the increased car parking and associated widening of a 'pinch-point' behind the main stand allowed access to the south end of the ground by cranes and other heavy construction vehicles.

Key to the redevelopment was the purchase and relocation of a number of allotments behind the ground. This had been the main sticking point in the delicate negotiations with the local authorities but, after the club had given specific guarantees, the process began in April 2001.

The south terrace was flattened in May 2001 and, in readiness to re-house visiting fans, the segregation fence in the Habbin Stand was moved to half way and the seats taken out. These seats were sold to St Albans City FC.

The final visitors to stand on the old south terrace were Colchester United on May 1st, 2001.

With the south terrace now gone, a pitch extension was laid and new floodlight bases were constructed in June 2001 to accommodate the planned shift south of the playing area. A giant crane lifted the floodlights into their new positions in August 2001, and a board fence was erected between the pitch and the demolished terracing in time for the August start of the season.

The southern end of the Habbin was refurbished in September 2001 to increase the away capacity and, with drainage and foundation work continuing throughout the year, the entire season was played in front of the yellow wooden boarding at the south end of the ground.

The first part of the steel framework for the new, all-seater south stand was erected on April 29th, 2002 and concrete was added as each 'bay' of steelwork for the stand was completed, as was the framework for the roof. Seats began to be added on June 26th and were all in place by July 2nd.

A further stage of this development was the construction of a new match day control box and medical centre on the south-east corner of the ground. The control centre was equipped with banks of TV monitors viewing every area of the ground, whilst the medical centre was fitted out to Accident & Emergency standards thanks to the acquisition of surplus equipment form the Norwich & Norfolk hospital.

New south turnstiles were added and the stand was ready for use in time for the pre-season matches. However, it was not open to the public until the first match of the season on August 10th, when Darlington were the visitors.

The club had stated that the new stand would be used for home supporters 'as often as possible' and Cambridge United supporters were the first to sit in the stand for this match, and it was not until the visit of Leyton Orient on August 24th 2002 that away fans were able to try out the new facilities.

Despite being in use from August, the stand was not officially opened until the visit of Wrexham on October 5th when the ribbon was cut by Cambridge MP Ann Campbell, Mayor of Cambridge Phillippa Slatter, Abbey Ward Councillor John Durrant and fans from each of the four sides of the ground.

The summer of 2003 saw the next development with the refurbishment of the cladding at the back, sides and roof of the Habbin Stand.

In October 2003 ambitious new plans were unveiled for the redevelopment of the north end of the ground, which would include a new all-seater stand, a hotel and other commercial space, and improved facilities to increase United's off-pitch non-football income.

However, delays in obtaining planning permission and the club's increasing financial difficulties led to the controversial sale-and-leaseback of the ground for £1.9m in November 2004 to Bideawhile, a company partly-owned by director John Howard.

The club was relegated from the Football League and entered administration at the end of that season, and further plans for the stadium are unclear. The club has a 50-year lease on the ground with the option of a further 50 years, and it also has the option to buy back the ground within four years of the sale, but in April 2005 Mr Howard stated that relocation to a purpose-built new stadium is his preferred option.

In January 2006 it was announced that an agreement in principle had been reached to sell the stadium back to Cambridge United. However, after further months of inconclusive talks Mr Howard was asked by the board and majority shareholders to resign from the board of directors in August 2006 due to his conflict of interests as the landlord and a director of his tenant.

From 1st May 2008, a five-year sponsorship deal with a local recruitment company saw the Abbey Stadium retitled as The Trade Recruitment Stadium.

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