Jez George's final blog for the Walk for Change

Having thought the last leg of the Walk was going to be a stroll from the Emirates to Wembley I should have known different! With the London traffic I didn't arrive at my start point until 8.15am and with Sky Sports News agreeing to film me arriving it meant I had to reach Wembley by 10.15am. Apparently, there was some Italian guy doing a press conference on Sky at 11am that pushed my arrival time forward. I caught his name…I think it was Fabio something! Therefore, I did what seemed the impossible a few days earlier when my left shin was in constant pain, and ran a good proportion of the 9.5 miles.

As has been the case throughout the Walk, and completely out of character to my usual timekeeping, I arrived on time. It was hilarious to see Liam Hughes and Jack Eades sprinting down Wembley Way as I was doing my Sky Sports News interview so they would reach the Bobby Moore statue in time. They underestimated the London traffic even more than me.

When I finally completed the last of my 415 miles it was great to be greeted by a welcoming committee of Paul Barry, Gareth and Lisa Baldwin, Martin Ling, Nolan Keeley, Marc Tracy, James Wynne, Rory McAuley, and the aforementioned duo. Sir Trevor Brooking was receptive to our cause and shared our frustration in this situation not having already been resolved. He publicly spoke out a few years previously and was quickly relieved of all youth development responsibilities by the FA. Sir Trevor kindly spoke to Sky Sports News and reiterated the need for change and encouraged the Premier League to address this matter urgently.

The end came with mixed emotions and having lived in a bubble for almost three weeks where everything was geared to either walking or publicising the campaign it was a little strange and slightly surreal to come back to Cambridge. That said, the afternoon was crazy in finalising the arrangements for the evening, and meeting our new intake of scholars and their parents.

The evening couldn't have gone better and I was overwhelmed by the reception I received and the turnout of fans. The welcome will live long in my memory and I am very grateful for everyone's kindness and support last night. As I mentioned after the game I did the easy bit - walking and talking. The real heroes and heroines are the team of people behind the scenes who made this happen and supported me throughout. They all know who they are and whether they spent endless hours or a few minutes, drove for a week or a day, walked a marathon or a mile, gave £5,000 or a few pennies and to our magnificent fans who attended last night, I am truly grateful.

We have got an amazing youth scheme thanks to the hard work and dedication of a hugely talented staff and it is something worth fighting to keep. You have all seen players who have graduated from the scholarship scheme into the first team over the last four years but I promise you the talent in our younger age groups means that Cambridge United will be producing home-grown players for many years to come.

Thanks for reading over the last three weeks.

Jez

Please sign the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/pff/petition.html

You can help Jez reach his £75,000 target through the following methods:

Donate online via the Cambridge Fans United website.

Donate in person by dropping your donation in to the Ticket Office.

Donate alongside your Season Ticket application by completing the section at the bottom of the downloadable Season Ticket Form 2010/11

 For more information regarding the Walk for Change please visit www.protectfootballsfuture.co.uk, and sign the online petition.

If you wish to sponsor Jez please visit www.cambridgefansunited.org or simply drop your donation into the offices.

You can follow Jez's progress on Facebook and Twitter for updates regarding the PFF campaign.
 

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