The third and final part of Chris Vessey's introduction to the clubs we will meet this season in the Blue Square Premier.
Salisbury City
Another debutant at this level, Salisbury clinched Conference South promotion via the play-offs after defeating Braintree 1-0 at Stevenage's Broadhall Way. This success followed on from a great FA Cup run which saw the Whites take Nottingham Forest to a money-spinning replay at the City Ground.
The main man for Salisbury City is young Matt Tubbs, who almost signed for Leicester City before penning a three year deal at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium. He became Salisbury's first time full professional after netting 88 goals in 158 appearances in just four years, and considering he's only 22, he has a great future ahead of him. City are managed by Nick Holmes, who is ably assisted by former Southampton midfielder Tommy Widdrington.
Holmes has retained massive faith in his squad who won promotion, making only three pre-season signing, and 'keeper James Bittner, ex-Hartlepool midfielder Darrell Clarke and Bristol Rovers defender Ollie Barnes are the only arrivees. There is always one promoted side who always does quite well, surprising a number of the 'big boys' along the way, and Salisbury could fit that bill.
Financially secure and committing the majority of their squad to full time contracts, they have the ability to defeat Blue Square Premier sides. Last season in cup outings, they comfortably beat the likes of Woking, Southport and Kettering, proving they can mix it with the best. Although most City fans will take survival in their first season, many have a sneaking suspicion the club harbour ambitions a little higher than that.
Stafford Rangers
Phil Robinson has been one of the quieter managers this summer, retaining almost all of last season's squad and only adding a couple of players to his armoury.
Incoming were ex-Cambridge loanee Chris Flynn (pictured) , who impressed during his short stay at the Abbey last season, and Stafford also permanently signed Flynn's former Crewe team-mate Richard Sutton, who had been on loan at Marston Road almost all of last season.
Stafford's campaign last season went quite well by their standards, despite flirting with relegation once too often. A great start saw them elevated into the play-off places early doors but that door soon slammed shut after a winless run of 10 games. As one of the promoted teams and still part-time, the focus was on safety and they managed that with a game to spare, a quite good finish considering Rangers were the bookies' favourites for the drop.
Still spearheading the frontline is 42-year-old striker Paul Grayson, who finished Stafford's top scorer last season and swept the player-of-the-year awards. Manager Phil Robinson recently declared him as still the fittest member of the squad. To make his achievements even more admirable, Grayson also combines playing for Stafford with working at a double glazing factory in Derby, commuting from his home in Chesterfield. The former Cheltenham ace was voted as the clubs greatest ever legend after spearheading their promotion charge some years ago.
At the time of writing Stafford are still on the lookout for more players as two of last season's mainstays have defected to new boys Droylsden. Winger Robin Gibson and midfielder Ged Murphy both upped sticks to the Butchers Arms and as both were vital players for Stafford, Robinson would do well to replace either player with ones of a better quality. It should be the same objective for Stafford this season - survival. Should Stafford have hit the 55 point mark come May I doubt there will be too many dissenting voices in Staffordshire.
Stevenage Borough
Surely this is the season Stevenage Borough realise their potential and reach the Football League? For the last few years the sounds coming from Broadhall Way have been about positivity and promotion, yet when it came to the crunch, they rarely delivered. Only Graham Westley came close for Boro', losing out in the play-off-final against Carlisle two seasons ago, after a dispute with the chairman he left, leaving the vacant hot-seat ready for former Grays manager Mark Stimson.
Last season Stimson guided Boro' to 8th, some eight points behind the play-offs. The reason for this failure was the awful start they made to the season.
With so many new signings possibly the gelling period took a lot longer than Stevenage expected, and after Cambridge had defeated them 1-0 at the Abbey in September, Stevenage were second bottom.
After a few harsh words and some head knocking, Stimson rallied his charges and the shooting boots of George Boyd and Steve Morison flung the Hertfordshire side onwards and upwards. Even after the sale of Boyd to Peterborough, the likes of Jon Nurse and Jon Nutter stepped forward, scoring valuable goals at crucial times.
This season's start is massive for Boro', as the bulk of last season's squad has remained for this campaign. Most of the scoring will lie on the shoulders of young Morison, the 22-year-old notching 23 goals in the league last season. He lacked a solid partner as no other Boro' player reached double figures with their efforts, but signings of Tes Bramble from Stockport and Oliver Allen from Barnet will add much needed competition and foil for Morison, who is targetting 25+ this season.
A lot will rely on whether Stevenage can get over their tendency to start poorly, and should they get off to a good one, fully expect to see Stimson's troops fighting for a place in the Football League.
Torquay United
After hearing what happened to Torquay last season, it makes the last few years at the Abbey seem less cringeworthy! A season of four managers, three owners, relegation and a manager being appointed then sacked ten minutes later reads like a comedy football book verging on non-fiction. If I were to list all the goings on at Plainmoor last year this article would become a lot longer than it already is!
Last season must have been the worst in Torquay's history, as relegation spelt an end of 80 years of Football League tradition. A new era begins and everything has had to start from scratch. Gone are the majority of players and managerial staff that took Torquay down, and gone are the boardroom staff who made such disastrous decisions as appointing a Czech manager who had no knowledge of lower league football. To gain a foothold in this new environment, the Gulls have swooped on their big rivals Exeter for assistance, persuading their assistant manager and two best players to defect to Plainmoor.
Paul Buckle couldn't resist the lure of management and it wasn't a hard decision for him to take the job, although he won't be best remembered at St. James' Park now he has joined the 'enemy'. A move which made him more unpopular was the signings of Chris Todd and Lee Phillips, two of Exeter's best players. Since Buckle's appointment in early June he has made no less than eleven signings of players which believe have the ability to see Torquay bounce back to League 2 at the first attempt. 'Keeper Martin Rice also defected from Exeter, Elliott Benyon chose Torquay ahead a host of other clubs and other impressive signings came in the form of Chris Hargreaves (Oxford), Tim Sills (Hereford), Tony Bedeau (Walsall) and Kevin Nicholson (Forest Green). Torquay should do well this season, but will have to be aware that they will be the 'team to beat' having come down from League 2.
Weymouth
If any team tasted more ups and downs than Weymouth did last season, I'd be very surprised to hear it. A season which started as full-time promotion contenders with a seemingly endless pot of money in the bank ended in near administration, a limp mid-table finish, reverting back to part-time and experiencing a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Cambridge.
The team that Garry Hill had formed had run away with the Conference South title with ease and, after a great start, looked like they could win successive promotions and enter the Football League. It was around Christmas when Weymouth's world came crashing down around them, chairman Martyn Harrison admitting the club were in severe debt, had no means to pay it off and would be sacrificing the manager, going part-time and transfer listing every player. From there on in the vultures swooped and picked at Weymouth's star players and the job as manager looked a frightful challenge, but player Jason Tindall took the reins and stopped the freefall of defeats that followed, guiding them to a mid-table placing of 11th.
Any thoughts of promotion this season, to be kind, are out of the question. With the budget slashed by more than half and a squad unrecognisable to the one that romped away with the Conf. South title, survival is paramount. Transfer activity has been limited and the Terras have a paper-thin squad at Tindall's disposal. Jefferson Louis and Marcus Browning have signed up, the latter also acting as a coach. One bright light of hope for Weymouth's fans is the progress of young striker Stuart Beavon. Seven goals in 18 appearances for a struggling side was a plus for Tindall, and the former Didcot Town 22-year-old is firmly Weymouth's 'one to watch'.
Woking
After another disappointing season of lower mid-table mediocrity, Woking made the decision to part with manager Glenn Cockerill after five long years in charge. Whilst Cockerill had done a good job ensuring Woking were an established Blue Square Premier outfit, there was never enough progress to make you think they'd ever challenge for promotion. Neil Smith took over as caretaker-manager until the appointment of Frank Gray was made, who you may remember was sacked by Grays halfway through last season.
Compared to other sides in the league, Woking were quiet off the pitch until this pre-season, when the Club released a statement confirming if the council don't approve work needed to Kingfield, the club would go into administration. There has still been no news from Surrey Council and Woking fans seem to be waiting on tenterhooks for a decision.
Gray has made some interesting signings, if not unknown quantities. Half of the players in Woking's squad have never kicked a ball at Blue Square Premier level and the squad as a whole have an average age of just under 22. Recent signings have included Sutton's Matt Gray, and the double capture of Marvin Morgan and Bradley Quamina from the recently merged Hayes & Yeading F.C. Quite a few of last season's mainstays left the club, such as Craig McAllister, who left for Grays. Neil Smith left for the managerial job at Welling and James Bittner penned a deal at Salisbury City, but former Cambridge players Danny Bunce and Liam Marum have both put pen to paper on two year contracts, as has influential defender Tom Hutchinson. With so many new faces at Kingfield, Woking could be the surprise package of the season, but I wouldn't bet your mortgage on it.
York City
The Minstermen must have been heartbroken at last season's semi-final play-off loss to Morecambe. After battering them in the first leg, Morecambe escaped with a 0-0 draw before winning at Christie Park 2-1, and the rest is history. York had a great season, playing some lovely football too, and only the tendency to slack off at home against relegation threatened sides stopped them from finishing higher than they should have.
One massive blow for Billy McEwan and co. was the loss of Clayton Donaldson on a free transfer. Donaldson was the star of City's frontline, scoring 24 goals in the league, before agreeing to join Hibs.
Scottish clubs are exempt from paying compensation for players under 24 and it must irk York City that they didn't accept the £250,000 offer on the table from big spending Peterborough.
Even though the loss of Donaldson will be detrimental to the side, McEwan believes he has made some astute signings to replace the outgoing striker.
Alex Meechan has signed from Chester, and the Northwich pair Stuart Elliott and Paul Brayson have moved to Yorkshire on year long deals. Brayson could be the astute signing McEwan referred to, as his goal scoring exploits saw him net nearly one goal every two games for Northwich.
Young midfielder Ross Turnbull will provide depth in the midfield, covering for Manny Panther after signing from Hartlepool. Turnbull was unwittingly the reason Bury were famously kicked out of the FA Cup last season, when Bury had accidentally failed to register him for the FA Cup after his loan from the Pool.
York City played some of the best football in the Conference last season, as showed during their 5-0 drubbing of us at the Abbey, and they will be no doubt one of the favourites for promotion. Cambridge will see for themselves how good York City are when they host us on the first day of the season this coming Saturday. It should be some test.
Chris Vessey
[Fixture list]
Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!
You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.
AT070810
