...Cambridge United assistant manager Tony Spearing.
U's assistant manager Tony Spearing is delighted to be at Cambridge United and his burning ambition is to get the club back into the Football League.
West Ham fan Tony's playing career got off to a spectacular start when he was a member of Norwich City's FA Youth Cup winning side in 1983, playing in front of 25,000 people in the final against Everton at Goodison Park.
Having broken into and captained the England youth team under Graham Taylor, he played in the final four games of the 1983/84 season and made his top flight debut in May 1984 in a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, announcing his arrival with an own goal: "And it was a fantastic goal too," he grins. "The papers went to town on me for that one!"
The eventful start to his senior career continued with an away game at Coventry, in which he was booked and also accidentally headbutted team-mate John Deehan in a clash of heads - "He had to be carried off and if you look at John Deehan he has a massive scar on his forehead even now" - then another booking at Birmingham, and in his fourth game he broke his leg.
"It was the last game of the season and a full house at Anfield because Liverpool were parading the league trophy, and I broke my leg," Spearo recalls.
Eight months on the sidelines followed as he worked his way back to fitness, and with first team opportunities limited he enjoyed successful loan spells at Stoke City (then in the top flight) and Oxford City, who were challenging at the top of the old Division Two.
"They were both great loan moves and I had a fantastic time, especially the three months at Stoke, but they couldn't afford to sign me because of the price tag Norwich put on me," he adds.
Tony returned to Norwich and established himself in the first team, and by the time Norwich accepted £100,000 for him from Leicester City in July 1988 he had made 82 first team appearances for the Canaries.
"The move came out of the blue and I enjoyed myself at Leicester and played a lot of games there. I always missed Norwich, but I still have a lot of contacts from my time at Leicester and I play for them in the Masters Tournament."
Following 73 league appearances in three seasons, Tony found himself out of favour under new manager Brian Little and he spent a season at Plymouth before joining Peterborough United in 1992, where he spent five seasons until his professional career was ended at the age of 33 by a back injury.
"I had a great time there with Barry Fry, who's still a great mate of mine, and I played against Cambridge a few times too, which were always great games. There's a picture on the wall in the Harris Suite here of Martin Butler curling one in and I'm diving in at his feet."
The infectiously enthusiastic U's No. 2 is rightfully proud of a playing career spent in the top two divisions with six clubs, during which he played approximately 450 league and cup games. A specialist left-back, he has nonetheless played in every position except for right wing and still enjoys the occasional substitute appearance for United's reserves.
He also counts beating Manchester United at Old Trafford and then beating Liverpool at home the following Wednesday when at Norwich as a career highlight: "That wasn't a bad week!"
After Peterborough, Tony joined King's Lynn as a player and spent five years there as player and manager (twice): "I loved it there but expectations got a bit out of hand at the end," he recalls. "But I've been lucky to be well-accepted everywhere I've been."
From King's Lynn he spent a season with AFC Sudbury in which they won the Jewson League and were beaten finalists in the FA Vase in front of 11,000 at West Ham in May 2003, and spent the following season with Great Yarmouth, playing and helping to bring their young players along, before a brief spell with Wisbech Town.
"On Monday night I was sub for us at Mildenhall so at 42 I'm still playing and still loving it," Spearo adds. "I do it to keep fit and when things like the Masters come along you don't want to let yourself down on the TV. Leicester won that and we're now into Europe with the finals on the 1st of May against Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Ajax."
Given his obvious passion for the game, it's clear that it was impossible to resist the call from Rob Newman to help at Cambridge United last summer when Newman found himself caretaker manager of a club in administration and newly relegated to the Conference.
Although Tony and his family were poised to move to Florida for him to manage a team there, those plans changed as he threw himself into the challenge at Cambridge United.
"I've known Rob for quite a few years although we never played in the same side, but we met up for charity games and we just hit it off and when the call came out of the blue last summer to help him out I thought it would be for a month or so.
"The house was up for sale and we were going to Florida, but I've been here ever since and I'm loving it. It's the best job in the world.
"I love working with the lads, they're a great bunch and they keep me young at heart, but most of all I love being involved in professional football. It's something that you can't take out of someone who's been involved in the game.
"I was a professional footballer for 17 years and I would probably have carried on for another three but my back gave way and I had to stop, so to get the opportunity to be involved again was too good to miss and I owe Rob big time."
Asked if there are any regrets about not going to Florida, he smiles, "My wife and kids remind me now and again when I come home and kick the dog but I really want to carry on with this job. I love it and I want to do really well.
"We both do. We've got the same ambitions and Cambridge United is a massive part of that."
Tony also gave an insight into the way the management and players work together, and how it is important to keep an element of fun in the serious business of training.
"They work massively hard. There is heavy banter at the right times but the downside of Cambridge United at the moment is that we have to find our feet again after the turbulence of the last year or so, and it's down to Rob and me to start it all again, and to do that we have to have a tight knit bunch and keep a special relationship with the players.
"They understand that it's just me and Rob and we have to do everything now and it really is tough, so we've got to be on each other's side and just get through this season and start building for the next couple of years."
Tony also shared his thoughts on how his relationship with Rob Newman works and how they complement each other, saying, "I'll never tell Rob a lie. I'll tell him how I see it. He's the boss and he makes the final decisions, and I'm there to give him another insight and another angle on things.
"I try my best to take the pressure off him by dealing with some of the phone calls and sorting out the players in the morning, those sort of things, so he can get on with his football day and I just sweep up around him basically.
"We're good mates and we do work well together, but I think he probably respects me because I tell him how it is and what I think and he can bounce his ideas off me.
"I don't think he saw at the start of the season how things were going to pan out," he adds. "With Ricky Duncan and Luke Hobbs going to Southend and then the youth team going it's been really difficult.
"Maybe some of the supporters haven't really understood that although only eleven players are on the pitch, we have to look after and manage 25-27 players. With just the two of us to sort out training pitches and everything else it's extremely hard work, and when we leave the training ground we don't go home, we go and watch games and the days are sometimes long and tiring, but you have to put the time in if you want to see a reward at the end.
"Because we haven't got the financial clout that other teams have got, we have to work harder off the pitch. Some clubs can buy their way out of trouble but we can't so we have to work our way out of trouble, and that's what we're doing."
Tony also revealed that it is hard to attract players to the club in its current financial situation, saying: "We're always making notes of players we like but the hardest thing to deal with in the wage demands. Some of the players in the Conference are on silly money - and good luck to them if they are - but I don't know how the clubs can afford it.
"You look at us and we have great support and we get great gates but we're not currently in that league where we can go out and spend a fortune on a player. We understand that, and we work within those rules and get on with doing the best job we can."
So how do they attract players to the Abbey Stadium?
"Well, it's a big club. Cambridge United has got a great name and everyone in football knows the club, so that's a big help. If people want to come here just for the money then we set that situation out from the start," he adds, "but we tell them we're a club heading in the right direction and if they want to be part of it then now is the time to get on board.
"And the good thing about this club is the people. The supporters, and all the staff, from the ground staff to the people in the office, they get on really well and work really, really hard."
Closing with his thoughts on the immediate future for the U's, Tony reveals his burning ambition to get the club back into the league.
"I'm a West Ham fan but I love to watch Arsenal play - the way they knock it about and play - and everybody wants to play great football, but I want to find a recipe where we play to win," he says.
"I'm desperate to get us out of the Conference and if that means we have to find a different way to play to achieve that then I see nothing wrong with that because this club deserves to be in the Football League and that's our goal and that's where we will definitely end up."
Andrea Thrussell
This is an extended version of the interview first printed in the programme for the match against Southport on 18th February, 2006.
Previous Features:
Terry Baker
Paul Barry
Rob Newman
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