Andrew Bennett reviews last season.
May 2010: "No one tier is more important than any other."
Day 11 of Jez's Walk saw him joined by Josh Coulson for a fifteen-mile walk which was cut short so that he could attend CRC's last game of the season at home to Wivenhoe Town. The scholars had had to concede the Ridgeons League title to Needham Market after leading the table for much of the season, and in all probability if eligible players such as McAuley, Marriott and Ives had played every game for them, they would have won it at a canter. But that was never the point of the CRC set-up, and those lads' progress to the first team was its real success story. CRC players had made 91 first-team appearances during the season.
Nonetheless, they beat Wivenhoe 6-0 to finish just one point behind the champions on 87 points, a tremendous achievement. Marriott had still finished as their top scorer on 21 goals and they had enjoyed an unbeaten run of 27 matches between August and March. They were denied promotion, though, as Needham also wished to go up, but were presented with runners-up medals by Martin Ling. For Laurie Walker, it was his last game at the Abbey as he was placed on the 'let go' list.
Back at the Walk, Rory McAuley was Jez's companion for the 26 miles of Day 12. Rory paid tribute: "I don't know how he's able to carry on. Looking at the state of his feet I know I personally couldn't do it. If you ask me if I think he's mad I'd say no, he just has an incredible passion for what he does and a belief in what he's campaigning for and will keep going until the job is done."
Latest message of support came from no less a luminary than Sir Alex Ferguson: "We wish you every success in your plight to fund youth development. Youth development is the future of the game and a vital element. It is admirable what you are trying to achieve and we wish you every success."
First port of call for Day 13 was Rushden's Nene Park, and in the afternoon Jez stopped off to see Diamonds' 2-0 defeat at Oxford in the second leg of their play-off semi-final. The 'other' U's would play York in the final, after their two 1-0 wins over Luton in which the losers' 'supporters' disgraced themselves with some unseemly scenes after the final whistle. Jez finished off the day near Bedford and was invited to Jack Collison's mother's house where had a chat with the former U's youth product who was now doing so well at West Ham.
Jez walked Day 14 with new Centre of Excellence manager Marc Tracy, and they ended up at Luton's Kenilworth Road, but unfortunately they had seen fit to withdraw from the campaign so only the groundsman was there to greet them. The following day he finished ahead of schedule as his battered limbs seemed to have gained a second wind.
CRC youngsters Jack Eades and Liam Hughes were awarded one-year development contracts. Ling advised "They are both slightly behind the players that have already got them, Berry and Hudson, but we feel they can develop next year and I would expect to see a lot of their football being at CRC next year. You never know where their development could take them, but I want them to be ready for the first team at the end of next season."
A query arose as to the distribution of funds by the Abbey Stadium Development Trust, specifically relating to a transfer of funds in May 2008, and at the trustees' request, the Club agreed to engage its auditors to review the Club's expenditure and determine the value thereof which qualified as reimbursable under the terms of the trust.
Day 16 of Jez's Walk saw him reach the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, even running the last mile to ensure he wasn't late for a press call, while back at the Abbey, Stadium Manager Ian Darler celebrated 30 years at the club. The pain returned for Day 17, but now it was just about getting over the finishing line. And at the end of Day 18 he was in sight of his final destination, the Wembley Arch.
That day, Wembley played host to the FA Trophy Final, and there were significant contributions from ex-U's players as Barrow beat Stevenage 2-1 to deny them the non-league 'double' in front of a crowd of little over 21,000. The BSP champions took an early lead via Adam Drury, but David Bridges was dismissed for a violent challenge on Andy Bond on 28. Lee McEvilly came on as a sub with a quarter of an hour to go and five minutes later he equalised for Barrow with a header. The Cumbrians also had a player sent off in stoppage time, Robin Hulbert for an elbow on Charlie Griffin, but with Griffin unable to continue and all of their subs already used, it was ten men against nine during extra time, and Jason Walker struck the winner in the 107th minute. It was a particularly good day for Phil Bolland, whose winner's medal must have helped him to banish the memory of being sent off at Wembley in his last game for the U's a year ago.
The same day, the Abbey played host to Steve Fallon's testimonial, a celebration of 35 years serving Cambridgeshire football. In front of a crowd of a little less than 1,000, a Cambridge United XI beat Steve Fallon's Legends 4-3 with goals from Histon keeper Danny Naisbitt, playing in an outfield role, the great David Crown, a distinctly portly Michael Cook and Wayne Goddard, with Kevin Wilkin, Ian Cambridge and Erkan Okay notching for the Legends.
Fallon played for the United team in a wide midfield role and there were also appearances from an impressively fit Richard Key, Andrew Pincher, Colin Vowden, Andy Duncan, John 'Shaggy' Taylor, Shaun Harrington, Derrick Christie, Andy Beattie, Andy Jeffrey and David Toombs, while the Legends were a combination of ex-Cambridge City and Histon players such as Lance Key, Gary Grogan, Steve Gawthrop, Steve Holden, Antonio Murray, Danny Wright, Neil Andrews, Peter Leete and James Saddington. The only downer was the cold and wet weather, and a rather unnecessary running commentary from someone with a microphone. And a humourless ref who disallowed a Fallon 'goal' for a foul in the build-up!
Back with Jez, a short walk on the Sunday took him to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium where he spread the word to Jim Rosenthal, Bob Wilson, Arsene Wenger, Roy Hodgson and Danny Murphy, amongst others, and enjoyed their hospitality for their 4-0 win over Fulham. And on Monday it was another short hop to Wembley Stadium, although he had to run a fair part of the 9.5 miles to meet a Sky Sports News deadline. A welcome committee at the Bobby Moore Statue included Paul Barry, Gareth and Lisa Baldwin and Sir Trevor Brooking, who kindly reiterated the need for change to the TV cameras and encouraged the Premier League to address the situation urgently.
Then it was back to the Abbey for the All-Stars game, attended by an impressive crowd of 1,865. Not only was it an opportunity to support the Youth cause and thank Jez for his monumental efforts, but it also enabled Martin Ling to reveal who he had so far signed up for next season. And it was done entertainingly theatrically by introducing the players onto the pitch one by one, with another ex-U Graham Daniels as master of ceremonies.
Of the current players who had been offered new deals, Josh Coulson, Kevin Roberts and Simon Brown had signed on the dotted line, and Simon Russell had agreed to join permanently from York City. There were three new signings, two of them coming as no surprise in Danny Wright and Danny Naisbitt from Histon, plus left-back James Jennings from Kettering Town; all of them had inked two-year deals, although a fee may have to be negotiated for Jennings.
The match was between two CUFC sides who could loosely be described as 'United Present' versus 'United Past and Future.' The 'Present' side consisted of Brown, McAuley, Coakley, Hudson, Coulson, Liam Hughes, Jack Eades, Berry, Marriott and Willmott, plus special star guest Dave Kitson. They were up against a mix-and-match side made up of Naisbitt, Jennings, Wright, Russell, Matt Joseph, Warren Goodhind, CRC's Alex Bevan, Lee Philpott, Shane Tudor, Paul Carden and Scott Rendell, with legends Dion Dublin and John Taylor coming on during the first half. Adam Marriott scored a typically classy goal from twenty yards, and Dion equalised on the verge of half-time with a phenomenal, soaring shot from the centre circle which beat a startled Simon Brown all ends up.
The second half was a contest between CRC's younger scholars, bolstered by the considerable experience of Martin Ling and David Crown, against Max Rushden's Soccer AM All-Stars, who had their numbers boosted at various junctures by Messrs Dublin, Taylor, Kitson, Rendell and Tudor. Somehow none of those goal machines managed to get on the scoresheet, and another 1-1 draw ensued.
Jez was given a rapturous hero's welcome before the game and made an impassioned and eloquent speech afterwards to round off an exhausting three weeks. His blog read "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."
Ling introduced us to the new signings: "The three new lads all have experience at this level and are excited about being involved at the Club. Danny Wright is a tall, powerful centre-forward who knows where the goal is and will add some strength to our front line. Danny Naisbitt is a very good keeper for this level and like Wright has had a number of League clubs after him, so I'm happy we've managed to get them both here. With him and Simon Brown at the Club it will see some real healthy competition for that position.
"James Jennings is a versatile player who can operate at left-back or left midfield and was part of a successful team last year at Kettering. They were very keen to hold on to him but he's signed for us and the deal might have to go to tribunal to set the fee. I've signed him predominantly as a left-back but versatility is important to me and he can plug holes in other areas when we have them."
The gaffer continued "Things are starting to take shape, but we're still a way from the squad being finalised. I want to work off a squad of 24 for next season with two players for each position, with the squad to include the six development players. The three lads we're waiting for answers from [Crow, Gleeson and Saah] have until 24th May to make their decision but I'd like to know as soon as possible. I want them with us next season, to be part of what we're building here, but if they choose other avenues there will be other players of quality to replace them if needs be. They've had attractive offers put in front of them and I think it would have to be a big offer or League football that could beat what we're offering them. I can't see any other reason why they'd want to leave as I think they've enjoyed playing for me and they know I want them to be part of the future here."
Crow revealed to the local media that he was still undecided, with (it was said) Colchester, Orient and Luton all interested: "All the speculation that I've signed for Luton isn't true. That's not the case yet and I'm just weighing up my options because I've been talking to a few clubs. Other things have come into the equation, so it will take me a bit more time to make a decision. But I like Cambridge because it's a big club and I'm happy there. The fans have been so good to me and I've done well there this season, so there's always a possibility I may stay. That's why this is a hard decision for me, because I have a few choices in front of me.
I've got to make a decision over the next few days. I'm speaking to my agent and we're just summing everything up at the moment. I don't want to lead clubs on, because it would be unfair for me do that and I don't want to fall out with anyone. I just want to be honest with everyone."
Ling was in playing action again on the Saturday, playing for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire All-Stars in a fundraising match for their Trustline charity. They beat a team of Cambridge City Legends 5-2 at Milton Road, with two of their goals scored by Danny Potter, who played the first half in goal and the second half up front. Ling and Adie Cambridge supplied the ammunition and although his legs might have gone, Ling could still pick out a mean through ball and crossfield pass. Familiar faces such as Fallon, Daniels, Jeffrey and Beattie turned out for City. Potter subsequently signed for Torquay United.
One Cambridge United player still had one match to play this season. And for Courtney Pitt, still technically on loan at York City, it was an unwelcome hat-trick on the Sunday when he took part in his third consecutive losing play-off final, coming off the bench in the Minstermen's 3-1 defeat by Oxford United at Wembley. But it provided a happy farewell to the Conference for Anthony Tonkin, who achieved his goal in achieving a return to the Football League.
Martin Ling provided an update on the squad situation the following week. "My understanding is that both Danny Crow and Dan Gleeson will sign for Luton Town next week. They've both had medicals but they've not announced anything officially as we speak. I am in the process of bringing in a group of five players to the Club. We need a senior centre-half, senior centre-midfielder and a senior centre-forward, to make sure the core of the team is very strong. I'd like that centre-half to be Brian Saah and expect to have an answer from him soon. We will then need another forward to add competition to Marriott, Wright and the senior centre-forward we'll be bringing in. We also need a left-footed winger to give balance to our squad."
Ling got his one of his wishes later in the week as Saah, who had been named in the England C squad for the opening International Challenge Trophy match with Ireland the following week, agreed to sing a new two-year contract despite interest from Oxford United. Ling was delighted: "This is a massive signing for the Football Club. It's important for me that a player of his pedigree has chosen to stay with us when there were other clubs interested in him. I know the boy inside out, having worked with him since the age of 14. He will come in as our Club Captain next year, which will involve duties in and around the training ground. When Paul Carden is not available to us, Brian will also be the team captain."
Ling would not be signing any more players from Histon: "There were a few surprised by us signing Danny Naisbitt, but I think he's a better goalkeeper than Danny Potter. What people have got to get out of their heads, though, is that he and Danny Wright are ex-Histon. They're quality players and we haven't had to spend money in terms of relocation. I feel I've cherry-picked the best two players out of Histon and the rest of the signings we make are definitely not coming from there."
The next day Crow and Gleeson's moves to Luton were confirmed on what was understood to be substantial pay rises. Gleeson explained: "It wasn't an easy decision and it's one that took me a fair while to make, but Luton made me a very good offer and I believe they're set for a big promotion push, or else I wouldn't have left Cambridge. Cambridge is a massive club with a big fanbase and I support them myself, so I wouldn't be leaving if I didn't think this was the right thing for me. I had two other offers, but I was persuaded by Luton, and everything within it seems right. I want to play in the Football League again and I'd have loved to do that with Cambridge United, if I'm honest, and I hope they get back there. I just believe at this moment in time, Luton are better equipped to get back into the Football League."
A familiar face returned to South Cambs when our old friend John Beck was unveiled as the new manager of Histon. He would, apparently, be working with the smallest budget in the league. Erstwhile boss Alan Lewer, who considered he had been promised the job, was consulting his solicitors.
In another change, the Club's kit supply and retail management contracts with Vandanel Sport were terminated with immediate effect. There had been issues experienced by supporters with regard to a lack of choice and availability of merchandise in the Club Shop, and after discussions which did not give the Club the assurances it sought regarding the supply and availability of next season's kit, a clean break was made.
Vandanel's replacements were Italian manufacturers Errea, who agreed to supply playing and training kit for the first team and youth development structure, with home and away designs to be available for the start of the 2010-11 season. The Club Shop was to go back to being managed in-house. Errea's Head of UK Operations, Fabrizio Taddei, said "We are proud to be associated with such a historic and well-regarded club and we are looking forward to building a relationship that, we hope, will take us well beyond the initial two-year agreement."
Some of us couldn't wait to sample their famous Ti-energy nano-technology range and 3D Wear technical underwear…
The coaching staff was also to be revamped, said Ling: "There will be a new coach coming to club from July 1st, but there's still an interview process to go through yet. I just feel Cardy is only half a coach because he also has to concentrate on playing as well, so it means we're half a coach short. Before when he was assistant they still had the third man [Stuart Bimson] to help out.
I think it would allow me to manage a lot better with another person here and it would mean Paul can concentrate on what he has got to do a lot better as well as learning off both me and the other coach. Paul will stay as my assistant and he's fully behind this idea. I want someone who wants to be a coach, I don't want someone who wants to be a manager or a player."
Saah got his first experience of wearing an England shirt, of sorts, on the 22nd at the home of Spartans FC in Edinburgh, playing for an FA Representative XI (represented by the England C side) in a 1-0 win over the East of Scotland League. Manager Paul Fairclough used the match as a warm-up for England's Trophy game with Ireland on the Wednesday, and ex-U Max Porter (Rushden) grabbed the winner two minutes from time.
However, Brian was an unused substitute in Waterford as England grabbed a 2-1 win with goals from Wrexham's Andrew Fleming and Porter again.
Gareth Baldwin, United's commercial consultant, revealed that he had still not resolved the matter of his shareholding in Histon FC: "There's no common ground for me to agree anything with them at the moment, but I'm hopeful things will be resolved in the next six weeks so I can take my place on the board at Cambridge. We're just playing a waiting game at the moment, but it doesn't make a great deal of difference. It hasn't affected my ability to do the job I've done for Cambridge. Without wishing to sound arrogant, I know what I'm doing and I think you can see what's happened since I've not been at Histon. They may want to chuck mud, but they have to take responsibility for their own decisions and you'd struggle to find a good one so far."
The Youth Development cause hit the national media again with the publication of a letter to the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, the Football League chairman, Greg Clarke, and Sir Trevor Brooking as the FA's director of football development, from Dave Kitson, Jack Collison and Curtis Davies. Kitson and Collison's Cambridge United connections are well-known, and Aston Villa's Davies started at Luton. Since Jez's walk, Mansfield Town had asked parents if they would be willing to pay for their children to attend their Centre of Excellence to prevent it from folding, while Wrexham were to consider selling their tenth youngster to a Premier League club in twelve months to cover the running costs of their set-up.
Kitson told The Guardian that he would like to meet with the aforementioned bigwigs to discuss the issue: "I would be more than happy to represent this side of the table. I have got no axe to grind or anything personal to gain. I just think this is a real chance to do some good at a level of football which is often overlooked but has had tremendous success in bringing footballers through over a sustained period of time and to all levels of the footballing pyramid.
"We are not looking for an argument or any public recognition or 'look what I did'. We're looking at it from a point of view that this is where we came from and that the funding problems may have escaped attention of the wider football world. This is a chance to show that we keep English football in order at all levels. No one tier is more important than any other. Yes, one tier may produce more money than the others put together but football is not more important to the community of Manchester than it is to the community in Cambridge."
The newspaper also quoted Jez on the issue of where the additional monies might be found: "My argument is that either Football League clubs need to get a bit less so that some clubs in the Conference that qualify for the funding can get something or are we really saying that there is not half a million pounds spare in the Premier League coffers to spread between six to eight clubs?"
Andrew Bennett
Cambridge United: YOUR CITY - YOUR CLUB
Cambridge United would like to offer a very special thank you to Andrew for this Season Review, and all the Match Reports he does for the Club during the season.
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