Something different this time, as Terry Deane got in touch after reading my recent article detailing how U's fans visit the website from all over the world, to share his own experience of following the U's from afar.

Terry now lives in Australia but he has been following Cambridge United since his Dad took Terry and his brother to their first match at the Abbey in 1976 against Northampton.

Terry takes up the story:

It was packed, we were tucked into a corner under the hoardings and saw next to nothing. The atmosphere was incredible and we left convinced we'd won 2-1 until James Alexander Gordon on Sports Report told us otherwise. We'd lost 1-0. I was excited, confused and felt very hard done by. By no means the last time I'd experience these feelings following the U's.

There followed glorious promotions, two FA Cup quarter finals, a win at Wembley and a near miss to promotion into the Premier League. Of course there were also the relegations, managerial disasters, self serving boardroom shenanigans, and ground and administration nightmares. Never a dull moment.

I discovered the earlier version of the website whilst working in London in 1996. It was an invaluable way of keeping in touch. I'd been in London for 8 years and by this time it was harder to get to the Abbey regularly but all London away games were attended religiously.

Match day became more of a problem in 1997 when I went to work for an advertising agency in Sydney. The website became an ever more important tool to keep up to date with news from the club.

Whilst back during Christmas 1999 to introduce my wife-to-be Alex to the family, I managed to drag her to the United v Cardiff game. It was bitterly cold, she was frozen solid within minutes of the kick off, Cardiff had three men sent off, we missed a penalty and it finished 0-0. She said she'd never experienced anything like it in terms of atmosphere and had managed to pick up some new English swear words too. I thought she was hooked… she wasn't.

I kept in touch over the next eight years by scouring the U's site for the latest news before the opportunity came up to catch a few more live games when we were back at Christmas. My family are all Histon fans so the Boxing Day derby had even more spice than usual! The latest fans look equally as passionate as their 70's and 80's counterparts, and it was fantastic to see United win 1-0.

I also managed to see the Burton game before my Dad, brother and I completed the loop begun in 1976 and headed off to Wolves for the FA Cup 3rd round match. Apart from the final result the whole day was a beautiful football experience from start to finish and watching the Wolves fans applauding and shaking their heads incredulously at our support was almost as emotional as seeing Rendell's penalty to go in. The subsequent celebrations were only matched in my memory by Dion's goal in the FA Cup quarter final at Highbury, roared on by 10,000 fans.

Now back in Sydney again, the website has allowed me to follow all the latest news, good and bad. Many of us all around the world, as well as round the corner, owe a big debt of gratitude to Andrea too for keeping us all informed. Keep up the good work and I hope the next game I watch will be back where we belong in the Football League.

Terry Deane

If you have a story to share about how the website has kept you in touch with Cambridge United, or another contribution it has made to your support of the club, or maybe you're a long-distance fan who follows the action from afar, please drop me a line on the address below and your story could be included in an upcoming programme and website article.

Andrea Thrussell
web@cambridge-united.co.uk

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