Welcome to this week's Off the Ball, which can't wait to see the Dons beaten in Cambridge!
Patience is a virtue
It didn't take long for the knives to come out after the U's disappointing start to the season. The fine form of last season's final games was quickly forgotten as, without several top players, we slumped to the foot of the table, prompting calls for Herve's dismissal.
However, it's worth looking at the record of another manager whose head was once demanded by his team's supporters - and they were within 45 minutes of getting it.
In this manager's first season, his club finished 11th - ok, but nothing to write home. True, they came second the following season, but then the wheels came off.
A third season in charge saw them fall back to 10th, and in the following season they slumped to a lowly 13th - a full 36 points behind the leaders, and just 5 above relegation. After a full four years of his reign, the club's league form had evidently gone backwards.
The club? Manchester United. The manager? Alex Ferguson, who last week reached 1,000 games in charge at Old Trafford.
I always knew he was rubbish.
Top Ten scorelines
Every now and then we do the old High Fidelity bit and come up with a Top Ten. This week we're featuring scorelines - the ten results that have given me the most pleasure over the years. They're not necessarily the greatest matches ever played, but games that have given me particular satisfaction (and if you're wondering why England 4 West Germany 2 isn't there, it's because I'm too young to have remembered it!).
So in no particular order, here are my all-time top ten results:
1 September 2001 Germany 1 - England 5
Some things simply require no explanation. If the world had ended when the ref blew his final whistle, every English fan would simply have assumed they'd died and gone to heaven.
2 April 1974 Man United 0 - Man City 1
The game that saw ManUre relegated - yes, relegated! What's more, and here's the really funny bit, it was thanks to a goal from one of their own legends, Denis Law! Oh, how we laughed.
3 March 1972 Leeds United 7 - Southampton 0
The famous game when Leeds fans chanted olé as their side played with Southampton like a cat toying mercilessly with a mouse. Saints later moaned that Leeds treated them arrogantly. Well, you shouldn't have been so crap, you big girl's blouses.
4 Forfar 5 - East Fife 4 (or was it Forfar 4 East Fife 5?)
Ok, I've made this one up - it's never actually happened. But it's only a matter of time &
5 November 2002 AS Adema 149 - Stade Olympique L'Emyrne 0
Yes, that's one hundred and forty-nine nil. This really was the score when these two giants of Madagascan football clashed a couple of years ago. What makes the result especially pleasing is that:
a) Losers Stade Olympique were the defending champions
b) all 149 goals were own goals (it's a long story)
c) it was 0-0 at half-time.
6 February 2002 Bristol City 0 v Cambridge United 2
The night Cambridge reached a Cup Final! Against the odds, Cambridge downed the mighty (well, fairly mighty - alright, not exactly mighty but much bigger than us) Bristol City at Ashton Gate to claim a place in the LDV Final - making for a happy trip back down the motorway.
Sadly I missed the final as I was moving house, but since the U's lost 4-1 to Blackpool, perhaps it was just as well.
7 May 1972 Leeds United 1 - Arsenal 0
My boyhood heroes finally got their hands on the FA Cup, in its centenary year at that, despite the fact that our Arsenal-supporting bread delivery man, who loved winding me up on a Saturday morning, had confidently predicted another Gooners' triumph. Never had my Dairylea roll and currant bun tasted so good.
8 November 2004 Cambridge Utd 3 - Rushden and Diamonds 1
Really? Ok, a fine result, but up there with England 5 Germany 1? Well, yes. After a dreadful start to the season, with a relegation fight looming, a ground sale likely and fears for United's existence very real, this game lifted everyone's spirits. After weeks of grim jeers of 'rubbish' and 'boooo', suddenly the Abbey was buzzing. A fine hat-trick from Turner, great singing from the fans, the players clearly up for it and hope springing eternal.
9 May 1992 Sheffield United 2 - Leeds United 3
While ManUre were going down to a 2-0 defeat at Anfield, Leeds were clinching a dramatic 3-2 win at Bramall Lane, enabling them to beat the Mancs to the championship. Later, Eric Cantona told Leeds fans how much he loved them: "I lerv you - et, au revoir, je suis naffing off to le Old Trafford, bye bye suckers".
10 February 2000 Celtic 1 - Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3
In truth, I couldn't have cared less beforehand who won this Scottish Cup match. However, the rank outsiders' victory led to what is surely the greatest newspaper headline ever - 'Super Callie Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious'. Sheer class!
OTB goes into Europe
Among the e-mails in the OTB mailbox this week was one all the way from Spain!
Nick Greenwood is a U's fan suffering the hardship of exile in Barcelona, making him our most far-flung reader to date.
Nick contacted me to remark, quite correctly, that the racism referred to in last week's edition didn't start with Luis Aragones' remarks about Thierry Henry but, sadly, has been around in Spanish football for some time.
Let's hope the Spanish FA can be persuaded to tackle this, perhaps in partnership with the English FA, who have worked hard to tackle racism over here.
In the meantime, as befits a U's fan, Nick eschews the glamour of Barcelona and watches his football at the city's 'other' club, Espanyol - good for you, Nick. Nevertheless, it can't be denied that Barcelona do have a pretty awesome stadium in the Nou Camp. Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to our next item...
Grounds of Appeal
A few weeks ago OTB ran a feature on our ten most liked and most disliked clubs, after which reader Steve Broomfield suggested a similar feature on grounds. So, OTB wants to know which are your favourite or least favourite stadiums.
Reasons can be entirely subjective - perhaps the ground holds particular memories of a Cambridge triumph/defeat, or maybe you once saw a truly outstanding/dreadful match there. It could be because you particularly admire the neo-classical architecture and Bauhaus influences evident in the state-of-the-art, post-modernist, multi-tiered new stand, or maybe it's because they sell a particularly tasty pie.
Whatever the reasons, let me know which grounds you particularly like/dislike and why, and we'll print your top ten choices over Christmas/New Year.
You can e-mail your suggestions to cufcofftheball@aol.com
Neil Cole
If you missed Neil's previous 'Off The Ball' columns, you can find them here
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