An Audience with DMJ · Web viewAMBER NEWS SPECIAL “GREAT EXPECTATIONS” EDITION August 2016 “A man who does not spend time with his family can never be a real man.” Mario

SPECIAL

“GREAT EXPECTATIONS”

EDITION

August 2016

“A man who does not spend time with his family can never be a real man.”Mario Puzo

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AMBER NEWS

Opening Stutter,

Whisper it quietly but the Habbin cynics are hard at it even pre season. Worried by our moments of fluency against Aston Villa and Ipswich, they recalled sagely that our best and most successful seasons have generally begun in something approaching disarray. “If we begin well and start winning games too easily our season will peter out by Christmas – it always does.”

They needn’t have worried. Our league form has been promisingly dreadful so far, blighted by injuries we were lucky to earn draws at home to Barnet and Carlisle, who were both more aggressive and adventurous than us. It’s good to see that we’ve signed “the new Trevor Benjamin” on a short term loan from Watford even if he isn’t match fit. Once the opposition start to think you’re never going to score, it’s much easier to put your defence under constant pressure and so it has been. By contrast, two heroic performances in the EFL Cup have provided us all with hope that this could indeed be our season.

The comeback against Sheffield Wednesday showed that there is real character in the squad and that George Maris and Conor Newton have the potential to be really influential players. Even Habbinites are convinced that Piero Mingoia is a sensational signing. As for Wolves, after scoring twice against us early in the game, they were battered for the rest of it. United fans will forgive their team anything, and frequently do, if they play with fire and passion like this. More please!

Finally, for this bit, how wonderful to see the reception that Joey Abbs and Shaun Whiter received before the Carlisle game from fans and players alike. Whenever I think of the greed personified by the Premiership and the damage done to our game by the media and their millions, moments like this make me proud to be a Cambridge United supporter and a member of the football family whose values have never changed and who realise that our love of the people’s game is what we all have in common. And what a wonderful gift that is.

An Audience with DMJ….well, not so much an audience or a World Exclusive Interview, more a post-game chat with Dave Matthew-Jones

Are you concerned about our start to the season?

Yes, of course, everyone is disappointed with our results in the League so far. It really hurts, but we have a lot of new players and a side taking time to gel. We’ve signed good players and they need time to settle. We also have players to come back from injury. I am confident that results will come, but we all need to make that happen. It is now that we have to support the team and the players. If the supporters are nervous and critical it will go onto the pitch and vice versa. Winning lifts everyone

Have you heard rumours of a takeover and how confident are you about the stadium redevelopment?

Yes I have heard rumours but no news! Clubs are always looking for new investment but it would have to be right for this club. No doubt Blackburn Rovers’ fans were pleased when the Venky brothers took over. We would never do anything to the detriment of the club or of the fans who support it so well. Grosvenor would not have submitted the stadium plans if they weren’t confident. They have a very good track record of convincing planning authorities of the strength of their case.

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Cambridge needs sporting facilities which are open to everyone and more affordable housing. It’s up to all of us to give our views to the relevant authorities.

What are your priorities at the moment?

We have just appointed new caterers and need to ensure that the partnership works in providing for the supporters. Gates have improved tremendously during recent years but we need to keep working on this area by improving our standards, attracting families and new fans. I am very interested in achieving the Football League Family Excellence award within

the next two years. The Football League is looking at how clubs treat all supporters and during the next month we will be introducing a range of initiatives that will improve what is currently available on-line. Recently supporters mentioned the interaction that Doncaster had achieved via social media and the match day. I met with representatives from there and have taken on board what we need to do. Colchester is another club that is very pro-active in providing a match day experience that is beyond the ninety minutes.

Like all clubs, we need to increase our ‘off-field’ revenues in order to compete with our rivals. The survey we did in the close season (do look at this on the CFU website) exposed a number of problems we are working hard to alleviate. The website is a good place to follow what we try to do and to contribute suggestions or criticisms. CFU have learned a lot from Supporters Direct and from other fans’ groups. We are very receptive to the views of our own fans but also need to know how away fans feel they are treated here.

[At this point I’d like to plug the CFU website and DMJ’s blog in particular as a way of keeping up to date with what CFU are doing and what they have to offer.]

Dave is very keen, as I am, to encourage fans to use and join the Supporters’ Club. It has a friendly atmosphere and recently, players have been visiting prior to games in response to fans’ requests. Supporters in the NRE who are members of the Supporters Club can enjoy a drink and also the toilet facilities at half time. The Coconuts

exhibition is well worth visiting in its own right.

CFU are always seeking to strengthen the connection

between the club and the fan base. It’s worth remembering that CFU membership is as significant as being a season ticket holder in terms of buying priority tickets for ‘glamour ties’.

The club shop, is now stocking an exclusive range of clothing for female supporters. Part of moving with the times means listening carefully to what people are asking for and then trying to provide the ranges being suggested. There will be further product ranges coming through during the next few months.

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We have also tried to improve the traffic movements at the front car park before and after matches by restricting the times that vehicles come in and leave afterwards. This has been done to ensure the safety of supporters in that area.

Finally, many thanks to those people who donated money for Shaun and Joey during the friendly matches. These raised over £1000. Please also support the family day involving Cambridge City, Soham, Fulbourn and Newmarket on October 9th starting at 1pm. We are facilitating this event.

We must also ensure we continue to support Simon Dobbin and his family. Stuart Wood is in regular contact with the family. There is still a match against Southend being planned. Unfortunately, we could not arrange it before the current season started, both clubs are keen for it to take place as soon as possible.

STADIUM RE-DEVELOPMENT

What is happening?

Two planning applications have been submitted: one for a Sporting Village and residential homes and the other for redevelopment of the Abbey Stadium. Both applications have been submitted by Grosvenor, the current landlords of the Abbey Stadium.

How does this affect us?

The applications being approved are vital in securing the long-term future of Cambridge United and enhancing the work we do in the community. The Sporting Village will also benefit the local community with much needed sporting facilities and affordable housing. The Sporting Village will be the home for Cambridge United Youth Development and enable the Abbey Stadium to be redeveloped. The Abbey Stadium redevelopment will go towards securing the future of the club by providing non-matchday revenue streams. It will also provide a platform for Cambridge United to further be a part of the community and providing sport provision for more children in the city and surrounding areas.

Why is there opposition to the application?

The proposals are for the Sporting Village to be built on Green Belt land. There are also concerns over increased traffic and strain on local services.

How can I help support the application?

The South Cambridgeshire District Council website has an option to comment on each application. By submitting positive feedback in support of the proposals this could sway the decision in favour of the application being successful. You could also ask friends, family and other local residents to do the same.

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What sort of feedback should I give?

You are of course free to give your personal opinion. If you are in favour though, and more specifically want to support the proposals on behalf of Cambridge United, we'd suggest you do not mention Cambridge United specifically. Instead mention the lack of sporting facilities in the area and personally how you, friends and family would potentially make use of these. You could also mention the lack of affordable housing available in the area and how this will help. We'd also suggest not directing anything towards those who are in support of rejecting the application, instead mention the positive points of approving it.

Where can I submit feedback?

Follow these links for the respective applications:Sporting Village - tinyurl.com/sportvillageAbbey Stadium Redevelopment - tinyurl.com/h8tpp7sThen click on "Comment on this application" (last link in the first box of text on the page)

Laying the bricks

Mike Barnes is involved in many forms of journalism, is an avid fan of football in Spain and Latvia (amongst others places) and helps to provide commentary for partially sighted fans helping to make football accessible to all:

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are promotion-winning teams... but where are the goals going to come from?

The 2016/17 campaign is still in its early stages as Cambridge United embark on the third season of their current spell in what the marketing and branding people (yes, really) are now calling the English Football League.

The Cambs Glass Stadium will always be the Abbey and, while League Two sounds more elevated than the fourth division, United fans pretty well know their place in the grand scheme of things, having escaped from the purgatory of the Conference, or Hades, as I prefer to call it.

Regardless of the level or the terminology, the aim remains the same – build a team capable of winning a majority of their games, progress steadily up the table and, by the time April comes around, be in contention for promotion or at worst a place in the play-off mix.

With the 2016/17 season in its infancy, and having narrowly avoided both “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” and the dreaded “there or thereabouts” in these opening paragraphs, let’s consider what we have seen already from the new season’s opening games.

United and their fans have experienced rather more lows than highs in these few short weeks. Paradoxically, we might already have seen the goal of the season, but the present mood is one of edginess and dissatisfaction, tinged with the fear that the campaign might already be morphing into the shape of a pear.

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United’s 1-1 draw with Barnet on a hot and sunny opening day at the Abbey was disappointing, but in the context of a game they could easily have lost against a side that upped their performance with a string of attacking second-half substitutions, a hard-earned point was ultimately a worthy reward.

For such a diminutive man, Piero Mingoia has stood head and shoulders above the rest as the star summer signing for United. His goal against Barnet capped a thrilling display of pacey runs and incisive crosses that excited the Abbey crowd, but turned out to be just a rehearsal for the absolute screamer he hit against Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup (as it will forever be known).

As the U’s were bracing themselves to exit the competition after a largely flat and uninspiring 90 minutes, Mingoia demonstrated the folly of fans who leave the stadium early as he cut in from the right and fired in a long-range shot with his left (wrong) foot into the net via the underside of the crossbar in stoppage-time. Mediocrity turned instantly to mayhem.

I’m going to gloss over the hours of my life spent travelling to, enduring and returning from two dreadful away displays by Derry’s men in the space of four days at Colchester and Doncaster. It was painful enough to witness these 180 minutes of total ineptitude without having to relive the two defeats in print.

I will however comment that the Essex and South Yorkshire sides both enjoy the attractive facilities and wide open spaces of a modern out-of-town stadium location that might well represent the future of the beautiful game at our level. For United fans, however, both performances injected offered a chilling reminder of the recent past and a glimpse of what a return to the Conference might mean.

Back at the Abbey, United took just their second point of the season against Carlisle, despite being second best to the Cumbrians for much of the game. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are

promotion-winning teams, but there was much to concern U’s fans both on and off the pitch. If Derry is genuinely building a side capable of challenging for honours, he will need higher-quality bricks and better mortar to hold them together.

A still inexperienced manager, Derry may also find it somewhat career-limiting to aim overt criticism in the media at those who employ him and make decisions about how the club is run. Experienced or not, and regardless of what he says, he will ultimately be judged by results. It is early days, but there are already big questions from the fans. “Where are the goals going to come from?” is perhaps the most urgent.

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TOM YOUNGS 100 YEARS OF COCONUTS

Another regular contributor is William Arnold, a fan based in China for some years now. I’d like to take the opportunity to urge fans to buy Tom Youngs’ book. Not only did Tom score some wonderful goals for us (including one which stuck in the Stanchion at Scunthorpe) but his discussion of how a professional sportsman adjusts to serious illness with dignity and courage is inspirational. And he writes as well as he used to play:

On Saturday 6th August I was delighted to attend the event organised by ‘100 Years’ of Coconuts’ and hosted by Pat Morgan whom I had met prior to the game. Pat introduced Tom to the packed Marvin’s Bar and started the questions. Tom explained a little bit about his multiple sclerosis diagnosis and then proceeded to answer the many questions from the audience. He answered the questions with great honesty, intelligence, humour and eloquence and, amongst other matters, discussed the best players he had played with at Cambridge, the merits of the managers Roy McFarland, John Beck and John Taylor, his high regard for the Cambridge supporters and some great playing memories, at times prompted from supporters’ own memories. He also discussed his new job with Greene King, his managerial role at Mildenhall, his journalism work and studies and his family life. My copy of the book was purchased and, as an avid reader of sports material, I started to read during my train journey home from the ground. Many of the views and comments from his talk are reiterated in the book but it contains much more and I have enjoyed reading about his time in the youth set up, working with coaches such as Gary Johnson and playing with his son Lee (now a league manager in his own right). There are also excellent comments about different coaching methods, contrasting attitudes to training and some excellent advice to talented young sportsman which are probably relevant to all sports. Tom also writes about some of his role models such as Gary Lineker and Teddy Sheringham, who he watched and read about to gain further knowledge. The Cambridge United playing memories will also be of great interest to any fan of the club. He also writes very well about subjects such as different playing styles, the importance of good sportsmanship, financial matters, management methods, the impact of injury, the importance of luck and also some of the famous players such as John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Jermaine Defoe who he has played against. Of particular interest to me is how he maintains levels of fitness now he’s retired from regular football. As a Cambridge United supporter who has also read many sports books over many years I may be slightly biased but I would recommend it, not only to any United supporter but also to a much wider audience and say it is without doubt one of the very best sports books I have ever read.

WILLIAM ARNOLD AUGUST 2016

If you would like to purchase a copy of Tom’s book, you can use the following link. All moneys raised are going to Tom.

cambridgefansunited.org/store/ c4/Books.html

WEMBERLEE!! FOR THE THIRD TIME

Neil Hudson is another regular contributor whose article on the Wembley final against Torquay conjured up unhappy memories.

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Their centre forward committed a dreadful assault on Wayne Hatswell after ten minutes. Had he been sent off, as he should have been, the day would have been different. We had been so good all season:

...excited to see that British Rail (or whatever they call themselves now) had decided to stop at Wembley Station. Down the High Street a bar declared itself: “Exeter Fans Only”. I had no idea passions ran so high.

Anyhow, the next year my brother, who was living in Birmingham, decided to come along to see the Torquay game with me. Now I am very good at organising things (he said modestly). I got the tickets by 'phone. The agency said “you only live down the road” (they were based in CMK). I got the train tickets on the Thursday morning. Everything set....real life is stranger than fiction.

My brother turned up in his car and I directed him to the station. We parked and he said “I'll go and get a ticket”. Parking was free at the weekends. This was not Cambridge and they encouraged people to come here on a Sunday for free. We checked the platform number in the main foyer,

asked the man at the turnstiles, and looked at the little screen on the platform. Nothing could go wrong. A small crowd gathered and we saw a train stop two lines across the way. People got out and no-one got on. The train left the station. We all marched back upstairs.

“It's not our fault, the screens are done at Euston. Here's a complaint leaflet. There'll be another train along in an hour” Which was wrong because there are at least two from MK to London every hour, even on a Sunday. Some bloke was playing merry hell because he was going to miss his flight. So we waited on a new platform. The train came to a stop.

Now, I don't mess about. So I went to the man in charge. Marched up the platform and knocked on the driver's door. He lowered this window, I don't think anyone had done this before. He looked a bit shocked. I said “Do you know what you're doing? Only the train we were waiting

for stopped across the way, and just cleared off with no-one getting on”.

“I heard about that”.

“Well are you going to Wembley?” He looked sardonically at a note stuck beside his seat. “Yes”.

So we got to Wembley, walked a half a mile down the road, and then had to cross another busy road. No Police, no cones, no crossing, no guidance. When we went to Cardiff, they turned all the lights to red because pedestrians were considered more important.

Now I used to work in a strange place that had a full set of yellow pages, so I went with a bagful of torn up outdated copies. I even handed out handfuls to other people. We were all awaiting a grand entrance complete with a yellow blizzard. “Please welcome The Two Teams, Cambridge and Torquay” Fireworks. Loud music. A welcome that the players would have never seen before and probably never would again.

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Only the players did not come out. The most famous football ground in the World and they did not know what was going on. My suspicions were aroused earlier when I asked for a glass of red wine in the bar. They did not have any. At the Abbey they would have said, “Err.. I'll just nip out the back. I think we've got a bottle left from last Christmas”.

I knew we were not going to win. I had never heard of our goal keeper. There is nothing sadder than walking back to the station listening to the other side's fans celebrating inside the ground. Coming back with British Rail, remember this is the West Coast Main, the major line in the UK, the average speed was about 20 mph. We stopped at every rabbit hole. I could have cycled home quicker. They also had a recorded message announcing each station, only they were one out all the time: “Hemel Hempstead.” No, it's Berkhamstead. “Tring.” No, it's Cheddington. Can you imagine “Heathrow.” No, it's Dublin!

I never went to Wembley in 2014. The legs have given up. If I ever found my seat, I may never have got up again. Worse things happen at sea!

NEIL HUDSON

PS. As I write this, it is the 50th anniversary of England winning the World Cup. It will never happen again. This lot cannot be bothered. Wales could. I supported Iceland. The U's could have beaten them, or would have died trying. Yes, you get millions a year and swagger into the ground with your headphones on, thinking you are very important for some reason. You would never be employed anywhere else. But you think you are so superior.

NEIL HUDSON

Rough Copy

Pat Morgan might have listed all the fine products available to traditionalists of a certain age, including polo shirts and sweatshirts featuring the Coconuts logo (familiar to all readers of the Blue ‘Un) and bench coats with our old badge – or almost anything which your ingenuity could devise. But he didn’t. Instead he concentrates, quite rightly, on the writing talents of Andrew Bennett whose

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characteristic and excellent match reports can now be read on Facebook. United have many highly talented fans. Andrew is one of them:

You want the good news or the bad news? The bad news is that you’ll have to wait until October to get your hands on ‘Newmarket Road Roughs’, the first volume in ‘Celery & Coconuts’, Andrew Bennett’s brilliant and exhaustive series on the history of our club. But there’s good news aplenty: you’ll pay only £14.99 for this essential piece of reading (if you pick up your order at the CFU caravan, that is – p&p will be extra); you can place your order now, immediately, this instant; the book is a quality publication, produced by people who should know what they’re doing; and it’s the ideal Christmas gift for the U in your life.

For 100 Years of Coconuts’ first excursion into print publishing (under the Lovely Bunch imprint), Andrew has come up with a rollicking good read, long on detail and chock-full of the stories of the men and women who cared for Abbey United as it rose from the back streets of Barnwell to the verge of the big time in 1951.

Why stop in that year? It’s a natural break. That was when the club changed its name to Cambridge United and, having laid the foundations of the rapid development that was to follow with the formation of a limited company, confirmed that the future of football in the city lay in the professional sphere. You could say 1951 was the year the goalposts were moved.

A football club is only as good as its people, and we’ve been lucky to have had some amazing folk working their socks off, on and off the pitch, at United. They’re all here: Rev Walter Warr, George

Alsop, Harvey Cornwell, Wally Wilson, Henry Clement Francis, Frank Pettit, Russell Crane … the list is a long one. In the engaging style familiar from his match reports and programme contributions, Andrew does justice to each and every one. In addition, he supplies a wealth of factual and statistical information that no true U’s fan should be without. To pre-order your copy of Newmarket Road Roughs visit cambridgefansunited.org/store/c4/Books.html. You can choose between collection at the CFU outlet on a match day (free), normal postal delivery (£2.99) and Royal Mail special delivery £5.99. You may also place your order at the caravan, where you can pay by cash or cheque.

Happy reading! Enjoy Newmarket Road Roughs in the knowledge that it’s the start of something very big indeed.

…..and finally….My addiction to the U’s began in 1967 and it’s possible that my favourite team was the one which took us into the league in 1970. One of our best midfielders of that time was Mel Stack who sadly passed away last month. He was endlessly energetic and determined and very popular in the Cambridge area as a publican and in retirement. He will be missed. Like DMJ, I am always interested to hear the opinions of others. We have a large and varied fan base but we don’t always hear from all of it. If you have views about Cambridge United or football related matters, let us all get the benefit.

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Enjoy the season!

Make a difference and join CFU.Your opinions and contributions are always

gratefully received. [email protected][Deadline for next newsletter-Sunday 25th

September]United in Endeavour

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