U's:0 Hammers XI:0

Last night it felt like Newmarket Road had temporarily transformed into an East London overspill.

Chirpy cockney geezers were everywhere, exchanging pleasantries, swigging lager and slapping one another on the back. I was half expecting to see that the Wrestlers had been replaced by a pie and mash shop, or to come across the pearly king doing the Lambeth walk round the stadium car park.

At least the sizeable visiting contingent, most of whom eschewed the delights of the South Stand to mix with the locals, swelled the crowd to just under 2500. On the pitch, it was very much a second string West Ham line up, with the only familiar faces being ex-U’s Jack’s Collinson and Jeffrey, and Freddie Sears, an 18-year old striker who already has a Premiership goal to his name.

The Brabinator appears to have jettisoned most of the trialists, and named an all killer, no filler(ish) starting line up, with Tonkin being the latest man to don the captains’ armband.

Early on it was the visitors who were making all the running, with Collinson and the excellent Sears particularly prominent. United came into the reckoning more as the match progressed, but neither team was displaying much cutting edge. Collinson should have done better when he shot wide under pressure from Gleeson, while Sears showed his pace by beating Hoyte in a race for the ball on the right, but his cross blocked by the alert Coulson.

Paul Carden was back in the side for the rather useless Hutchinson, and he and Convery provided a solid base for many of United’s attacking forays. A nice move involving Carden and Tonkin saw Willmott play in Beesley for a shot that flew wide. Beesley also hit a free kick from the edge of the area into the wall which took a big deflection and was dealt with fairly easily by Jimmy Walker.

The Pittster picked up an injury in the first half, and had to be replaced by Farrell. It was perhaps this, and the absence of Jardim, that persuaded Brabin to switch to 4-3-3 at half time. Evil and Tom Youngs replaced Beesley and Parkinson, and Youngs was impressive, using the ball well and linking play between midfield and attack.

It was he who played in Willmott for an angled shot that Walker blocked comfortably, and moments later he provided the pass which set up Convery for a blaster that was charged down by the lunging Jordan Spence. The rebound fell to Gleeson, whose cross was almost bulldozed into the net by Evil, who jumped above Walker but saw his header loop over the bar.

Sears continued his one-man assault on the United goal, having a shot deflected away by Hoyte then seeing Tonkin race back to nick the ball off his toe when he advanced into the area again. He came closer still with a shot from just outside the box which beat Potter but kissed the outside of the post. On this showing the boy is going to be a star.

For United, Evil had another cleared off the line, substitute Quinton shot straight at the keeper, and right at the death another replacement, Craig Bussens, spurned a great chance to win the game. A cracking through pass from Youngs put him clear, but he chose to check back rather than go for goal, and the chance was gone. He’ll learn.

All in all it was a bit of a mixed bag from United. The football we’re playing now is very easy on the eye, but the final pass or shot let us down all too often. The defence were much improved, and it’s good to have finally kept a clean sheet, but we’ll need to show a lot more clinical-ness in front of goal if we’re to have a decent season.

Man of the Match: Gavin Hoyte – He never looks like he’s totally in control of his movements, but in the absence of Hatswell big Gav enjoyed a solid, cock-up free, game, making several great interceptions.




Shock of the Match: Courtney’s shorts – Did anyone else notice that he had shunned his normal, billowing, XXL shorts for a normal size pair. And the first game he wears them he goes off injured. Coincidence? I think not.

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Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Just to prove that some things never change in football:

Jimmy Quinn, June 6th 2008: “There are loads of players about and there’s no rush to bring people in(…)there are plenty of players who want to come here and well make sure we pick the right ones.”

Gary Brabin, July 29th 2008: “We’re looking at a number of situations and you’ve just got to be patient and wait for the right players to come along.”

Great minds think alike eh? Actually in this case they look a bit alike too, and indeed if Jimmy got himself down the gym and bulked up a bit, they could probably pass for the scariest set of brothers since WWE's Cain and the Undertaker.

Given the vastly difference in the situation at the club then and now (ie. that we now have some players) I’m not too concerned that the Brabinator is repeating Jimmy’s old rhetoric, but we could do with at least a couple of new faces before the Northwich game.

On that note, the latest contestant lined up for the coveted “third best striker in the Cambridge squad” prize is apparently Ipswich’s Billy Clarke. I’ll confess to knowing nothing about this player, but you would hope that he hasn’t amassed more than 50 appearances in the Championship without possessing some talent. Danny Webb’s continual employment at a relatively high level of football is the exception to this rule perhaps.

Meanwhile, mssrs Jardim, Hutchinson, and Rouse are set to get another chance to impress in tonight’s match with West Ham. Based on Saturday’s showing, the latter pair will need to up their games considerably if they want to stick around beyond the end of the cricket season.

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U's:1 Sky Blues:3 - Photos

I'll do a report later, but for now you can view photos from Saturday's match here.

All pictures © Nadine Hébert

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Soham:2 U's:4

Its official, 4-2 is the new 2-1. On the basis of our last two games we’re in for double the goals and double the entertainment this term compared to what we had last year, which can’t be a bad thing can it.

Soham’s leafy Julius Martin Lane home is like the perfect place to watch a pre-season game; a nice big pitch, welcoming locals, and plenty of room for youngsters who are bored of the main event to have a kick-around. Jumpers for goalposts eh.

The standard on pitch wasn’t much higher, with United plumbing new depths of non-league-ness by putting a supporter in goal. Jamie Nightingale stepped in between the sticks because Danny Potter was a bit tired after training, and Sam Beagle was stuck in Prague (a likely story) and our under-15 keeper had a broken finger nail, or something.

In front of him it was very much a second string line up, featuring trialists Pat Bexfield, Domaine Rouse, Filino Jardim, and the familiar figure of Tommy Youngs, our former piano-playing goal getter last seen teasing us from the sidelines for Stafford last year.



I’m sad to report that, aside from the odd good pass and little dart forward, little Tom had negligible impact on the game. Admittedly he was playing in an unfamiliar central midfield role, but it seems unlikely he’ll be getting a contract unless he ups his game.

Bexfield was solid if unspectacular at right back, while Rouse had a decent first half before fading a bit in the second period. Most impressive was little Dutchman Jardim, who displayed some good pace, direct running, and a willingness to shoot from distance that led to him notching two goals. If he can work on his crossing then he would certainly make a decent signing.

Soham took an early lead when the U’s backline failed to deal with a corner, and the ball ran to Kentoh Gray, whose shot took a deflection on its way past Nightingale.

The home side certainly weren’t afraid to mix it with their Blue Square Premier counterparts, and this competitive edge made it an entertaining match. Following the goal United dominated, with Bussens and Jardim switching wings to good effect. Rouse showed some fancy footwork to drift into the area and get a shot in which hit the post, while a couple of crosses flashed across the box to no avail.

When it arrived, the equaliser was straight out of the Formernorthernirelandinternational Jimmy Quinn book of tactics. Coulson launched a long ball forward, which wasn’t dealt with by the burly central defender, and Willmott nipped in, showing good strength to carry the ball away from his marker and place a cool finish past the keeper.

It was 2-1 by half time, when Soham gifted possession to Rouse midway inside their own half. His first time pass was picked up by Jardim, who cut into the area and arrowed an angled shot into the far corner.

But almost straight from kick off Soham levelled with a goal which young Nightingale will want to forget in a hurry. Gray collected a pass from Charles Libam, and hit a tame shot which somehow squeezed under the rookie keepers body and into the net.

But United wrapped things up in the second half with two goals in the first ten minutes. First Jardim strode forward from midfield and, with no challenges forthcoming, hit a low shot which bobbled into the corner, provoking a Kaka-esque hands-to-the-sky celebration from the trialist. Then Willmott broke clear down the right, exchanged passes with Bussens and thumped the ball past Lee Jordan from close range.

Game over, and from then on it went downhill in the entertainment stakes too, with both sides slowing to walking pace as the final whistle drew nearer and nearer. Former QPR defender Andy Howell joined the action in the second half, and acquitted himself well, making one excellent goal line block at the death. Darren Quinton also made an anonymous return to action, which is nice for him I suppose.

Man of the Match: Ben Farrell – The boy oozes class, and dominated midfield rarely wasting a pass.






Funny name of the match: Soham trialist Dodou – you can think up your own punchline.

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Welcome back Bimmo, see ya later Reedy

The bald scousers club at United enrolled another member yesterday with the return of Stuart Bimson as first team coach.

I was never a big fan of Bimmo as a player. He wasn’t really good enough to start with, then when he returned to the team he benefited from what I like to call Andy Duncan syndrome, whereby the paucity of the players around you makes you appear to be better than you actually are.

Anyway, he always seemed like a decent enough fellow, and has all his coaching badges, so will hopefully be a good addition to the team. He certainly didn’t do Hoyte or Farrell, his two former Bedford protégés, any harm, and anything which allows Carden to spend more time focussed on playing is a good thing in my book.

Speaking of crap left back’s, I wasn’t displeased to see Alan Lewer make an entirely predictable swoop for his secret lovechild, Stephen Reed. While Reedy made a few good contributions last season, he is a limited and easily replaceable player, who by all accounts thinks he’s better than he is. I doubt he’ll be missed unduly.

Meanwhile, just like the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, only with less preening and crass slavery references, the proposed transfer of Chester striker Chris Holroyd continues to drag on and on and on. “It's not dead in the water and I think we've got a good relationship with Chester,” the Brabinator told yesterday’s CEN, despite the fact that the strikers agent is continuing to avoid him like Peaches Geldof dodges rehab.

So far Holroyd has flirted with Stockport County and Bournemouth, while showing no public desire to come to United. One suspects he is keeping us hanging on as a last resort, and if that is the case I think it’s time to look elsewhere, starting tonight with Bury trialist Domaine Rouse. I reckon that with a smile like that the 19-year old could go a long way.

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U's:4 Toffees:2 - More murk

Just when you think things are settling down on the good ship Cambridge United, the club somehow manage to steer a path back into choppy waters.

This time, it is big Dave’s £5.5million transfer to Stoke which is causing a storm. Of course, United should have been rubbing their hands with glee in anticipation of receiving a big fat cheque from the Royals, equivalent to 20 per cent of the transfer fee.

However, it would seem we’ve settled for less. Messageboard wisdom (possibly an oxymoron I know) would suggest we’ve received a £350k payment in return for waiving our right to any future Kitson cash. One would assume that much of the reported £5.5million Reading are getting is tied up in future payments, meaning United have decided to take a decent sum of money in hand rather than accept a lower initial payment and wait for further cash that may or may not materialise. I can only assume this is the case because NOBODY FROM THE CLUB IS SAYING ANYTHING.

Our directors seem to have learned nothing from this summers PR shambles. It surely can’t be that difficult to make a clear statement explaining the reasons behind a decision? I don’t think for one minute that fans are entitled to know every detail of everything that goes on at the club but to just make a few vague comments such as "Whatever we end up with will be great and give us an opportunity to stabilise" and “as is the norm with transfer fees, we believe the fee paid up front is much less than the headline figure” just leaves people feeling frustrated and allows speculation to mount.

Anyway, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that 350k (if accurate) is a decent figure to have sitting in the bank, and on the pitch things seem to be looking up after Saturday’s demolition of Everton.

It worries me vaguely that we couldn’t beat Kings Lynn or Cambridge City, yet got the result against the Toffees, who presumably afforded us a bit more space and time on the ball. You may remember that prior to the 94/95 season we beat Ipswich and drew with Man United but still ended up going down. It’s all very well playing good football, but you also have to be able to match the cloggers who are happy to kick and bully you out of a game. Hopefully we have enough streetwise characters around to deal with that situation when it arises.

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Chasing the ginger pound

In between warning its' readers not to leave their homes for fear of being gunned down by one of the millions of AK47-toting, hoody wearing, Polish illegal immigrants who rule our streets, yesterday's Daily Mail found time to mention that the Reading had accepted a £4million bid from Stoke for the mighty Dave Kitson.

The fee has subsequently risen to £5million, if you believe the BBC and Sky Sports, and although neither club has yet to confirm the transfer, it seems likely that it will be going ahead in the near future, meaning United benefit from sell-on clause money to the tune of £300k-ish (based on the £2million initial fee which is being banded around).

Obviously this money would be a great fillip to the clubs finances, and it will be an interesting test of the ‘new’ board’s intentions. They’ve talked the talk this summer about the need to not overspend in the coming season, and Gautrey, Rolls, and co have been happy to get a few little digs at Lee Power and his spend first, think later policy to finances, so lets hope they do not do the same now we are set to get this unexpected windfall.

Based on what they’ve been saying in the press, Gary Brabin should still have room in his budget to bring in the 2/3 players we need to complete the squad and have a good go at promotion this season, meaning any Kitson money could be put towards rent or stemming our ongoing losses. I trust they won’t spend big on some striker or other in order to appease the element our fanbase who will undoubtedly call for all the cash to go to the manager.

Meanwhile, the search for the new Kitson continues, with the Brabinator having discarded Ramon Calliste and defender Matt Halliday. As I said in my City report, while both look to be reasonable players, I feel we can, and hopefully will, do better.

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City:1 U's:1

No pre-season is complete without a trip to Milton Road, a stadium which for some reason has been judged unsuitable for the Blue Square South, meaning our neighbours will ply their trade in the Southern League next year. A bizarre decision to say the least when one considers that the likes of Stafford, Canvey, and Histon have been allowed to compete in the Blue Square Premier, but anyway.

This match had a much more proper feel about it than Saturday’s sleepy sojourn to Norfolk. Perhaps it was merely because there was some semblance of atmosphere, with both sets of fans in good voice, happy to direct abuse at our village dwelling chums.

It also helped that the Brabinator fielded what, give or take a centre half, is probably our strongest team, with Hatswell, Pitt, and Farrell coming into the starting line up for Hoyte, Convery, and Reed. Again it was apparent that United are going to try and be more Arsenal than Bolton this season, with Beesley and Parkinson in particular linking up well with some swift interchanges.

One such move saw Parky slalom into the area and have a shot blocked by a diving defender, while Hatswell and Matt Halliday saw headers comfortably saved by City’s new keeper Richard Willmott.

But somewhat against the run of play it was the hosts who took the lead through the finally tuned goalscoring machine that is Michael Gash. It looked as though Roberts was fouling Hatswell as he flicked the ball through to Gashy, who took one touch before hammering a half volley past Potter.

Beesley forced the ball in from close range for the equaliser after Halliday had headed the ball back into the goalmouth. The young defender put in another good-not-great performance, and one has to wonder whether we can do better in the centre back arena.

The same can be said of Ramon Calliste, who appeared in the second half and was far better than in Saturday’s game, showing some neat touches and going on one decent run which unfortunately ended with him slipping over and shooting wide. I’d like to see him given a run with the ‘first’ team rather than all the subs, but again I suspect we can do better.

The highlight of a mediocre second half was the introduction of an unknown trialist, subsequently identified as Dutch winger Filino Jardin. I prefer it when trialists are unexpected – it lets you imagine they are a young star wrongly discarded by Barcelona rather than some journeyman who couldn’t get a game at Bognor Regis.

By that I’m not saying that little Filino couldn’t get a game at Bognor Regis. In fact he was quite useful in patches, though I don’t really think we need another right winger with Parky, Bussens and Willmott in the squad. Robbie had the best chance of the second half, with a header from a Pitt cross that drew a good save from his namesake Richard.

So yeah, more good football, which was pleasing, and although we did only score one goal, I’m sure our clinical-ness in front of goal will improve between now and the start of the season. Maybe.

Man of the Match: Mark Beesley – Bees was all over the place in the first half, and showed his strikers instinct to get in where it could’ve hurt and poach the equaliser.

(very)Minor celebrity sighting of the Match: Wantaway P*sh striker and part-time Buster Rhymes impersonator Aaron Maclean was hanging around outside the main stand at half time. Checking up on his potential new employers perhaps?

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Lalala, I'm not listening

So it seems that everyone at Bridge Road is continuing to stick their fingers in their ears and hope that Craig Pope’s four-game ban for being a big nasty racist will go away.

Their supposedly unofficial message-board has disappeared from view (anyone who has read the bizarre drivel spouted by some of its members might consider this a blessing in disguise) and there is no word of the suspension on their official site. Still, at least they have Pravda, I mean the CEN, to speak on their behalf. No point having a dog and barking yourself eh?

In more interesting news, it seems the Brabinator is keen on bringing Josh Simpson back to the Abbey. “I think it's a pretty strong possibility,” affirmed Gary Roberts to BBC Cambridgeshire. "I think a lot of fans didn't see the best of him when he was over there.”

I like Josh as a player, and was a bit gutted when he left last time. I seem to remember lack of a guaranteed first team starts was cited as his reason for returning to City, and I can’t imagine he’ll be getting any such guarantees this time around with the likes of Carden and Farrell in the squad. But for me he’s certainly a better prospect than Quinton or Reed, so we shall have to wait and see what happens on that front.

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Histon Village FC - The family club

We all know that Histon FC are a lovely little village club run at no cost by an army of volunteers, and whose players are honest part-timers who hold down jobs as butchers, bakers, and candle-stick makers while playing for little more than 50p per week and the honour of walking out on the hallowed glassworld turf. In short, they are a credit to non-league football.

But events at said stadium this week have me wondering whether the marvellous Stutes are all they’re cracked up to be. Firstly, we have Cambridge City boss Gary Roberts labelling them “a bit despicable” over their handling of Josh Simpson’s potential move to the Glassworld Stadium. “I suspect that there may be an agenda that Josh can leave Cambridge City for anywhere but Histon”, warns Steve Fallon, demonstrating that he has ample room on both his shoulders for chips.

Then we have the curious case of Craig Pope, who has mysteriously accrued a four-game suspension for the start of next year. Could this perhaps, maybe, possibly have something to do with alleged racist abuse directed at LFW during the Boxing Day match last season? I couldn’t tell you for certain, as there has been no mention of his ban on the Histon website or in the press.

However, I’m sure our favourite family friendly club wouldn’t dream of intentionally sweeping something which could tarnish their squeaky-clean reputation under the carpet. So if Pope has indeed been found guilty then I’ll expect to see a statement condemning his actions in the local media in the coming days. It’s the only correct course of action that a family friendly club could take, isn’t it?

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Linnets:3 U's:2

Attending pre-season friendlies is a bit like viewing an episode of Doctors, Quincy, or one of the other programmes that are shown during the afternoon; You watch them because there's nothing else on, and you think they'll be ok, but after about half an hour you're bored witless and your mind starts to wander to bigger and better things still to come, like 24, or Prison Break, or in this case Northwich Victoria on August 12.

Right, that's enough crap analogies for one day. Yesterday's game actually wasn't that bad as far as friendlies go, although the result wasn't the one that 'Brabs' and 'Cards' would have been hoping for.

United lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, with both new boys (Tonkin and Parkinson) making an appearance, alongside trialist Matt Halliday. Parkinson had the odd good touch, but spent a lot of the match isolated as United's play mostly came down the left through Tonkin and the rejuvenated Mark Convery. I seem to remember that Convery looked quite good last pre-season, so we'll wait and see what happens to him when the going gets tough. Tonkin, however, looks an excellent purchase, with some strong, calm, defending allied to the odd burst forward.

Despite the many changes that have taken place since that day at Wembley, United began the new season as they finished the last; conceding a shoddy goal from a corner. Francis delivered the ball to the back post, where Crane nodded it back into the danger area for Weaver to flick past Danny Potter.

Lynn are certainly no pushovers, and their neat brand of passing football should ensure they hold their own in the Conference North next year. It was clear United were looking to knock the ball around as well, with Beesley often dropping deep to link play and long balls up to the imposing figure of Evil kept to a premium.

The big man, who I thought looked markedly less big than at the end of last year, missed a couple of good chances, while Beesley shot wide and Reedy curled one over the bar. John Turner, one of a couple of ex-U's on display for the hosts (the great Mark Peters warmed up pre-match, but sadly didn't make it onto the pitch) appears to have been converted to a winger, a position which may suit his still-wiry frame quite well. He got one good low cross in which Halliday had to turn behind for a corner.

But United were generally in control, and got a deserved equaliser just before the break. Convery played a pass into McEvilly, who found Beesley. A swift one-two with Parkinson later, Bees found himself with a sight of goal, and placed his shot across Scott Howie into the far corner.

Changes a-plenty came for both sides at half time, with another trialist, Pat Bexfield coming in at right back. Evil had a good chance within a couple of minutes of the restart when he bounced Weaver out of the way, ran clear, but shot wide. He was soon replaced by the third of our on-trial trio, Ramon Calliste. Neither of the second half new boys did much to enhance their claims for a contract for next term, although it has to be said that, with both Beesley and Evil withdrawn, United's attack looked disjointed for much of part two.

One player who was fairly lively was Craig Bussens, whose tricky feet caused his marker problems on a number of occasions. And it was the young right winger who won us a penalty, darting into the area and being tripped by an outstretched leg. Reedy took responsibility, and placed a good penalty into the corner of the net.

And, with the defence looked fairly comfortable, the Brabin reign was all set to begin with victory. That was until Josh Coulson tried an ambitious pass out to Jordan Collins, and only succeeded in whacking the ball into the face of Hatswell. The rebound fell at the predatory feet of Danny Bloomfield, who was never likely to miss. And Bloomfield was at it again moments later, darting past a couple of missed challenges and beating Potter for a second time, and suddenly 2-1 was 2-3.

"There were a lot of positives to take from this game" said our leader afterwards, showing once more that, even though he only has three months experience under his belt, the art of manager-speak is already second nature for him. The main ones for me were that no one got injured, and our style of play, particularly in the first half, was quite pleasing on the eye. However, we'll need to tighten up in defence before the real action starts. But of course it's still early days, roll on Tuesday night.

Man of the Match: Anthony Tonkin - If he continues to perform in this fashion his billing as the best left back in the league will be justified.

Weirdo of the Match: You could take your pick from any of the number of strange looking characters hanging around at Kings Lynn station, most of whom looked like extras from the League of Gentleman. My personal favourite was a bald bloke with a massive bushy beard who was gurning at anyone who came within his vicinity.

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AOB: Forza Hellas!

WHILE on my summer holidays I read a rather marvellous book.

Entitled A Season with Verona, it is written by Tim Parks, and sees him follow the progress of Hellas Verona in the 2000/01 season, as they attempt to avoid relegation from Serie A.

I imagine that, as an intelligent and discerning bunch, regular readers of this blog are probably already familiar with this book, but if you’re aren’t I’d highly recommend giving it a go – It’s well written and insightful throughout, and paints a vivid picture of the unique nature of Italian football.

As a United fan, one of the things which really struck a chord with me is the relationship between Hellas and another local team, Chievo. I hesitate to call them rivals as the latter, who come from the suburbs of Verona, traditionally bum around in the lower reaches of the Italian football pyramid, and don’t really feature on the radar of the Hellas brigate. In fact, Parks ignores them for the first half of the book, describing them as an “irrelevance”.

Unfortunately, by the end of the season Chievo are un-ignorable, having clinched the Serie B championship and been promoted to the same level as their much bigger cousins. Parks expresses concerns that fans may abandon Hellas, a team with a reputation for racism and bad management, and lend their support to Chievo, who are universally loved by the football fraternity and the media because of their “fairytale rise”.

Sound familiar at all? Parallels with our demise and the rise of that loveable bunch of part-timers from across the A14 perhaps? One hopes our situation will not continue to mirror what is happening in Italy as, while Chievo are still thriving, and have recently returned to Serie A after a one-season absence, Hellas have dropped into Serie C1, and only avoided a further relegation on the last day of last season. I think I speak for U's fans and our Gialloblu comrades when I say: VAFFANCULO HISTON & CHIEVO.

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Pitt returns

Hurrah, the Pittster is back. For his sake I hope we’ve given him a payrise because, judging by that picture on the official site, he doesn’t have much cash to spend on good quality hats.

“In my opinion he’s the best left winger not only in the Conference, but in League Two as well,” claimed George Rolls, a man so prone to hyperbole that he should perhaps consider applying for a job at Sky Sports. “Getting him to resign is a fantastic achievement and says a lot about our new management pair.”

So it’s all happy days then? Well certainly Courtney is one of the most dangerous attacking wingers in our league, so I’m delighted he’s back. While the quality of his final ball can be hit and miss, his work ethic never falters, and he now has an awareness of the defensive side of the game that wasn’t present when he first came to the club.

And his return means that we now have seven of the starting eleven from the play off final back on the books. The departure of four first teamers (five including Morro) is probably more than we’d have hoped for pre-Wembley, but it’s hardly an indication of a cost-cutting club that is on the brink of financial disaster, as some media outlets would have you believe.

Hopefully there will only be more incomings between now and the start of the season. Speaking of which, our new leader was quick to play down talk of a Potter departure, telling BBC Cambridgeshire: “Danny's got amongst it in training and to be fair his attitude has been different class.” We would expect nothing less from our super-duper player of the year of course. Roll on the new season.

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Here comes the rumour mill...

...and I’m not even trying,
It’s a game of cat and mouse,
And I can’t tell who’s lying (they’re spreading rumours).

So sang my favourite pop-punk troubadours, The Young Knives. If you believe everything you read on the internet (and why wouldn’t you, it's always been reliable in the past) much cat and mousery is going on behind the scenes at the Abbey at present, as United finalise their squad for the new season. Because I’m a nice lad, I’ve amalgamated the various U’s based stories which have been floating about in cyberspace:


Reed to ‘do a Quinn’ and leave by mutual consent
It popped up on the official message board last week that Reed had fallen out with Brabin and will be leaving the club shortly. I reckon this could be true because a) Reed seems a bit dense and you’d have to be pretty stupid to get on the wrong side of the Brabinator, b) There were reports of him getting too big for his boots at his previous clubs, and c) I’d be amazed if he hasn’t been offered the chance to reunite with his best friend Fester at Weymouth, a club much closer to his west country roots.

Potter to Rushden/Marriott to Cambridge
The Potter-Rushden thing has been doing the rounds all pre-season, as Lee Power strives to take another club to bankruptcy, er, I mean, the football league. According to their forum, it’s a done deal, so we shall have to wait and see. His replacement will be ex-Lincoln keeper Alan Marriott, so says the Lincoln website. I’m taking both these with a hopeful pinch of salt; Potter is under contract and would surely command a fee of £50k+, which I doubt even Rushden could justify spending on a keeper. And Marriott, who has often been linked with moves to bigger clubs during his time with the Imps, will surely have more attractive offers from league teams.

Chris Holroyd to join from Chester
The Liverpool Daily Post reports that we have agreed an undisclosed fee for the 22-year old striker. Six goals last season is not exactly a mind-blowing return, and he would appear to divide opinions of the Deva Stadium faithful. I particularly like the comment that he “wears gay white boots” and “dances around the ball like a girl”. You can never have enough players like that in my opinion.

Gary Hart to fly up from Brighton
“Gary Hart, who has been training with Albion after being released at the end of last season, is not in the Irish party. He is considering a contract offer from Blue Square premier club Cambridge United,” squawks the Brighton and Hove Argus. He’d be a great signing if we could get him I reckon – good pedigree, experience of several promotions, and comfortable on the wing and up front. Fingers crossed that one happens innit.

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AOB: Example of Premier League greed #798791245

One of the things I like about being on holiday is that things tend to bother me less: Service a bit slow at a restaurant? Bus or train running a bit late? Who cares, I'm on holiday.

But now I'm back, and stuff is starting to get up my nose again: Drivers who think it's ok not to indicate at roundabouts, a small packet of chewing gum costing 79p (79p!) at Cambridge station, and this story that was all over the news yesterday:

Google must divulge YouTube log

Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled.

For those of you too lazy to click the link, the jist is that American media giant, Viacom, have been given permission to look at list of clips viewed on YouTube to see whether they infringe their copyright. Now I'm no media analyst or anything but I think I can guess what the answer will be to that particular question.

This story offends me on a number of levels. For a start one has to wonder what sort of damage a load of people viewing miniscule, grainy, undownloadable clips is doing to Viacom, a company that owns a string of TV channels and movie production firms. In fact, I imagine you could make a strong case that it actually acts as a good promotional tool.

Secondly, reading a bit further down in the BBC article you'll notice a little paragraph saying:

The UK's Premier League association is also seeking class action status with
Viacom on the issue, alleging YouTube, which was bought by Google in 2006, has
been used to watch football highlights.

Yes, that's right. The Premier League, which earns £900million a year from it's various media deals, wants a piece of the action too, another example of astonishing greed which dominates our game at the top level. I can see no other justification for this, and I hardly think Sky, Setanta, or the rest will be feeling particularly threatened by a few clips on a website.

Moreover I just don't see what either body are trying to achieve. You can't police the internet, and YouTube have to take the 'offending' videos down they'll just appear somewhere else. As well, I expect we all know websites where you can a) stream live matches, or b) download movies, tv shows, or football matches, which have already been broadcast. Not that I condone this of course, and certainly don't have either of the play off semi finals on my computer, oh no.

But my point is that surely these sites represent a bigger threat to the respective copyrights of Viacom and the Premier League than YouTube, yet they chose to pursue the latter in the courts. Why could that possibly be? Could it be because Google, YouTube's owners, make billions of pounds every year and can therefore afford to pay more damages than Joe Bloggs who hosts http://www.premierleaguestreamsareus.com/. I'll let you make up your own minds on that one.

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Buongiorno

Hello all. There haven't been any posts on here for the last week as I have been sunning myself, eating pizza, and having close encounters with the mafia (I'm not joking) in Sicily. Good times.

In my absence it seems little happened Cambridge United-wise before the flurry of activity in the last 48 hours;

Morro is a fox

I'm sure all our female supporters would agree, ahem. First off you have to say it's a great move for young Michael, who has served the club brilliantly over the last three years. He's certainly good enough for League One, and a move should do him the world of good, as I feel at times last season he looked as if he'd gone as far as he could at our level. His signing of a new deal in January also suggests he's a decent lad who appreciates the grounding he's had at United. Best of luck Morro.

"It's a win-win situation" crowed the ever-ebulant George Rolls in the CEN, who should perhaps look up the definition of win-win, given that we now only have three centre halves, two of whom have less than a season of BSP experience between them. However, at least it gives the Brabinator some more cash to bring in his own men, which leads me nicely onto:

Tonkin and Parkinson sign

On paper both new boys look to be astute aquisitions. But yeah, I know, football isn't played on paper blah blah blah, but what's the point of pre-season if you can't get excited about new players who will probably turn out to be mediocre/crocked/gone by October. I rate Reed as a squad player at best, and Collins is very much an unknown quantity, so Tonkers is a welcome addition in my eyes. And if he turns out to be as good as the last couple of ex-Forest Greeners we've picked up (Beesley and Hatswell) he should do alright.

Parky has a good pedigree too, and given that he's coming from a higher level he should be able to make a good impact in the BSP. Another scouser as well, I hope all the new arrivals from the North West will be speaking in a language the normal (ie. Southern) players can understand.

City friendly arranged, Posh friendly cancelled

As I said in a previous post, while I was quite looking to going to Scummers again, I feel playing a friendly against them is tantamount to admiting we're not going to face them in a proper match any time soon. So with that in mind it's good that the pre-season game is cancelled and we can maintain our dignity until they (hopefully) do a Rushden. And I always enjoy a trip to Cambridge City, so hurrah for common sense.

Fixtures

2008/09 will start where 2007/08 finished; Northwich. One suspects it will be a slightly more difficult game, played in a slightly different atmosphere to last seasons end-of-term jolly. One thing which annoys me is that we meet Histon Village again twice in quick succession. I'm all for local games around the holiday time, but with so many Southern teams in the Conference, why can't they mix it up a bit a bit and give us, say, Histon, Stevenage, and Kettering, over the holiday period. Having said that, a bigger gap between games would give them more time to gloat after they inevitably turn us over at that poor excuse for a stadium of theirs, so it's not all bad news I suppose.

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