Friday 21 August 2009

Holiday time

Hi folks. Due to me being on honeymoon as of this weekend, the blog won't be updated for a couple of weeks. Hopefully when I return from my desert island we'll have 12 more points on the board and all will be well. Alternatively Ling will have resigned again, Holroyd will have been flogged to P*sh for £20k, and George Rolls will be back in power after a military-style coup involving Terry Baker going on a secret mission to Seattle and taking out Barry and Hanauer. Who's to say what's more likely. Laters.

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Wednesday 19 August 2009

U's:0 Creepy Crawley:1

Over the last few weeks life at Cambridge United has often been described as a pantomime. So we probably shouldn't be surprised that the pantomime villains finally turned up on Tuesday in the shape of Steve Evans and Paul Raynor.


Like a fatter, uglier, version of the Chuckle Brothers, the "Blue Square Special One" and his stooge entertained the Abbey crowd with their usual comedy routine, contesting refereeing decisions with gusto, waving bits of paper around at anyone who was watching, and generally acting like a pair of knobheads.

I'd like to say that their team cheated its way to victory, but that would be unfair as Crawley kept it fairly clean for once, and were deserved victors in what was a frustrating match from a United perspective. Too many players had off days, and although we were unlucky to go in behind at half time, our second half display was more limp that a two-week old lettuce.

The only goal of the match appeared to me to be a good couple of yards offside. I was almost exactly in line as Ben Smith slipped the ball through to Jamie Cook, who seemed to be lurking behind the last defender. But the lino's flag stayed down, and Cook finished with aplomb, selling Danny Potter a dummy before clipping the ball over the grounded keeper.

United could have already been in front, with several promising moves fizzling out to nothing. Robbie Willmott was the instigator of most of these, beating his full back time and time again with pace and skill. He came closest to a goal with a thunderous free kick which crashed against the angle of post and bar, while Beesley tested the keeper with an angled shot that was palmed away for a corner.

But as time progressed the match became more and more reminiscent of the Barrow game, with United attacks breaking down at the edge of the area. Pitt and Crow were introduced as Lingy tried to shake things up, and although the former had more impact than the player he replaced (Parky), it was to no avail, and in fact Crawley came closest to a goal in the closing stages. Charles Ademeno, looking leaner and meaner than he did during his time at United, hit the woodwork twice, while Coulson hooked a goalbound effort off the line.

So yeah, not the best of days, and plenty for our new leader to ponder. Neither Carden nor Reason got to grips with Crawley's midfield trio, with Reason in particular giving away far too many free kicks. And at the back we were all over the place at times. I love Hatswell, but I don't think he copes too well with the pressure of being the senior man alongside two youngsters (Coulson and Coakley). I also think the deficiencies in his game are shown up when you take away the pace of Tonkin, who last season often swept up behind his colleague if he was done for pace. For that reason the return of our regular left back can't come soon enough, together with the addition of that much needed extra centre half. Hopefully they'll be some good news on that front later today.

Man of the Match: Robbie Willmott - Final ball still a bit iffy, but Robbie was about the only United forward who looked likely to make things happen.





Community Service Award of the Match: Paul Carden for kicking the ball at Evans at the end of the game. Shame he didn't get him in the face.

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Monday 17 August 2009

Chester:2 U's:4 - Goals glorious goals

I take it everyone has viewed Chrissy Holroyd's spectacular second in our 4-2 win at Chester on Saturday. Even if you've already seen it, watch it again, because it's pretty damn sexy.


I wasn't at the game so don't have too many comments to make, other than that I won't be getting too excited about our early season form just yet. We've seen off two fairly shambolic teams in the last couple of games, and our match tomorrow night against Steve Evans’ Crawley Town will give us a more realistic picture of where we’re at.

So in the absence of any match analysis, and in honour of Super Chris’s wonder strike, here are the best five United goals I’ve witnessed live. When I say best I’m talking in terms of individual technique and/or team play, rather than importance.

5: Trevor Benjamin v Brighton (A). March 21 1998. Poor old Trev, now reduced to trekking around godforsaken non-league outposts such as Tamworth to get a game. He’s capable of so much better, as he showed with this goal. Taking the ball on his chest just outside the area, he span and volleyed past the unsighted keeper. Sadly I don’t think any footage of it exists, but trust me, it was a thing of great beauty.

4: Mark Beesley v Rushden and Diamonds (A). April 8 2008. An awesome team goal started by Courtney Pitt on the edge of his own box. He ran practically the entire length of the pitch before offloading to Boylan, who in turn helped it on to Wolleaston. His superb first time pass put Beesley in, and the ex-Forest Green man finished with aplomb, chipping the ball across the keeper into the far corner. Cue a massive mental in the United end.

3: Tes Bramble v Wycombe (H). March 19 2005. There wasn’t much to remember about the relegation season of 2004/05, but young Tesfaye’s goal would have graced any game anywhere in the world.

2: Dan Chillingworth v Brentford (H). December 26 2001. The goal which probably formed the highpoint of Chilli’s United career. During most of his apperances he seemed incapable of doing more than one thing (ie moving and controlling a football) at once, yet for this goal he someone managed to combine all the attributes of a top striker, culminating in a great finish on the run to secure a boxing day triumph for John Taylor’s team.

1: Alex Russell v Port Vale (H). September 12 2000. Has there ever been a better week to be a United fan? Probably, but it didn’t feel like it at the time. After a 6-1 win over Rotherham on the Saturday, Roy Mac’s men demolished Port Vale 4-0 on the Tuesday, with Russell’s goal the pick of the ten. Following a Vale corner, Perez bowled the ball out to McAnespie, whose pinpoint crossfield pass found Russell rampaging down the left. Cutting in from the flank, he curled a beauty from outside the box over the keeper and into the far corner. It doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, but I have it on video somewhere for posterity.

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Wednesday 12 August 2009

Ling in, but working on a shoe-string?

What a happy day to be a Cambridge United fan. We have three points on the board following our 3-1 win at Ebbsfleet, and Martin Ling is back at the helm.

Going by the statement on the official site, it sounds like the directors have thought things through and put a plan in place to move forward sensibly. Whether they stick to it or not remains to be seen, but at least we're beginning with good intentions. An over-reliance on youth players is not a particularly desirable thing in my opinion - ideally you wouldn't want to bring in more than two or three a season - but in our position we probably don't have much choice but to bulk out the squad with the CRC players, and from what we've seen so far they certainly don't lack the ability to succeed in the Conference.

The return of Ling will hopefully herald a new era of board room discretion as well, it's not healthy to have directors shooting their mouths off in the media every five minutes. Talking of which, it's a shame to see fresh revelations from ex-Chairman George in the paper today, talking of a shock 900k shortfall in CUFC finances.

George obviously possesses plenty of axes following his resignation, but it's a pity that someone with such a lot of passion for the club feels the need to grind them all at once. The 900k figure makes for a nice headline, but when you look at it more than half of that amount (£535k) came from one-off, transfer, income. That's not something you would ever budget for anyway, so to call it a shortfall is a bit misleading. It seems money will be a lot tighter at the club than it has been in the last two years, but I would hope think that the situation is not quite as bad as that article makes it sound.

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Monday 10 August 2009

U's:0 Bluebirds:2

A lot may have happened over the summer, but if our first match is anything to go by, on the pitch it's very much as you were.

Gary Brabin's players, coached by Gary Brabin's former assistant, put in the kind of performance Gary Brabin's Cambridge United gave us all too often last year, especially pre-Christmas. Passing in abundance, pretty football in abundance, cutting edge in, er, the opposite of abundance. All that was missing to complete the feeling of de ja vous was a big bald scouser prowling the technical area like a caged rhino.

We even had Carden wheeling out the Brabinator's old catchphrases. We "footballed them to death" apparently, and while that may well be true, it's no good if you don't score. For me the game is a good example of why we shouldn't reappoint Brabin as, without a Rendell-esque poacher, his tactics are seriously flawed. Playing with two attacking wingers means neither of the central midfielders are able to commit too far forward, and if you have strikers who either want to drop deep (Crow, Beesley, Phillips), or run the channels (Holroyd), there's never anyone in the box when we've got the ball in wide areas.

There wasn't much to report in the way of chances in a first half dominated by United. Willmott looked about our most dangerous player, linking well with the lively front pair of Beesley and Holroyd. The winger curled a shot just over the angle of post and bar, then set up Holroyd for an effort which drew a smart save from Stuart Tomlinson. We were also denied a fairly obvious looking penalty when Parky exchanged passes with Beesley and was pulled back in the box by a defender.

Referee Martin had earlier marked himself out as a pedantic knob by harshly booking Barrow's Jason Walker in the first couple of minutes for the cardinal crime of failing to retreating at a free kick. He further incensed the visitors when he sent off left back Sean Newton, who picked up a second yellow for rash challenge on Holroyd in the 52nd minute. It was a lunging tackle, but perhaps a talking to only would have been sufficient?

I only say that because United are shocking against ten men, and fell behind when Carlos Logan pinged in an excellent free kick from just outside the area. No chance Danny Potter, 1-0 to the dark side.

Reason and Gleeson shot over from distance, before Glees went one better, picking up a pass from Beesley and hitting a peach of a half volley which Tomlinson acrobatically pawed away. But all United's efforts were coming from outside the box, and you never got the feeling an equaliser was imminent.

With minutes remaining, Barrow wrapped up the match, when the busy Walker latched on to a long clearance, and tried to flick it over Josh Coulson. The ball struck the unfortunate defender on the his outstretched arm for a clear penalty, which Walker himself converted, rolling the ball past the diving Potter. 0-2.

A lot of people moaned about the referee after the game, and while he gave us virtually nothing in the second half, United were the architects of their own downfall. The sad thing is you could have probably predicted the way the game was going to go before kick off, and while we didn't play that badly, a new manager and fresh ideas are needed asap.

Man of the Match: Dan Gleeson - Built on his excellent pre-season form with a faultless display.

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Friday 7 August 2009

Time for the important stuff

Isn't it nice to finally have some proper football to talk about?

I've gone from being depressed about the prospect of the new season (when Brabin left) to excited (when Ling arrived) to slightly ambivilent (now). Nevertheless, it's hard not to catch a little bit of the new season buzz, even with the club in disarray.

Most of the team picks itself, with the only possible areas of doubt being on the wing and up front. After Courtney's recent goal-scoring exploits, I was quite hopeful he'd be in Ling's starting line up, but now Cardy is back in charge I suspect he will opt for his scouse mate Parkinson instead. This would be a mistake in my opinion as, while Parky has showed some decent touches in the friendlies, the game seems to pass him by for long periods. Pitt can have a lot more influence, and would give our team a better balance, allowing Willmott to return to his favoured right flank.

Up front, the choice may be taken out of Carden's hands, with Crow apparently struggling after taking a whack in a "sensitive area". I'm sure all male United fans feel his pain. Holroyd and Beesley would be my combination of choice anyway, but if they do play together it will be imperative we keep it on the deck.

It seems unlikely there will be anymore off-field movement until next week. I don't really see how Paul Barry can keep the role of chairman long-term unless he appoints a Chief Executive to be at the club full time. Have we got the money to do that? Probably not, especially given the slightly worrying statement that the appointment of a new manager is "on hold until the financial situation has been assessed".

However, the fuss being made about Barry's bid to buy the ground stinks of mud-slinging to me. While you would hope our new chairman will give a full explanation of his actions, he has done enough for the club in the last few years to earn the benefit of the doubt. For now.

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Wednesday 5 August 2009

The trouble with George

All is eerily quiet on the good ship, er, rudderless wreck Cambridge United today.

One can only assume that it is the calm before the storm, and that news of our chairman's departure is near. In some ways I will be sad to see George Rolls go, but following his rant at Paul Barry on the radio yesterday, and subsequent responses from Barry and CFU, I fail to see how he can remain in post.

George has obviously done a lot of good work in cutting costs and getting the club on a sound financial footing since becoming chairman. How much of this was down to his own initiative, rather than following the plans put in place by Norman Gautrey, can only be speculated on by us mere mortals, but having someone like him overseeing things on a day-to-day basis seems to have been a good thing, judging by the increased number of sponsorship deals and PR initiatives being announced lately.

The problem is he doesn't seem to know where to draw the line without pissing people off. It's all very well putting the boot in on Barry, but the fact remains that he has seen off two (on paper) fairly decent managers. Perhaps if George had to stuck to what he does well, and left the football people to deal with the football side of things, he would now be in a better position to take the moral high ground against our major shareholder, whose actions certainly appear to have been questionable in this affair.

As it is we now have this unseemly public sniping which doesn't really help anyone, and is inevitably going to end in more tears. If/when he does go, I don't think I'd necessarily want Brabin back, but perhaps the rest of the board can persuade Ling to return and finished the job he (briefly) started.

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Tuesday 4 August 2009

Ling Quits

Apparently. And here. I actually don't know what to say about this complete shambles of a football club anymore. I don't know or care who is to blame, but the way the club is being run is an insult to all the supporters, especially those who put so much time and cash into saving it a few years back. I'm too cross to write anything legible so I'm going stop now, grrrrrrr.

Edit; Confirmed now, how can you have irreconcilable differences after nine days ffs? What's up with these people?

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Monday 3 August 2009

Lol, Us rckd by txt gte

The big breaking story from the weekend was the revelation in the NLP that Alan Lewer could take legal action against United after being "offered" the United managers job.

It made a nice headline for the afforementioned publication, even if the story itself had more holes in it than a large lump of emmental. The most amusing part of the whole thing was the suggestion that Chairman George sent Lewer a text saying "sorry not u" by way of informing him he didn't have the job. Presumably Ling got one saying "Gt the jb, cngrts", or something similar. Still it could've been worse - George could've done a Phil Hughes/Darren Bent and announced his decision to the world at large using Twitter. Perhaps that's something to bare in mind next time we need a new boss.

Moving onto matters at hand, and United complete their pre-season schedule tonight when they host The Villagers in the Cambs Professional Cup final, a fixture second only to the Champions League final in terms of its importance in the domestic football calendar. Or at least that's the impression you'd get if you listened to Steve Y'Know.

"It's all right having pre-season friendlies, but you need the more competitive games to work on one or two things," Y'Know told the CEN, before bizarrely adding: "Hopefully, tonight will give us the chance to fine tune and get more geared up, especially in terms of the refereeing. You can get away with one or two things in friendlies and we know we won't get away with them tonight and have to treat it properly."

Competitive game? Must be why Ling is fielding a second string line up. I'm glad to see they're taking it so seriously though, perhaps this is all part of the plan to grow the Histon brand on a global scale. Expect a four-page pull out in the paper if they win tonight.

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