Norman's stormin' (again)

The headline doesn't really work that well does it? It's staying though, mainly because I can't think of anything better.

Norman Gautrey seems to have resigned about a million times during his 14 months at the Abbey, so this latest exit isn't totally out of character. However, one suspects it will be more permanent than his previous walk-outs given the rumours from the weekend's NLP that Weymouth's Chief Executive Gary Calder is set to get a job at the Abbey. In the wake of Gautrey's departure, Terry Baker's fervent denial that Calder will be turning up in the United board room sounds about as hollow as Stephen Reed's brain cavity.

Incidentally, does anyone else find it vaguely amusing that the Gautrey's are leaving to go travelling? It conjures up images of Norman living it up at a full moon party on some random Thai beach. One suspects their actual choice of destination will be a bit more sedate, but it's certainly a nice lifestyle if you can get it, and I wish them well.

The timing of this announcement seems more than a little suspect, coming hours after the club AGM. Presumably the Gautrey's have known they'll be going for a little while, and anyone would think the board delayed making it public so they wouldn't be questioned on it by shareholders. The whole business seems a bit underhand, but then again, when has anything involving Cambridge United been anything but?

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Shock shock horror horror

Poor old Fabio Capello.

Six million quid a year apparently isn’t enough to persuade the England manager to make a choice between Gerrard and Lampard. In fact, on the basis of last nights game, it’s not enough to inspire him with any original thought at all. Things he may have learned from our 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic:

- That Frank Lampard can’t replicate his Chelsea form in an England shirt.
- That David Beckham, while still capable of delivering a mean set piece, has all the pace and movement of a geriatric tortoise.
- That Stephen Gerrard isn’t a left winger.
- That Wayne Rooney wanders around the pitch too much.
- That the likes of Wes Brown and Jermaine Defoe simply don’t cut it at international level.

So it’s lucky we had the game really, because I don’t think anyone’s ever noticed any of those things before, ever.

In other unsurprising news, over in the village of the damned Mssrs Baldwin and Fallon clearly, without any doubt, proved Craig Popes innocence of any racial slurs by, er, offering no new evidence at all at last nights fans forum.

Baldwin managed to remove his head from a large bucket of sand just long enough to trot out his usual rhetoric:

“The feeling of everyone at the fans' forum was that having reviewed the evidence and watched the video we would all get behind Craig to try and show our support,” he whined, neglecting to mention that the barrister he hired twice failed to get his player off despite this overwhelming evidence in their favour.

Also it seems that, quelle surprise, Pope’s self-imposed retirement may not be permanent, and he may return to the ‘Stutes squad as soon as his four game ban is up. Much like England’s poor performance, I don’t think anyone saw that coming, no siree.

Meanwhile, the shock news of Norman Gautrey’s imminent resignation cannot be a good thing. While I’ve never dealt with the guy directly, no one seems to have a bad word to say about him, and when he leaves you have to wonder who will be steering the ship, with none of the current directors being based at the stadium full time. It should be an interesting fans forum tonight, that’s for sure…

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