Cambridge United

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Cambridge United
Cambridge United Logo.svg
Basic data
Surname Cambridge United
Football Club
Seat Cambridge , England
founding 1912 (as Abbey United)
Board Terry Baker
Website cambridge-united.co.uk
First soccer team
Head coach Mark Bonner
Venue R Costings Abbey Stadium
Places 9617
league EFL League Two
2019/20 16th place
home
Away

Cambridge United (officially: Cambridge United Football Club ) - also known as United and The U’s - is a football club from the English city ​​of Cambridge .

The Cambridge United team plays at R Costings Abbey Stadium , which currently seats 9,617 and has both standing and seating. In home games, the team traditionally competes in amber- black jerseys, which, depending on the design, are either completely striped or based on these two colors in a wide variety of patterns.

The club spent a total of eight seasons in the second-highest English division during its membership in professional football. United reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup twice and in the 1992/93 season in the League Cup the round of the last eight teams.

After the club had played 35 years in the professional football association of the Football League , he rose in 2005 to the semi-professional Conference National (now the National League), the fifth highest English division. Since their promotion in 2014, the U’s have been playing in the fourth-class EFL League Two .

history

From foundation to professional league

The association was founded in 1912 as Abbey United , named after the Abbey district. Although a club called Cambridge United existed in Cambridge from 1909, it was not affiliated with the club that exists today. The club played in local amateur leagues with some success in the early years. He played his home games on changing places around Cambridge before he got a permanent venue with the Abbey Stadium . The club achieved professional status in 1949 and changed its name to Cambridge United in 1951. The U’s played in the Eastern Counties League until they were runner-up in 1957/58 and were elected to the Southern League. Three years later, Cambridge United reached the Premier Division of the Southern League .

Admission to the Football League

In 1970 the club was elected to the Football League after two consecutive titles in the Southern League to replace Bradford Park Avenue . Eight years later, the U’s rose to the Second Division and in 1980 reached 8th place. With only four league games won, Cambridge rose in 1984 to the Football League Third Division . Even one league lower, only four wins this season, so that in 1985 they were immediately relegated to the fourth division . There the crash continued almost unchecked in the 1985/86 season . The U’s finished 22nd out of 24 teams. It was the last season that the last four clubs in the league had to apply for re-election. Cambridge and the other three teams Exeter City , Preston North End and Torquay United retained their league status and were allowed to participate again in the Fourth Division in the following 1986/87 season .

Success in the early 1990s

After places in the middle of the table were reached in the following years, Cambridge United qualified in 1990 as sixth for the promotion play-offs. Under coach John Beck, who had scored 11 goals in 112 games as a player for Cambridge from 1986 to 1989, succeeded in the Wembley Stadium against Chesterfield FC a 1-0 success and the associated promotion to the Third Division. With the championship in 1991 , the team made it through to the second division. There the unstoppable ascent seemed to continue. Cambridge was in November 1991 at the top of the table in the Second Division and qualified fifth for the promotion playoffs to the newly formed Premier League . After a 1-1 draw at Abbey Stadium in the first leg of the semi-finals against Leicester City , the U’s lost the second leg 5-0 and were eliminated from the promotion race. Key players in this successful period were strikers John Taylor and Dion Dublin , who came to Cambridge from Norwich City in 1988 on a free transfer . Shortly after the missed promotion, Dublin joined Manchester United for £ 1 million . Taylor left the club in March 1992.

End of the soaring flight and descent

In the following season Cambridge fought against relegation from the First Division, as the second highest division was called from then on after the introduction of the Premier League. Coach John Beck was fired in October 1992. In December 1992, Birmingham City midfielder Ian Atkins was appointed player-coach. Cambridge advanced to the quarter-finals in the League Cup , but rose to the third division as penultimate. Atkins was then replaced by Beck's former assistant Gary Johnson .

Cambridge finished the 1993/94 season in tenth place. In the following season, the number of relegated teams in the lower leagues increased from 22 to 20 teams due to the downsizing of the Premier League. As a result, the fifth from last place in the 1994/95 season did not reach relegation and Cambridge United rose to the third division.

Shortly before the end of the season in April 1995, youth coach Tommy Taylor had been promoted to head coach. With a 16th place, he could not meet the hopes of an immediate rise, however. Then Taylor moved to Leyton Orient and was replaced by Roy McFarland . Under McFarland, he was promoted to the Second Division in 1999 . In the following two seasons, relegation was just achieved. In March 2001, McFarland left the club and John Beck returned to save the club from relegation. In the middle of the 2001/02 season, Beck was released and replaced by former striker John Taylor, who was instrumental in the club's successes as a player in the early 1990s. Although Taylor reached with Cambridge the final of the Football League Trophy , where the club at the Millennium Stadium from Cardiff to Blackpool FC 1: 4 defeated, could not prevent relegation to the Third Division. He stayed in office until March 2004. When Cambridge in the lowlands of the Third Division had to fight for relegation, the Frenchman Claude Le Roy was hired as the new head coach. Le Roy won four of the remaining eight games, keeping United by a comfortable lead in the league. The following season, Hervé Renard took his place, who was fired after just five months and replaced by Steve Thompson.

Relegation to the conference and financial distress

Thompson was unable to save Cambridge from relegation. After 35 years in the Football League, the club was relegated to the Football Conference . Sporty and financially, the club was facing the end. In the past, CU had financed the squad mainly from the proceeds of player transfers. Not least after the Bosman ruling in 1995, the association was forced to take out loans. Even selling the club was considered. With no prospect of repayment of the nearly £ 1 million debt , the Board of Directors filed for bankruptcy on April 29, 2005. Thompson and four other employees were laid off as part of a cost-cutting measure. Rob Newman took over the coaching position. Despite the sales of two hopeful talents Dave Kitson and John Ruddy in 2004 and 2005, the club continued to run into debt of over £ 500,000.

On July 22, 2005 bankruptcy was averted with the help of then Sports Secretary Richard Caborn through an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs , a non-ministerial division of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of certain forms of government assistance and administration other regulatory systems is responsible. The financial problems persisted. In December 2005 it was announced that the club was in talks with neighboring club Cambridge City FC about a possible merger. Both parties agreed that Cambridge, with a population of 110,000, is not big enough to support two professional football clubs. A merger was seen as advantageous and should ensure that at least one team in the city can participate in professional gaming. Fan groups from both clubs reacted negatively because they saw the identity of their clubs at risk. City fans in particular feared that it would be more of a takeover by United than a merger of equals.

In terms of sport, too, there was initially no success. In the Conference National 2005/06 , the team did not get past 12th place. On June 5, 2006, the club chairman Terry Baker resigned from his position, citing the dysfunctional communication within the board of directors, which led to the appointment of Brian Attmore, the chairman of the fan clubs, on June 6th. The aftermath of this event led major shareholder Paul Barry to claim that there were "deep divisions within the club at staff and board level" and that a new board had to be established to ensure stability in the club for the goal to be achieved , promotion back to the Football League. Any new board member continues to grapple with financial problems, which were reinforced in late June 2006 by news that Cambridge Fans United had loaned the club £ 20,000 to pay the wages. Barry also confirmed on August 6, 2006 that the club would break even after a renewed inflow of funds in the coming season.

Return to the Football League

After a disastrous start to the season, Coach Newman was sacked after a 3-1 loss to Exeter City . On September 15, 2006, Jimmy Quinn was introduced as the new coach. In December 2006, the team suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat in the FA Trophy against local rivals FC Histon and lost six league games in a row. At an extraordinary general meeting on March 26, 2007, the entry of the American businessman Adrian Hanauer as an investor was made possible. At the end of the season, the U's secured themselves relegation by winning five of their last seven games.

In the 2007/08 season Cambridge United missed the only direct promotion place that Aldershot Town occupied. In the conference play-off final for the second promotion place, the U's Exeter City lost 0-1. The following season, United finished second again. Again the U's reached the play-off final, which they lost this time against Torquay United with 0-2. This was followed by four mediocre seasons before Cambridge finished second in the Conference National again in the 2013-14 season. A 2-1 win in the play-off final against Gateshead FC managed to end the nine-year absence from the Football League.

In the first season after returning to the Football League, Cambridge United qualified for the fourth round of the FA Cup, in which the U's reached a goalless draw against Manchester United at Abbey Stadium. Manchester United won the replay at Old Trafford 3-0. In the league, Cambridge finished the season 10 points ahead of the relegation ranks as 19. The following season started poorly, so that promotion coach Richard Money was sacked in November 2015 and replaced by Shaun Derry . After an unbeaten series of six games Derry received the award "League Two Manager of the Month" for December 2015. The U's finished the season 2015/16 in 9th place with 68 points. The following season 2016/17 ended in 11th place. During the 2017/18 season , Derry was fired in February 2018. His assistant Joe Dunne led the team to 12th place and was promoted to head coach. After a bad run of the 2018/19 season , Dunne was dismissed after the 20th match day. The club was in 21st place at the time. His successor Colin Calderwood , who signed up in December 2018, did not improve the table by the end of the season. Nevertheless, the relegation was achieved with six points ahead of the relegation ranks.

Reserve team

The club has close ties to the Cambridge Regional College football team , which was founded in 2006 and has served as the reserve team ever since. The regulations of the FA football association prohibit the participation of an official “second team” within the league system , so that cooperation can be perceived as a trick to circumvent this rule.

Records

Results

player

society

  • Most league points in one season: 86 (Division Three, 1990/91)
  • Most league goals in one season: 87 (Division Four, 1976/77)
  • Highest attendance: 14,000 (against Chelsea FC , May 1970)
  • Highest attendance (league game): 11,406 (v West Ham United , April 7, 1979)

literature

  • Attmore, Brian: Cambridge United FC (100 Greats) . NPI Media Group, 2002, ISBN 0-7524-2724-5 .
  • Daw, Paul: United in Endeavor: History of Abbey United / Cambridge United Football Club, 1912–1988 . Dawn Publications, 1988, ISBN 0-9514108-0-6 .
  • Palmer, Kevin: Cambridge United: The League Era - A Complete Record . Desert Island Books, 2000, ISBN 1-874287-32-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Historical Kits - Cambridge United" (Historical Football Kits)
  2. ↑ a b Cambridge United potted history. In: cambridge-united.co.uk. Cambridge United, August 20, 2010, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Tommy Taylor's managerial careerwerk = soccerbase.com. Soccerbase, accessed June 8, 2019 .
  4. ^ Abbey sale keeps Cambridge afloat. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, December 1, 2004, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ U's future to be decided. In: cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge Evening News, September 26, 2007, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  6. ^ Cambridge to exit administration. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, July 20, 2005, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  7. ↑ United will we stand? In: cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge Evening News, June 1, 2007, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  8. ^ Cambridge fans pay players' wages. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, June 30, 2006, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  9. ^ Cambridge chairman keen to spend. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, March 29, 2007, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  10. ^ Cambridge Utd 0-2 Torquay. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, May 17, 2009, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Shaun Derry named Sky Bet League 2 Manager of the Month. In: efl.com. English Football League, January 8, 2016, accessed June 8, 2019 .
  12. ^ Joe Dunne appointed as head coach of Cambridge United on a three-year deal. In: cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News, May 2, 2018, accessed June 8, 2019 .
  13. ^ "Reserve Team Fixtures & Results 2007/08" ( Memento from January 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Cambridge United)
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Cambridge United History ( Memento of August 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) cambridge-united.co.uk. Accessed July 15, 2007
  15. ^ Club Records and Honors ( memento January 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) cambridge-united.co.uk. Accessed July 19, 2007