Getting to know the Blue Square Premier : Cambridge United
By Nathan Jackson
May 30 2011
Cambridge United have been in the Conference since 2005 and it's been a very topsy-turvy non-league existence for them so far. At times they have looked certainties for the job and on two occasions they have been 90 minutes away from a return to the Football League.
Official Website - Ground Guide Profile
One of the few consolations about going down the the Blue Square Premier is that I get to go to Cambridge United again, one of the most unique grounds I've been to because of the different in terms of stands. It also means I'll finally be able to get decent pictures for the ground guide.
The Abbey is one of the bigger grounds in the division with capacity for 10,847, with 4,948 of those being seated. Back at the beginning of the century they did know down one stand and rebuild a new seated stand in it's place, only to then run out of money to be able to do it to the rest of the ground. There has been recent talk of them moving to a new ground.
Now, this look at Cambridge will be different to those that have come before. Due to Cambridge having three years of facing the Imps in the middle of the last decade, I'm not going to go through their history, this article will look at their time as a non-league club.
Cambridge spent three years in Division Three/League Two between 2002 and 2005 and although they started out as a strong contender for promotion, they quickly became a club who were on a serious downward spiral. Towards the end of 2003/4 they announced that they had appointed Claude Le Roy, an international manager with an excellent CV, however, it eventually turned out he had never signed a contract and quickly left.
When the club went down with massive financial difficulties and only survived after they sold their Abbey Stadium for £1.9m in 2005 and after a first year of m
ediocrity, Lee Power took over as Chairman in 2006 but that started off a poor season in which Cambridge looked certain to go down before eventually winning five of their last seven games to stay up.
2007/8 turned out to be very memorable for the club. Jimmy Quinn guided them to second in the division after starting the season with a 12 game unbeaten run. They eventually made the Playoffs with 86 points, a new club record. They would however lose the Playoff Final against Exeter City. Quinn quit and was replaced by Gary Brabin, who had to replace most of the existing squad after they had left. Cambridge against finished with 86 points and came from 3-1 down to win the Playoff Semi Final against Stevenage, although they again lost the final. They are one of only four clubs to have appeared in the Conference Playoff Final to have not gone on to win promotion, the others being Halifax, York and now Luton.
Despite being named Manager of the Year for the Blue Square Premier in 2008/9, Gary Brabin was sacked after issues with Cambridge's board and he was replaced by Martin Ling, although the former Leyton Orient boss left after just eight days. A new board quickly took over and Martin Ling returned. Cambridge failed to challenge for promotion again though and have been midtable ever since. They finished with 17 draws last season, the joint most in the division.
The Imps and the U's have a lot in common in recent years, including several players and managers to have been at both. Gary Brabin managed Cambridge and played for Lincoln in the 1990s. John Beck managed both in the 1990s and John Schofield has been a coach and assistant manager at both. Players such as Stuart Bimson, Danny Webb, Lee Philpott and Terry Fleming have played for both in the past.
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