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Cambridge United F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cambridge United | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Cambridge United Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | United, The U's | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1912 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Abbey Stadium Cambridge (Capacity 9,617) |
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| Chairman |  Lee Power |
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| Manager |  Jimmy Quinn |
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| League | Conference National | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–07 | Conference National, 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cambridge United Football Club (also known as United and The U's) is a professional football club from Cambridge, England. They are currently playing in the Conference National (2007–08 season), where they have competed since 2005 following their relegation from the Football League after 35 years.
Cambridge United, often referred to in footballing circles as simply Cambridge, ignoring their smaller neighbours Cambridge City, have been one of the more successful smaller clubs in English football, having had two spells in the league's second tier and reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup twice and Football League Cup once. The club has close links with Cambridge Regional College F.C., a team formed in 2006 to effectively compete as United's reserve team to avoid FA rules which prohibit reserve teams playing at certain levels of the football pyramid.[1]
The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Newmarket Road, Cambridge, which currently has a capacity of 9,617 made up of terracing and seated areas. Although the club has traditionally worn amber and black at home, it has experimented with a number of designs of shirts including plain amber with black trim, amber and black squares and, presently, striped shirts.[2]
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For more details on this topic, see History of Cambridge United F.C.
The club was founded in 1912 as Abbey United (named after the Abbey district of Cambridge in which they play); although a club called Cambridge United existed in Cambridge from 1909, it was not linked to the club that exists today.[3] The club played in local amateur leagues, with some success, for many of its early years, moving from ground to ground around Cambridge (see Stadium below) before settling at the Abbey Stadium. In 1949 the club turned professional, and changed its name to Cambridge United in 1951.[3] They played in the Eastern Counties League until finishing as runners-up in 1957–58, which saw them promoted to the Southern League. Three years later, Cambridge United reached the Premier Division of the Southern League.
After election to the Football League in 1970, to replace Bradford (Park Avenue), the club enjoyed mixed success. Although it reached 10th place in the Second Division in 1981, the club was relegated in 1984 (setting a league record for most games without a win, 33) and 1985 (equalling the league record for most losses in a season, 26). These successive relegations placed the club back in the Fourth Division, the lowest professional league in English football at the time.
The early 1990s heralded a brighter era for the U's, however, as with John Beck in charge the club won the first ever play-off final at Wembley Stadium before reaching two successive FA Cup quarterfinals in 1990 and 1991. Despite reaching the play-offs in 1992 after finishing 5th in Division Two (the club's highest league placing), they failed in their bid to become founder members of the Premier League.[3] The club's decline throughout the remainder of the decade resulted in, after a brief promotion between 1999 and 2002, the loss of the club's league status in 2005. This brought with it financial difficulties and the club filed for administration on 29 April. On 22 July 2005 the club came out of administration with a deal being struck with HM Revenue and Customs at the eleventh hour after the intervention of then sports minister Richard Caborn. Cambridge had sold their Abbey Stadium home earlier in the season for £1.9 million; although they lost control of the ground - the money was essential in keeping the club afloat.[4]
On the eve of the 2006–07 season, it was announced that former Norwich City striker Lee Power would be the club's new chairman taking over from Brian Attmore's caretaking reign. Jonny Hon was also to rejoin the board as vice-chairman after John Howard's resignation on conflict of interests grounds (owing to his ownership of Bideawhile 445 Ltd, United's landlords).[5] Jimmy Quinn was appointed manager soon after Power took charge and, after a difficult settling-in period which included a humiliating 5-0 loss to local rivals Histon, he guided Cambridge away from another possible relegation by achieving five wins from their last seven games of the season.[6] [3]
After signing several respected and experienced players at the non-league level in the following close season, including Danny Potter, Mark Convery and Lee Boylan, Quinn led Cambridge to their longest ever unbeaten start to a season (2007–08), which stretched to twelve games.[7] [8] Off the field, Cambridge have also reported several major deals which seem to point towards increased financial security, including a new home sponsor in Haart, a renewed away shirt sponsorship deal with Kershaw (who become the club's longest serving sponsor) and a new sponsor for the Abbey Stadium's South Stand, Marston's Smooth, reported as one of the biggest deals in the club's commercial history.[9] [10]
Cambridge have traditionally worn amber and black home kits in a variety of designs, including plain amber with black trim (e.g. 1979–91), amber and black quarters (1996–98 and halves (e.g. 1924–25), and a variety of stripes (e.g. 1926–36.[2] Only between 1957–60 and 1970–72 have shirts not been predominantly amber, when the club opted for white with a small amber and black detail on the shirt's sleeves. Away from home, kits have often been white with some amber and/or black detail, although recently shirts have been royal blue at the request of the away shirts sponsors, Kershaw.[11] A sponsor first appeared on a Cambridge shirt for the 1985–86 season, when interestingly the shirt was changed mid-season from plain amber to amber and black stripes. Spraymate earned the distinction of being the club's first shirt sponsor, and have since been followed by an array of local and national companies: Lynfox, Howlett, Fujitsu, Beaumont Stainless Steels, Premier Travel, C&R Windows, Quicksilver (couriers), Capital Sports, The Global Group and, as from the 2007–08 season, Haart. The team's kits have been manufactured by a number of companies, with Admiral providing the first strip on which a maker's logo appeared. The club have subsequently worn kits created by, among others, Nike, Patrick, Sporta and, Vandanel with the latter providing the strip for the 2007–08 season.[2] The current home shirt was unveiled on 29 June 2007,[9] with approval from the fans who welcomed a return to amber and black stripes which had become iconic during the club's success in the late 1970s.[12] The club's current crest, a large football over which the letters 'CU' are emblazoned, with three turrets on top, has been worn on its shirts since the 1986–87 season season, with a brief change to a more 'elaborate' design between 1996 and 1998. Previously, shirts had simply been embroidered with the club's acronym 'CUFC' or the 'Book & Ball' badge used during the late 70's. 
 Henry Francis, then president of the club, offered United a lifeline in 1931 when he donated land he had acquired to the club, and erected a grandstand and changing rooms on it. This land, where United have been resident since, was close to the Celery Trenches where, with the approval of the Cambridgeshire FA, the club played while the new ground was being prepared.[13] The first match at the newly constructed Abbey (though it was not known as this until 1961) was played with no grandstand, which would not be opened until March 1934, and subsequent stands were constructed between a period of many years up until 1954 when the final terrace, on the west of the ground (now the 'Habbin Stand'), was completed.[13] Much redevelopment has occurred since including the redevelopment of the main stand to include a roof and extra seating and, most recently, the erection of a new all-seated stand at the south of the ground to replace the original open terrace that had stood there since 1966. Despite planning permission being granted for further development, as part of the same scheme, at the north end of the ground (including an 86-bedroom hotel, retail space, new offices and a new supporters club), financial difficulties meant this has yet to be entered into.[15] These same financial difficulties meant the Abbey Stadium land, donated to the club by Henry Francis in 1931, was sold to then director John Howard's company Bideawhile 445 Ltd in December 2004.[4] Although the club confirmed in January 2006 it had "reached an agreement in principle" to buy back the ground, this has not yet happened, but is seen as crucial in safeguarding its long term financial security.[13] Also in January 2006, John Howard announced plans to move out of the Abbey Stadium to a new purpose built stadium in Milton.[16] These were criticised by fans as risking the club's identity by moving out of the city and, despite Howard describing them as crucial to the club's future, little else has been heard of them since. Cambridge United have a number of supporters' groups and associations, some of which are independently run and some are run by the club itself.[17] These include:
In addition to these supporters' groups, the club currently has one independent fanzine, United in Endeavour, which raises funds for Cambridge Fans United and is sold at home games. 
Before relegation from the Football League in 2005, Cambridge United entered a reserve team in the Football Combination. However, this ceased following financial difficulties which meant the club could not guarantee being able to put out a team for every game. In 2006, United announced they would enter a team in the Eastern Counties Football League Premier Division under the banner of Cambridge Regional College which would serve as their reserve team.[29] Cambridge's Centre of Excellence is widely regarded throughout professional football circles as one of the best in England.[30] Many players have come through the youth team to establish themselves as first team players at Cambridge (for example Dan Gleeson and Daniel Chillingworth) and go on to player at a higher level (recent examples include John Ruddy and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake). The youth team won their division of the Football League Youth Alliance in both 2003–04 and 2004–05[31], showing the strength of the club's Centre of Excellence. The club's success in the FA Youth Cup in recent years has also far surpassed its expectation given the level of the main team - in 2006–07 the team was the highest placed non-league team reaching the Fourth Round after seven games (including qualifying games).[32] The current captain of the youth team is Lewis Carr, a young, strong central defender. Cambridge United Women's Football Club is affiliated with Cambridge United, and is currently managed by Kate Turney. There is also a Girl's Centre of Excellence, which is currently under the control of Franco Nacca; former Cambridge United player.[28] Cambridge United have a reputation for developing and discovering excellent young footballers (see, amongst others,[33] and [34]). Since 1992, they have made close to £7,000,000 by selling players.[35] Some of the players who have passed through the Abbey and on to greater recognition include: Other notable players include Wilf Mannion, the only former Cambridge player to be inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame,[55] and Lindsey Smith, voted Cambridge United's all-time cult hero in a poll for BBC Sport's Football Focus in August 2004.[56] Since 1970, Cambridge United has had eighteen full-time managers and a host of caretakers and player-managers. The incumbent manager is Jimmy Quinn who took over from caretaker manager (and now chairman) Lee Power on 15 September 2006, and whose first match in charge was a 2-1 loss away at Burton Albion.[57]
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