Cambridge United F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox Cambridge United Football Club are a professional football club from Cambridge, England. They will play in the Conference National for the 2005-06 season. Often known just as Cambridge (ignoring their lesser-known neighbours Cambridge City), they are nicknamed the U's.
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Current situation
Since achieving promotion in the summer of 1999, the club has suffered continual problems. Historically, United have relied on big player sales to fund wages. When the player market dried up, the directors turned to loans and supporter fund-raising. The two brightest prospects, Dave Kitson and John Ruddy were sold in 2004 and 2005 respectively, but it was not enough and in April 2005 after being relegated to the Conference National, Cambridge United filed for administration with debts over £500,000.
At the end of the 2004-05 season, the playing squad consisted of Dan Gleeson, Ashley Nicholls, Darren Quinton and John Turner, plus four youth scholars about to start their first professional contracts. Three out-of-contract players, Adam Tann, Matthew Somner and captain Andy Duncan will be offered contracts when the club comes out of administration.
History
From inception to the professional league
The club was founded in 1912 as Abbey United (named after the Abbey district of Cambridge in which they play). They played in local amateur leagues with some success. In 1949 the club turned professional and took the name Cambridge United in 1951. They played in various non-league divisions.
The club was elected to the Football League in 1970 to replace Bradford (Park Avenue), after success in the Southern League.
The golden era of Cambridge United
Cambridge United have never been a particularly successful club,but their golden era - if it could be called that - was the late 1980s and early 1990s. They won the Fourth Division playoffs under John Beck in 1990, and the following year were crowned champions of the Third Division. Their key player of this era was high scoring centre forward Dion Dublin, who had joined the club on a free transfer from Norwich City in 1988. Dublin powered Cambridge to their best-ever league finish in 1992 - they finished 5th in the Second Division and qualified for the promotion playoffs, full of hope that they would complete a unique third successive promotion and play in the first season of the new Premier League. After drawing 1-1 at home in the first leg of the semi finals with Leicester City, they were hammered 5-0 in the second leg and their promotion dreams were shattered. Dublin left soon afterwards, for Manchester United in a £1million deal (he has since turned out for Coventry City, Millwall, Aston Villa and now Leicester City).
The post-Dublin era
John Beck left Cambridge United at the end of the 1992-93 season when they really felt the loss of Dion Dublin and were relegated from the league's new Division One. Cambridge were relegated again in 1994-95, this time to Division Three, and most of their time since then has been spent in the basement division of the Football League, although they were in Division Two from 1999 to 2002 after Roy McFarland delivered them promotion as Division Three runners-up in 1998-99.
McFarland left the club after relegation to Division Three at the end of the 2001-02 season, and was replaced by veteran striker John Taylor who was given the role of player-manager. He remained in charge until March 2004, with Cambridge struggling in the bottom half of Division Three, when the club's board terminated his contract and named Frenchman Claude Le Roy as his successor. Le Roy won four of the remaining eight matches and kept United in the league. The following season he made way for assistant Claude Renard, who in turn lasted just five months before being sacked and replaced by Steve Thompson.
Thompson was unable to save Cambridge from relegation and their demotion to the Conference - after 35 years in the Football League - was confirmed on April 23 2005. This downfall comes just 14 years after the club won the old Third Division title, and just 13 years after they almost gained promotion to the new Premier League. With no prospect of repaying its debts of nearly £1 million, the Club filed for administration on 29 April. As part of a cost-cutting exercise, Thompson and four other coaching staff were sacked by the administrators. Coach Rob Newman took over as team manager.
League history
| Division | Seasons |
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| Division 4 | 1970/1 to 1972/3 (promoted 3rd of 24) |
| Division 3 | 1973/4 (relegated 21st of 24) |
| Division 4 | 1974/5 to 1976/7 (promoted 1st of 24) |
| Division 3 | 1977/8 (promoted 2nd of 24) |
| Division 2 | 1978/9 to 1983/4 (relegated 22 of 22) |
| Division 3 | 1984/5 (relegated 24 of 24) |
| Division 4 | 1985/6 to 1989/90 (6 of 24, promoted as divisional play off winners) |
| Division 3 | 1990/1 (promoted 1st of 24) |
| Division 2 | 1991/2 (Premier league founded) |
| Division 1 | 1992/3 (relegated 23rd of 24) |
| Division 2 | 1993/4 to 1994/5 (relegated 20th of 24) |
| Division 3 | 1995/6 to 1998/9 (promoted 2nd of 24) |
| Division 2 | 1999/2000 to 2001/2 (relegated 24th of 24) |
| Division 3 | 2002/3 to 2003/4 |
| League Two | 2004/5 (relegated 24th of 24) |
| Conference National | 2005/6 |
Honours
- FA Cup best sixth round: 1989-90 (lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace), 1990-91 (lost 2-1 to Arsenal)
- Football League Division Three (old) champions: 1990-91
- Football League Division Four (old) champions: 1976-77
- Football League Division Four (old) play off winners: 1985-86
- Highest league placing: Football League Division Two (old) 5th: 1991-92
Records
- Biggest win: 6-0 v Darlington, 18 September 1971; 6-0 v Hartlepool United, February 1989
- Biggest defeat: 0-7 v Sunderland, October 2002 (League Cup second round)
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League competitions |
Cup competitions | |
| FA Premier League | FA Cup | |
| The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) | England (men) | League Cup |
| Football Conference (Nat, N, S) | FA Community Shield | |
| Northern Premier League (Prem, 1) | (women) | Football League Trophy |
| Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E) | List of clubs | FA Trophy |
| Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2) | FA Vase | |
| English football league system | Records | FA NLS Cup |
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External links
- The Cambridge United Website (http://www.cambridge-united.co.uk/): the official website of the club
- AmberArmy.co.uk (http://www.amberarmy.co.uk/): the most popular Cambridge United fan sitesimple:Cambridge United F.C.