ARE THERE TWO WORSE TEAMS THANUS?
Dark days at Cambridge as they fight for survival
‘WE REALLY are deep in the brown stuff,’ Terry Wilby admits from his cabin in the Abbey Stadium car park.
The skies are grey, the temperature akin to the inside of a fridge. But it will take more than a little winter chill to deter these Cambridge United volunteers, who are determined to lend a hand. And how manager Colin Calderwood and Co need the support.
Against Stevenage on Saturday, goals from David Amoo and Jevani Brown helped Cambridge secure their seventh league win of the season to move them five points clear of the League Two drop zone. But the club still teeters on the precipice and the threat of relegation looms large.
In May, owner Paul Barry accused the club of ‘believing it is bigger than it is and having aspirations to match’ after losses of almost £700,000 for the 2016-17 financial year.
Now it’s Calderwood feeling the pinch. He took over last month and has only two strikers. He needs reinforcements but remains realistic after Cambridge’s second win in 11 games.
‘I honestly don’t think we’re punching below our weight but I certainly know we can play higher up… we’re exactly where we should be.’
Try telling that to Wilby and other volunteers such as Jean Weston, who has been coming here since the 1960s.
They want better for their club, but have grown used to turbulence. In 2005 the club were relegated to the Conference and filed for administration to stay afloat.
For nine years they sat in the fifth tier. But how does their current plight compare to the darkest days of the past 15 years? ‘ It’s probably worse,’ Wilby admits. ‘ It’s a case of deja vu. We’ve been there before, didn’t learn the lessons... now with many other clubs, we’re looking for external investors to come and help us.’
To do their bit, he and other members of the Cambridge Fans United supporters’ trust sell programmes and raffle tickets to raise funds.
It wasn’t always like this. Three years ago this month, Manchester United came to town and Cambridge secured a lucrative replay. On this FA Cup weekend, however, there was less glamorous business at hand after non- League Guiseley had dumped them out in round one.
‘Paul Barry has been very good over many, many years and put in a lot of money to help save this club,’ Wilby says.
‘He’s said he can’t and won’t continue to do it, but if he doesn’t, then who does? And how is he going to run the club so that we don’t make those losses?’ Barry, a boyhood Cambridge fan, is now based in the USA. When he took over in February he said they should be playing at a higher level, in a more modern ground, while doing more for the community in Britain’s most unequal city. What the 3,600 home fans at the creaking Abbey on Saturday would do for such optimism.
Cuts of more than £500,000 have been made for 2018-19 and now the best they can hope for? ‘Survival for the club by staying in the league,’ Wilby reckons.
‘Are there two worse clubs than us? At the moment, just about. At the end of the season, I’m not too sure.’
Thankfully, that pessimism hasn’t filtered down to the players. At least not openly.
‘I don’t think we see ourselves as in a relegation battle,’ claims Brown. ‘And what happens off the pitch and upstairs is nothing to do with us.’
Only more wins like this will keep it that way.