Cambridge’s League One status has gone down to the final day in each of the last two seasons. Can former Brum, Boro and Swansea boss Garry Monk be the one to provide a less stressful end? We spoke to the Under The Abbey Stand Podcast.
How was last season?
Last season was… tough. We started really well as we have done every season we’ve been in League One, even getting nose bleeds up around the play offs around September. But six months, three managers and a lot of dropped points later, we dragged ourselves quite predictably into a relegation battle that we should have been able to avoid.
The season started under Mark Bonner; an undoubted club legend, he’s the boyhood supporter who made his way up the ranks all the way to first team manager, and led us to an unexpected promotion in his first season. He kept us in League One two years running, one very comfortably, and one by the skin of our teeth. After a 5-0 drubbing at our rivals Peterborough last year though, the time had come to close the chapter of that book.
In stepped Neil Harris - he was the polar opposite in style and managerial approach to Bonner. But it felt like we needed it, and he really steadied the ship. We weren’t tearing up any trees but we would have stayed up comfortably under Harris. He signed a few of his own players in January (most notably chief shithouse Lyle Taylor), and things were going swimmingly. Until Millwall sacked their manager and Harris left at the drop of a hat, the week before derby day.
It came so out of the blue it left the whole club in a bit of a tailspin. We lost three on the bounce, appointed Monk after what must have been a fraught recruitment process, and in his first three games we drew one and lost two, all by an aggregate scoreline of 10-1. Not a great start. But with the international window, Monk changed the system and we won both Easter games which eventually was enough to keep us up, despite mathematically having a chance of going down on the final day. In the end, objective secured, but it was a rocky road to get there.
Cambridge so far…
Stockport 2-0 Cambridge Barry 5, Wootton 76
Garry Monk, I'd forgotten all about him, what did you make of that appointment? How's he doing?
Harris really did live a sour taste in the mouth when he left so quickly having given it all the talk about why Cambridge as a city means something to him and what he wants to build here. All the usual talk.
So, when he left and he had to very quickly find a new manager to keep a team in freefall up, it was a bit of a hospital pass. I think he did well to do that given the situation we were in, and so far everything he’s been asked to do he’s achieved. But the jury is still out, we have still only won two games under Monk, which despite all the caveats isn’t exactly impressive.
He does seem like a very good operator though and his higher level experience could be huge in getting the most out of what is a limited squad in comparison to the rest of the league. He’ll be given time to try and get results out of them, but there’s no long-standing loyalties in place like there have been with previous managers.
Summer transfer activity so far? What's been done, what needs to be done?
We’ve signed seven, a few old Championship names your fans will have heard of in Korey Smith and Gary Gardner, and of course your lad Taylor Richards on loan. The exciting ones are probably Kell Watts and Shayne Lavery who sign permanently at a really good age but with good experience under their belt already.
We really, really need a striker. Not just the old classic that every fan wants a striker - we go into the first game with just Lavery as an available option. It’s a bit disappointing we’re in that situation given it was obvious what was needed, but i think Monk is waiting for the PL loan market to bear some fruit. But it’s a risky game because we severely lack goals it looks like.
I’d also probably like another centre back to replace the injured Mahmadou Jobe and a LWB for a bit of attacking flair up that side.
Ins >>> Shayne Lavery, 25, CF, Blackpool, Free >>> Gary Gardner, 32, DM, Birmingham, Free >>> Korey Smith, 33, CM, Derby, Free >>> Kell Watts, 24, CB, Newcastle, Free >>> James Gibbons, 26, RB, Bristol Rovers, Free >>> Ryan Loft, 26, CF, Port Vale, Undisclosed >>> Taylor Richards, 23, CM, QPR, Loan >>> Vicente Reyes, 20, GK, Norwich, Loan
Outs >>> Adam May, 26, CM, Forest Green, Free >>> Will Mannion, 26, GK, Charlton, Free >>> Loyal Taylor, 34, CF, Colchester, Free >>> Kai Yearn, 19, AM, Coventry, Free >>> Greg Sandiford, 19, RB, Coventry, Free >>> Tom Finch, 19, GK, Norwich, Free >>> Jack Lankester, 24, AM, Crewe, Undisclosed >>> Lewis Simper, 22, CM, Sutton, Undisclosed >>> Harvey Beckett, 20, CB, Royston, Free >>> Fejiri Okenabirhie, 28, CF, Released >>> Saikou Janneh, 24, CF, Released >>> Brandon Haunstrup, 27, LB, Released >>> Ryan Bennett, 34, CB, Released >>> Harrison Dunk, 33, LB, Released >>> James Holden, 22, GK, Released >>> Saleem Akanbi, 22, CF, Released
How's your pre-season gone?
They’re hard to judge aren’t they: we’ve beaten all the non-league teams we’ve played with whatever weird teams we’ve put out against them. We actually beat West Brom too in what was probably our biggest pre-season game in terms of preparation. But then the next day we lost 6-0 to League 2 Colchester - granted this was almost exclusively the youth team, but it’s not the best way to end the summer.
Any sightings of our Problem Child Mr Richards yet?
Nothing at all just yet. Probably just playing his way to fitness but we’d have expected some sort of sighting of him. I’m not sure our strategy is hugely hinging on him - he’s very much a nice to have and a big plus if we can help him uncover that quality he undoubtedly must have. But I think we have first choice options that don’t rely on him.
How should we expect you to line up against us?
Genuinely quite hard to say personnel wise. I would expect we’ll be 3-5-2 (or more like 5-3-2 against better opposition).
We have a big game on the Saturday after so I actually think he might be worried about early workloads for players coming back from lay offs. Not saying we’ll go second string but also might see a few faces get run outs to see what they can do.
Something like: Stevens; Okedina, Ibsen Rossi, Watts; Gibbons, Andrew; Digby, Mcconnell, Brophy; Kachunga, Lavery
But I’m totally guessing.
Expectations for this season at Cambridge?
The aim is just to stay up. League One is ridiculous this year so it’d be our biggest achievement yet considering our relative budget.
Expectation from this outlet is that it’ll probably end up being too much for us in the end and we’ll drop. Valiantly.
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