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Rise and shine

9/26/2017

This article appeared in the Cambridge United programme for the match against Forest Green Rovers on 26 September 2017.

Several elements of the photograph on this page allow us to date it to the late 1960s/early1970s. The buzz cut, braces and button-down collar sported by the tall gent on the left, for example, were undoubtedly complemented by a pair of DMs, useful in the event of the aggro that was all too prevalent at the time.

The real giveaway, of course, forms the centrepiece of the tableau and permits us to pinpoint its exact date: 2 May 1970. The magnificent trophy held aloft by Malcolm Lindsay and his U’s teammates is the Southern League championship shield, and they had just won it by beating Margate 2-0 in the final league match of the season.

Play Spot the Player and you’ll pick out Jimmy Thompson, Robin Hardy and Terry Eades. Those of us who were around at the time could pass a happy half-hour playing Spot the Fan among the masses on the Abbey pitch.

It’s a memorable image, which is one reason it was chosen for the front cover of Risen from the Dust, the second volume of Andrew Bennett’s Celery & Coconuts history of Abbey/Cambridge United. It will be published next month; preorder your copy now from the CFU online store or the caravan in the front car park on a match day.

Another reason for the photograph’s choice is that it represents the culmination of two decades of sky-high ambition, dogged determination and sheer, unceasing hard work on the part of supporters, directors, officials and players. The rapidity of the club’s rise from local league part-timers to a position that made it almost impossible for Football League clubs not to elect United to join them was unprecedented. It will never be repeated.

In the early weeks of 1951, the year in which Risen from the Dust opens, the U’s were still called Abbey United and were grubbing around in the semi-pro United Counties League.

A limited liability company looking after the club’s affairs – a declaration of the ambition burning bright at Newmarket Road – had been set up the year before, but the change of name to Cambridge United and acceptance into the Eastern Counties League were still in the future. Even the Southern League, at that time the biggest non-League competition, was a very distant prospect.

The book recounts the story of the nineteen short years it took the U’s to surge upwards through the ECL and the Southern League, win the latter twice and its league cup three times and hammer irresistibly on the door of the Football League’s art deco headquarters in Lytham St Annes.

Over the course of 388 pages, Andrew (belated congratulations on your appointment as club historian, lad) covers all the great moments and talking points in his familiar, eminently readable style. They include the development of the Abbey funded and carried out by supporters, the sight of football legend Wilf Mannion in amber and black, the unforgettable derby tussles of the 60s, the incredibly successful pools operation driven by Dudley Arliss, the constant bitter argument over the issue of City-United amalgamation … it’s all there. And stats fans get page after page of the factual stuff.

It can be yours for the ridiculously low price of £19.99, or £1 less if you’re a CFU member. We look forward to taking your order.
Cheerio
Harry

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9/8/2017

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This article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Morecambe on 26 August 2017.

I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve wobbled over Coldham Common past the dear old Abbey (sorry, I really must learn to call it the Cambs Glass Stadium; where would we be without our kind commercial partners?) Sometimes I’ve wobbled on my trusty pushbike and sometimes I’ve wobbled on foot, especially if I’ve had to stop off at the dear, departed Greyhound for a livener.

However many times it is, I can honestly say that on each and every occasion my heart has skipped a beat at the sight depicted on this page: my beloved football ground. There’s something spellbinding about the place, and I reckon the magic has been captured beautifully by Jamie B Edwards.

Jamie’s bringing a book out – or he will be if his publisher’s crowdfunding scheme takes off – called Drawing the 92. He’s travelled more than 25,000 miles to record the essence of all the grounds in English football’s top four levels, and the result is this hefty coffee-table volume (I suppose I’ll have to buy a coffee table now). It looks fabulous, so any help you can give to ensure it’s published will be money well spent. Head for kickstarter.com and search for Drawing the 92.

And while we’re talking about books, there’s tons of insight into the development of the Abbey – sorry, Cambs Glass – Stadium in Andrew Bennett’s Risen from the Dust, which will be published in October. This weighty tome tells the story of the U’s from 1951 to 1970, and you’ll be able to pre-order your copies very soon from the CFU website.

In the early 1950s, when United were not that long out of the Cambs League and the United Counties League was a very recent memory, the ground was little more than a rickety, 1934-vintage wooden stand holding a couple of hundred people, an old green shed where the players got changed and stretches of earth banking into which old railway sleepers had been dug.

But the club was on the move and its supporters were behind it every inch of the way. It was the fans who raised the money to equip the Abbey with concrete terraces and roofs, our towering floodlights (the best feature of the Cambridge skyline if you ask me) and countless other aspects of the ground.

The Cambs Glass Abbey Stadium seen from Coldham Common, captured by artist Jamie B Edwards for Drawing the 92.

It was the supporters – and sometimes the players too – who gave up their evenings and weekends to build what you see today.

A passage from the 1961/62 chapter of Risen from the Dust shows how much hard graft those supporters put in to ensure United were worthy of Southern League – and ultimately Football League – football.

‘In December, the Supporters’ Club launched a floodlight fund,’ writes Andrew. ‘Blanket collections were held during half-time intervals, with spectators urged to “give until it hurts”; badges were sold; and proceeds from tombola sessions were allocated to the fund for the rest of the season.

'Reference was made to the “New Abbey Stadium” project (the first time the name had been used officially), which apart from the floodlight fund, involved extending the cover over the Coldhams Common side terrace … The aim was “to make our stadium one of the finest in football”.’

It may not actually be the finest, but it’s ours in just about every sense.
Cheerio
Harry

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Brian Holmes 1926-2017

9/7/2017

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Coconuts was saddened to learn, following the death of Tickle Sanderson in August, that Cambridge United had lost another nonagenarian ex-player the previous month: Brian Holmes died on July 29, aged 91.

Wing half Brian, although better known for his career at Cambridge Town/City, played 46 times and scored two goals for Abbey United between 1947 and 1949, before crossing the river to join the Lilywhites.

Brian’s football ability first became apparent at Bottisham Village College and then with the Air Training Corps. A spell in India with the RAF saw him win station cups at Calcutta, Bangalore and Madras. On demobilisation, he played for Fen Ditton before moving down Newmarket Road to join the Abbey.

He made 26 United Counties League appearances, scoring two goals, for United during 1947/48, and played another ten games in 1948/49.

He made his first-team debut for Town in a friendly against DOS Utrecht in April 1949. Two years later, against Walton & Hersham in April 1951, he claimed the distinction of being the first scorer of an Athenian League goal for the newly renamed Cambridge City.

Brian had played 117 times and scored five goals for Town/City when his career was cut short by a knee injury: his final game was at home to Barnet on 5 December 1953. Earlier that season, he had played in City’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat to United in front of a crowd of 11,908 at Milton Road.

Brian Holmes (centre, between Albert 'Lofty' Adams and Tony Gallego) before Abbey United's 1-1 draw with Wisbech in an FA Cup preliminary round tie at Newmarket Road on 18 September 1948.

The funeral took place in Fen Ditton on August 23. He leaves a son, John, and daughters Carmen and Silvana.

Cambridge City historian Neil Harvey writes: Some of you may remember Brian as an education welfare officer working in Cambridge, and in the early 1980s I worked with him in the long-gone Gloucester Street offices of the county council. His stories of playing for and watching Cambridge Town/City helped to spark my interest in the history of the club. My favourite of Brian’s recollections was the day he saw the legendary Dixie Dean, allegedly under the influence, score eight goals in one game at Milton Road during the war. Brian was a guest of honour at the final game at Milton Road in 2013 and I had the pleasure of chatting with him on a number of times over the years long after his retirement from work.

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Rise and shine

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Brian Holmes 1926-2017

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