Get your heads round this, younger readers: United managers and coaches haven’t always been able to call on benches full of substitutes in their efforts to influence games.

The replacement of players was practised in public school matches as early as the mid-19th century, although only when those selected for a match didn’t turn up, probably because their nannies hadn’t woken them up in time.

And there was consternation at an 1889 Wales-Scotland fixture when home goalie Jim Trainer was absent without explanation. Surprised local amateur Alf Pugh was drafted in until the cavalry arrived in the form of the more experienced Sam Gillam.

Andrew Bennett's family and closest friends were the guests of honour when a plaque commemorating the U's supporter extraordinaire was unveiled on Saturday, November 24.

The club historian, author, reporter, archivist and statistician, who died in February, is now commemorated in the central tunnel of the Habbin, from whose terraces he watched countless hundreds of United matches.

The plaque's manufacture, by Ivett & Reed of Newmarket Road, was made possible by a crowdfunding campaign that was over-subscribed many times over.

The surplus moneys – boosted by royalty payments from Andrew's Celery & Coconuts history of Abbey/ Cambridge United – will fund the annual Andrew Bennett Award, the details of which will be announced at the 2019 Cambridge United Hall of Fame induction dinner in March.

After the unveiling of the slate plaque, Andrew's ashes were interred next to the Habbin-side touchline.

It was a fitting conclusion to a moving occasion, and one that will ensure Andrew's enduring presence in a place he loved.

Old friendships were renewed and new ones forged when members of Cambridge United Former Players' Association gathered at the Abbey Stadium on Saturday, September 22 to watch the 1-1 draw with Mansfield.

It was the first large gathering of the association, which was launched in 2015 by 100 Years of Coconuts and now has nearly 170 members.

Representatives of teams from the 1950s to the 2000s accepted the invitation of CUFPA chairman Rodney Slack and Graham Daniels, United's director of football, to attend the match.

They came from as far afield as Lancashire (Brian Greenhalgh), Oxfordshire (Paul Wanless), Lincolnshire (Derrick Christie) and Buckinghamshire (Wes Maughan).

​United laid on a pre-match buffet lunch in the Abbey Arms, where 25 ex-U's, named in the top picture caption, met to swap memories over a drink.

After watching visitors Mansfield take a first-half lead, they took to the pitch at half-time to a warm reception from an appreciative Abbey  crowd.

Relieved by George Maris's deserved 88th minute equaliser, they gathered in the Dion Dublin Bar to continue their reminiscences.

It was the first such gathering, but CUFPA and Cambridge United are looking forward to welcoming more members to future ex-player days.

The third volume of Andrew Bennett’s brilliant Celery & Coconuts history of Cambridge United, relating the incredible story of the 1970s, is available to order now.

With a foreword by star 70s striker Alan Biley, Champagne & Corona tells the tale of a revolutionary decade – one that saw the club continue its irresistible rise to claim a place in English football’s second tier.

Written in Bennett’s distinctive, expressive style and containing more than 150 illustrations – as well as the vital statistics of an amazing ten-year upwards surge – it will merit a place on any football fan’s bookshelves.

Champagne & Corona will be published in November by Lovely Bunch, the publishing offshoot of CFU heritage arm 100 Years of Coconuts, in good time for Christmas.

This is a revised version of an article that appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Cochester United on 2 September 2017.

They’re off … and as they pass the Abbey Church in Newmarket Road it’s Warren and Ellis jostling for the lead. Ellis last year’s winner, of course.

Past the brickyards, and at the Paper Mills it’s Warren making the pace. Out on the muddy Quy road it’s still Warren, looking remarkably fresh. He reaches the turn at Bottisham Swan in style, with Ellis looking good too, but trailing. My word, this is fast.

The runners are facing a stiff headwind on the return leg, but that doesn’t bother Warren.

It's been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.

Legendary goalscorers John Taylor (left) and Alan Biley teamed up to form a formidable strike force for the latest 100 Years of Coconuts Q&A after the 5-0 win over Port Vale on Saturday, May 5.

Shaggy (104 United goals in 406 appearances) and Bye-Bye (82 goals; 188 appearances) got to know each other when they were both inducted into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame in March.

​They entertained an appreciative crowd in the Abbey Arms with tales of special moments, unforgettable players and what it's really like to play and score at the Abbey (answer: a bit special).

They were joined by partners Donna Mann and Jayne Stanley and, in a nice surprise for the audience and themselves, flying winger Derrick Christie, who created quite a few goals for Alan in the 1970s.

What a striking combination they would have made.

This article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the Leyton Orient match on Saturday, 8 April 2017.

The United youth teams of the early- to mid-1960s produced a bountiful crop of players who made their mark at the Abbey and beyond. With the likes of manager Peter Reeve and trainer Wally Warren working hard behind the scenes, players such as Alan Payne, Bert Haggis and Peter Robinson made sure the first teamers knew there were youngsters ready and able to take their places.

Several of these young men went on to play in the Football League well before United made it into the Fourth Division: Graham Felton starred on the wing for many years at Northampton and elsewhere; Peter Bowstead’s promising career at Oxford was cut short by injury; Richard Habbin and John Harley became favourites at Reading.

Another player in and around the senior team at the time was Brian Whitmore, whom we welcome, with wife Maureen and friends Sandra and Fred Marshall, to today’s game. We’re hoping a look at the ground, a visit to his old teammate Rodney Slack, a chat with his old youth team manager Peter Reeve and a butcher’s at The Story of the U’s in the Supporters’ Club will stir some memories of happy times over half a century ago.

Brian was a promising striker who made his first-team debut against Histon in the East Anglian Cup on 7 October 1963 (the U’s won 3-0). Two more appearances followed that season, in the teams that beat Soham Town Rangers to win the Lakenheath British Legion Cup and claimed the Wymondham Charity Cup by overcoming Wymondham Town.

In the run-up to the 1964/65 season Brian scored in a 2-1 friendly defeat of Colchester United. During the season proper he played four times (netting one goal) in the Midland Floodlit League, four times in the late, lamented Mithras Cup, once in the East Anglian Cup and in the teams that retained the Lakenheath British Legion and Wymondham Charity cups. The following term he played twice in the East Anglian Cup – scoring twice in the first ten minutes of a 5-2 defeat of Dagenham – and his last first-team game came on 28 October 1965 in a 3-3 Midland Floodlit League draw with Wellington Town. Having scored three times in 15 games for the U’s, he left the Abbey and went on to play for Soham and Histon.

Brian’s short-term memory has been affected by Alzheimer’s, that most cruel of diseases. Some memories of his playing days remain with him, and Maureen, Fred and Sandra hope today’s visit to his old stamping ground will stir some reminiscences. It so happens that this ties in with a project for which 100 Years of Coconuts is seeking funding. We want to use the Coconuts collection and The Story of the U’s to help older people living with dementia and/or coping with depression and loneliness.

We’ve seen at first hand the amazing effect exposure to memorabilia, photographs, documents and other objects can have on people with dementia. We want to further the work of the Sporting Memories Foundation by sharing memories and helping people to connect with others and with their past. We know how well this can reawaken positive thoughts and feelings that might otherwise stay hidden.