Six star performers on and off the pitch were inducted into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame during a celebratory dinner in the Abbey Lounge, home of the Supporters' Club, on Thursday, March 21.
 
Players Terry Eades, Steve Fallon and Tom Finney, manager Roy McFarland, commercial powerhouse Bill Cawdery and club historian Andrew Bennett joined their peers in the Hall of Fame, which is managed by 100 Years of Coconuts and recognises outstanding contributions to the story of the football club.
 
Eades, Fallon, Finney and McFarland were chosen by United supporters via online and paper voting, while Cawdery and Bennett were selected for induction by a Coconuts/ Cambridge Fans United electoral college.
 
‘The Cambridge United Hall of Fame recognises the work of people who have changed the history of the club significantly, one way or another,’ former Coconuts chair Pat Morgan told the press.

‘It doesn’t matter whether their contributions were on the pitch, in the dugout, in the boardroom, in the offices or on the terraces.

​'The Cambridge United team is not just 11 players on the park on a Saturday; it’s every character who has ever played a part in the never-ending story that unfolds each week.’
 
Three of the new Hall of Famers were present to receive their mementos of induction: defenders Eades and Fallon and striker/midfielder Finney.

Mark Cawdery received his late father’s memento and Sam Wilson accepted his uncle Andrew Bennett’s award, while diners were able to watch a recording of McFarland’s acceptance speech.
 
The new inductees joined the existing Hall of Famers who have been inducted since the launch of the scheme in 2016: commercial manager Dudley Arliss, player/supporter Russell Crane, players Alan Biley, Dion Dublin, Wilf Mannion, Rodney Slack and Paul Wanless, player/managers John Beck and John Taylor, team managers Bill Leivers and Richard Money, stadium manager Ian Darler and supporter extraordinaire Lil Harrison.
 
Bennett’s induction to the Hall of Fame also served as the inauguration of the annual Andrew Bennett Award, which is intended to recognise extraordinary inputs to the club and its community.
 
It was instituted in memory of the late honorary club historian, archivist, writer and author of the Celery & Coconuts history of Abbey United/Cambridge United, who died in February last year.

Cambridge United director of football Graham Daniels presided over the ceremony, which was also attended by many supporters and ex-players including Andy Beattie, Alan Biley, Derrick Christie, Sam Harris, Peter Hobbs, Keith Lockhart, Rodney Slack and John Taylor.

Visit photographer Simon Lankester's Flickr account to view full coverage of the evening.

It’s that time of year again – tickets for the ever-popular Cambridge United Hall of Fame 2019 induction ceremony and dinner go on sale today.

Make sure you're at the social event of the year by securing your tickets here.

​The ceremony, which will see a host of Cambridge United legends gather to see six personalities inducted to the Hall of Fame, will be held in the Abbey Lounge – home of Cambridge United Supporters’ Club – at 6.30 for 7.30pm on Thursday, March 21.

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.

An edited version of this article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Lincoln City on 9 February 2018, and preceded this year's Hall of Fame inductions.

By the time you read this it will be all over bar the shouting, although if I know you lot there will be a fair amount of that.

The votes for this year’s player inductees to the Cambridge United Hall of Fame will have been counted and tickets for the induction ceremony will have gone on sale.

Even if the Coconuts mob let me in on the secret, I’m not going to reveal which players have won the votes. But I want to take this opportunity to talk about one of those shortlisted in the 1970-1989 category – a man whose contribution to the United cause was immense but is sometimes underestimated.

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Bristol Rovers on 30 October 2015.
 
It was good to see Steve Fallon back at the Abbey in March, when he took his place among those shortlisted for a place in the Cambridge United Hall of Fame.

We were nodding our heads as his old teammate Alan Biley said that of all the men he played with at United, Steve was the most suited to grace the top of the game.

He never played at English football's highest level. It's that division's loss: it is the poorer for never seeing Steve show just how good a footballer he was.

He's been associated with Cambridge so long, it’s easy to forget that he grew up near the other place.

Yes, he’s a native of Whittlesey and as an impressionable youngster professed a fondness for Tottenham Hotspur and Posh.

​Those youthful indiscretions have long been forgiven, for Steve matured into one of the greatest footballers and servants of the game our city has ever had.

Count ’em: 446 appearances (and the little matter of 30 goals) in all competitions for United, in a career that spanned 13 seasons.

Then he goes and makes a good fist of a job in the club’s commercial department while limbering up for a management career that took in Cambridge City, Histon, Soham Town Rangers and Histon again.

The years he spent in his first spell at Bridge Road, taking the team from the Eastern Counties League to the Conference play-off semi-finals, may have coloured some younger fans’ views of the man, but who will forget his appearance at the head of the United supporters’ solidarity march ahead of our last Football League game of 2005?

Ken Shellito didn’t say much worth listening to during his brief tenure as gaffer in 1985, but it was nail-on-head stuff when he explained why he made Steve his captain: ‘I thought [he] should have the job because he is Cambridge United … In the time I have been at Cambridge I have never heard anyone say a bad word about him as a player or as a person.’

It was a much more successful manager, Ron Atkinson, who had brought Steve from Kettering to Newmarket Road in March 1975.

We think of him as a centre back of skill, strength and intelligence, but it was as a left back and in midfield that he established himself, before teaming up with the likes of Brendon Batson and Dave Stringer as his central defensive career flourished.

Those illustrious names would later be joined as defensive partners by such black-and-amber legends as Lindsay ‘Wolfie’ Smith, David Moyes, Andy Beattie, Keith Osgood and Chris Turner.

He knew where the goal was, too, as an unforgettable, 40-yard volleyed screamer at Gillingham in January 1978 showed.

He was at it again, from closer range this time, as United overcame Exeter 2-1 later that season to climb into the Second Division.

Top clubs like Tottenham and Derby offered sums up to £200,000 for his services, but his United career was far from finished.

Steve was a tower of strength throughout United’s amazing six-year spell in the second tier and beyond, as the club’s fortunes plummeted in the mid-80s.

By now the number of knee operations was beginning to mount and, finally, he was forced to call it a day in November 1986, at the early age of 30.

100 Years of Coconuts inducted six personalities to the Cambridge United Hall of Fame on Thursday, March 15.
 
The Hall of Fame, launched in 2016, recognises outstanding contributions to the development and history of the football club.
 
During a sold-out dinner and ceremony at United’s Abbey Stadium, players Alan Biley, Wilf Mannion and John Taylor, managers Bill Leivers and Richard Money and former commercial manager Dudley Arliss were added to the Hall of Fame.
 
Biley, Mannion and Taylor were chosen by U’s supporters via online and paper voting. Arliss, Leivers and Money were selected for induction by a Coconuts/CFU committee.
 
They joined the existing Hall of Famers who were inducted in 2016 and 2017: player/supporter Russell Crane, players Dion Dublin, Rodney Slack and Paul Wanless, manager John Beck, stadium manager Ian Darler and supporter Lil Harrison.
 
The Hall of Fame may be found at cuhalloffame.org.uk. Coconuts, CFU and Cambridge United have plans to create a permanent display within the existing Abbey Stadium or in any new development.

Coconuts chair Pat Morgan said: ‘Six truly inspiring United legends have been received the honour due to them tonight. 
 
‘Their contributions to the story of our great football club were varied, but they have one thing in common: they made a massive difference. If it hadn’t been for them, we would be telling a different story today.’
 
Alan Biley was the star goalscorer of the 1970s who held the Football League-era record until John Taylor came along in the 1980s and 1990s. Wilf Mannion, possibly England’s greatest ever inside forward, was legendary far beyond Cambridgeshire’s boundaries.
 
Bill Leivers and Richard Money share an achievement – they both oversaw United’s rise into the Football League, Leivers in 1970, Money in 2014.
 
Dudley Arliss revolutionised the club’s commercial operation in the 1960s and provided the financial foundations for election to the League.
 
Cambridge United director of football Graham Daniels presided over the ceremony, which was attended by nominees for induction including Andy Duncan, Terry Eades, Steve Fallon, Alan Kimble, Andy Sinton and Dave Stringer, plus Hall of Famers Ian Darler and Rodney Slack.

To read the Hall of Fame citations for the six latest inductees, or to suggest future Hall of Famers, visit cuhalloffame.org.uk.

​To view Simon Lankester's photographic record of the evening, go to flickr.com/photos/lank24/sets/72157666788809668.

U's fans' favourite social event of the year, the Cambridge United Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner, will take place at the Abbey Stadium on Thursday, March 15 – and tickets go on sale today.

The event, which will see six personalities inducted to the Hall of Fame, will be held in the Premier Travel Suite at 6.30 for 7.30pm. 

All players for whom supporters have been voting over the past couple of months have been invited to attend – and so far Alan Biley, Andy Duncan, Steve Fallon, Rodney Slack and John Taylor have confirmed they'll be there on the night.

Voting, which closes today, has taken place in three player categories: pre-1970, 1970-1989 and 1990-2005. In addition, three other inductees will be honoured, including an 'off-pitch' personality.

Tickets, priced at £25 for a two-course dinner and the chance to rub shoulders with the stars, are available from the CFU online shop. Guests will have the chance to bid for hugely desirable United-related goods in a silent auction, buy tickets in a draw and have their photographs taken with a surprise, well-known football object from the past.

Voting for the 2018 inductions to the Cambridge United Hall of Fame begins tomorrow – Saturday, January 13.

To register your vote, head to cuhalloffame.org.uk and follow the voting link.

Or, if you prefer to register your preferences the old-fashioned way, you will be able to vote by paper ballot at a table beside the CFU caravan, in the Abbey's front car park, before tomorrow's game against Mansfield.

This year, U's supporters can choose player inductees in three categories: pre-1970, 1970-1989 and 1990-2005.

In the pre-1970 player category, vote for one of these: Harvey Cornwell, Terry Eades, Joe & Tony Gallego, Johnny Haasz, Wilf Mannion or Len Saward.

For the 1970-1989 inductee, the choice is equally difficult. It's between Brendon Batson, Alan Biley, Steve Fallon, Tom Finney, Andy Sinton and Dave Stringer.

An edited version of this article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Crewe Alexandra on 30 December 2017.

Fellow Cambridge United supporters! Prepare to exercise your democratic right to determine which playing heroes of the past 100-plus years should take their place in your club’s Hall of Fame.

It’s almost that time again. From Saturday, January 13 you will be able to vote via the Hall of Fame website (cuhalloffame.org.uk) or on paper at the CFU caravan before home games.

The results will be announced at a swish, star-studded induction dinner in March – stand by for announcements of ticket prices and arrangements. Last year’s dinner was a roaring success and tickets sold out in a flash, so best to keep that credit card close by you.

This year, you’re voting for players in three categories: pre-1970, 1970-1989 and 1990-2005. A Committee of the Wise has already decided on the identities of three other inductees: a manager, an ‘off-pitch’ personality and the recipient of a special 100 Years of Coconuts management committee award.

Your mission – and you really should choose to accept it – is to vote for one player in each category. From the pre-1970 shortlist, choose between Harvey Cornwell, Terry Eades, Joe and Tony Gallego, Johnny Haasz, Wilf Mannion and Len Saward.

From the ranks of the 1970-1989 heroes, you’ll be deciding between Brendon Batson, Alan Biley, Steve Fallon, Tom Finney, Andy Sinton and Dave Stringer. Those shortlisted in the 1990-2005 category are Steve Claridge, Liam Daish, Andy Duncan, Alan Kimble, John Taylor and John Vaughan.

Hang about, I hear you cry. Explain yourselves, Coconuts committee! How come my favourite U’s player of all time, Reg Barnwell, isn’t shortlisted? Why does Terry Eades figure in the pre-1970 category when his most impressive displays came in United’s first Football League era, after 1970? What does Dave Kitson have to do to get in the frame? I’m only 18; how am I supposed to know who the dickens Harvey Cornwell and Johnny Haasz are?

They’re all valid questions. To answer most of them, remind yourself that you’re voting in just one iteration of the Cambridge United Hall of Fame induction process, and there will be more. Perhaps your idol, be it the aforementioned and entirely fictitious Reg Barnwell, Dave Kitson or Devon White, will appear on a future shortlist. Perhaps he’s already been inducted. Perhaps the committee felt Terry Eades’s pre-League contribution alone made him worthy of nomination.

As for the question of how younger fans can hope to choose from a bunch of players they’ve never heard of, the answer is simple: consult your copies of Newmarket Road Roughs and Risen from the Dust.

The first two volumes of Celery & Coconuts, Andrew Bennett’s history of Abbey/Cambridge United, describe these players’ finest moments, and provide all the facts and figures you could want. I shouldn’t need to remind you that, if you’re one of the few U’s fans who haven’t already bought these essential books, you can rectify the error by visiting the CFU online store (cambridgefansunited.org/store/c4/Books.html) or the caravan on a match day.
​
I promise I’m not trying to influence your vote by using a photo of Harvey Cornwell on this page; I just thought you’d like to see it. It shows him playing his last game for Thursday Wanderers, on Jesus Green on 16 April 1955. The Wanderers’ opponents, City Police, showed scant respect for the 59-year-old Grand Old Man of Cambridge football by winning 13-1.

Cheerio
Harry