David Hallett reported for Cambridge News. Here is Part 1 of his memories

In 2007 Cambridge Evening News sports desk reporter David Hallett retired after 43 years with the company. He was a well respected journalist who joined the paper in 1964 reporting on a number of sports during this period.

Broadcaster Mark Saggers said at the time: “David watched and reported on me as a sporstman in Cambridge. He instinctively knew the story and asked the questions in the right way.“He mixed Town sport with gown, county with village and was also trusted. When Rob Andrew and Michael Atherton still ask about him, you know he did a great job. He is a true Cambridgeshire sportsman.”

David has kindly written the following recalling his time following the U's at the News for 100yearsofcoconuts

Arliss is not a name you readily associate with the creation of the modern Cambridge United. Proctor, Woolley, Leivers yes. Even Slack, Hardy, Meldrum but, Arliss I do not think so (although he was an early inductee to the club Hall of Fame.

Yet Dudley Arliss was a key figure at the heart and the rise and rise of Cambridge United in the 1960’s.

Let us investigate. As United were nearing the end of the Alan Moore era of the early Sixties having played second fiddle to neighbours and Southern League champions Cambridge City Jack Woolley, owner of Abbey Tyres, and shopkeeper Geoff Proctor were largely paying the playing wages out of their own pockets.

As City were to discover only temporary success could be bought through the largess of football club directors. Woolley and Proctor, in turn chairman and           vice-chairman of United, released this and took the far sighted, some may say inspirational decision to invest what little money there was into employing a professional fund raiser and thus Arliss arrived at the Abbey Stadium.

It did not take long for him to get his feet under the table and rags began to turn into riches.

He established the United lottery and an army of sellers, not just in Cambridge but across the whole of East Anglia and beyond and it did not take long for the money to pour into the Abbey Stadium coffers.

The money was not always wisely spent and under manager Roy Kirk United learned that buying the best players from other, often Non League clubs, did not guarantee the success officials and the growing number of supporters craved.

But some was invested wisely and United signed some local players as apprentices, the first club outside the Football League to do so and Habbin, Harley and Robinson were employed.

And ironically it was this trio that were to enable the next major step and, to my eyes, the most significant, in the club’s history.

The novelty of apprentices in the non league world attracted attention from far and wide even as  far as the northern outpost of Workington where their young and thrustful manager, always with the eye on a bargain, decided he better have a look and thus Bill Leivers arrived at the Abbey Stadium for a midweek match the run the rule over the trio.

He liked what he saw but Habbin, Harley and Robinson did to set off the Cumbria but rather Leivers moved the other way and his reign, arguably the most significant in United history, began.

The new manager quickly showed he could motivate his players to get the best out of them besides being tactically astute and a shrewd judge of talent. Thus the likes of Robin Hardy, a key component in that as to follow arrived from up’t North.

Other signings followed as Leivers followed previous mangers to pick the best from Chelmsford whence came Terry Eades, Bill Cassidy, Tony Butcher,  Peter Leggett et all.

On the field United were on the up but it was not just the Southern League title in Leivers’ sights but also promotion to the Football League.

Now there was no promotion and relegation in those days and the get a place at the top table outsiders needed someone to fall by the wayside. What was known as the Old Boys Network made sure there was no other way in.

The United manager had to find anther route and like the recruitment of Arliss almost decade before he played a master stroke by employing a Public Relations consultant to sell his club to the establishment ie member clubs of Football League.

Meanwhile the football life of the club continued under the stern eye of Bill Leivers. Stern, but it was often fun, as I discovered when I sometimes trained and even once played in a match with a full time professional squad.

Much of the intense training took place behind the Habbin Stand in a small area bordered by the stand and the brook that marked the boundary of Coldhams Common. The brook was shielded by a corrugated iron fence hence the area was known as The Tins.

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Intense yes, ferocious sometimes. But there was always a player to lift the spirits. Often that person was Bill Cassidy who took a delight in lighten the mood, just as he did many times in the heat of battle or Southern League points.

I recall a Midland Floodlit League match at Worcester when the the lights failed momentarily as United defended resolutely but as the stadium burst back into life Cassidy was about the boot the ball into the back of the Worcester net. How he got there was known only to the player himself although it seemed some illegal method had been employed and the “goal” was rightly rule out.

Players, now joined by the shrewd acquisition of George Harris and Colin Meldrum, from Reading.

Theses were heady days as progress continued both and off the field.

Reporting these events was changing two. My first match was in March 1964, a home defeat to Yeovil followed by a 6-2 victory at Rugby when Johnny Haas helped himself to four of the United goals.

To read Part 2 click here

Below is the Cambridge United v Yeovil report from March 1964

Click here to read the 60's scrapbooks