 Afternoon, folks. How’s your blood pressure? I was on medication long before the Stevenage game so you can imagine I’ve been keeping well away from the doc’s these past few days! The third bite of the cherry, eh? As somebody said the other day, just don’t concede. Well I assume that wasn’t the philosophy before the Harrogate game…..always difficult approaching a game with a clean sheet in mind, I always think. But if we could pick our opponents this week, it would be Grimsby at home, wouldn’t it? We’ll be all right. For our final trip of nostalgia this season we have two fixtures in mind on this date in May, both testimonials(of sorts). In 2010 was organised a benefit match between CUFC and Steve Fallon’s team of ‘legends’ in recognition of Fallon’s overall contribution to football in the region. A crowd of 900 attended. Trevor Roberts was my first U’s hero. Signed from Southend in 1970 following Bill Leivers’ controversial decision to dispense with the services of Rodney Slack, Roberts quickly established himself as the no 1 with some brave performances behind a defence coming to terms with their first season in the Football League. He fell ill before the end of 1970 and had to have an operation to remove parts of his lung. Five months later he was though remarkably back in the side and was first choice at the beginning of the 1971/2 season. His problems returned in early 1972 and lung cancer was diagnosed which quickly spread to his brain and the specialists soon advised him he had to quit pro football. On 8 May the Club organised a testimonial at the Abbey involving a combined U’s and Southend side and a visiting West ham side led by Ron Greenwood. The home side won 3-2 in front of 6,309. Andrew Bennett’s excellent “Champagne and Corona” summed up subsequent events rather well: “ Roberts’ brave battle for life ended less than a month later, on 2 June in a Cambridge nursing home at the age of 30. He left behind his wife and a six year old son. Many tears were shed at the Abbey in memory of a brave, talented goalkeeper and a modest, unassuming but quietly heroic man. “ Bye for now and see you in August(in L1), Harry   Welcome back to the Abbey for our penultimate home game of the season. And greetings to our visitors from Broadhall Way and indeed one of our old boys who it seems has turned things round rather. Let’s hope they’ll just roll over today! Just drawing breath after Tuesday evening’s events and what was our twelfth away league win of the season. Who would bet against a lucky thirteen before we lift the title, deservedly in my book. I mentioned in the last programme our run-in back in the 1998/99 season and that we still had rivals Posh to play during the month of April. This fixture and that day’s programme(attached) is our focus as we wander back down Cut Throat Lane. a win that day may well have secured promotion that day but it wasn’t meant to be in a tense, tight, typically robust Cambs derby and honours were shared in a 1-1 draw in front of 8,307. The visitors took the lead on the 7th minute through Giuliano Grazioli but King of the Abbey Paul Wanless equalised 19 minutes later. Halfway through the second half Posh skipper Andy Edwards was sent off for taking out Alex Russell and you can imagine the final quarter of the game was rather like the Alamo at the Corona end but to no avail for the home side. The ref that day was a certain Paul “dirty” Danson…...remember him? He was from Leicester, we knew that in those days before referees’ place of abode was no longer published. Anyway he’s retired after doing a referee tuition job for many years at the Leicestershire FA. So our rivals snaffled four points off us that season having won 2-1 at London Road in the November(Jimmy Quinn?) but they were faced with another season in what was then division 3. Arguments rage about this but in an ideal world for me our closest rivals would be in the same division as us EVERY season. In other news incidentally, on this day in 1888 George Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak Company in NY. Say CHEESE! Just look up, never down. Since 1912 - United in Endeavour! Bye for now, Harry  Afternoon, all. Still top of the league then after a very productive Easter weekend what with most results going our way too. Anybody nervous? Well there’s always the pub beer garden on Monday to take the edge off things! As the Conference era remains a blur I often think back at this point to the 1998/9 season and our last League promotion season. With six games left we still had to play Rochdale away with long trips to Darlington and Plymouth on the itinerary. As well of course as Posh hitting town before the end of the month. Those six games yielded just six points unfortunately although we were the first of 92 teams to clinch promotion that season, with a 2-0 win at Spotland on Tuesday 27 April. Cue “Shaggy is God” on return to the Abbey in the early hours of the Wednesday! The way we effectively gave up the title on the last day of the season to, whisper it, Brentford, still grates twenty two years later. I felt strongly we were the best side in that division(over 45 games!) which is why we must achieve that destiny this season. Anyway, back for a meander down Cut Throat Lane and it’s our favoured 1970/71 season again and 10 April 1971(Easter Saturday) saw us host runaway leaders and, a few weeks later, champions in the form of the black and white striped half of Nottingham. We must have been looking for revenge that day for the Boxing Day massacre(well sort of, 4-1) which we had endured at Meadow Lane, as the U’s ran home winners 2-1 with goals from Hollett and Walker in front of 6,935, our second highest home gate of the season which included no doubt several migrating magpies. When you consider that the previous DAY we won at Southport, imagine that these days? Two games literally in 24 hours and we played again three days later! Anyway those four Easter points pretty much secured our not having to apply for re-election that season, finishing as we did in 20th spot, four points ahead of the trap door which that season included Lincoln(shucks) and the then Ironsides from the then Monmouthshire. Enjoy the programme attached and stay confident. Although I have just been reminded that on 10 April 1912 the Titanic set sail from Southampton…...tragic not least as they missed the formation of the greatest little football club in the world a few months later. Since 1912 - United in Endeavour! Bye for now, Harry
So a whole week without a game. I do forget sometimes that we didn’t start the season until September but thank heavens we have a straight Saturday run in from now on in. Did anybody notice that Oldham had tangerine flecks in their kit last week? Well after ten minutes I thought we had been well and truly tango’d but you know, never underestimate the resilience of this side, particularly when wearing amber shorts, although in truth I think we were all perplexed as to why we were wearing amber shorts in the first place. In fact many watchers queried why we weren’t wearing Cambridge and Oxford blue…….modern football, eh? Penning these notes originally on Wednesday morning and surveying the aftermath of the Tuesday night fixtures, my old man’s sagacious wit springs to mind….”always best to have the points on the board, my old son.” Let’s concentrate on 20 March then for our regular cavort down Cut Throat Lane and a dip in to nostalgia(sort of). This day in 1979 was an interesting one in that we finally played MillWall at home at the third time of asking. Originally a New Year’s Day game but snow and ice put paid to that, which I neither remember nor recall that there was ever that sort of weather at that time of the year. In fact I’m 56 and I swear that I have seen 55 dull, moody, mild but not very white days at that time of the year! Anyway the game with Harry the dog and his mates was rescheduled to 27 January and guess what…...you see I always think the end of January is the worst time to play football, meteorologically, and yes it was called off again. Who knows what happened to the original programme print(rare?) and when the second date came round ANOTHER programme was produced……… We finally get to 20 March(with former programme with an insert) and at half time we are one nil down. Was it worth it? Actually, yes as messrs Murray and Biley turned things round in the second half to put it up the New Cross boys(including a certain Dave Donaldson), in front of a reasonable crowd of 5,301. Enjoy the game, the programme and stay safe. And remember, we are United in Endeavour. Bye for now, Harry  Afternoon, all. Top of the league going in to the Easter weekend. When was the last time that happened, d’you think? 1999 my trusted sources tell me, prior to playing Cardiff on the Good Friday. I chuckle to this day about that game, standing in the Habbin above the old away seats. Somewhat ironically we were baiting the Cardiff fans with chants of “ sheep, sheep, sheep- shaggers(is this a family publication? Ed). Eventually one tall and rather large member of, I suspect, the Caerphilly branch of the Cardiff Booze Crew piped up and said in reply, “we shag ‘em, you eat ‘em!” BANTZ 1999 style. We still have some doubters out there on social media - “still be lucky to make the playoffs” was one I clocked this week. Have U’s fans always been so hard to please, I wonder. You could say the previous what 15 seasons going back to 2005, with a couple of exceptions, have been ultimately less than satisfactory but for some those experiences don’t necessarily seem to have raised the appreciation levels of this campaign. Perhaps it’s an emotional safety net? We can all compare notes on 8 May. Anyway let’s journey back to Tuesday 2 April 1991, the day after Easter Monday and a date with some Trotters tended by ex Kop legend, Phil Neal. I remember two things from that night. The wind which pretty much led to their ‘keeper’s flappy punch in the second half and Taylor back-headed it in to go two up. Lee Philpott had given us the lead in the first half. Tony Philliskirk pulled one back late on and International Johnny Vaughan then pulled off a wonder save with minutes to go to preserve the win, which I don’t remember! I do remember Phil Neal choking on his double portion of sour grapes afterwards, the usual stuff, who’d pay to watch that every week, blah, blah. Crowd of 7,763 of mainly Cambridge admission-paying folk. Enjoy today’s programme reminiscence, not forgetting that on this day in 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands(a clue there for today’s quiz?!), which a lot of us at the time thought was some feat assuming they were somewhere near the Outer Hebrides. Since 1912 - United in Endeavour! Bye for now, Harry 
MEMORIES DOWN CUT THROAT LANE WAY Good evening and welcome to all including our visitors from North Lincolnshire(I think). The town infamously with that four letter word combination which brings back memories of old school history lessons and the reference to the Viking God, Thor. It’s difficult to visualise Tuesdays without football at the moment, isn’t it? Don’t know about you but I’ve only just stopped bouncing round the spare room following a certain no 8’s firecracker in Burslem the other day! Back down Cut Throat Lane we go and for a change we give 1970/71 a miss and plump for 2001-02 which was an unforgettably dire season where we were concerned and ended in bottom place relegation in to what is now L2, was the third division then. We didn’t win a single away game that season. At home on this day in 2002 we entertained promotion-chasing Reading led by a certain Alan Pardew and containing John Salako plus Nicky Forster and Jamie Cureton amongst their strike force. The U’s leapt in to a two goal lead by half time(Kitson & Youngs) to shove it up the Royal ‘family’. Kitson even had a penalty saved late in the second half but unfortunately the visitors had netted twice in between, the second actually an own goal from Terry Fleming. The crowd of 3,841 enjoyed proceedings still although both sides were undeniably disappointed in their respective quests to gain and avoid promotion and relegation respectively. The Royals ended up with automatic promotion finishing second behind Brighton, the U’s resigned to being back in the basement, little knowing that three years later the ‘basement’ was to develop a big hole. The seventh James Bond was born on this day in 1968, happy 53rd birthday to Daniel Craig. To think he pretty much started his acting career as a “Geordie” in Our Friends in the North all those years ago. Enjoy reading the Reading programme, the game this evening and most importantly stay safe. Bye for now, Harry  Evenin’ all. How are we? A warm welcome to our visitors from “horseyspatown.” Having another good season and pleasing to see an “ole boy” of theirs in charge, Michael Duff and taking his opportunity, and indeed being linked with another club I hear. He’ll have his work cut out tonight though. Bit of a change of scene for this week’s trundle of nostalgia down Cut Throat Lane and the fixture on this date. 23 February 2008 saw us entertain FGR - blimey I must have been about 25 then - and an opportunity in a much improved season guided by Jimmy Quinn to break the hoodoo of not beating our visitors in five previous attempts. We all remember the first attempt, I suspect, back in 2005. The game itself was probably more exciting than the programme although we mustn’t forget things like the ‘South Stand Initiative’ being in play which boosted the gate to an unlikely near 4,800 that day. Not forgetting the 66 hardy stalwarts from Nailsworth way. Anybody who attended this fixture 13 years ago, if they remember one thing it will be the U’s first goal which was a wonder free kick strike from Wayne Hatswell from 40 yards out after just 4 minutes. His first U’s goal and the first of 8 in total over the course of his two season career before heading off to pastures green in Dundalk. Utd went on to win 2-0 to break the spell and the main season ended well two and a half months later in the playoff positions. Heartbreak of course returned in floods at Wembley. On this date in 1996 the film ‘Trainspotting’ was released in the UK and Ireland. A good film although not as good as the book, I didn’t think. A pound for every time that was said? Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the passing last week of another U’s fan, Ian “Animal” Shaw. I didn’t know Ian personally, many Coconutters did, and I know he will be missed by many both inside and outside CUFC. Our thoughts are with all those involved. Enjoy the programme attached, cheer on the U’s to the next step to the fourth division title(!) and of course stay safe. Bye for now, Harry 
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Happy Harry's blogI'm the living embodiment of the spirit of the U's, and I'll be blogging whenever I've got news for you, as long as I don't miss my tea. Archives
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