Category: FA Cup

On our travels … but where?

11/8/2018

The Coconuts gang was thrilled to be given a print of the photograph on the right, battered though it is, recently. Now we'd like to know what occasion it depicts.

It came from the collection of Mick Dunn and quite obviously shows a large group of U's supporters, Bill Pink and Roy Bishop among them, making their presence felt at an away game.

We reckon it's from the 1960s and we're told the match was an FA Cup tie. But which one, and when?

Bury Town (United won 2-0) or Bedford Town (lost 2-1) in 1962? No, probably a bit later …

Bedford again (won 4-1 with a Peter Hobbs hat-trick) or Barnet (lost 2-1 again) in 1964? Or maybe it was at City's ground in 1966 ( (lost 1-0) … no, that looks nothing like Milton Road as we recall it.

How about Lowestoft in October 1967 (drew 2-2 before a humiliating 2-1 reverse in the replay)? Could it be as late as September 1968, when the U's lost 1-0 at Kettering Town? Or even November 1969, when we went to Chelmsford City's New Writtle Street ground and lost 3-2?

Please, if you remember the 1960s, click on the image to enlarge and study it carefully. Then email your thoughts to [email protected].

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Percy's progress

1/6/2017

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In the old days, if you left a Newmarket Road pub only to realise you’d still got a bit of a thirst on, you didn’t have to go far to put the matter right. Around the time Abbey United was formed, early in the last century, there was a boozer every 36 yards on an average stretch of the fabled thoroughfare.

Nowadays you’ll need stout walking boots if you want to visit the only three pubs that remain: the Wrestlers, the Corner House and the Burleigh Arms. But renovations at the old Seven Stars promise to bring a lost hostelry back to life – and reawaken memories of the shop that once nestled alongside the pub.

The fishing tackle emporium of the larger than life Percy Anderson met the needs of generations of Cambridge anglers, and it was for that pursuit that Percy was best known. Crowned UK national champion in 1974 and Europe’s top angler three years later, he rejoiced in passing on his skills and knowledge, running his legendary summer teach-ins for local kids for 40 years until shortly before his death, aged 75, in 2006.

Everyone who knew Percy has a story to tell; ask the likes of Ian Darler or Rodney Slack if you need to flex your chuckle muscle. Ian’s tale of the exposed rump is a belter, as is Rodney’s colourful recounting of the mannequin incident, and there’s plenty more where they came from.

But Percy’s competitive exploits were not confined to the riverbank: he competed at county level at indoor and outdoor bowls, snooker, pool and table tennis, and he was a very useful centre forward who flirted with football’s big time.

After rising through the Abbey ranks, he made his United Counties League debut in a 2-2 home draw with Corby Town in September 1950. The goals didn’t flow too freely – he scored three in 11 first team games – but First Division West Brom were interested and in May 1951, after netting four times in three trial matches, the 20-year-old Percy signed a professional contract. As you’ll see when you visit The Story of the U’s in the Supporters’ Club, the Throstles promised to reward United if ‘the boy Anderson’ made the grade.

Sad to say, he didn’t. After missing out on the Albion’s first team for two seasons, he moved on to Stockport County of Division Three North, for whom he played his only Football League game during the 1953/54 season.
Perhaps pining for the Cam, he returned to the Abbey in May 1954 and enjoyed a run in the side in the first half

Percy Armstrong (second right) listens to player-manager Bill Whittaker's dressing room talk before Cambridge United's FA Cup first round proper match at Torquay United on 20 November 1954. Others, back from left: Teddy Bowd, Peter Dobson, Harry Bullen; lower from left: Bob Bishop, Len Crowe, Russell Crane, Arthur Morgan, Jack Thomas. Torquay won 4-0.

The Seven Stars, Newmarket Road, probably 1920s. Occasion unknown.

of the following season. The goals again proved hard to come by, however, and after a 1-0 defeat at Clacton in January 1955 he was loaned out to Great Yarmouth Town of the Eastern Counties League, his U’s career at an end. The United career stats: seven goals in 29 games.

Percy made many a keepnet bulge in angling matches, but the Newmarket Road goal nets were often empty. When he did score he made sure everyone knew about it, and in later life he was fond of recreating his successes on the Abbey pitch. If you get a chance, ask Ian. Bet you can’t keep a straight face.

This article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the game against Notts County on 2 January 2017.

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The Felton Connection

9/23/2015

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This article appeared in the Cambridge United programme for the match against Dagenham & Redbridge on Tuesday, 27 September 2015

In advance of last Friday’s Cup tussle – some called it a clash, but we at 100 Years of Coconuts prefer the term tussle – there was much pub and terrace talk about connections between the two Uniteds: the Luke Chadwicks, Dion Dublins, David Moyeses and Ron Atkinsons, even the Peter Beardsleys and Colin Heaths of this world. At Coconuts Acres, however, we were glorying in a more tenuous link between the Abbey and Old Trafford.

Graham Felton holds a unique place in United’s history – indeed in the history of football as a whole. A rapid

Felton Graham (right) with coach Brian Doyle at the Abbey Stadium, pictured in the Cambridge Evening News of 23 August 1965.

right winger with the ability to excite any crowd, he was also the first apprentice professional in English non-League football.

Cambridge-born, he was just 15 when he made his first-team debut for the U’s in a Mithras Cup tie at Dagenham in December 1964. (Yes, the Mithras Cup was a thing; St Albans City won it that season.) At the following year’s Football League AGM, United proposed that non-League clubs should be allowed to take on one apprentice for every five full-time pros on their books. Not wishing to be labelled stick-in-the-muds – perish the thought – the League passed the motion and young Felton duly became non-League’s first apprentice.

He made his Southern League debut in November 1965 and was carving out a highly promising career when Northampton Town came calling. Graham signed for the Cobblers in 1966 and went on to make more than 250 League appearances for them, having played for England Youth with such luminaries as Trevor Brooking, Brian Kidd and Joe Royle along the way.

What has all this to do with Cambridge United v Manchester United? I told you the link was tenuous: on 7 February 1970, it was Northampton who took on the Red Devils in the FA Cup, and that tie has gone down in history. In the Cobblers’ side that day was the same Graham Felton who had blazed the apprenticeship trail at the Abbey Stadium. He recalled later: ‘I lined up opposite my hero, George Best. I looked around and saw Bobby Charlton, Pat Crerand and Alex Stepney. I was in awe of the whole situation.’

Like his teammates, Graham must have been sick of the sight of Manchester United, and Best in particular, by the time the ref blew the final whistle. The Reds made light of the County Ground’s acres of mud to wind up 8-2 winners, with the great Irishman notching a club record-equalling six goals.

Graham went on to play for Barnsley and Kettering Town before retiring to take up painting and decorating. He still lives in Northampton and it is 100 Years of Coconuts’ aim to visit him one day and record his memories of Cambridge United.

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On our travels … but where?

Percy's progress

The Felton Connection

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