The Cambridge United family has lost a much-loved and esteemed member with the death of Jack Morgan at the age of 92 on April 26.

Renowned as the man who first played ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’ over the tannoy, Jack belonged to a diehard U’s family. His mother and father worked tirelessly for the club and Supporters’ Club and his brother Arthur played 110 first-team games between 1947 and 1955; usually but not always in goal.

Jack was born in the Hills Road area of Cambridge in 1924. His family subsequently moved to Ditton Fields; a hotbed of United support. He and his three brothers were soon enthusiastic supporters and later, like his parents, he served on the Supporters’ Club committee.

As Abbey United progressed towards professionalism and the Football League, it was the norm for supporters to help out with all manner of jobs. Jack remembered scrubbing floors and marking the pitch, but a highlight of his work was the playing of records, perched in the little box that still adorns the north-west corner of the ground, through the tannoy on match days.

Supporter Robin Mansfield recalled Jack taking him to his first U’s game in 1955. ‘It was he who first decided to play that record [Coconuts] whenever we had a win,’ he said. ‘I have asked Jack why he chose that particular record. His reply was: “It was purely accidental. I had a pile of records in front of me and thought this one would do!” He just carried on playing it and the tradition continues to the present day.’

Jack, who turned out at right half for United Reserves ‘when they were short’, worked at Marshall’s during World War II. He later became a rent collector for

100 Years of Coconuts and CFU were saddened to hear of the death at the age of 90, on 10 March 2016, of Abbey/Cambridge United legend Russell Crane.

Russell was the only man to play for the club in five different leagues: the wartime East Anglian, the Cambridgeshire, United Counties, Eastern Counties and Southern. It was an indication of the respect that all involved with the club held for Russell, a U’s man through and through, when he was made honorary life president of Coconuts in November last year.

Born on 26 January 1926, Russell grew up in Ditton Walk, a stone’s throw from the Abbey United ground, in a United-focused household. His father Herbie was a jack-of-all-trades helper behind the scenes, a role he filled into the 1950s. He would take the team’s shirts home for his wife Sylvia to wash, and count and bank the gate money from home games.

Russell left school at 15 and it was at that age that he made his U’s debut on 13 September 1941, in a 4-2 defeat of an RAF XI. A diminutive, stocky, speedy left winger with tricky skills and a powerful shot, he made an immediate impact and by 1943 was earning rave reviews from the local press.

By now 17, he was called up for the Royal Navy. He took part in an ill-fated exercise designed to prepare Allied forces for the Normandy landings, and later served all over the world, but returned to play for United whenever he was on leave. Upon demob in 1946 he established himself as a regular in the side and adjusted easily when Abbey joined the semi-professional United Counties League a year later.

Russell blossomed fully during the 1948/49 season, when he was the league’s top scorer with 42 goals in 37 games, a club record. In a 4-1 win at Eynesbury he scored a stunning goal when he picked up the ball in his own half and dribbled past man after man before hitting the net. At Kettering, ‘his marksmanship and working of the ball bore the hallmark of class and the opposing defence never knew what he was going to do next,’ said the press report. He scored four goals in a game on three occasions that season, with two hat-tricks thrown in for good measure.

He played at centre forward and inside left as well as on the left wing as United established themselves in the UCL. When they beat relative giants Wisbech in the East Anglian Cup in 1950, the local paper reported:  ‘If Abbey United are fortunate enough to win the East Anglian Cup this season, the name of Russell Crane should be engraved upon it in gilt letters. For it was the fighting spirit of this human dynamo of an inside forward when Abbey were a goal down after two minutes which largely inspired his team to a one-goal victory. Revealing all the menace of an angry wasp, Crane buzzed and harassed his way among the visiting defenders in a tireless pattern which did much to put a top-gear United on the winning trail by half-time.’

At the end of 1950/51 Peterborough United of the Midland League offered Russell a significant pay rise, but he declined to move out of loyalty to his hometown club. He told Coconuts TV in 2014: ‘As far as I was concerned it was a family affair, you know? My father worked up there, my mother did what she could do at home, my sisters [Edna, Ivy and Freda] all supported them and used to go up to the games …’

The renamed Cambridge United moved across to the Eastern Counties League in 1951. That season United unexpectedly defeated the mighty Cambridge City 2-0 in the Cambs Invitation Cup final before a crowd of 9,814 at Milton Road, Crane scoring both goals in a five-minute first-half spell. At the final whistle United’s ecstatic fans stormed the pitch and chaired Crane off to a rousing chorus of I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.

For the 1953/54 season Russell was converted into an attacking left back, a role he took to with comfort. He was awarded a benefit match in April 1956 to mark 15 years’ service to the club and around that time he turned down the offer of a trial with Ipswich Town.
He filled a variety of positions as United progressed to the Southern League in 1958, and he scored the club’s first goal in that competition, in a 3-1 defeat of Guildford City. That season was his swansong at United and after 18 years’ service, 502 games and 186 goals he remained in local football at Soham and Sawston.

A part-time professional player to the end of his U’s career, Russell’s off-pitch working life encompassed spells at a cable company in Regent Street, the Pye group companies Unicam and Telecom and an electrical wholesaler. He continued to live in the Ditton Walk area until the end of his life. He leaves a daughter, Jane, two sons, Russell and Stephen, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

100 Years of Coconuts and Cambridge Fans United,, with countless others associated with Cambridge United, are mourning the death of supporter extraordinaire and Coconuts volunteer Marcus Gynn.

Marcus, who died on Thursday, February 11 after a long illness, was an ever-popular presence on the terraces, home and away, and around the Abbey Stadium. He is greatly missed by his loving family and many friends, who will remember his cheerful selflessness, his devotion to many causes and, finally, his bravery.

Marcus was born on 16 March 1979. He attended St Albans school, Cherry Hinton community junior school and the Netherhall School before studying geography at Bath and Anglia Polytechnic universities.

He worked at Tesco Fulbourn and then for Cambridgeshire County Council, where he was a communications assistant for the children’s and young persons’ services.

Marcus was a Cambridge lad through and through. His uncle took him to United matches from the age of four and he was a mascot in the 1980s. His devotion to the club never wavered. He made valuable contributions to Coconuts meetings and was an ever-smiling volunteer when the group put itself in the public eye.

His other great passion was running, which he took up in 2011. A Newmarket jogger and an honorary Shabba (Short Heath and Bloxwich Branch Amateur) runner, he took part in the 2013 Milton Keynes marathon, the Equinox 24-hour race and many more.

His running exploits were joyfully recorded in a blog – myrunningstories.wordpress.com – and even after he 

 was stricken by cancer he continued to describe his life and his trials.

Marcus was part of a close family that spends much time together. They include a brother, sister, mum, dad, sister-in-law, nana, uncles, aunts and cousins.
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The funeral will take place at 11am on Friday, February 26 at Swaffham Prior church. A fundraising project to benefit Marcus’s family’s chosen charities can be found at crowdfunding.justgiving.com/runformarcus.

Coconuts has only recently heard of the death, on 27 September 2015, of former Abbey United player Sid High, who was for many years a prominent figure in the Waterbeach community.

Sid was born in the village on 30 September 1922 and spent his early life at Denny Abbey Farm, where his father was a horseman. After leaving school he worked at the village butcher’s, Bulls, but his heart was not in the job and it wasn’t long before he was able to take the first steps towards making a living from his lifelong passion: football.

He was on the books of Cambridge Town before making his debut for Abbey United against an RAF XI on 17 May 1941. A right winger, he became a regular for United during 1943/44, during which he was an East Anglian League ever-present. In one game he set up all four of Russell Crane’s goals in a 5-1 defeat of Bourn.

​Sid scored his only hat-trick for the Wasps on 13 October 1945 in a 7-1 thrashing of RAF Quy, but the result was expunged from the records when the servicemen withdrew from the Cambs League. That season he was selected to play for Cambridgeshire against Hertfordshire and Essex.

We were all touched to witness the outpouring of shock and grief that followed the reporting on the Coconuts Facebook page of the recent death of U's superfan Tom Hussey.

Within a few hours of  the announcement, the news had reached more than 10,000 people, with many posting their memories of a man who was a familiar figure on the terraces for decades.

I can do no better service to Tom's memory than to reproduce Andrew Stephen's moving tribute to a man he called 'a gentle giant'.

Rest in peace, big man.

Harry

CFU is living proof of the fact that any football club is its supporters and the mark of a club is the quality of its fans. A lot has been said about the loyalty of our fans and, rightly so, about our proud history as a family club. Tom Hussey, who died on June 1 at the tragically young age of 55, was one of the very best.