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The article below is from the Match day programme against Barnsley during the 2024/2025 season. If you are aware of where Peter Graham currently lives please contact Coconuts.  Peter Graham
Peter Graham was born in Barnsley on the 19th of April 1947 and started his career at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic. In 1966 whilst playing for the part-timers he was offered a professional contract at Barnsley where he spent the next four years appearing only sporadically and in 1970, he had a month’s loan spell at Halifax Town where he made half a dozen appearances. That summer Peter departed for Darlington, having made nineteen appearances for Barnsley, scoring just the single goal and it was at Feethams where he became a regular over the next few years. Peter was on the bench for the Quakers when they played at the Abbey Stadium on the opening day of the 72/73 season and although Peter didn’t come off the bench that day the visitors came away with an impressive 3-0 victory. Peter departed for Lincoln City in September 1973 for £12,500, having made over a century of appearances for Darlington scoring 43 goals along the way. His five-year spell at Sincil Bank was even more productive, scoring 47 goals from 158 appearances winning the fourth division title in the 75/76 season. He even nabbed a goal at the Abbey in a 4-2 win. In the summer of 1978, the now 31-year-old Peter moved to the Abbey Stadium at the start of United’s first ever season in Division 2 and found himself immediately having to fill in for the injured Dave Stringer in the back line. Over the course of that season, he found himself mainly used as a utility player also featuring at right back and in midfield. In November of that season, he was appointed player/coach although he spent a couple of months on the sidelines after suffering a fractured cheekbone against Fulham on Boxing Day. In the summer of 1979 Peter was appointed as youth development officer but continued to play occasionally, often filling in for injured players. His own injuries continued to mount and after being faced with, yet another cartilage operation Peter retired at the end of the season having racked up 41 appearances for the U’s. He continued to coach the reserves and the youth team but was sadly made redundant in March 1982 along with other staff as part of a cost-cutting exercise. He briefly returned to help with the youth side whilst going back to his former profession as a plumber. Peter went on to manage Newmarket Town and I believe he still lives there. Other players to have turned out for both clubs include George Williams, Colin Walker, Korey Smith, Marc Richards, Fola Onibuje, Cameron McGeehan, George Maris, Jabo Ibehre, Bobby Horn, Gary Gardner, Ian Evans, Paul Digby, Luke Berry, Kevin Austin and Victor Adeboyejo Colin Booth 1934-2025 Cambridge United people have learned with regret of the death earlier this month, at the age of 90, of former inside forward Colin Booth. Colin became manager Bill Leivers’ first signing when he came to the Abbey Stadium in May 1967, when United were playing in the Southern League Premier Division. He endured an injury-hit spell in amber and left a year later, having played in 28 first-team games and scored six goals. Born in Middleton, Greater Manchester in December 1934, Colin joined Wolves as an apprentice and graduated to the Molineux first team in 1955, winning an England Under-23 cap the following year. His 82 appearances in old gold brought him 27 goals – including four in one game against Arsenal – and championship winner’s medals in 1958 and 1959. Colin’s move to Nottingham Forest in the latter year saw him continuing to score heavily, but his most productive period came during his time at Doncaster Rovers, where, under Leivers’ management, he was top scorer for two seasons running. The manager signed him from Oxford United, where he had once again scored frequently but had incurred worrying injuries. He opened the scoring in his first Southern League game for the U’s, a 5-0 home win over Worcester City, but could not hold down a regular first-team place as injury continued to beset him. Released in the summer of 1968, Colin joined Cheltenham Town. There he was again hampered by injuries, and he retired to work in an Oxford hospital. Colin died on 12 May 2025. He is survived by three daughters To find out more about Colin's career at Wolverhampton see the video  The Cambridge football community was saddened to hear of the death on Sunday, at the age of 84, of former United inside forward Brian Hart. The first U’s player to earn international honours when he was selected for England Youth in 1959, Brian subsequently followed a career with West Bromwich Albion, Nuneaton Borough, Cambridge City and Wellington Town, which became Telford United in 1969. A creative player of great football intelligence, he also had a goalscoring knack that made him a favourite at every one of those clubs. Born in Cambridge in 1941, Brian grew up in Horningsea, where his parents ran a shop and post office. As a boy he was no stranger to the Abbey Stadium, accompanying his father, an avid U’s supporter, to matches. His football abilities attracted attention during his time at Bottisham Village College, and he joined the United ground staff at the invitation of manager Bert Johnson. He played an important role in the 1958-59 United youth team that swept all before it, winning every game it played apart from a defeat in the FA Youth Cup, scoring over 300 goals and clinching three trophies including the county FA Youth Cup. That season was a triumph for the young Brian in several ways: besides his England Youth call-up, he was part of the Cambridgeshire side that played London at Stamford Bridge in the semi-finals of the FA County Youth Cup, with Brian being marked by future England player and manager Terry Venables. But it was his international honour that was truly groundbreaking. At the time United had only just progressed from the Eastern Counties League to the Southern League and it was a rare event for a youngster at a non-League club to be chosen for England. International players – including the great Wilf Mannion, with whom Brian trained – had played for United before, but Brian was the first to be selected while at the club. Playing against the Republic of Ireland at Anfield on 9 May 1959, he scored with a header in the tenth minute and set up two more goals in a 5-0 win. By that time, Brian had appeared for United’s first team, playing in an East Anglian Cup tie against Norwich City on 27 October 1958. That match was abandoned because of fog, but he also played in the rearranged game the following March. In August 1959, he went for trials with West Ham United and Leicester City before signing professional forms for West Brom at the age of 18. He spent three years at the Hawthorns – marrying local girl Sheila in 1962 – before moving on to Nuneaton, for whom he scored 23 goals in 1962-63. Brian was Nuneaton’s leading scorer when he returned to Cambridge to sign for City in January 1965, and he scored twice the following month when the Milton Road outfit won the Fenland Cup. After 62 games for the Lilywhites first team and reserves – including several against his old friends at United – and having scored 14 goals, he moved on to Wellington, where he enjoyed his most successful period in football. After the club changed its name to Telford, he played at Wembley in two FA Trophy finals as the club lost 2-0 to Macclesfield Town in 1970 but beat Hillingdon Borough 3-2 the following year. After spending time in a care home, Brian died peacefully, surrounded by family members, on May 18. Sheila died in 2018. He leaves a daughter, a son and two grandchildren   The news of the death on Sunday of former Cambridge United forward Tom Youngs, at the tragically early age of 45, came as a shock to all connected with the Club…
Tom, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014, will be remembered as a gifted player who, with probing, darting runs, intelligent positioning and poise in front of goal, graced the Abbey Stadium between 1997 and 2003. His 180 appearances in all competitions, including 35 as a substitute, brought him 48 goals and many assists. He was part of manager Roy McFarland’s team that won promotion to Division Three in 1998/99, and appeared in the John Taylor side that reached the LDV Vans Trophy final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff in 2002. Born in Bury St Edmunds on 31 August 1979, Tom grew up in Barton Mills and first took part in playground football at Great Heath primary school in nearby Mildenhall. During a short spell in Mildenhall Town’s junior sides, he was spotted by a United scout and joined the club at the age of ten. He signed YTS terms in 1996 while staying on at school to study for A levels, but showed such promise that a year later, at the age of 17, he bypassed the rest of his YTS stint and signed a two-year professional contract. Following his Division Three debut as a substitute in September 1997, he signed a contract extension to take him up to 2001. His first League goal came in September 1999, and he later prolonged his stay at the Abbey until 2003. Taylor paid tribute to his player with the words: ‘I don’t think you’ll find a forward in the lower divisions who understands the game as much as Tom Youngs.’ But in 2003, Tom’s negotiations for a new contract stalled and he was transferred to Northampton Town for a fee of £50,000. ‘You have to think about your career,’ he observed at the time. ‘I’ve had a lot of good times at United, but I think most people will appreciate why I’ve decided to make this move at this time.’ Injury problems that had emerged at United returned while he was at Sixfields. There followed a brief spell at Leyton Orient and then Tom moved to Bury while studying sports journalism at the University of Staffordshire. In 2007 he was persuaded to join Stafford Rangers by former U’s teammate Fred Murray, but he was soon on the move back to East Anglia, signing for Cambridge City. Following a trial spell at Stevenage and a return for a trial at United, Tom moved to St Albans City, Norwich United and, as player and assistant manager, Mildenhall Town. A serious hip injury forced him to retire from playing at the age of 32 in November 2011. In the summer of 2014, while he was working as an accountant at the brewery/pub company Greene King in Bury St Edmunds, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He had first noticed problems with his vision in February of the previous year, while he was watching a game as assistant manager of Mildenhall. Tom described the triumphs and tribulations of life in football in an acclaimed 2016 memoir: What dreams are (not quite) made of: no fame, no fortune, just football… and multiple sclerosis. Tom married Chelle in 2004; they had two daughters. He died on 4 May 2025 in St Nicholas Hospice at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Rest in peace, Tom.  John Gregson 1939-2025
Cambridge United people were saddened to hear this week of the death, at the age of 85, of John Gregson, who played for the club either side of its election to the Football League in 1970. Known to fellow professionals as Rolls-Royce because of the smooth, elegant manner in which he covered the ground, John was a classy, hard-working inside forward who could also play on the wing and even filled in once as a sweeper. Between 1968 and 1971 he started 131 games in amber, made six substitute appearances and scored 18 goals. A native of Skelmersdale in Lancashire, John was playing for his local club when he was signed by Blackpool. He made his Division One debut as a winger at the age of 18 in 1957, and gained the distinction of deputising for the great Stanley Matthews in eight games. After a stint of National Service he moved on to Chester City, Shrewsbury Town and Mansfield Town, the latter two clubs both paying £5,000 for his services, before joining Lincoln City in 1967. While at Sincil Bank the blond John was compared by one newspaper reporter to “UNCLE” agent Ilya Kuryakin – a reference to lookalike actor David McCallum’s role in the TV series The Man from UNCLE. After 36 League games and six goal for the Imps, 28-year-old John was released in 1968 to the delight of United manager Bill Leivers, who brought him to the Abbey. He started the first Southern League Premier Division game of the season at Poole Town, limping off with a hamstring injury late on, and scored his first SL goal in a 1-1 draw at Kettering on November 27. Throughout the ensuing two seasons, in both of which United won the Southern League title, John made himself a favourite of the Abbey crowds through his cultured interventions, defence-splitting passes and coolness in front of goal. When United were elected to the Football League in the summer of 1970, he found himself taking on an unusual role, saying: “I have yet to play at Sunderland, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea, but my knowledge of the other grounds means that I will be official guide for the club next season!” Sadly, that role was short-lived. He suffered a broken leg in a match at Oldham Athletic in April 1971, and bad news came the following October when a specialist reported that he would never play professional football again. The incident had seen his ankle dislocated, his shin and tendons broken and ligaments pulled through the break. An upset Leivers said: “It is a tragedy that a player who is known in the game as Rolls-Royce, because of his wonderful movement, should be reduced to such a state by a foul tackle.” After a testimonial match at the Abbey in January 1972 that featured Ron and Graham Atkinson among other well-known names, John wrote to Leivers saying that, after spending all of his working life in football, “working the night shift isn’t going down very well.” He died, surrounded by his family, on April 27.  The Cambridge United family lost a second significant figure in the space of two days with the death on Wednesday, at the age 81, of former winger Roly Horrey. Nicknamed the Galloping Major by the local press, Horrey was at the Abbey Stadium between 1968 and 1972, and was a highly effective and popular part of the squad that won election to the Football League in 1970. While at Newmarket Road he made a total of 146 appearances and scored 36 goals in all competitions, making many more for his teammates at the same time. He was inducted into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame in 2021. Rowland Horrey was born in Bishop Auckland in 1943. As a young man he played for his local club and then Ferryhill Athletic, before, at the age of 21, transferring to Blackburn Rovers, where he made a handful of appearances. In 1966 he moved to York City for a fee of £4,000. There he showcased his speed, power and technical ability and scored nine goals in 74 Football League games. United manager Bill Leivers signed Horrey on a free transfer in the summer of 1968 as he started to assemble the squad that would win two successive Southern League championships. He played in the season’s first game at Poole Town and scored his first United goal in a 3-1 win over Burton Albion at the end of August. His barnstorming runs down the wings – usually on the right but sometimes on the left – made Horrey a crowd favourite. He once said that he often preferred away matches to those at the Abbey: ‘I like to pick up the ball in deep positions and run at a defence. I cannot do this effectively at the Abbey Stadium, where we are always faced with packed defences.’ He also preferred the typically heavy grounds of the era – once he got going on a muddy surface, his speed and power could carry him through, he explained. Having played a major part in United’s first two seasons of League football, Horrey left for Chelmsford City in January 1972, with, as a token of thanks for his three and a half years of loyal service, no fee demanded. He later transferred to Bedford Town. Like many of his United contemporaries, Horrey stayed in the Cambridge area and made his home in Saffron Walden for many years. He died, surrounded by his family, after a short illness on Wednesday, December   John Docherty 1940-2024 All connected with Cambridge United have been saddened to hear of the death, at the age of 84, of former manager John Docherty. A strong case can be made for Docherty’s position as the most successful manager in United’s history. His achievements in securing promotion to the Second Division in 1978 and, most impressively, in maintaining that position for six seasons against overwhelming odds, cannot be overstressed. Docherty, having been sacked as manager by Brentford, arrived at the Abbey Stadium in late 1976, taking training sessions on a voluntary basis for his friend Ron Atkinson, the U’s manager at the time. In the summer of 1977 he was appointed full-time coach, providing an effervescent and sometimes brusque counterpoint to the affable Atkinson. When Atkinson left for West Bromwich Albion in January 1978, with United looking good for promotion from the Third Division, Docherty and assistant manager Paddy Sowden took joint charge of the team. Promotion was duly secured in the season’s final game with a 2-1 home win over Exeter City, and Docherty was confirmed as manager with a two-year contract. Despite the pundits’ predictions of relegation, United finished their first season in the Second Division in 12th place, justifying Docherty’s defiant statement: ‘We are here to stay’. The following season saw an improvement to eighth, and subsequent finishes in 13th, 14th and 12th places confirmed the manager’s ability to make the best use of slim resources. Worsening financial pressures, exacerbated when a change in Football League rules meant that clubs would keep all of their home gate money instead of sharing it with their opponents – a heavy blow for the club with the division’s lowest attendances – eventually told, and United were relegated at the end of the 1983-84 season. Docherty had been fired halfway through the season, after five years and seven months as manager. Docherty became assistant to Frank McLintock at Brentford in February 1984, and then went on to manage Millwall to great effect, taking them into the First Division for the first time in their history in 1988. He later worked at Bradford City before returning to the Den in 1997. He is remembered as the south London club’s most successful manager. John Docherty, born in Glasgow on 29 September 1940, had plied his footballing trade as a winger with Sheffield United, Reading and in three separate spells at Brentford. He became manager of the Bees in January 1975. A hard-working player and manager of great talent, he will be sadly missed by the football family.   David Martin-Chambers 1947-2024
Cambridge football people have heard with sadness of the death in June, at the age of 77, of David Martin-Chambers, who played with distinction for United in 1967-68 and 1968-69. Known simply as David Chambers when he was at the Abbey Stadium, he was a winger or midfielder who appeared 54 times in amber, scoring 17 goals, as the U’s developed the side that would be elected to the Football League in 1970. Born in Barnsley on 6 June 1947, David played as a junior at Wolverhampton Wanderers and then joined Denaby United of the Midland League. He signed as an apprentice for Rotherham United and became a full-time professional at the age of 17. Between 1965 and 1968, playing at times with future U’s star Robin Hardy, he appeared 27 times and scored four goals for the Millers. David joined United on the morning of 30 December 1967, for a fee described by manager Bill Leivers as ‘not large’. He made a lively debut that afternoon in a 0-0 home draw against King’s Lynn and was soon a first-team regular. He scored his first two goals for the club in a 4-0 win at Poole Town. David’s speed, versatility and willingness to shoot made him an Abbey favourite, and he started the 1968-69 season with a bang, scoring a hat-trick in a 5-0 FA Cup win over March Town United on September 11. He was sold to Southend United at the end of October for £6,000 – at the time the largest transfer fee the U’s had received. David made 66 appearances and scored five times while at Roots Hall, before moving on to York City in March 1971 and then joining Folkestone. He and wife Penny later emigrated to New Zealand, where he pursued a distinguished career, latterly working as football development officer for Footballsouth. He and Penny had two daughters and four grandchildren. Ian Hamilton 1967-2023
Cambridge United people have joined the rest of the football family in mourning the death this month, at the cruelly early age of 55, of midfielder Ian Hamilton. Hamilton joined the U’s at an early stage of a career that saw him play at the top level of English football with West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United. He went on to play in more than 500 Football League games, earning a solid reputation for his industry and creativity. Having been on United’s books as a youth, the 20-year-old, Stevenage-born Hamilton was signed by manager Chris Turner from Southampton in March 1988, arriving with striker Gary Bull for a combined fee of £6,000 funded by the U’s fundraising organisation Lifeline. Fellow midfielder John Beck, Turner’s assistant, observed that he looked a complete player: “He’s got good vision and is very comfortable on the ball.” He made his debut at home to Darlington on April 1 and promptly scored the game’s only goal and his only goal in black and amber, running from his own half before cutting inside and lashing into the top corner from 25 yards. Supporters were surprised when Turner sold Hamilton to Scunthorpe United for £28,000 just before Christmas, after 29 starts and one substitute appearance. The manager observed: “It was a good move for him and very good business for us.” Hamilton played more than 140 games for Scunthorpe before joining West Brom in 1992 for £160,000. He was an important member of the Baggies team that won promotion to Division One in 1993, and made 282 appearances at the Hawthorns between 1992 and 1998, scoring 28 times. He was transferred to Sheffield United for £325,000 in 1998, remaining at Bramall Lane for two seasons before joining Grimsby Town on loan and then Notts County. He wound down his Football League career with Lincoln City and then joined Woking before retiring in 2003. Hamilton, who became ill last year, had been working as a business development manager in IT. |
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