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Ian————Mather CEO ———— Welcome to our closest neighbours Stevenage who have put in some very strong performances since January to secure their League 2 status with a comfortable points margin. As ever with our local rivals we can still expect a tough game. For the U’s the prospect of promotion to League 1 is tantalisingly close. Thanks to the fixture list pitching Morecambe against Bolton today a win will be sufficient to send us up – with two games left to play. This is possible due to the great result we had on Tuesday against a strong Leyton Orient side. Thanks to the ingenuity of the 11 fans who booked Air B&B apartments we had some very loud support at the game. It was a great reminder of what we have missed for most of this season. The Loud 11 did all fans proud with their endless cheering and humour. All our hope and expectation is that we will have unrestricted crowds for when the new season starts on 7 August. Today we are celebrating the work of our Community Trust who have done so much brilliant work over the last year. I have no doubt that they, with the full support of the Club, have made a real difference to many lives through a very difficult period. Trust manager, Sam Gomarsall and his team deserve a huge amount of credit for working tirelessly to make a difference. If you want to be impressed – have a read of their Impact Report click here. Away from the pitch the story of the week was clearly the shambles of the proposed European Super League. In all of the hours of media coverage I saw supporter speak in favour of this other than one football fan in each of Beijing and Dubai. I guess they represented the new type of fans the leadership of ESL thought they could attract to replace what they referred to as “legacy fans”. I cannot recall such a big business blunder since EMI rejected the Beatles. The legacy fans are what make football come alive and they (including me) do not want www.cambridge-united.co.uk
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to watch a sterile league format that removes jeopardy and joy from the game. What this epic error should tell us is that we have to tackle the question of sustainability in football. The football business generates billions of pounds in revenue, yet the current business model leads to most clubs having to budget for a loss. We need a fairer distribution of the cash and some form of regulation on expenditure. It is time for a complete overhaul of the way football operates to ensure we have strong local clubs for the legacy fans of the future. But, back to the here and now. A tough game with three important points to play for. Let’s hope it ends with us planning to visit some new grounds next season. Download your iFollow pass and enjoy the game. ■