CambridgeDon

Yes, you need the network to get chapter and verse on them but, as a starting point, the headlines are easy to find. Shortlisted for the Non-League Golden boot (in addition to the ones I listed in an earlier post) are Joe Taylor (Ramsgate, 40 goals), Dawid Rogalski (Marlow, 34 goals), Jake Reed (Lowestoft, 32 goals) and Marcus Wylie (Enfield, 33 goals). Enfield also have Sam Young on 27 goals, making a very effective partnership that has taken them into the playoffs for the National. So, yes, did we ever even consider them? What sticks in my mind (as I'm reminded living here) is how effective Cambridge's forward recruitment has been. After losing both Smith and Knibbs to Reading, they recruited Kaikai, Kachunga, Ahadme and Lyle Taylor - in addition to Okenabirhie - and these five strikers have scored 33 goals for them in 141 games, almost certainly enough to keep them up. We'll see how good they are on Saturday when they turn up at Vale Park.

We definitely should be targeting the National League where you will find players like Paul McCallum at Eastleigh (30 goals this season), Nicke Kabamba (Barnet, 24 goals) and Mani Dieseruvwe (Harlepool, 23 goals). If you drop one tier lower, you find strikers like Paul Blackett (South Shields 29 goals) and Ollie Pearce (Worthing, 40 goals). Several of these are on the short list for the NGA (ie non-league) Golden Boot award where there are also several other prolific goalscorers plying their trade in the lower reaches. Admittedly, not all or even any of these would make it in the EFL but I wonder how much attention we are paying to these players. Peterborough and one or two others seem to make a fine living out of it - and with the shoddy fare we've had to put up with in recent seasons, it might not be a bad idea to give them a look over.

Carol's letter is rightly apologetic but the one area where - in due course - we need to see more explanation is the need for restructuring within the club. On the playing side, this is going to be difficult, given the number of underperforming players still under contract, and expensive. To start with, we have to put right the glaring deficiencies we know about from this season including two full/wing backs, two strikers who can actually put the ball in the net, and at least one dominant centre half and one dominant midfield player. It's possible, even likely, that three or four of our better players will be leaving for other clubs, so they too will need to be replaced along with, I would say, four or five other first choice players so that we can relegate the dross we've seen this season to the bench. That's possibly as many as fourteen or fifteen new players so I hope that Carol has deep pockets because the thought of the majority taking the field now turning out in League 2 would be a recipe for disaster. Players aside, the one restructuring issue that Carol does not address in her latest letter is the most important (the elephant in the room you might say): how she intends to hold the manager accountable for results on the pitch. In our previous structure, she naively delegated all footballing matters to a single individual - with disastrous results. Aside from being too close to the DoF, she was, it appears, letting him mark his own homework for the lack of any depth of understanding and independent advice within the club. The Board (apart from Rudgie) appears to lack any depth of footballing experience or football strategy and without a strategic core of Non-Executive Directors who can fulfil this role (for example, experienced former players or coaches with management experience) she has no independent source of advice on the Board to help her steer the club through choppy waters. If we don't strengthen this aspect of the club, we are going to find that history will repeat itself. Lot to do then - and the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Neither does Dazza. Last time he was there with Wednesday, they lost 4-0 so my guess is he will have a point to prove on Wednesday. Let's hope so.

Valid question - how did it come to this? I stood in Cambridge Utd's pothole strewn car park this week, watching my car being washed and looking around at the portakabins, occasional skip and other assorted junk, not to mention their second rate ground and asked myself the very same question. This season, in addition to Okenabirhie, Cambridge added Ahadme (top scorer on loan from Ipswich), Kachunga, Kaikai and Lyle Taylor. These five have scored 33 goals for them in 128 appearances, goals that look virtually certain to keep them up. Last game, ironically, they put three past Wigan. Cambridge have smaller attendances than we do - and I infer, a smaller budget - and yet they had seemingly little difficuly in adding forwards to their squad having lost Smith and Knibbs to Reading in the summer. So we are entitled to ask some searching questions about striker recruitment. Cambridge are a well managed club, a community club, and they have an unrelenting focus on what happens on the pitch first and foremost. To me, therefore, our owners have got to have a serious look at where their priorities lie. This season may be too late (let's hope and pray not) but next season needs a complete change of focus. If not, we can expect more of the same.

Foyle? According to Wiki: "Foyle was named as Head of Recruitment at Northampton Town in February 2015. He went on to work as chief scout at Scottish Premiership club Motherwell the following year. Speaking in September 2019, "Well" scout Martin Corrigan credited Foyle with bringing a high calibre of players to Fir Park, calling him a "workaholic" with an encyclopedic knowledge of the English football's lower leagues. He returned to Northampton Town in his former role as Head of Recruitment in May 2021. He left Northampton Town in November 2021 to become Morecambe's Head of Recruitment. He left the role six months later. He joined Scottish Premiership side St Mirren as Head of Recruitment in June 2022." An interesting possibility, given his expertise in recruitment, which is something we desperately need after the last three windows.

Neither would the rest

We’ll be lucky - Ripley will be the first out followed by Gazza, Ojo and Chizzy.

Flitcroft had better start clearing his desk. Wouldn’t trust him with the Northern Premier let alone L2. The architect of our downfall.

That’s it. We’re down. What a shower Flitcroft has assembled, taking us straight back to L2. Completely useless. If Carol thinks she can entrust him with any more of her money she is certifiable. Well, season over and I’m done until next season unless Flitcroft is still here then I think it’s Leek or Hanley Town. What a shambles.

It's a fancy name for Company of the Year awarded by private equity companies at their annual awards event. If anyone is wondering what this company does, it buys promising businesses, builds them up and then sells them on at a profit. Its average return to investors is 6 1/2 times their investment, making it the most successful company of its kind in Europe. As someone else has posted, I wonder if Carol could tap them for some investment in the club?

Wow! Bought for £180m, which should buy a few forwards 😀. Synova is Europe’s top performing private equity company who have won House of the Year for four of the last seven years. We should be pleased but it’s a worry to think that DF may be allowed to spend the money. Just think of all those forwards he’s been chasing for the last two years 😬. On a separate note, I wonder what the Synectics staff will think?

In time I hope that Carol will come to see this letter as wholly misjudged in both tone and content. It comes across as quite angry at what are the legitimate concerns of fans and, while most fans will understand everything she’s done for the club, she doesn’t seem to understand the dreadful failures in the transfer window or the appointment of Crosby, which is what is making people so angry. Carol has simply missed the essential point - the elephant in the room you might say - that the club lives or dies by what happens on the pitch. This is where it’s gone wrong - for too long now - and it's worrying that she doesn't seem to understand, let alone acknowledge, that this is what is making so many fans furious. It is the number one priority, way above anything else that might be desirable for the club. Please think again, Carol, because at the moment the footballing trajectory of the club is going in entirely the wrong direction.

Hopefully she will stay committed but her first priority is to find additional external investment for the club and to spend it on the playing squad - but absolutely not under Flitcroft's watch.

Lewk after theesen, yewth - tinner woth mekking theesen bad fer a game a footy 🙂👍

Free agents - the last refuge of the desperate 😀

Blessed is the man who expects nothing for he shall never be disappointed (Oscar Wilde)

Ha ha - but in Smudger's case it should be pinch 😀

Crikey, fearsome look, Maybe we should go four at the back with Lopata and Smudge in the middle. Scary prospect!

Sincerely hope we don't play Willo upfront where he is going to get kicked to pieces with predictable results. He needs to play off a bigger forward who will take the physical weight off him.

He's going to win us a lot of free kicks, starting on Saturday hopefully

Five league goals in 42 appearances, that's not so reassuring!

Did DF comment on the interest shown in our own players like Chizzy and Gazza? That is as big a concern as any loan players we might sign as they are permanently contracted core players of our squad. We just cannot afford to lose them.

The clips look very good but what I'm really looking forward to seeing is a photo of our two new signings: Rhys Williams at 6'5' and Dan Gore at 5'7" 😀