Cambridge United v Accrington Stanley

view from the
press box
with Doug Shulman...
AFTER FOUR CONSECUTIVE LEAGUE GAMES AWAY
FROM THE ABBEY AT FLEETWOOD, BOLTON,
GILLINGHAM AND BURTON, IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK
ON HOME SOIL FOR TODAY’S VISIT OF ACCRINGTON.
In fact, the U’s have already
been on their travels seven times
in the calendar year to date,
which is more than some teams
have played in total for 2022!
The U’s have also played an
amazing 19 Tuesday night fixtures
this season and, if you include
the midweek EFL Trophy game
with Portsmouth last month, that
number is increased to 20. This
hectic schedule, together with an
already thin squad having been
somewhat depleted by injury, has
tested the side to its limit. Given
all these factors, to see Mark
Bonner’s men sitting comfortably
in mid-table is testament to their
character and sheer will to put
points on the board.
Talking of resilience, today’s
visitors have, for many years,
been the perfect example of
successfully battling the odds.
Promoted to the Football League
in 2006, they were regularly
tipped by so-called experts to
drop back into the Conference,
based I assume purely on their size
and modest playing budget. Even
in 2018, they were the bet of many
to be relegated, but defied those
predictions to win the League Two
title by a clear five points, ahead
of Luton & Wycombe.
The story has been similar with
them playing at a higher level,
with Stanley continuing to buck
the trend to finish 14th, 17th
and 11th last season since their
promotion, with a playing budget
likely to be amongst the lowest in
League One – if not the lowest.
Their on-pitch success is down
to the astute tutelage of John
Coleman, who has mastered the
art of building mentally strong,
hard-working sides capable
of challenging any side in the
division, some of whom have richer
histories, larger stadiums and
access to much bigger recruitment
funds. Aside of a couple of years
away, he has been at the Stanley
helm since 1999, which is almost
unheard of in today’s game, with
the revolving door of management
ever active elsewhere.
A remarkable 33 Managers or Head
Coaches have left their positions
during the 2021/22 campaign,
with only Ryan Lowe and Russell
Martin at Plymouth and MK Dons
respectively, resigning to take
over at another league club.
Everyone else has been shown
the door through a perceived lack
of performance. Six League One
bosses contribute to that number,
with Lee Johnson the latest to pick
up his P45, despite Sunderland
sitting third in the table, just two
points off the top spot.
There are many clubs who could
probably learn lessons from
Accrington and one or two other
shrewdly run outfits, in long-term
planning, patience and a little less
jerking of the knee perhaps?
Doug Shulman
cambridgeunitedfc | Cambridge United Football Club | CambridgeUtdFC | www.cambridge-united.co.uk 37