United's History

Recapping briefly, in 1989/90 Cambridge United shocked English football by reaching the last eight of the F.A. Cup before being narrowly defeated by eventual finalists, Crystal Palace. No Club from the League's basement Division has ever progressed further in the modern day F.A. Cup, and success was not just limited to the Cup. Just one month later, Cambridge United created more footballing history by stepping out at Wembley in the Play-off final to be decided on the hallowed turf. A Dion Dublin goal was enough to claim victory against Chesterfield, under the shadow of the twin towers, and confirmed the Club's promotion to Division Three.

Season 1990/91 saw The U's continue to make history when, for the second successive year, the Club reached the last eight of the F.A. Cup despatching three top Second Division Clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday, en route. The tremendous run was only brought to an end by a 2-1 defeat to the eventual League Champions, Arsenal at Highbury, in front of 43,000 supporters - Arsenal's highest attendance of the season.

Despite the hectic F.A. Cup schedule, Cambridge United achieved Club records of seventeen consecutive games without a defeat, including a phenomenal run of eleven consecutive wins. By March 16th 1991, despite having played five fewer games that other clubs in the Third Division, The U's were lying in sixth place in the table. In the run in to the end of the season, the fixture backlog caused by the success in the Cup forced us to play 18 games in 57 days, ten of which were played in April.

On Saturday, May the final day of a gruelling season, Cambridge United beat Swansea City 2-0 to clinch the Third Division Championship, just pipping Southend United who had topped the table for most of the season. It was a remarkable achievement, considering that the players had to play a game almost every three days for eight weeks.

In the 1991/92 season, in the Second Division, The U's reached the Play-offs, but were beaten by Leicester City who ended the possibility of Cambridge United becoming the first team to be promoted from the Fourth to the First Division in consecutive seasons. Despite the disappointment of missing out on promotion, it was another remarkable season in the Club's history, as they never fell below seventh place in the table, and even topped the League for several weeks in the latter part of 1991.

August 1992 saw the departure of our strike force. Dion Dublin was sold to Manchester United for a Club record fee of £1,000,000 and Steve Claridge left for Luton Town, The crippling injury list didn't help as we struggled from the start of the season. John Beck, the manager whose controversial approach had guided us from the Fourth Division, was sacked in October 1992, with Gary Johnson taking temporary charge.

Ian Atkins was appointed in December 1992, but he failed to help the Club avoid the drop into the Second Division. A controversial appointment at the time, Atkins was sacked at the end of a traumatic season and the fans' choice, Gary Johnson, was appointed Manager. In his first season in charge, a late run almost saw the Club reach the play-offs as Johnson introduced his own style of play and his own players. The end of season flourish saw the records tumble as The U's chalked up a remarkable series of away wins including a 5-0 victory at Exeter, with Steve Butler netting all five, and a 7-2 drubbing of Cardiff at Ninian Park. This was to prove a false dawn for the Club, however, as a crippling injury list helped to ensure United's season never really got off the ground.

Although Tommy Taylor replaced Johnson in April 1995, United could finish no better than 5th from bottom. Unfortunately, this coincided with a readjustment in the size of the divisions, so the U's found themselves back in the League basement.

Season 1995-96 was a forgettable one as, after rising to third place in early October, the season collapsed as United went 11 matches without a win, but 1996/97 started with for more promise. United were sitting in 2nd place at the start of November, but a contract disagreement saw Tommy Taylor depart to Leyton Orient. Roy McFarland was appointed his successor, but was unable to maintain the momentum in difficult circumstances.

The U's started the 1996-97 season brightly, hitting top spot on September 6th, but fell away in mid-season and eventually finished a disappointing 16th.

Last season started well and impressive away form saw The U's in and around the play-off zone from the middle of August, whilst the Worthington Cup saw them resume the role of giant-killers. After knocking out First Division Watford over two legs, The U's were drawn against Premiership club Sheffield Wednesday. A Trevor Benjamin goal saw United take a deserved victory at Hillsborough and, thanks to a 1-1 draw at The Abbey, United progressed to the third round and a tie at Nottingham Forest. 3-0 down just after the half-time interval, another upset looked well out of reach, but goals from Trevor Benjamin, Alex Russell and a John Taylor penalty, in the space of 20 minutes, saw The U's force extra time. With no further scoring in the match the tie was eventually decided on penalties and United finally bowed out 4-3.

In December 1998, to celebrate the centenary of the Football League, the fans voted player/coach John Taylor as 'King of The Abbey' to join the list of local heroes submitted by all Clubs to commemorate the season. This coincided with Taylor scoring a goal against Darlington that brought him level with Alan Biley as the all-time top goalscorer in all competitions for Cambridge United. Taylor subsequently broke that record against Plymouth on December 12th and, against Halifax on April 10th 1999, scored his 75th League goal to take him past Biley's League total.