If you have any news or gossip for this page please send it to U's Net as soon as possible!
Saturday 28th June, 1997
Tony Richards' £20,000 transfer to Lincoln City is off after he rejected the move. It came as a surprise for Cambridge United who expected the 23-year-old winger to join John Beck's side after they outbid Leyton Orient.
Richards said he did not want to play Beck's long ball style, and was hoping instead to rejoin another ex-United manager, Tommy Taylor at Orient: "John Beck wanted me to go along to Lincoln and see the facilities," he said. "But I saw them play a couple of times and I don't fancy that style. I came up through the West Ham system and I like to get the ball and and play rather than hitting it long and chasing all the time. I've talked to Tommy at Orient, and that's the move I"m hoping for. I think it will give me a better chance of first team football than at Cambridge. I couldn't get back into the side last season after being out injured. I only got a few games in six months."
The Nationwide League have set Thursday July 10th as the date for Richards' tribunal.
Club secretary Steve Greenall told the C.E.N., "Orient offered a small fee which was unacceptable to us. Orient have asked for the tribunal to be conditional, which means that if the fee set is higher than they want to pay they can pull out of the deal."
 | Scott Barrett |
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It looks as though a tribunal will also be necessary to settle an disagreement with Orient over a fee for goalkeeper Scott Barrett. Manager Roy McFarland, who held talks with three potential new players yesterday, commented, "I believe Orient are expecting to get Scott without a fee. But I rate him as one of the top three keepers in the third division so we'll be wanting compensation if he goes."
Barrett arrived at the Abbey Stadium two years ago on a free transfer from Gillingham.
The long-anticipated exodus is now well and truly under way, with Tony Richards following Paul Raynor through United's revolving doors today. However the 23-year-old forward has not signed for Leyton Orient as widely anticipated, but instead he will link up with former Abbey boss John Beck at Lincoln City, and the fee is understood to be £20,000.
Richards started his career as a West Ham trainee before playing abroad for a couple of years, and he was spotted by United while playing for non-league Sudbury Town. He signed for us two years ago but as far back as November he had rejected the renewal terms on offer. His switch to the Imps will be a let-down for another ex-United manager, Tommy Taylor, as the Leyton Orient boss made an offer for Richards which was rejected by the United board. He was hoping to land Richards for a tribunal-decided fee.
Richards' departure has disappointed manager Roy McFarland but he was not surprised: "I wanted Tony to stay, but when we offered him the new deal he said he was looking to leave. He's had a rough time with injuries since I've been here and obviously wants to make a fresh start."
Lincoln boss John Beck told the C.E.N.: "I was impressed with Tony when he played against us last season. He's a versatile forward."
Richards was a key member of Taylor's team which reached second spot in Division Three in last autumn. He was an eye-catching sight too, with his bright blond dyed hair, but an Achilles tendon injury, followed by a virus, restricted him to only three full appearances in the last six months of the campaign.
It appears Tommy Taylor has decided against pursuing his interest in Scott Barrett, deciding that he was not going to pay a fee for a 34-year-old goalkeeper, and Barrett is now believed to be willing to sign a new deal with United. The remaining players who are due to be out of contract at the end of the month are defenders Jody Craddock and Matt Joseph, and midfielder and skipper Micah Hyde. All three have been linked with Premiership and Division One clubs but there is no concrete news as yet.
McFarland was having talks with three players today. Although he did not reveal their names the C.E.N. believes they include Walsall pair, 27-year-old midfielder Chris Marsh, and 22-year-old striker Martin Butler.
I am told that United's commercial manager David Smith is leaving the club today, with his female replacement due to take up his duties on Monday.
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire reported today that ex-manager Tommy Taylor had a hand in arranging Paul Raynor's lucrative one year spell in China, with a view to the player returning from his Oriental travels to sign for the Leyton variety when his contract in China is finished.
The P.A. News service report that Paul Raynor is set to join Chinese side Guang Deong Wen Yuan on a lucrative one year deal, bringing to an end his second spell at the Abbey. The Canton team will pay United a transfer fee of around £20,000.
Raynor's contract with United expires at the end of this month and his future at the club has been in doubt since before Christmas, when it was revealed that he had turned down the terms on offer. However the move to a Chinese team comes as a big shock!
Raynor told the C.E.N.: "I'm sorry to be leaving Cambridge. I thought when I came back a second time, from Preston, I might finish my career here. But United only offered me one year which was disappointing, then the Chinese club came in with an offer that was out of this world. But as well as the money I'm excited at the prospect of going to play somewhere so different. They've been excellent during the negotations, and they've had English players out there before. Canton is only about half an hour's flying time from Hong Kong, and I've been told I'll get plenty of time off. My wife Karen is keen on the move, and our son Jamie is only 11 months old, so being out of the country for a year won't affect him very much. Obviously it's going to be a bit strange, but I played for Swansea for a few years, and I never knew what most of them were saying down there!"
United manager Roy McFarland commented: "There was no way we could get anywhere near the money the Chinese are offering. I should think some first division clubs would struggle to match it. Financially it's what Paul needs at this stage of his career."
Raynor was a member of the John Beck side which reached the old second division play-offs and he returned to the Abbey two years ago in a swap deal for unsettled defender Dean Barrick. He played as a winger and wing-back last season and only missed three matches, through suspension.
Today's Cambridge Evening News reveal that United are having talks with a West Indies-based potential investor. The businessman is a one-time United supporter and he approached the club in conjunction with a partner in the Mid-Anglia region.
United chairman Reg Smart confirmed the development, the latest in a series of negotiations since the directors advertised the club for sale nationally five months ago.
"Talks are ongoing with someone interested in joining the club, although I don't want to name names at this stage. It's impossible to say whether they will lead to anything. It is early days. We made it clear when we put the club up for sale we would do all we could to bring in new people with funds to boost United, providing they had the best interests of the club at heart."
The directors' aim by selling the club is to break the financial cycle whereby the best players have to be sold every year, but United supporters would do well not to get excited about these talks. There have been a variety of approaches since the club was put up for sale last September, none amounting to anything so far. In recent months at least four other groups have made enquiries, one involving boxing promoter Frank Warren.
It is not only our players that are catching the eye of clubs in the top divisions! In a U's Net exclusive, club secretary Steve Greenall today revealed that he has turned down the chance to move to First Division side Tranmere Rovers.
"I've done my best to keep it quiet," he said, "but it's leaked out in various places so I've had to hold my hands up and say that was the case."
Steve has been with Cambridge United for seven years, since his predecessor Nigel Pleasants joined Leeds United, and in that period he has become a respected and popular figure in the game. This year he was invited to sit on the Football League Fixtures Committee to become, in his own words, "poacher turned gamekeeper". He admits that he used to be one of those handing out flack for long mid-week away trips and has now seen at first hand how impossible it is to please everyone all the time.
Ours is also one of the first club secretaries the media turn to for an opinion and he regularly features in newspapers, magazines and TV programmes about football. Until earlier this year Steve was also the regular voice of United's various telephone news services.
Tranmere Rovers sounded him out in March and Steve said he turned them down about a month ago. "I was obviously very flattered by the approach but we are settled here and like the area, so I have put the family first before a move back to the North West."
United's Abbey Update line today features an interview with the two Northern Ireland youth internationals who turned down Glasgow Rangers to sign for United last week. (0891 555885)
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| Scott Barrett |
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He told Orient Clubcall (no, I didn't ring it!) that he signed the two players for Cambridge United and did not pay a fee for them (because they were available on free transfers Tommy!), and when he was asked if he expected to pay a fee for them this time he responded "What do you think?"
Orient have already exploited the uncertainty surrounding the extension of the Bosman-ruling to domestic transfers. Last month they signed Hereford's out-of-contract defender Dean Smith for £42,500. Hereford wanted a fee of £250,000 and apparently were convinced they would get over £100,000, but at the tribunal Orient pointed out that in two years he could leave for no fee and the Football League used this in their calculation.
The players return for pre-season training on the 1st of July and club secretary Steve Greenall has confirmed the dates and prices for the pre-season friendlies:
| Tuesday 22nd July | Bury St Edmunds | A |
| Friday 25th July | LUTON TOWN | H |
| Tuesday 29th July | NORWICH CITY | H |
| Saturday 2nd August | Stevenage Borough | A |
The prices for the two home games are for anywhere in the ground: £8 for adults, £4 for Senior Citizens and "a quid for kids".
Steve explained to U's Net that Roy McFarland doesn't want to play many pre-season games, instead he wants to do lots of fitness work and then play a few demanding matches. Last season Tommy Taylor took the players away for a few days and then plunged them straight into a series of several matches against non-league opposition, using the matches to look at a team of trialists.
Defender Lee Palmer, released on a free transfer at the end of the season, could make a permanent move to Dover Athletic where he has spent some time on loan.
The draw for the first round of the Coca-Cola Cup has taken place and we face West Bromwich Albion. The home leg takes place on August 12th and the away leg on the 26th.
This is a good time to open a bookies in Peterboring - the odds for next season have P*sh at 8/1 joint favourites with Swansea City to win the championship! The U's are a generous 16/1.
It was revealed today that the Football League are still investigating ways to restructure, despite the clubs' rejection of the Deloitte-Touche recommendations to invite the GM Vauxhall Conference into the League. One possibility they are looking into is merging Divisions Two and Three to become Division Two North and South. The League have also agreed to fall in line with the Premier League and allow people within football to hold up to 10 per cent shareholding in more than one club providing the shares are held "purely for investment purposes".
Our next campaign in Division Three kicks off on Saturday August 9th with an away day trip to Scarborough. The much-anticipated local derbies against P*sh are on December 2nd (A) and April 11th 1998 (H). We play Leyton Orient on September 6th (A) and Boxing Day (H).
The two Northern Ireland schoolboy internationals who joined Cambridge United on Friday did so despite interest from several other clubs, including Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers. Andy Morrow is described as a forward and Chris McCullum as a defender and they have signed two year contracts. They will join up with the youth team squad when they return for pre-season training on June 27.
Youth team coach Dave Batch is delighted that they have signed and commented, "We have got good contacts in Ireland and are confident these boys will do well. Hopefully they will be the first of many talented Irish lads to come over."
BBC Ceefax report that United have signed Northern Ireland youth internationals Andy Morrow and Chris McCullum.
More details as I can get them.
It is so quiet at the moment I thought I would just summarise the various transfer rumours that have come to my attention recently:
Colchester United's Chris Fry, who we were linked with a few weeks ago, recently joined Exeter City. If you hear or read any more rumours please let me know.
The fixture list for next season is released on Monday morning and I hope to have it available here by the evening.
In a decision that is bound to affect life in the lower divisions the FA Premiership have agreed, provisionally, that from 30th June 1998 a Bosman-type ruling will apply in this country.
At present the Ruling entitles players whose contracts have expired to free transfers to other European countries. From next summer, that could apply to all football in this country, when players out of contract would qualify for free transfers to other English clubs. The only concession to the concerns of smaller clubs is that this ruling will not affect players younger than 24 years old. The present rules allow free transfers for players aged 33 or more, after five years at a club.
For clubs like United the youth policy, coupled with the ability to polish up the odd youngster released by bigger clubs, has become the key to financial survival. In future it will become vital to sell the best young players by the age of 22 or 23 to ensure a transfer fee is received, and even then the transfer fee could be affected. If United had a 23 year old player with one more season to run on his present contract his transfer value is bound to be affected, with the buying club having the option to wait a year and get the player on a free transfer. In those circumstances United would have the choice of accepting the low fee or risk losing the player for nothing in a year's time.
The ruling is believed to have already influenced at least one transfer in this country, when Hereford's Dean Smith moved to Leyton Orient last month, for £42,500. Hereford wanted a fee of £250,000 and apparently were convinced they would get over £100,000, but at the tribunal Orient pointed out that in two years he could leave for no fee and the Football League used this in their calculation.
If this provisional ruling becomes law next year it will not stop transfer trading altogether, as currently most deals are done in mid-season when contracts are still in force. However it seems certain that more clubs will be deferring transfers until the summer to take most advantage of the ruling.
On the transfer front, Leyton Orient manager Tommy Taylor has confirmed that he is hoping to sign two of our six "contract rebels". Taylor will be having talks with goalkeeper Scott Barrett and forward Tony Richards, saying, "We've advised Cambridge that we will be talking to the players and I would like to bring them to East London."
Meanwhile Roy McFarland's statement that he was speaking to a "well-known" striker led to speculation on "Moosenet" that the player would be Marco Gabbiadini of McFarland's former club Derby County. It was reported in the news yesterday that the 29-year-old has been granted a free transfer, so watch this space!
Football League chairman David Sheepshanks has urged Premiership clubs not to hastily overhaul the transfer system within the English game, thus allowing players to move to other clubs for free when their contracts expire, rather than the deals having to go to a tribunal. Sheepshanks believes there should be no alterations to the current system until at least another two years have passed in the wake of the Bosman ruling.
He made these comments known at a meeting this week between the Football League, PFA and FA. However, it would appear the overall feeling within the hierarchy of the game is that players should be entitled to move for free when their contracts expire and they have reached the age of 24.
The Premier League has taken the surprising step of contributing a sizeable amount to help teams outside the top flight. Nationwide League clubs throughout the land have been granted £55 million to continue ground improvements recommended under the Taylor report - £20 million of which will be provided by the Premier League. The money will be allocated to the Football Trust and will also be available to non-league clubs for essential improvements to their stadia.
The money will be allocated to clubs over the next four years and has been provided by the Premier League in association with the English Sports Council Lottery Fund and the FA, and supplements the funds raised through reductions in Pools Betting Duty. The announcement was made by Sports Minister Tony Banks at a press conference at Brentford Football Club.
United are linked in the news with another player today, although it is not known how much substance is in the report. Walsall midfielder Chris Marsh is reportedly a target for Roy McFarland after he turned down the offer of a new contract at the Bescot Stadium. 27-year-old Marsh is Walsall's longest serving player and recently celebrated his testimonial at the club, but United face competition for his signature from Walsall's Second Division rivals, Luton Town and FA Cup semi-finalists Chesterfield.
United's "Marvin Moose" mascot was one of the studio guests on Channel Five's coverage of yesterday's England match. The new TV channel packed their studio with minor celebrities and Marvin was one of those asked to predict the result before England won the World Cup qualifier 2-0 in Poland.
Thursday 12th June, 1997
Players OUT
Players IN
Wednesday 11th June, 1997
Thursday 5th June, 1997
Monday 2nd June, 1997
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