Wednesday 17th May 2000 : Wanny hits the 'net

U's skipper Paul Wanless is the latest player to willingly submit to an interview and supporters' Q&A for U's Net, and he gave open and honest answers to the many questions he faced.

Revealing that he and some of the other players read U's Net and fans' comments on the message board, he asked, "Don't be too harsh on us on the message board. We've all been there, we've all had our stick. I've had it early season, Scott Eustace had it, and it's nice when it changes around. I mean, Scott's getting a lot of praise at the minute, and rightly so, but the players do see it, they do take it to heart, rumours do go, and as much as they say they ignore it, and 'ignore what you read', it's not easy and I believe anyone in their job constantly getting criticism would know it's not very nice."

Paul also discussed frankly the way his baby daughter's illness affected him and his family during the season, the major influences and highs and lows of his career, and described Roy McFarland as the best manager he as worked with.

On the hot topic of players' wages, something that McFarland has already mentioned to the Cambridge Evening News and which has been discussed at length by fans in view of the wish to keep Lionel Perez at the Abbey, Wanless commented, "The club do lose money as do a lot of the lower clubs and even from the first (division) they lose a lot of money.

"I'm hopeful - I am hopeful obviously from my own personal view - that the club address that issue because the players here aren't - they're well paid for what they do, don't get me wrong, they are well paid - but as second division footballers we're very poorly paid."

In reply to another question he added, "The manager said about it, and hopefully we've got a couple of new people on the board and if the gates increase, which they have, hopefully then it will help the players."

Wanny stressed throughout the interview that he loves it at Cambridge United, his family are settled, and he hopes to earn a new contract next season as his current one runs out next summer. He concluded, "I'm just happy that this season turned out the way it did. Because it has turned out to be a very good season."

You can read the full interview and his detailed answers to all the questions from supporters here.