Pages

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Supporting Cambridge United is like an EastEnders marriage without the death

I will enjoy Friday’s game against Manchester United because suppporting Cambridge is not always easy. Once we even hired Claude Le Roy to try to get us up League Two. Who does that?My dad would always take a book to the Abbey. Cambridge United games aren’t always that interesting. And the half-time entertainment of a man dressed as a moose and some kids kicking a ball into a giant washing machine just didn’t do it for him. He happened to be sitting near the press box for the FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace in 1990 and, as a result, I have a signed copy of Plato’s Republic on my bookshelf. Plato wasn’t there but the inside cover reads: “Dear Max, all the best, Trevor Brooking”.I guess bringing up Greek philosophers this early doesn’t do a lot to dispel the myth that everything in Cambridge is intellectual. And I guarantee when Match of the Day starts , there’ll be some mention of Sir Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking or some other chap in a gown and a pointy hat, followed by a pun about whether Louis van Gaal can pass the “Cambridge examination”. They’ll punt the FA Cup down the river, focus in on King’s College chapel and then cut to a portable building outside the Abbey Stadium. I’ll be in the main stand with my dad, as I was for the first time in 1986 when we scraped a 2-2 draw with Exeter City. Continue reading...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com