Cambridge United revolution

The history of Cambridge United F.C. covers almost 100 years. Since establishment in 1912 as Abbey United to play friendly games, the club grew quickly and was eventually elected to the Football League, of which it was a member for 35 years before relegation in 2005. The club came close to becoming a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, but currently compete in the Blue Square Bet Premier.

They were previously managed by Richard Money, who led them to a 9th place finish in the 2011/2012 season. However, the chairman decided it was time for a change as they wanted to push on and finally make it up to the Football League and eventually fight it out with the countries elite. They sacked Richard on the last day of the season and announced a search for a new manager. Initial reports state Emile Heskey is the favourite as he is looking for a return to the country and a return back in to English football. A more obscure name cropped up amongst the local papers however, an ex-international footballer called Krupesh Shah, who played 73 games and scored 22 goals for England. Will he take the job? There are rumours his son, called Krupesh Shah Jr, is looking to make his name in the footballing world as a goalkeeper and is available on a free transfer at just 16 years old. Will they work together at Cambridge United and take the team all the way to the Premier League?

hey guys as this is my first ever story it wont be perfect but I hope you'll follow it and keep encouraging me

I'm following Good start by the way!

Krupesh Shah and Krupesh Shah? Shouldn't it be Krupesh Shah Jr? Anyway, nice start, keep it up

2013-04-27 09:39#95323 LJO200 : Krupesh Shah and Krupesh Shah? Shouldn't it be Krupesh Shah Jr? Anyway, nice start, keep it up

haha yeah im going to change it :p it will get too weird otherwise

Cambridge United are please to announce the signing of their new manager on a one year, £975/week contract, subject to extension depending on results. That manager is…Krupesh Shah and he is shaking with excitement as he begins his first venture into football management.

News Conference:

Reporter: You sit here as the new manager of Cambridge United. How does this make you feel and is this just a stepping stone for you?
Krupesh: This is an absolutely amazing feeling. The chairman has put a lot of faith in me and I will repay him by sticking with this team all the way to the Premier League. You heard it here first, Cambridge United will be in the Premier League!

Reporter: That’s a huge claim and this club doesn’t exactly have the best players at the club. What will your transfer policy be?
Krupesh: Well I didn’t say it would happen overnight did I? I will look to bring in as many loans as I can and also build towards the future as the youngsters with high potential will carry this club forward.

Reporter: What will you do in terms of tactics and who do you think your star player will be?
Krupesh: Well I am looking at bringing in my son but he is subject to contract offers from Manchester City and Chelsea and I only want the best for him. Hopefully he will see the best place for his development at this early stage is with me but we all know how much money can affect decisions. In terms of star player, we have high hopes for Jon Thorpe and Luke Berry but only time will tell.

Reporter: Well it seems there is lots of work ahead for you so we will let you get on with it and look forward to seeing if your claim comes true but just know all of Cambridge is behind you to be a success!
Krupesh: Thank you and good evening all. I look forward to my time here and hope to bring much success to this club.

Great start. Keep at it mate. Cheers.

Will have a big update tomorrow but anyone got any tips/whether they think this is a good story?

Having had some time to settle in to my new role, and after meetings with the Chairman, Assistant Manager and the rest of the staff, I had a look at the team report to see there are some pretty strong players in the squad but we definitely need to improve in some areas. There will be lots of loan deals and maybe a surprise too.



Friendlies were just around the corner and having only one scout, I sent him away to bring back reports on almost 100 players, making him work almost 24 hours a day. There were some great ones available for loan but their clubs just seemed to think the BSP is too low a level for their players and so I was stuck looking at those more ready to play in the BSP.

I personally rang about 40 different clubs that had some players that would make us a stronger team and immediately set about bargaining for loan deals and managed to bring in 7 players on loan, 1 on a free transfer and I sent away 5 players from the club.



The big deal was bringing in my son on a 3-year, £825 contract that he would sign on his 17th birthday. This was fantastic news as he could have ended up at Manchester City or Chelsea who would have offered him thousands to join but thankfully he has seen the light with my plan for Cambridge United and wants to be a part of this legacy that will be built. It is clear from his early abilities that he really will be the star player of this team but will need the support of his team mates for him to reach the football league and hopefully in the mean time, there aren’t any big time offers that come his way! This team would be led by Krupesh Shah and Krupesh Shah Jr for years to come!

Pre-season went fairly well but it was all too rushed and the season was already upon us! We went in to the first game away from home a bit nervous but I was confident in my boys and the tactics we had set up. Unfortunately the result didn’t pan our way, with Forest Green taking it 1-0. It seems as though we struggled with out finishing but created lots of chances, which is a positive sign. This showed me I had to maybe look deeper at our strikers and bring in someone who can finish off the chances we create and I signed Mark Cullen on loan from Hull for 1 month, which I began to regret as he would have been a fantastic help all season. From here, our season took a turn for the better, drawing four and winning seven, pushing us up to 2nd in the BSP, just two points behind the leaders Wrexham 12 games in to the season.



At the end of September I decided the finances needed a review and things weren’t going so great. We were paying £41,000 every month to pay back a gift loan we had of £500,000. This was having a bad effect but even without this we were making a loss. Spending over £50,000 on wages a month was causing problems and I had to look at offloading some players that were just deadwood and not contributing to the club in any way. I also decided a cheeky way of making a bit of money was to arrange some friendlies with some local teams near Cambridge and so I found the fixture list had some gaps and I arranged three friendlies from the end of September to the end of December and this would give us an extra £30,000 at least. We also were not getting enough fans in to the stadium to support the boys but hopefully the better results and positive outlook for the club will start to bring in some more fans.




Breaking News
It has been confirmed Cambridge United’s stay player and first choice Goalkeeper has been ruled out for at least 7 weeks due to a sprained ankle sustained in training. This is an important time for the club, heading in to some fixtures that will be tough but they will have to cope without Shah Jr as they look to continue their good form. It has been reported the level of physio care at the club is very low and there are simply no half decent physio’s interested in joining such a low club. How will the club cope? Keep with us over the next 2 months to find out.

Of course you should continue, Krups. Why shouldn't you? It is only a sprained ankle. Even if Krups Jr. leaves the club, get revenge by beating his club in every possible cup competition.

That injury came just at the wrong time. £50,00 on wages seems a lot for a BSP side. Anyway ,keep it up

2013-04-28 08:34#95767 The Special one : That injury came just at the wrong time. £50,00 on wages seems a lot for a BSP side. Anyway ,keep it up

Gutted about the injury but in my save he's just about to return to full fitness..the wages issue was a big shock for me. Cambridge had signed loads of new players just before i took over but most of them i dnt think are good enough for my aim so ive been trying to shift them slowly and its making a difference

Moving in to October and we stayed 2 points behind Woking after our first game of the month, coming back from behind to draw at home against Mansfield 2-2. Luckily Wrexham were held to a draw against the only team to have beaten us so far and we were 3 points ahead of Alfreton who are in 3rd. The FA Cup draw was made after this match and we were up against a pretty unknown team Barkingside in the fourth qualifying round. Obviously I had high hopes in this match but as a BSP the FA Cup isn’t anywhere near out list of priorities this season or even next year.

The 2nd game of the month was perhaps my favourite so far. We went away to Woking, who were 10th in the league with the aim of winning to keep the pressure on Wrexham. It was a slow start to the match and eventually Woking took the lead just before the half time whistle, meaning I had to pretty much tear up my half time notes. I wasn’t a happy manager and I let the boys know it. I changed the formation and made two substitutes, bringing on another striker and taking out the anchor man. This made an instant impact as we pulled level early in the half but then drama!! Our centre back got his second yellow card and left us to play 30 minutes with 10 men. I had to change the formation and we kept pushing and pushing despite being down to 10 and in the 92nd minute, on loan midfielder Mauro Vilhete headed in the winner.

The reason this result so far has been my best I think is because we went behind, down to ten men but kept on pushing and didn’t give up but also because Wrexham actually lost their match and this result put us on top of the BSP. It was now up to us to work as hard as we could to keep this spot and secure promotion after a long wait!!

After that game against Woking, we had some cup ties to look forward to against Barkingside and Grimsby in the FA Trophy. Now as a BSP team, winning these or even getting to the quarter finals is probably 10000000/1 but the key thing is to try and make it as far as possible because the prize money is hugely needed. Mark Cullen’s loan finished and we began struggling to put away chances and the 1-1 draw against Barkingside made me unbelievably angry. We should have won the game easily so I went out and managed to bring in even more players on loan and the great thing is we aren’t paying any wages or loan fees during the time theyre with me.



What a change the new boys made!! Captain Michael Gash and loanees scoring goals for me left, right and centre. One concern for me however is the fact teams are able to score against us pretty easily and so I brought in a defender on loan from Arsenal – Sead Hajrovic. Immediately we saw things tighten up at the back and concede only 1 in 3 games.



We are absolutely flying in the league, and are also through to the next rounds in the cup tournaments. We are sitting atop the BSP with 44 points after 19 games, 13 wins, 5 draws and that 1 loss in our first game of the season. Wrexham are 3 points behind us and Alfreton are 6 points behind us sitting in 3rd, and they are our next game!