Cambridge owners and board issue statement on woeful start to season under Garry Monk

Cambridge United owners and board of directors issue a statement on the woeful start to the 2024/25 season under Garry Monk.

The U’s defeat to Exeter means that it is now 18 games without a win, fans are demanding for change on and off the pitch.

Cambridge stay rooted to the bottom of the third tier, while this was a fourth clean sheet in the league in a row for Exeter to see them up to 7th.

The Owners & Board of Directors have issued an update regarding our disappointing start to the season.

— Cambridge United FC (@CambridgeUtdFC) October 7, 2024

It is now 18 games without a win for #CamUTD after they returned from the long trip to #ECFC with nothing to show for their efforts.

Here’s what boss Garry Monk made of the clash in Devon ⬇️https://t.co/CP2s3qVyWI

— Cambridge Independent (@CambridgeIndy) October 7, 2024

STATEMENT:

We are not in the habit of giving a running commentary from the boardroom during the season on the playing side, but given our poor start, we all feel it is important to say something at this time…

First of all, everyone at the Club is feeling the disappointment every bit as much as you, the supporters – and as ever, your support has been brilliant. There is no sugar coating how poor our results have been. The reasons may be many and varied – and some of the underlying statistics may tell a more positive story – but in the end we all know football is a results business.

We increased our playing budget significantly over the summer but still started this season with one of the lowest in the league. We decided to do this whilst continuing to prioritise infrastructure investment across the Club, as part of our modernisation programme for the future and plans for the Stadium redevelopment should be public before the end of the year.

Unfortunately, multiple long-term injuries have really tested this approach and our squad depth – and there will be lessons for all of us to learn for the future. This is said as context but not as an excuse, and we are all acutely aware that results do need to improve – and quickly. We need to be in a competitive position come the turn of the year to have a realistic chance of preserving our League One status.

We know how hard Garry, the staff and players are working. There is no shortage of endeavour, focus and togetherness within the group. The international break now gives everyone a chance to regroup, refocus and then really attack the coming critical period of games.

We remain as ambitious as ever for Cambridge United on-and-off the pitch. Progress never goes in straight lines, especially in sport.

We are in a tough moment. To get through it we all need to work even harder and remain United in Endeavour. Thank you for your support as ever.

On behalf of the Owners and Board of Directors

After the 1-0 defeat to Exeter, which leaves them bottom of League One with 1 point, while the winless run extends to 18 matches, Monk said, per Cambridge Independent: “Take the whole thing in terms of results, I totally get it and I understand. But if you were looking from the outside in and seeing those results, you’d expect to see a team that’s in disarray, disorganised, a lack of energy, a lack of anything and getting beaten off the park.

“But I don’t feel like we’re getting beaten off the park at all. We’re well in games, we’re putting a huge amount of effort into games and people are showing energy.

“Yes we lack quality in certain moments or decision making in certain moments, but if you took the results you’d not expect the team to be performing how we’re performing.

“That’s the only way you can get out of the situation and get points – maintaining the attitude, the energy and the endeavour that we do have. If we can have just one or two more quality moments and decisions that go for us, who knows where we’d be? We’d be in a position to take points from games.

“I know what’s coming in terms of the noise, I totally understand that. But it’s hard when you stand here and you can’t really ask for more from the players. The minimum requirement is to run and show effort and endeavour and attitude – fighting for that shirt and to get wins and points. I can’t really look at many games this season where I can pin that on the players and say we didn’t do this or that.”

Monk was frustrated that goalkeeper Vicente Reyes had been fouled in the build up to the winning goal, but play resumed.

Monk added: “It’s glaringly obvious for everyone to see – it’s just bemusing. We got told at the start of the season that blocks and shirt pulling in the box was going to be really clamped down on and you cannot get a more obvious pulling on the shirt and we don’t get it.

“Those moments seem to be happening a lot – that should have been given to us.”

Exeter City: Whitworth, Niskanen, Sweeney, Fitzwater, Yfeko, McMillan, Woods, Francis (Carayol, 82’), Aitchison (Doyle, 72’), Alli, Magennis (Richards, 35’ (Cox, 71’))

Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Purrington, Bird

Goalscorers: Woods (22’)

Bookings: Yfeko, Woods

Cambridge United: Reyes, Okedina, Morrison, Andrew, Bennett, Digby, Smith (Kaikai, 75’), Gibbons (Longelo, 75’), Kachunga (Brophy, 67’), Loft (Njoku, 61’), Nlundulu

Subs Not Used: Stevens, Cousins, O’Riordan

Goalscorers:

Bookings: Loft, Andrew

Referee: Scott Tallis

This is how fans reacted as the Cambridge owners and board issue statement on the woeful start to season under Garry Monk…

@ChesnoidGaming: Appreciate the transparency from the all in the board room. Voted one of the best run clubs in the country, this is why. YES playing staff recruitment should have been better & on field results absolutely should have been better, still going in the right direction as a whole imo.

@Denton_james: Fair play, record low points incoming. Lets go baby

@Leon45699: We are a football team not a business, time to prioritise the team not the fucking infrastructure #CamUtd

𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘆: We will come through it, I honestly believe we will, hard work and complete loyalty and support from the supporters. No matter what Cambridge United for life.

Tony Langley: This needed saying to put an end to the ridiculous speculation. If you’re not happy go and support someone else. Peterborough are nearby and often tilting at promotion and football is a results business!

Michael Radley: Lessons we can all learn from 😆 We’ve narrowly escaped relegation for the last two seasons with a squad not good enough for this level so we offer them new contracts and then continue to hire injury prone players. Really excited about the new crest though 🚀

Russell Hollands: Resigned to the fact that there not willing to do the right thing for the fans that spend there money on season tickets, shirts and away travel, basically saying they don’t care the outcome the managers job is safe even if he doesn’t deliver results on the pitch, this is just a kick in the teeth to the supporters, was soon quick enough to get rid of bonner when results were going the wrong way so why not monk

Thomas A Webb: I’ll follow you no matter what Cambridge x

Tom Hart: ‘We don’t want to be known as a club that fires managers. Chin up.’

Darren Yelkcarb: Two very telling statements there. The budget, despite being, as they say, “significantly increased”, is still one of the lowest in the league. Secondly, they talk of prioritising infrastructure development. I can see the logic in this, as a better, expanded capacity, ground, allied to improved training facilities should benefit the club long-term. However, as they also acknowledge, football is a results based business, and our start has been awful. If we go down, we need to ensure the rot stops there, in order that the club can put into place its desired infrastructure changes, and allow themselves to, hopefully, get back into League One in the future.

Richard Gathercole: Seems like they are resigned to the fact that we are going to be in league two next year, with Monk. We just need to get used to the idea that this is going to be a long and painful season and that we will be a league 2 side next season. The big question is; how many fans are we going to lose on the way? This will inevitably impact the clubs ability to move the club forwards off the pitch.

Tristan Diego Hall: If we have to go through pain before the rewards I can compute the miss fortune. Hopefully we can get some results together.

Adi Darlow: I Always try and see the positive, but the thing I am struggling with is it says we have increased the players budget, ( Albeit still one of the smallest Budgets) but all we have done is signed players that already had injuries or are injury prone, surely this is False Economy. As I said I try and be positive and I’m taking, that its early in the season for this poor run and there are plenty of points still to play for. 💛🖤

Martin Crook: Statement says it all really no money even though we increased we did not do it enough also got the wrong players in. As for saying we must change by the end of the year we will have to then as we will down by then. For me we have taken our eye of the football side of the club and unless Harry potter turns up we will be relegated this season it will be just whether it’s a embarrassing season.

Mark Charles: To paraphrase: we’re currently shit, but we plan on doing nothing to be less shit.
I’m sure the boards position is that we are a league two club who is batting above their station and are therefore happy to go down…

Andy Thompsett: Seems a fair and balenced statement

Calvin Everdell: Well that’s cleared that up then….🙄