THE DERRY AFTERMATH

By Connor O’Reilly - writer for YABA

So it has happened. Derry has left. After an eventful season which has lead to us having one of the worst away records in the football league, the red card scandal, and the transformation of the fan-base to become toxic, he has finally parted ways by leaving the U's via mutual consent. The big question is what do we do now. What happens next is majorly important for the future of the club. So let's see what has really happened, what we need to do and who we need to get in for the future.

First of all, what happened? Last Friday was an important day for the football club with Paul Barry announcing that he would be the new chairman and Jez George would be stepping down as CEO. This was followed up with our 0-0 draw vs Lincoln. And finally, Derry clapping the Amber Army before the announcement that he was leaving upon mutual consent.

Seeing him leave has made many of the fans relieved that he's finally departed. What has he done? He’s led us for two seasons, both we were involved in close races to the playoffs. However, we have failed to get there. This season has nothing on last season. Derry's tactics haven't worked and he's been playing players when they clearly haven’t been playing well.

My main point is with Deegan. He was incredibly poor vs Forest Green Rovers, Coventry, and again last week versus Yeovil. George Maris, on the other hand, has been one of our standout performers, and arguably one of the only bright sides from those games. So it was all but natural to see him get benched against Yeovil. Why? Who knows, but these decisions are quite baffling if you ask me.

The side he played against Lincoln gave me optimism and hope, which the team also showed. We played well and the players played with the passion we haven't seen a lot this year. It gave us hope. It gave the Amber Army something to sing about proving to be the best atmosphere we've had all season.


For me, I would like to thank Shaun Derry for the memories he's given us. This season has been pathetic and quite frankly embarrassing. Yes, I wanted him out and am happy he has gone, but it won't take away the memories. Those of that run last season where playoffs were a realistic dream, games like Orient or Crawley at home, or even Pompey away. Not forgetting the cup experiences, the win vs Wednesday and night against Leeds. And who can forget Orient away when Jimmy Spencer was having a party. Those were good days. Thank you, Shaun.

But now we look forward. This is a brand new era for the club. New manager. New owner. Jez having left the club. For the club and everyone involved this time period is critical. There are two things right away that need changing at the club. Firstly, the negativity has to stop. Derry has left now, and if you wanted him out then what is there to moan about.

Last night at the Abbey was great in terms of the atmosphere. Everyone got behind the team, everyone sang and there was an optimistic feeling in the air. Songs like "Horto Majikooo, we will outsing you wherever we will goo..." getting sung again, and it was great. But we haven't had that kinda atmosphere at the Abbey all year and we need to make our team unstoppable. The Abbey needs to become a fortress again and then we can look onwards and upwards. So let's all get behind Paul Barry, the team and the new manager and give away teams a loud welcome to Cambridgeshire.

Secondly (and this is directed towards Paul Barry) we need to take our time and make sure we select the right manager. This is massive for the future of the club because like Graham Daniels said last night, we aren't a sacking club. We need sustainability and if we have to wait for 2-3 weeks for the right man to come along then so be it. We can't just appoint someone random lad who's taken Bishop's Stortford to the Premier League in Football Manager 2016 (Paul Barry hit me up if you need that) because we wouldn't know where it'll take us. The board must be happy with who we are getting and make sure the fans are behind him from day one. 

Leading on from that, who are we really linked with? With info from our friends at The Sack Race (follow them on twitter for the latest managerial twists and turns at @thesackrace) they are linking the likes of Gary Caldwell and Robbie Neilson as favourites for the job, alongside the two managers that the fans want in Phil Brown and Stuart McCall. 

Now out of those four, I feel like the best suited to the job would, in fact, be McCall. He took Bradford to the playoffs last season agonisingly losing out to Millwall at Wembley. He feels like the best choice out of the managers available to take us to any sort of glory if that's what we want to aim for. He won 44 out of the 96 games he managed in his last spell at Bradford with a win percentage of 45.8%. If we get him, then next season (of course depending on who we get in the summer and if we get back players like Taft, Walters and Corr) we should have a shot at the playoffs. 

So, an end of an era. New owners, new plans for the stadium and in the coming weeks, a new manager. Its been fun Shaun, Jez and Dave, but times are changing at the Abbey. Thank you for all you did for the club, especially Dave and Jez for helping the U's (rightfully) regain there place in the Football League. But we go on, singing, bouncing, into a new era of Cambridge football. As always, thanks for the read and I hope you all enjoyed it, and I can't wait to hear your views on what we need to do next.

United in Endeavour!