Andrew Stephen’s Hot Off The Habbin article in the match programme for the CUFC v Blackpool match on 10th October 2026.
“Anyone who is prosperous may, by the turn of evening, be wretched.
Marcellinus
All football fans know that when you sign up for a lifetime, there will be moments of triumph and, probably rather more, moments of despair. When we slid out of the League in 2005, many Cambridge fans would never have experienced anguish like it. Only three years earlier, we had played Blackpool in the LDV Trophy Final at Cardiff in front of 20,000 fans. They were a division higher than us, but we had Wanless, Perez, Kitson, Young and other very good players in our side. We were on a roll. At 1-1 in the second half, we sensed an unlikely victory, but it was not our day. Sometimes it just isn’t. We all know that feeling. Blackpool too, a side famed for the Stanley Matthews Final in 1953, Tony Green, Jimmy Armfield and star of the 1966 World Cup Final, Alan Ball have hit the heights. They have known despair under the Oyston family who owned the club for far too long. The first Oyston owner went to jail for rape. His wife took over and then his son. Between them, they stripped assets from the club to the tune of £26.77 million. Blackpool fans boycotted games until they were rescued by a new owner in 2019.
We have had a number of memorable games against the Tangerines. None more so than a league game in the 24-25 season in which we were 4-1 down and came back to 4-4. We could, and probably should, have won but at 4-1 we would have taken a point! Inevitably ex Blackpool player, Shane Lavery, scored twice. Our defenders went missing at corners. Not something that happens now under Neil Harris. As I write, we are about to play a cup game against Northampton, which will provide a kind of fitness test for players coming back from injury. It will be another chance to look at Gabriel Breeze, who looks like a fine young goalkeeper. We are still missing two full backs, but Bauer is fit, Kaikai and Bangura Williams are back, as is George Hoddle. Callum Stead is about ready to play and a squad which has already surprised people, is beginning to look really strong. I’m not predicting promotion yet but with one or two acquisitions in January…. I wouldn’t rule us out.
Some years ago, I often used to see a very striking figure arrive at Sainbury’s on Coldhams Lane on a highly decorated bike. Like us, he’d come for a bit of breakfast on a Sunday morning. A member of staff told me that it was Syd Barrett, as indeed it was. Anyone who is a big fan of Pink Floyd, a fabulous band of musicians who all hail from Cambridge, will know his story. He was a genius who broke down, partly because of drugs and partly through his inability to deal with fame. We always assume that celebrities, particularly rich ones, must be happy, but it isn’t so. Anyone can be affected by poor mental health, and anything which raises our awareness of it is a very good thing. I am very proud of our club and its support for the Heads Up campaign and of our Groundsman Ian Darler, whose book questions our assumptions about mental health and “manliness” I am delighted to see us wearing a very striking shirt today to remind us of a great man of Cambridge and to remind us all to look out for each other. The power of sport is a wonderful thing.
Andrew Stephen