"It's so heartening to see the growth" 🫶 Mark Bonner following promotion back to League One

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Well, bonus good to catch up, not a bad first year as director of football. No, thanks Dan. Yeah, it's been been a brilliant year really and or brilliant 18 months, I think.

[00:00:09]The fact that we started this work really in February of last year probably allowed us to get ahead of the curve and and as we said at the time really we felt we would improve and develop as time went on and I think we've seen that throughout the season. So, huge credit to a lot of people as to to why we've been as successful as we have.

[00:00:26]Definitely ahead of ahead of target really. We we spoke quite openly I think about trying to achieve a return back to League One within two years. So, to do it in one, not only is that quite historic for us as a football club.

[00:00:39]Quite unusual really in the overall scene of teams that do drop a division.

[00:00:44]It's also like huge achievement really for everybody.

[00:00:47]And and we've done a lot of things well in the last year and ultimately that's that's come together with us bouncing straight back and it was nervy towards the end but also exciting at the same time. When did you feel like it was a real possibility that it could be done last year? Neil mentioned the weekend away at Barrow being a really key one but then obviously the run in January which really pushed us on. Yeah, I I think lots of pivotal moments throughout the season and and lots of games that were you know, real real signals of intent probably from us. I think one of the big things is is we changed quite a bit throughout the season. We developed quite a bit throughout the season. The the way in which Neil managed the team in terms of changing the shape and in game and between games and evolving the team and some players that have have come into the team at different times.

[00:01:34]I think some of the younger ones have really developed and come on well and I think a number of the lads that were here previously have adapted and and developed a new mindset and a new spirit throughout the season. So, I think that it's been quite an evolution throughout the whole season. Certainly that unbeaten run that we went on for however long it was throughout January was was a really big marker for us. And then we had a stage in the season where we might have been able to have got across the line quicker, but it's very difficult. And you see a lot of teams at the top of a lot of leagues that um do find that last bit quite difficult. Uh but we did it in the end, and I think there was a lot of markers throughout the season that were big ones for us.

[00:02:12]How did you find watching the final day?

[00:02:14]I hated it as much as everybody else, I think. I think when you're a to some extent, you're not in control of it, it's it's very, very difficult. I Look, it was a it was a really difficult game.

[00:02:23]I absolutely loved the atmosphere in the stadium, the fact that we had so many people there. Um I honestly I think my favorite point was like 10 to 3. The as the team were warming up, the noise from the terraces that day was just incredible. Um and then my favorite time after that was 5:00 when the game had finished and we knew where we were and and and obviously the other results had finished. So, yeah, it was a very, very tough afternoon. Um I'd rather have not sat in the stands watching it because it was just so nerve-racking in that sense. And that's frustrating in a way, but at the same time, um we do like drama on the last day. So, uh yeah, to have got there and and achieve what we have, you then see the scenes at the end that what it means to people and how many people I've spoken to since that just reference that moment. And obviously I was here the last time that we got promoted and no one was there to experience it unless you turned up illegally to to to watch us on top of the turnstiles. So, for that moment, it was uh it was very, very special. Um and having watched the playoffs in in the last few days, um delighted that we didn't get it done and and we're not part of that. Well, yeah, I mean, you were just saying, how important is it and how much of an advantage is it to have been able to effectively end our season, you know, a few weeks ago when you got these teams that are still now preparing for football right now?

[00:03:39]Yeah, I mean, the the the season's long and hard and draining in the end. Um well, that last 6 weeks was tough. Look, look, I'm not talking about for myself, for the players, for the manager, for for the staff. The the pressure does ramp up and therefore it becomes a difficult moment to manage that sometimes. And I think they've coped with it brilliantly and Neil's experience has really shone through, I think, throughout that period.

[00:04:01]Um but then you watch that that that now and you think, "Oh, that that couple of weeks feels like it's been quite a long time and we've done quite a lot of work in that period." Whether it's being able to organize preseason or just getting on with pitch renovations at the train All those things would have just been shuffled back. So, there's no doubt that would have impacted us at the start of next season. Recruitment, obviously, you can get you can get moving with. The retain list you get moving with. All those things allow you to to get started. And there was a period where we thought we might have been even further ahead of time if we'd have got across the line, but wasn't to be. So, the fact that we did it on the last day just allows us to get started. Not forgetting then the psychological impact that might have had had we had to then go into it.

[00:04:42]That wouldn't have been an easy scenario to have dealt with as well. So, yeah, really pleased that we got it done and it's allowed us to get working towards next season already. With regards to the retain list, is it a collaborative approach between yourself and Neil in terms of how you get to the decisions?

[00:04:55]Yeah, exactly. And and you have those conversations throughout the year.

[00:04:58]Obviously, we're always reviewing the squad and the performances of of players.

[00:05:02]Um obviously, the divisional status that we're in can have an impact and not knowing that till the end meant some of the decisions were quite late. Um but yeah, we we we've worked really closely together, I think, from the very start.

[00:05:13]Whether that was players leaving, players joining. Um and we've been very aligned probably in our thinking quite a lot of the way, which is which is great.

[00:05:21]Doesn't mean we've always agreed with each other and we quite openly challenge each other as well. And that's been really healthy. Um so, that's been a a great relationship. And like every year, isn't it? You get to this stage and it's very very normal in such a cyclical world that people change and players move on. Um and you have to try and keep refreshing the squad and and developing.

[00:05:40]Um and we lose some some players this year that have have been excellent for us and and the whole collective of those players who part of a really successful team and part of a promotion and for that, that will really help them going on whatever's next for them in their careers. But also that they're in the history books for us and and that should never be forgotten because in a 120 odd years, you know, promotions aren't something that happened that regularly.

[00:06:01]Um and so for those players to be in the history books and they've played their part, we're really grateful to them for that. Yeah, the two players who jump off the page in terms of those who are leaving, Michael Morrison, James Brophy.

[00:06:12]Morro, obviously tremendous story with us having started out here at the academy and returning captain the club to promotion and James Brophy who's well, played 250 odd games in five seasons, both excellent servants for the club.

[00:06:24]>> Yeah, absolutely and and and Brose, um yeah, his his contribution over a long time now has has been excellent and and we're really really pleased with what he's given us and really grateful to him for that.

[00:06:34]Michael's story like couldn't have been a better one really. It's absolute fairytale stuff, you know, to lift the promotion shield at the end of the season. Um however big or small the shield is, it really does matter to people and for him, that's such a lovely moment. Um I remember presenting him with a shirt uh when he was 17 on the pitch making his debut through through the center of excellence as it was then at the time.

[00:06:58]And then for that to go full circle, I then managed him, worked with him in the center of excellence back then, managed him when he returned uh and I've obviously seen him really flourish in that role as captain. And obviously he hasn't played as much towards the second half of the season as as he might have wanted. But his influence on the changing room and on the group has been exceptional. Um he's been a brilliant character for us and a and a real good representation of what the club is. Um and for for his story to end here the way it did is is pretty magical really and that doesn't always happen. So I'm I'm really pleased for him that it did end like that.

[00:07:31]Is there any clarity around Zeno? He was in an ongoing discussions [snorts] category due to current loan. Yeah, so he's he's out on loan at the moment.

[00:07:39]He's He's a trigger in his contract to pump promotion to to have another year.

[00:07:43]So, he's under contract next season with a football club, but will be made available for transfer.

[00:07:48]Ryan Loft is in the same category. He's under contract with the football club, but both of those will be made available for transfer next season. And obviously we said goodbye to Barry Corr, somebody that you've worked really closely with over the years and yeah, he's made a a great contribution to the club.

[00:08:04]Absolutely. Across loads of positions, whether that was with me in the first team coaching setup throughout the academy period when he was at St. Ives and and doing bits with St. Neots, sorry, and doing bits with those um as a player as well and having been involved in the coaching staff and then more recently as he's he's had that role. It's a It's a long time for someone to stay at a football club and really wish him well for whatever's next, but he's been a brilliant servant in a number of positions.

[00:08:30]People will remember him very fondly for some real highlights on the pitch. He's contributed massively to what we've been about off the pitch over a number of years and and look forward to seeing what happens next for him.

[00:08:41]On pre-season, we've already confirmed a friendly against Preston in Spain.

[00:08:46]How close are we to being able to announce the rest of the pre-season friendlies?

[00:08:49]>> Yeah, I think I think we're close.

[00:08:50]There's maybe one or two gaps that we're looking to fill. Obviously some of those games will be behind closed doors as is fairly normal now, >> [snorts] >> but we've got a couple of others that that people will be able to get to and and and hopefully we'll be able to announce that very very soon. One of the challenges is when you don't know what division you're going to be in towards the end is quite hard to get organized.

[00:09:09]Particularly when the vast majority of teams we might play in a pre-season are going to be in the same league as us next year. So, it was quite open for a lot of those teams, but we're close to finalizing everything now and hopefully we'll be able to announce that very soon. Is that because you don't ideally want to be playing a pre-season friendly against a team that's in your division? That's it.

[00:09:25]Yeah, I mean I think really early on if it's a behind closed doors at a training ground, that's not so so much of an issue.

[00:09:32]When you start to get towards really close to the season, you know, imagine the scenario where the fixtures come out and you've got each other really early on or you play each other in the Carabao Cup, which is going to come the week before the first game. All of a sudden, you have this challenge where you probably don't want the game then and then you could put it in the diary, pencil it in, but then you're scrambling around at the end. So, we'd rather try to be as set as we can once we get organized. And with player signings, how clear are you in your approach on how you're going to sort of attack the challenge of um re-recruiting the squad if you like?

[00:10:02]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, I mean, I think we're really clear in what we want. Um getting players is never easy. We know that. We see that every year. And we we've had this challenge here before of going up a league and then trying to compete at the next one. Um but at the same time, we're really attractive proposition, I think. And and we're so far in advance now than we were the last time we returned to League One.

[00:10:23]Definitely with staff and definitely with the infrastructure. Um we know that the finances of League One are a bit crazy. We know that the rules around finances have changed a little bit this season into into League One. Um and we're waiting to see what impact that has for other clubs and the market in general. But, we're really clear on what we need to add. We we know we've got lots to do. Um we want to try and sign some real asset value players if we can. We want to try and add to the attacking output of the team. We want to be as athletic as we can be. We want to get the balance of ages right across the squad. And that's a process that we sort of started last summer and we talked about three to four windows to really shape a squad. I think we've seen that quite a bit in the last couple of years. Obviously, we tied down some very important players on longer contracts in January. That's part of that process of building the squad.

[00:11:07]We'll continue to do it with some of the players that we've got and we'll continue to look for players that I can serve us in the longer term, but make us a a really competitive team now. And we're quite optimistic by the challenges of the season, which looks a brilliant league, by the way. Like, how good does it look? Like, I think about our supporters and think about how many good away days they're going to have. Um we've had slopping around the north of the country quite lot in in recent seasons. Um but this looks like a really good one in terms of geographically and and real local game. So, I think it's going to be a really exciting season for people. And our job is to build them a team that they're going to love watching. And uh we're working really hard on that. It's not easy to do things quickly. There's sort of an April May tax on player contracts quite often and and things get a bit more realistic as time goes along. But we're working really hard on that and I'm sure by the time the season comes around we'll have a um we'll have a strong team in place.

[00:12:00]How valuable was our previous uh time in the ground in terms of your experiences here with the club moving up from League Two to League One and those years obviously at that level in terms of recruitment and maybe lessons learned etc. Yeah, I mean like sometimes it's lessons learned.

[00:12:19]Sometimes it's just understanding where you are in the the market and being able to retain your best players isn't always easy. Um that's why we're really happy that we've been able to get ahead of the curve a little bit in January with the couple and we'll keep trying to do that.

[00:12:32]But that is a real challenge that we'll always face. And we know where we sit in the pecking order a lot of the time in in the league. But we also have a mentality and a mindset that we can compete with everyone and beat anyone.

[00:12:42]And um we have every single season I've been involved in the first team in the last five or six we've outperformed our expectation. Um Last season's different but I don't count that one. Um so in terms of the other ones, yeah, we've we've outperformed things and we'll do that again. I'm pretty really convinced of that. A part of the building the value is is making sure that we sign players that can be here longer term, that we try to create a model where we we sign players that other people might want down the line. And and rather than lose those players for free, we try and lose them for for good value as we go. So that's part of the bigger picture and we've got to try and develop that. The reality is in in League One in previous seasons we had to buy the stadium and we had to build the training ground and all of those things come at huge cost. That doesn't mean that we've got masses and masses of money this time around, but we're not burdened by that so much.

[00:13:30]We're in a much better position in that sense. Um and we've got a real vision for how we try and grow and build a team that can not only stay in League One, but grow in League One as well. I think that's really important and I think there's some excellent models in recent seasons from other clubs um to show us the way of of how we would do it because there's other clubs that will do it in a different way. Um but that's probably the way we're going to have to go about things. And just finally, how heartened are you as someone who's been involved in the club for so many years, how heartened are you by seeing the overall growth of the club when you look at match days here at that the stadium, number of people that come into games, the way that the the club and the support for the team is growing and growing and growing? I think it's amazing. I think it's a testament to so many people and the impact that we have in the city in general. Um And and and there were years gone by where um we were really, really struggling as a football club and we absolutely needed the city and people to get behind us and as humbly as possible, all I will say that the city needs us now. If this city's going to grow and develop and become what it wants to be and and it talks about doubling in size and being the most livable city in Europe by 2050.

[00:14:35]Well, people need somewhere to go and people need to be entertained and we can be that. We're the biggest civic institution in the city. We bring across people from every divide of the city to one place to get behind a football team to win and to enjoy the product that's there. And even when things were difficult, our uh supporter base continued to grow. So, when I drive around the city and see kids everywhere in Cambridge United shirts, when I see the South Stand starting to be full, when I see and feel the atmosphere of the ground in the last few years, anyone that's jumped on board the journey in that time, thanks. We're going to keep you involved. Um you've probably fallen in love with the place cuz that's what it does to you and hopefully you're here for many, many years to come. Anyone that knows the journey and sees where we've come from, well, thanks for sticking with it, but be proud of the club that you that you support um and we want to sell that passion and that vision to everybody to get involved with us because we think the impact we can have in the city is greater than ever.

[00:15:31]We think it's enormous and we also think we can be a pretty fun place to be part of and we want to put a team on a pitch that people want to come and watch but we want to create a community that people are desperate to be part of and it's so heartening to see the growth, to see the improvements over that period of time and most importantly I'm excited about what's to come because the best stuff hasn't happened yet.