Mark Bonner: Cambridge United 'ahead of the curve' after promotion

Cambridge United are out-performing their plans to rebuild the club, according to director of football Mark Bonner.

The U's have made an immediate return to League One after relegation last season, finishing third in League Two this year and Bonner says it is down to having a long-term strategy.

"At the start of the season we spoke about getting back into League One within a couple of years so we're ahead of the curve on that," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

"It's proven to be very hard to bounce straight back, we've never done it in our history so it's some turnaround from where we were last season.

"We massively improved as the season went on which is testament to the environment, the coaching and the management of the squad.

"It probably followed a pattern we set out for it to, so we're not surprised by the way we developed."

Cambridge lost only two of their final 17 League games of the season under boss Neil Harris to pip Salford to the third automatic promotion place by one point.

"If you'd have offered us top three at the start of the season we might have thought it would have been a bit of a stretch," said Bonner.

"For us with the seventh biggest budget in the league to finish in the top three is huge credit to Neil, the staff and the players for the achievement."

With the likes of Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield Town in League One next season, Mark Bonner accepts they will be one of the smaller clubs in the division but believes they have a plan to try to compete.

"We know the challenge of building a League One squad, the difference in level and the difference in finances required and we need to make sure we have the money to do it," he said.

"We have to recognise the last time we were in League One we were buying the stadium and building a training ground and we go back to League One with all those things in place which makes a big, big difference in terms of what we have available."

The last time they were promoted to the third tier was in 2021, with Bonner in charge. They survived for four seasons and he is determined they are better prepared for the step up this time.

"The reality is every year we were in League One last time, in my view, the squad got weaker. We were unable to attract the players we wanted and keep our best players and so often you see that play out," added Bonner.

"The smaller clubs that have done well have been able to keep hold of their better players and then keep adding and we have to keep growing the budget and think longer term with some of those signings and try to make sure we've got some asset value.

"One of the only revenue streams we could grow as a club is a bit of a player trading model and there are others who have done that well and that is the model we have to try to follow, as well as build a team that's good enough now to be successful."

Promotion-winning captain Michael Morrison is one of eight players to have been released by Cambridge with long-serving winger James Brophy also departing as they build their squad for the next campaign which kicks-off in August.

"In the short term we have to build a team that's good enough next year and we have to build a team that can hopefully sustain itself and that's a big part of our plan," Bonner concluded.

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