what's going on at the abbey? a string of first team regulars have gone i the last month and now jimmy quinn has left 'by mutual consent'. phil law tells us not to panic, and says we have a good squad.. buts its down to 15 and the summer is under way. so what's going on? is quinn off to a bigger club? is it all about money? phil law's interview is on the BBC site http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cambridge_utd/7457128.stm

is ronaldo really off to real? i've no love for the man or for the mancs but can we really describe the premiership as the best league in the world if the european and national champions cannot hang on to their star players, even when they have just signed a contract extension? perhaps its just posturing and perhaps not - like henry going to barca despite my distaste for the diving cheat that he sometimes can be he is an exciting footballer and the prem will be the poorer if he goes.

here we go again, sep blatter moaning on about quota systems for english football. what is it now 6 plus 5 (or the other way round). its unworkable and unnecessary and once again the guns are turned on wenger's arsenal. just because nearly all our first team squad does not qualify to play for england. who cares? i stopped supporting england when we played turkey and in my local the majority of idiots were singing 'i'd rather be a paki than a turk'. i can't stand the xenophobic nationalism that seems to go with the national football team. yes i would love it if arsenal ran out on the pitch with 11 englishmen capable of matching the quality of the invincibles but actually i'd be even happier if they were represented by 11 north londoners even if they originated from 11 different countries. after all arsenal are a london side before they are an english one. and london, need i remind anyone who has travelled on the tube recently, is a multi cultural city - and has been for centuries (i know, i am an historian) so i say leave it all alone. if we want better footballers in this country we need to invest in grassroots football, in playing fields for our schools, in proper diets for our children, and we need to reduce the inflated prices of english footballers. why should wenger spend £15m on a 25 year-old englishman when he could get three players from africa, europe or asia for the same money? and they'd be more skillfull, and better disciplined, and hungrier to succeed. why doesn't wenger have a dressing room of english players? have a look at the role models in capello's squad: terry, cole, bentley, ferdinand, (cheats, moaners, cry baby's, whorers, drunks and - at least as far as their international reputation goes - losers). i'm looking forward to euro2008, and i bet the policing authorities are too.

first visit to the new wembley and my first experience of a playoff final. it was remarkably painless getting to the stadium; i drove down to harrow and took two hours door to door - i expect it would be different if the stadium was full. brilliant to see so many cambridge shirts and scarves - a swarm of bubblebees! we had seats in the front row so we were feet from the pitch near the cornerflag. and wembley looked small, and a bit plastic. it was a sunny day and both sets of supporters were in great voice but the stadium didn't seem to have any soul. its boring in design, its just the arch that looks good wherever you are. but the walk up wembley way is just the same as before - lots of concrete and no imagination. this is england's national stadium - i was underwhelmed. the game started with fireworks and smoke and the amber army in magnificent voice but it was exeter that dominated. right from the off it seemed the U's shape was all wrong, playing 5-3-2 didn't seem to give us enough going forward. exeter were usually first to the ball and one most of the 50-50s. and they scored, but they might have had a couple by then. cambridge rallied a bit towards the end of 45 minutes but it was the grecians half. second half it MUCH better. jimmy quinn must have kicked them in the interval because they came out storming. this half they kept the ball a lot better and created lots of half-chances. their goalie led a bit of charmed life and there were at least two shots saved on the line but we still couldn't score. magno viera came really close and looked good in his short time, leo fortune-west came on late but time ran out on the U's. next season is my mantra as a gooner and would-be U: if cambridge can keep hold of jimmy quinn and give him a little money i think they will get up next season. as for arsenal i think its the same: keep wenger, keep fab, keep the togonator, keep playing, keep believing

good morning folks, i have to thank the arseblogger for being here: its his fault that i am typing a blog on oleole.com rather than writing the next installment of my (oh so interesting) book about crime. after all i've been reading his boilk fueled ramblings with pleasure for a few seasons now so congratulations to the mad gooner for being able to earn a living out of it. my ambitions are not so stellar. i have been following arsenal since i can remember, but apparently first got taken to highbury in about 1969. my aunt told me that i was taken to white shite lane as a very small person but i slept through the game, tis no surprise then that i ended up on the red and white side of norff lunden. i think i am a few years younger than than nick hornby and so 'fever pitch' is very reminiscent of my days on the north bank. however, these days i find that as a red member of the arsenal getting tickets is both expensive and complicated. i longed for the days when i could meet up with 3 or 4 mates, hop in the tube and turn up at the gates, £5 or less in my grubby mits. nowadays its booking online, paying £40+ and a 2-3 hour journey which ends up costing me close to twice that. at least the football is better than it was in the early 80s. so at the beginning of this season (07/08) i made a decision to find a team locally to support as well. rejecting the cobblers and rushton and diamonds (and most definitely not MK dons) and with the suggestion of a mate, i went to see cambridge united at the abbey stadium. now cambridge are a big little club. the ground is neat and they have passionate support. and you can stand. for £12. they lost the first game i saw (a friendly against leicester city.. oh dear poor leicester they must have feared they would slide this year) but played really well. then they went on a great unbeaten run and i got to just over half their home games and one away. now they are i the play off final at wembley. wemberlee! in my first season! unbelievable. the first season i remember at highbury we won the double! i am a lucky charm to be sure (sorry arseblogger!) - well we'll see later i guess. anyway, i blog elsewhere on different stuff so how often i'll write here is kind of up in the air, but i intend to be here throughout the season proper wherever cambridge are and whoever arsenal are playing. C'mon you U's! Bounce bounce amber army!!