Latest news with #MarkBonner
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Barrett joins Cambridge as assistant boss
Cambridge United have appointed former Southend United and Bristol Rovers defender Adam Barrett as assistant head 45-year-old previously worked under boss Neil Harris at Millwall and succeeded him temporarily as interim head coach following his 2019 remained part of the coaching staff at the Championship club before leaving in December 2024."He is somebody I have known as a work colleague, assistant head coach and a competitor on the football pitch over many seasons," said Harris."I believe we have brought in the highest calibre candidate and personality to support me and the current staff. "He is a man with huge integrity, vast coaching experience and a real drive to develop players and win football matches."Cambridge are beginning a revamp of their squad following relegation to League Two and Barrett will work alongside Harris and director of football Mark Bonner as part of that process when he takes up his new role on 23 June."It's a club that wants to push on and move forward and that is reflected in the conversations I have had with Neil and Mark," he said."I want to be part of the journey. I think I can come in and really help and it's an exciting new challenge for myself."Meanwhile, there have also been changes in the boardroom at the Cledara Abbey Stadium, with Christoph Loch and Jenny Horsfield stepping down as had been a member of the board since 2016 and Horsfield since 2020."On behalf of all the board and our owners I would like to place on record our huge appreciation for Christoph and Jenny's very significant contribution," said chairman Shaun Grady."We will collectively reflect on how we can continue to develop and strengthen across the club at the board level and elsewhere."
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cambridge must find 'rhythm of winning'
Cambridge United director of football Mark Bonner says they need to establish a "rhythm of winning games" following relegation to League Two. The U's finished 23rd, nine points from safety, despite former head coach Bonner and his successor Neil Harris being brought back to the club mid-season. Now they are looking to rebuild the squad with a view to push for promotion back to the third tier next term. "Look at last year, Port Vale came down and went back up, Carlisle came down, went down (again). There's such a randomness to the league," Bonner told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. "What we'll try to do is get a real identity about the team, bond a new group of players together quickly, it'll take a bit of time to get going but we have to get into a rhythm of winning games and changing that mentality. "We're not the underdogs now, we don't want to cling on to that. We have to expect more of ourselves but we have to be quite measured in the way that we do that." Listen to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's The U's Show Relegated Cambridge release Digby and Okedina Cambridge have released 11 players who were at the end of their contracts following a season in which they won only nine of their 46 league games. They have brought in Nick Tyler-Hicks from Harris' former club Millwall as head of recruitment but at a time when many clubs rely on data analysis and building algorithms to identify potential signings, Bonner believes watching a player is still vital to the process. "Live scouting still exists but it's a dying art really. There's less and less people that do it," he said. "I understand why - you can watch a lot more games in a day. All that should do is filter the process to make sure you then go and watch the right players." He added: "If you have people trying to dissect and understand data they don't understand, that's a disaster... We don't want to imitate anyone, we just want to be modern enough and I'd say data is prince not king, it's important but shouldn't dictate everything." Having previously been head coach at Cambridge and Gillingham, Bonner said he was still coming to terms with the job title 'director of football'. "The job role is very different but it is strange being referred to as that because traditionally it's probably a title that's reserved for a much older guy than I am," the 39-year-old added. "I haven't got my flat cap and pipe out yet but it's a new one to get my head around. We've wound the clock back a bit with that because the modern version is 'sporting director' but I often think that maybe confuses people about what it is. "We've tried to be as basic as possible with the title. It does exactly what it says on the tin."
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Cambridge must find 'rhythm of winning'
Cambridge United director of football Mark Bonner says they need to establish a "rhythm of winning games" following relegation to League U's finished 23rd, nine points from safety, despite former head coach Bonner and his successor Neil Harris being brought back to the club they are looking to rebuild the squad with a view to push for promotion back to the third tier next term."Look at last year, Port Vale came down and went back up, Carlisle came down, went down (again). There's such a randomness to the league," Bonner told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire."What we'll try to do is get a real identity about the team, bond a new group of players together quickly, it'll take a bit of time to get going but we have to get into a rhythm of winning games and changing that mentality."We're not the underdogs now, we don't want to cling on to that. We have to expect more of ourselves but we have to be quite measured in the way that we do that." Cambridge have released 11 players who were at the end of their contracts following a season in which they won only nine of their 46 league have brought in Nick Tyler-Hicks from Harris' former club Millwall as head of recruitment, external but at a time when many clubs rely on data analysis and building algorithms to identify potential signings, Bonner believes watching a player is still vital to the process."Live scouting still exists but it's a dying art really. There's less and less people that do it," he said."I understand why - you can watch a lot more games in a day. All that should do is filter the process to make sure you then go and watch the right players."He added: "If you have people trying to dissect and understand data they don't understand, that's a disaster... We don't want to imitate anyone, we just want to be modern enough and I'd say data is prince not king, it's important but shouldn't dictate everything."Having previously been head coach at Cambridge and Gillingham, Bonner said he was still coming to terms with the job title 'director of football'."The job role is very different but it is strange being referred to as that because traditionally it's probably a title that's reserved for a much older guy than I am," the 39-year-old added."I haven't got my flat cap and pipe out yet but it's a new one to get my head around. We've wound the clock back a bit with that because the modern version is 'sporting director' but I often think that maybe confuses people about what it is."We've tried to be as basic as possible with the title. It does exactly what it says on the tin."
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Relegated Cambridge release Digby and Okedina
Cambridge United have released two members of their promotion-winning team of five seasons ago after announcing Paul Digby and Jubril Okedina will be leaving following relegation back to League Digby, 30, and defender Okedina, who is 24, are among 11 players being let go at the end of their joined the U's from Stevenage in July 2020 and went on to make 229 signed initially on loan in January 2021 and played 138 Stevens, Louis Chadwick, Danny Andrew, George Thomas, Jordan Cousins, Ben Stevenson, Dan Barton, Brandon Njoku and Amaru Kaunda were not offered new deals, while former Aston Villa and Birmingham City midfielder Gary Gardner has moved on by mutual consent. 'Relegation has brought tough but necessary decisions' Cambridge struggled against relegation for most of this season with Neil Harris returning to the club in February after the departure of Garry Harris was unable to improve results sufficiently as the U's finished second from bottom of League One, nine points adrift of safety."Relegation brings tough but necessary decisions, and this summer signals the beginning of an important rebuild for us," said, external director of football Mark Bonner."With Neil Harris now leading us into the new season, there's a clear sense of purpose and direction as we reshape the squad to compete strongly and grow again."Bonner thanked Digby for his "exceptional commitment and leadership" adding he had been "a true servant to Cambridge United"."Jubril Okedina also gets a special mention for his role over the past four years – another member of our promotion winning team in 2021," Bonner added.
BBC News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Bonner interested in Motherwell job'
Former Cambridge United and Gillingham manager Mark Bonner is interested in replacing Stuart Kettlewell at Motherwell. (Daily Record), externalRead Friday's Scottish Gossip in full.
