THEY have a fantastic new stadium in one of England’s finest cities a year or so away, one of the most respected managers in the Non-League game and a budget which should see them competitive.
So why is it that no players want to sign for Cambridge City? That’s the question Gary Roberts needs answering.
August is days away and the number of new recruits at the Southern Premier club stands at a big fat zero. It’s not for the want of trying.
The 56-year-old is long enough in the tooth to have mastered the art of summer shopping long before now.
Silence
His VISA isn’t coming up declined, yet entering his 13th year in charge of the club he refuses to play the patience card.
Roberts has been trying since May to bolster his ranks but snubs and the lack of returned calls is cause for concern.
Usually in June and July his phone is red hot with players throwing themselves at him to earn a deal. But this year their silence is deafening.
Roberts explained: “I just don’t get it, I can’t get my head around it at all. To say things have been frustrating is an understatement.
“I won’t spin you the line that I’m happy to play the waiting game because I’m really not! I can’t stand it.
“It’s all getting a little desperate to be honest. I need a right-back, an experienced midfielder and a proven goalscorer in at the least. There are funds available, that’s the thing. I have a massively supportive chairman and board, and the Trust are always there but nobody wants to take their money.
“We’ve not been able to sign a single player. I kept on 12 from last season and we have a few trialists knocking around but as for the players we want? It’s very quiet, I’ve never known it like this.
“It’s usually at this stage of the year that you can’t get people off the phone but I can’t remember not signing a new player before August before.”
Perhaps one of the reasons City are struggling to snare new blood is their nomadic recent existence. They will share next season with St Ives, around 40 minutes outside of the city, after two years at Histon.
But Roberts says any view the club is not what it used to be is short-sighted.
He said: “Maybe some people need to think further ahead. I went past the site for the new stadium last week and they are levelling the ground off as we speak. They’ll be building soon, it’s incredibly exciting.”
