Cambridge United CEO sorry Alex Tunbridge for relegation to League One and talks plans, the stadium redevelopment, and the CBS series.
He spoke on a wide range of club matters in an update to supporters, expressing the pain and disappointment of relegation, describing it as a “sting” and an “element of failure” despite the team’s efforts to avoid it. The raw emotions linger, but the focus is now on recovery and aiming for the top of League Two next season.
Alex, alongside the board and owners, said sorry to fans for the season’s outcome, acknowledging their exceptional support. The club operates on a collective decision-making policy, meaning responsibility for the relegation is shared.
Planning for League Two, a Football Review was conducted in January/February aimed to either keep the club in League One or prepare for a strong League Two campaign. Managers Mark and Neil are committed to working hard and leading the club toward a bright future.
Regarding financial and operational impact, relegation brings revenue loss and challenges, but the club is in a stronger position than its last League Two stint, with improved infrastructure (e.g., stadium ownership, new training ground) and robust commercial partnerships. The club aims to remain competitive and maintain fan support.
The retained and released player list will be published by the 17th of May, with ongoing discussions. The club is also hiring an assistant manager, a new head of recruitment, and a head of performance, both from Championship clubs, to strengthen the team.
Cambridge has seen significant growth in attendance, particularly among younger fans, with the South Stand averaging 1,100 fans. Increased secondary spending (food, drink, retail) and an enhanced matchday experience should help maintain support in League Two.
Plans for redeveloping the stadium are moving forward, with a six-month process to submit a planning application for a new 3,500–4,000-capacity terraced stand, including hospitality, a club shop, and community spaces. The project timeline is approximately three to four years.
Minimal stadium upgrades are planned due to the upcoming redevelopment, but cover will be added to the South Stand and fan zone. Training ground pitches will be repaired after last year’s weather-related issues to ensure readiness for pre-season.
A documentary series about the club will air on CBS, focusing on the club’s identity, history, and current season. Filming began when Neil took over, and the series aims to boost the club’s profile in North America, potentially attracting investment and retail opportunities.
Alex reiterates the apology, thanks fans for their phenomenal support, and explains frozen season ticket prices due to rising costs and financial losses (projected to exceed £2.5 million next season). He urges fans to stick with the club for an exciting League Two campaign.
The club is focused on rebuilding, maintaining fan support, and leveraging infrastructure and media opportunities to bounce back in League Two.
Hear from CEO Alex Tunbridge as he discusses a wide range of Club matters in his latest video update to supporters. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/JmY4gA0G4t
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Interviewer: “Let’s address relegation first of all. We’ve known that it was a possibility for some time now, but first of all, what were your initial thoughts and feelings at full time on Saturday and with a few days since, are you feeling any differently now?”
Alex Tunbridge: “I think naturally it hurts. Certainly stings over the last few days. We’ve had a period where we’ve all been fixated on trying to make the the impossible possible, and at times over the last few weeks, we’ve had those moments where it could have could have happened for us.
“Nonetheless, you know, there there are raw emotions around the football club this week because of what’s happened. To a certain degree, it feels like an element of failure. We’ve all been working exceptionally hard to make sure it doesn’t happen. That said, we’ve got a summer now to put things right and to make sure we’re at the top of League two next season.
“So, you know, to the fans, I think apology. Paul was very clear. We operate a collective decision making policy here at the club. Therefore, when things don’t go to plan, there needs to be a collective responsibility.
“So that’s from myself. It’s from the board. It’s from the owners. You know, the fans have been exceptional this season and certainly deserved a lot more than they’ve had. So we can only apologise, and then we can only look forward. We’ve been doing a lot of hard work.
“If you go back to January, February time when we did the Football Review, it was always with two things in mind. The first was to give us the best possible chance of staying in League One, and the second was to ensure that if we did go into League Two, we were ready to hit the ground running and we could try and bounce back. People always look at circumstances and look at why didn’t we maybe make changes earlier? There’s reasons for that.
“Who else is out in the market? Has the dressing room been lost? Who’s available? But I think all in all, we’re in a situation where we’ve got two individuals in Mark and Neil who who are gonna work exceptionally hard, work relentlessly day to day, and most importantly care about the club. So there’s a bright and exciting future ahead. It hurts in the minute, but there’s some great stuff to be looking forward to.
“And with relegation comes, obviously, a level of uncertainty and loss of revenues.”
Interviewer: “So how does the club plan to offset that and move forward despite the setback?”
CEO: Yeah. It’s certainly challenging. It’s makes the summer a lot more difficult. But one thing I would say is the club has been in League One for four years. It’s a very, very different club to what it was when it was in League Two before.
“In those four years, we’ve been able to really develop our infrastructure. We’ve bought the stadium back, the new training ground building. We’ve been able to improve the match day experience.
“We’ve increased our partners from not just a commercial perspective but the wider community and the stakeholders, we’ve changed the perception of the football club, we’ve put some brilliant relationships, and we’re in a really good position that even though we’re dropping it down the league as a football club, I think we’re gonna be up there in terms of our operation and the way we conduct ourselves and our ability to attract commercial sponsors, retain crowds, and to really ensure that we can be competitive.”
Interviewer: “People have already seen a fair amount of change with regards to the first team. When will fans find out more when it comes to player meetings and the retained and the release list?”
CEO: “Yes. We’ve got till the May 17 to publish the retained and release. There’s there’s conversations taking place at the minute. There’ll be more next week, and Bonds will update the fans in due course as to the reasons for those decisions, who’s staying, who’s going, but also who’s coming through the door, not just from a playing perspective, but from a background team.
“We’re looking to add an assistant manager to the camp. We’ll also be looking to announce our new head of recruitment who’s coming from a championship club, our new head of performance who’s coming from a championship club, as well as, some additional staffing as well to ensure that we’re competitive as we can be. We’ve seen the average crowd grow tremendously over the past few years.”
Interviewer: “How confident are you that we’ll be able to maintain that growth and at the very least keep our home support intact next season?”
CEO: “Yeah. I think one of the the real, you know, great points about this season has been the attendances. They’ve been exceptional. Our fans have stuck for a through thick and thin, not just here at the Abbey, but on the road as well.
“But we’ve also been able to really grow and develop that younger generation of fans here at the Abbey. We made the decision to move the away supporters. We’ve averaged 1,100 on average in the South Stand, and it’s been our second highest grossing stand all season. We’ve seen exceptional increases in our secondary spend, not just around the the ground in terms of food and drink, but also in retail.
“And, hopefully, we’re providing supporters who have a great experience in and around the pitch. If we can provide the product on the pitch, I’m very sure that the Abbey will be a very busy place next season. Impulse message to supporters which we sent out on Sunday. He said that the club has released the funding to begin the planning process for the staging redevelopment.”
Interviewer: “Are you able to share any more detail on those next steps?”
CEO: “Yeah. So that will, that’s just being ratified at the moment. Contract’s looking to be signed. That’s a six month process, we think, to put the planning application in. We envisage that that will be circa March seated cabin with some hospitality, 3,500 to 4,000 with a significant concourse space, as well as a new club shop, ticket office, club offices, classroom and community spaces, as well as a fan zone space.
“We will, release more details when we can in the next few months. There’s obviously extensive consultation. We need to look at things like transport, ecology, community themes, But all in all, to be sitting here two days after relegation and being able to announce that’s really good. It gives us all something to focus on, and we intend to move fairly quickly.”
Cambridge United owners speak out after being relegated to League Two
Interviewer: “Do you know whether the Newmarket Road End will be seated or terracing at this stage?”
CEO: “So it’ll be terraced. We’ll design it so it can be retrofitted for safe standing if we require that in the future, but it will certainly be a terrace, and, it will very much have the fans in mind in terms of the experience that we can bring. B
“But one thing I would say is these these things don’t just happen overnight. We’ll be working really hard over the summer to get the application together. There’s a period then for the application to be reviewed, but it’s probably circa three years, three to four years as an overall project.
“It’s quite big. It’s a significant investment, and we need to ensure that we’re doing things in the right way and the right order. And in the short term, what summer works will be done around the club? Here at the stadium, fairly minimal. We’re not gonna be spending money in the habit and the NRE when we know that they’re hopefully been coming down the next few years.
“The one thing we are going to be doing is adding some cover to the South stand in terms of what we can offer for fans. So there’ll be some in the fan zone area. There’ll be some covers going in the fan zone areas to improve that. I think the South Stand’s been a great success this year, and we’ll be looking to add to that where we can. We’ll make some additions to the kids zones, but all in all fairly small here at the Abbey.
“Training ground wise, we need to fix the pitches. So last season, we intended to re level two of our four pitches and put irrigation and drainage into them. We wanted to get those works done nice and early because in previous years, we’ve had really hot summers, which has not been conducive to growing. We did the works last April. They were on the wettest Aprils on record.
“We got the machinery in, the heavens opened, and then the machinery got stuck. By the time we could get the machinery off and allow those pictures to dry out till they get back on, machinery is booked by all the other clubs in the country, which then meant we couldn’t get on till September.
“By the time we get to October and the clocks change, we lose light and warmth, and we’re in a situation really where we’ve lost two of our four pitches. So I know both Gary and Neil and Bonds have mentioned it. The ground staff have done a phenomenal job to keep two of the four pitches in action.
“We’ve seen the youth team have to go and train over at Cambridge City, which hasn’t been ideal. So no one’s fault, but that said, the owners are currently allowing us to go and put that right this summer, and they’ll be ready for one of the players returning June.”
Interviewer: “And the club announced a little while ago that a series is going to be produced about the club to be shown on CBS. How’s that going currently, and why did you make the decision to green light that?”
CEO: Yeah. So it’s not the first offer we’d had from CBS. We’ve had a couple. I think it was about us finding the right time to do it. With the rebrand on the horizon, it always made sense to wait till that was coming before we we did the series, and also to make sure we had the right personnel in. Mark and Neil have been a big part of that, and also ensuring that we knew the story we were going to tell.
“We’ve spent the last four or five years as a club working out who we are, getting our house in order. I think we’re now ready to try and share our story. It’s a story of how our club exists in a world famous city. It’s a bit about town and gown. It’s a bit about the history and the heritage of the football club, trials and tribulations, the ups, the downs.
“It will start looking back at this season. We’ve been had the cameras rolling for quite a while now, ever since Gary left and Neil came through the door. And the second or third episodes of the pilot will focus on pre season, rebrand, rules of the game, and then will culminate in the first game here at the Abbey next season. Where it goes from there, we don’t know. The benefits of this is it gives us coverage in the new market over in America and Canada.
“It may lead to some retail sales. It may lead to future investment. We’ve got a lot of control over the project, so we can try and sculpt it in a way that we feel is best for the club. We’re not looking to be the next Wrexham. We’re just looking to tip our toes in the water, see where we can go with it, and see where it leads to.”
Interviewer: “Finally, what’s your message to fans as we enter the close season?”
CEO: “I think we’ve already covered the apology. You know, you’ve deserved a lot, lot more than what you’ve had. Your support this season has been phenomenal. We’ve put our season ticket prices out this week.
“We’ve frozen where we are. Some fans may question why why we’ve done that and not reduced. I mean, the the clear the real clear answer to that is we’re in a world of exceptional rising costs, minimum wage, national insurance, energy, some wider market things. So we need to stay competitive. We had a loss this year of 2 and a half million, which is covered by Paul and Mark.
“We’re gonna have a loss for the current financial year bigger than that, and we’re expecting something in excess of that again next season to be competitive in League Two. So my message to you really is please stick with us. You’ve been absolutely phenomenal, and I really hope we can repay you next season with an exciting one in league two and hopefully, one that culminates in a lot of excitement towards the end of the season.”
