'Relentless' Harris driving Cambridge on - Bonner
Neil Harris is in his second spell as Cambridge United boss [Getty Images] Cambridge United director of football Mark Bonner says head coach Neil Harris' "relentless" desire for improvement is a major factor in their promotion push. The U's remain in the top three in League Two following Tuesday's goalless draw at Walsall as they look to return to the third tier following last season's relegation. "The reason he's had the career he's had, and the impact he's had here, is because he's relentless in his drive, he's not going to let up," Bonner told the BBC 72+ EFL podcast.
"I absolutely love that, and the honesty makes someone so easy to work with. We're quite open and speak to each other any way we want. " Cambridge last won promotion from League Two in 2021 when Bonner was manager, but he was sacked two years later, only to return in his current role just over a year ago.
On his relationship with Harris, he said: "We challenge each other. "I heard David Moyes say once that when you're a manager, there's enough people that want to disagree with you and challenge everything you do, sometimes you need some support and help to work out what's going on in your mind. "It's trying to find the balance between the two things.
I support him every way that I can but I certainly offer an opinion and we're not afraid to disagree with each other. "The fact that we can do that with complete trust and move on quite quickly makes it a really healthy relationship. " One of the key factors in Cambridge's success so far this season is their watertight defence, which has only conceded 28 goals in 37 league games - nine goals fewer than the next best in the division.
"We've built a good side and put ourselves in a good position. You see how difficult it is sometimes for teams that suffer relegation to have success the next season - if you'd said we'd have 59 points with nine games to play, we'd definitely have taken that," said Bonner. "Every successful team has usually got that [defensive stability] to fall back on.