Cambridge United 'ahead of the curve' - Bonner
Cambridge United's director of football Mark Bonner says plans to grow the club after winning promotion are ahead of schedule.
Mark Bonner managed Cambridge United for three years before returning as director of football [Getty Images] Cambridge United are out-performing their plans to rebuild the club, according to director of football Mark Bonner. The U's have made an immediate return to League One after relegation last season, finishing third in League Two this year and Bonner says it is down to having a long-term strategy. "At the start of the season we spoke about getting back into League One within a couple of years so we're ahead of the curve on that," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
"It's proven to be very hard to bounce straight back, we've never done it in our history so it's some turnaround from where we were last season. "We massively improved as the season went on which is testament to the environment, the coaching and the management of the squad. "It probably followed a pattern we set out for it to, so we're not surprised by the way we developed.
" Cambridge lost only two of their final 17 League games of the season under boss Neil Harris to pip Salford to the third automatic promotion place by one point. "If you'd have offered us top three at the start of the season we might have thought it would have been a bit of a stretch," said Bonner. "For us with the seventh biggest budget in the league to finish in the top three is huge credit to Neil, the staff and the players for the achievement.
" 'We know the challenge of League One' With the likes of Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield Town in League One next season, Mark Bonner accepts they will be one of the smaller clubs in the division but believes they have a plan to try to compete. "We know the challenge of building a League One squad, the difference in level and the difference in finances required and we need to make sure we have the money to do it," he said. "We have to recognise the last time we were in League One we were buying the stadium and building a training ground and we go back to League One with all those things in place which makes a big, big difference in terms of what we have available.