Cambridge Match Press Preview with Danny Cowley | Vital Football

Cambridge Match Press Preview with Danny Cowley

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Danny Cowley was reflective after the disappointing performance against Crewe whilst remaining positive about going into the New Year:-

Crewe - It is right to compliment Crewe on the best individual L2 performance The Imps have faced though the City performance simply wasn't good enough. There haven't been many performances during DC 12 years as a manager as bad as that and 'they' will be using the pain as a reminder to make sure it is not repeated. Levels, mindset, intensity without the ball and tempo with it were all wrong. 'We' have good honest professionals who are self aware enough to ID the problems and rectify them; that has been done collectively also. DC was adamant that the side owed themselves, the club and the supporters a really good performance off the back of Crewe.

Cambridge - DC noted that Cambridge are playing for their new manager and expected a tough game accordingly. However he had very little to say about the opposition, wishing to focus more on The Imps after the Crewe game. He stated that this game is more about 'us' with the performance actually being more important than the result on this occasion. City were disappointed and hurt having not fulfilled the qualities 'they' pride themselves on and it is that which DC is looking for against Cambridge.

Transfer Window - The background work on players has been done and Imps are in a position to react to the market. DC was careful not to disclose too much about his budget other than to say the Matt Green money would be available in keeping with the consistent board approach of re-investing transfer fees brought in. It should be remembered that City don't have the investment of some bigger clubs and there is a business model to follow. One difficulty to overcome is that as DC works with smaller but better quality squads it is sometimes not easy to improve the quality when finances are tight, which is always the aim. Nonetheless the intention is to improve the starting 11 or at the very least the squad options. He has ID one or two loanees he would like to let go and one or two he would like to keep. DC doesn't want to work with more than 22/23 players at this level as there should be a pathway for all players at a club. Squads of 30 plus are a waste of money in addition to the infectious despondency that having unnecessary players around will bring. Looking at the reduced number of midweek games in The New Year DC was of the view that he would be ok with a squad of 21/22 this time around.

Miscellaneous - 2000 away fans at Cambridge is beyond expectations for a club in L2. DC made no reference to player injuries. 2017 was a tough year to follow and DC was proud to have more than matched those achievements in 2018 having worked hard on player improvement and playing style. Imps are in a good position with a platform for everyone connected to LCFC to look forward to 2019 with excitement.
 
Find the business talk interesting, get the feeling the investors expect a return at some point, which you don’t often get in football.
 
Find the business talk interesting, get the feeling the investors expect a return at some point, which you don’t often get in football.
Difficult to judge what the agenda is as it is tied into the public facing message the club wish to portray linked to transfers. DC is suggesting that in order to attract further investment we need to be seen as operating in a sustainable business manner balanced against on field success i.e. not basket case boom and bust.
 
Find the business talk interesting, get the feeling the investors expect a return at some point, which you don’t often get in football.

I’m not saying that’s right or wrong who knows but I’m not sure the Cambridge vs Lincoln pre-match press conference is the sort of event that would add weight to the theory one way or the other.
 
Just slightly miffed (only slightly) to hear Danny kind of suggesting we can't compete with our rivals financially
 
Just slightly miffed (only slightly) to hear Danny kind of suggesting we can't compete with our rivals financially
I don't think that anything we don't already know.

Mansfield are paying Walker £5k a week, MK have kept a L1 squad together, Colchester have spent alot, Exeter spend a lot (admittedly off the back of good player sales), Bury always spend a lot in their boom and bust model etc.
 
Find the business talk interesting, get the feeling the investors expect a return at some point, which you don’t often get in football.
If anyone is investing in a league 2 football club expecting a return, then they aren't the savvy business people we are led to believe.
Think the business model is simply referring to sustainability.