How Mark Bonner and Cambridge United helped youngster fall further in love with football

Opinion | Liam Apicella offers a personal reaction to the departure of the U's boss.

When I took over as the sports editor of the Cambridge Independent in September 2022, my football-obsessed now eight-year-old son Jack had no connection whatsoever with Cambridge United – he does now.

And while some of that is born out of the fact that I cover the U’s closely as my day job, the bigger reason behind the fact that Jack is now an owner of two replica shirts, attends games at The Abbey with his grandad while I’m working and has a picture of him with Marvin The Moose as his iPad background is down to Mark Bonner.

Teacher strikes and inset days have left me stumped for childcare on occasions over the last 12 months or so. It’s meant that Jack has had to tag along to the odd press conference or club event – and on each occasion he’s been made to feel like the most important person in the room by the man that he likes to call ‘Bonz’.

He’s been allowed to ask questions, one of which he used to request if he could play up front for United the following weekend! United lost to Charlton on the Saturday and Mark’s first words upon seeing Jack waiting to get some autographs by the tunnel: ‘Jack, where were you? We needed you out there!’

And just last week Mark was on hand to give us two and the rest of the press pack a tour of the club’s impressive new training facilities. He spoke to Jack throughout, showing him every part of the building, including the boot room – pure heaven for a lad who is a big fan of horrible coloured football boots! In lots of ways, to Jack, Mark felt like a mate and he almost certainly believes all managers are that approachable.

We are both Manchester United fans and while I’ve been lucky enough to take Jack to Old Trafford on a handful of occasions, he does not get the same experience. There he’s just a number to help fill the eye-bulgingly large coffers, whereas Mark and the club have made him feel a part of something.

Of course, football is ultimately a results business and one win in 13 league games does not make for pleasant reading – nobody can argue against that.

Reaction from fans on social media and the forums seems to suggest that in the main, they feel that it’s the right decision to part ways this morning. But there is also rightly a lorry-load of gratitude towards a man that has been a major figure in the club’s transformation over recent years.

For Jack and I, we’re by no means diehard supporters (although we have grown somewhat attached to the club in the last year and Jack will always check for the score first if he’s not at the game), but we too have plenty to thank Mark for. He’s been helpful from a work perspective and always fronted up, even when times have been tough on the pitch. But especially for helping a young lad to fall even more in love with the game – and I know for a fact that there will be countless others with similar experiences.