Cambridge City ready for 2023/24 season which will hopefully see them switch to their new Sawston stadium

While manager Robbie Nightingale’s main focus will be on events on the pitch, it is hard to escape the fact that this will be one of the biggest seasons in Cambridge City’s history for reasons unrelated to results.

After 11 years of flitting between St Ives Town and Histon following their departure from Milton Road, all being well City will finally have a place to call home again.

The most recent update provided by the club revealed that the Lilywhites could be running out at their new state-of-the-art facility in Sawston around Christmas time, ending years of uncertainty in the process.

Nightingale, whose side will continue to ground share at St Ives until they are given the green light to move into their Grove Road base, said: “We went up and had a look at the ground last week. The lads were buzzing. The seats are in, the dugouts are done and the pitch is being cut every other day – it looks fantastic. Who wouldn’t be excited to get in there?

“To be standing on our own two feet as a football club after 11 years of ground sharing is massive.

“The badge and the name still holds plenty of weight in non-league football, but now we just need to unleash that to a new level when we get into Sawston.

“Teams coming to Sawston, they’ll fancy it. It’s a big pitch and the atmosphere that will be generated, the new vibe, opposition teams will want to play there. But from our point of view it can only be positive. Why wouldn’t we want to play there in front of lots of fans? It’s something to enjoy.

“I was lucky enough to play at Milton Road. That was an unbelievable ground with a fantastic atmosphere for non-league football. What we generated there was different class and if we can generate that at Sawston, you can’t help but step up a level as the home team.

“All I can see is us raising our levels when we get to Sawston. Yes, other teams will relish it as well but hopefully we’ll get decent time to train on it and get used to it before we get in there.

“I know it will be halfway through (the season) when we get in there but it’s getting ever closer. When we open the doors it will be an exciting and great day for Cambridge City Football Club.

“The hard work that the Setchells – Kev and his dad – have done in the last 10 years to keep us afloat, the board of directors and the sponsors that have continued to back us, this is for them as well. We’ll finally be home.

“We can start playing on a level playing field with all of the other teams that have got their own ground, that’s the biggest thing for me. There’s lots to look forward to, lots of positivity.”

Yet while ‘positivity’ is set to reign supreme in 2023/24, there will be a tinge of frustration that City will begin life at Sawston as a Pitching In Northern League Midlands Division club.

There was briefly some optimism that the club was going to be switched into the more travel-friendly Pitching In Southern League Central Division, which includes the likes of Bedford and two Biggleswade sides. But the powers-that-be ultimately opted against handing City a lateral switch, much to Nightingale’s frustration.

He added: “Every away trip is well over an hour. We’ll be getting on 15 coaches so it’s a tough year travelling.

“When you look at the map, our local derbies are Spalding and Corby, both of which are well over an hour away. We lost Yaxley, we lost St Neots, we lost Dereham and Daventry and they’re closer to us.

“We were given a heads up that we’d be in the Southern Central again and then that didn’t happen. It is what it is. We can’t dwell but we are disappointed, I’m not going to lie.

“It’s just common sense for me. If you go with an extra team in that Central League and one less in the Midlands, that’s not a big deal.

“If you look at Bishop’s Stortford as well, why didn’t the Conference South go with one extra and the Conference North one less? It puts so much strain on non-league clubs. Stortford have to recruit a new team that are willing to travel north every other week.

“We feel that pain, although we’ve been lucky that we’ve managed to keep hold of quite a few local lads that see the vision we have and what we want to produce. But it’s not easy when you’re having to travel two-and-a-half hours to away games.

“Recruiting has to be a bit wider, especially because lads at Step 5 in our area aren’t interested in stepping up because of where we have to travel to and they can pick up more money at that level with less travelling.”

But while the league has not changed, Nightingale has freshened up his playing squad.

Ben Nolan, Jarid Robson and Simon Swinton all opted to drop down a level with Mildenhall Town, while Yaw Ofosu and Matty Miles have headed for pastures new.

However, having recruited Joe Hood, Stan Leech, Stefan Broccoli, Ryan Swift, Richard Black and a couple of young loanees from Cambridge United, Nightingale is confident that he has a competitive group at his disposal.

“We think this group will be very competitive in this league. If we get the injuries we did last year to key players like Taylor Parr, Joe Welch, Scott Bridges and Ryan Ingrey, we’ll be looking at a similar finish,” said Nightingale, who guided his team to a 14th-placed finish last term.

“But we’re very positive. I don’t want to sound over confident or arrogant, but the players we’ve recruited will do very well in this league.

“We want to start well and then use that momentum to drive us forward.

“I don’t want to put targets out there. Every side will want to be competing in that top part of the league and we’re no different, but it’s difficult. The league is tough, the travelling is tough, but we’re quietly confident.

“It’s an old cliché but we’ve got to take each game as it comes, that’s how it is. If we start well and things are positive and looking good, we might be in a position to kick on with Sawston around the corner. It’s important that we live within our means and we’ve done that for 11 years.

“We just want to be as competitive as we can be and we showed what we’re about last year with our results against the sides in the top 10.

“We feel like we’ve added more goals and creativity to the team, but until it starts for real nobody truly knows where they’re at. But we’re certain we couldn’t be happier with what we’ve got, especially with the spine of the team.”

City get the new campaign under way on Saturday (August 5) at lower-level Hadleigh United in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup, which is followed a week later by their league opener against Gresley Rovers at St Ives.