What Are United's Worst Ever Starts?

And did they all end in relegation? Just in case you weren't feeling miserable enough already

Cambridge United have made their worst ever start to an EFL season. That can’t have escaped anyone’s notice. Welcome back, everyone.

It’s hardly the first time a campaign has got off to a rough start, so as we brace ourselves to get back to the Abbey after a wonderful week off (don’t we all wish it was months), what better time to take a cheerful look back at other years in which the U’s have started badly and see how those seasons ended up going.

Do previous recoveries raise hopes that all is not lost this time around? Probably not, look at the League One table. But a bad start hasn’t always been followed by relegation.

Taking the slightly arbitrary mark of eight league games, the previous record for the club’s longest winless run from the start of a season since election in 1970, here are the eight other worst points tallies Cambridge United collected in that time and what happened next, going from most points to least.

1999-2000: 6 points

After a swashbuckling promotion was achieved with the exciting attacking talents at Roy McFarland’s disposal, United looked to start the new millennium by retaining their place in Division Three.

The start: Like the Beck promotion year a decade prior, United picked up a win and three draws from the opening eight. They did score in all of those games, and ended the season having outscored all the sides below the top seven, but also didn’t keep a clean sheet in the league until December.

What happened next: The team remained inconsistent, not going four games unbeaten all year, but results picked up after the poor beginning. United’s last game of the 20th century was a ludicrous 0-0 draw with eight-man Cardiff. A famous win on Easter Monday saw both teams celebrate, with United safe and David Moyes’ Preston promoted. The U’s ended two places and four points above the drop.

1989-90: 6 points

If ever there could be reassurance that a bad start can still lead to a glorious end to a campaign, this is it.

The start: It took until the sixth league game before a win arrived, 1-0 against Halifax, with three draws seeing the U’s to six points. There was little to suggest that the club’s five years in Division Four would be coming to an end.

What happened next: Every U’s fan is familiar with this season. John Beck took over, saw the team into the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s history, lost only two of the last 13 Division Four fixtures, made the playoffs on the final day and went on to beat Chesterfield at Wembley to secure promotion courtesy of a Dion Dublin goal.

2001-02: 5 points

This was not a good year, and would prove to be Cambridge United’s last in the third tier of English football until Mark Bonner was at the helm, twenty years later. They finished bottom by a distance.

The start: Things started with only two points from the first six, including a positive draw with eventual champions Brighton on the opening day. Losing to Peterborough in September didn’t help, though it was followed up with a first victory the next weekend against Cardiff. The four away games of the opening eight all ended in defeat, which would prove a recurring theme.

What happened next: United were relegated, nine points adrift of anyone else, without a single league win away from home. They lost 5-0 three times and 6-1 at Tranmere. There was some excitement going into the final weeks of the campaign, but not in the league. Despite not winning away all season, a miraculous 2-0 triumph at Bristol City saw the U’s into the LDV Vans final, where they lost to Blackpool.

1982-83: 5 points

This was the club’s fifth straight year in the second tier. It was to be the following campaign that saw a legendary 31-game winless run, but 82-83 could have been almost as bad after only one win in the opening 12 matches.

The start: United started at home to Chelsea. Different times. It was the first of three straight losses before a draw with Barnsley and a 3-2 win over Charlton. It was to be the only three points until the start of November.

What happened next: Having finally picked up a second win against Wolves, results at the Abbey kept the U’s in good shape. 11 of the 13 wins came at home. Between the Chelsea game on the opening day and defeat to Oldham on the last, only champions QPR came away from the Abbey with three points. United finished 12th of 22, above the likes of Derby and Chelsea.

1985-86: 4 points

The preceding year saw only four victories and a return to the fourth tier (more on that later). Things didn’t get any better a year later.

The start: Having not won since Boxing Day there was welcome relief on the opening day with a 4-2 success against Hartlepool. Things were looking up, right? Clearly not. It was followed by a 6-2 trouncing at Tranmere. For a second year in a row a first win was followed up by six straight defeats and then a couple of draws.

What happened next: Home form was strong with 12 wins, away results terrible with only three. The U’s ended up with 54 points, an unusually high number for a team to end third bottom. They were only two points off Peterborough, five places higher, but finishing 22nd meant the club faced re-election for the only time. The four League clubs comfortably saw off Enfield to remain in Division Four.

2016-17: 3 points

While the non-League calamities under Newman was also an eight-game winless run to start the season, 2016-17 was the first time it happened in the EFL.

The start: The U’s did achieve a win in the EFL Cup with an extra time success against Championship Sheffield Wednesday, and another in the EFL Trophy, but victory eluded United in League Two. There were three draws, but also a grim loss at Colchester and a 3-0 home hammering by Luton. Losing to Morecambe ramped up the pressure on Shaun Derry, before a late win at Newport in the ninth game kick-started three straight wins.

What happened next: The U’s finished eleventh, their highest finish in League Two in any of the six years prior to promotion under Mark Bonner in 2021. With only six points separating fifth from thirteenth, Shaun Derry’s side somehow had playoff chances going into the final day before losing at Wycombe.

2006-07: 3 points

This was very nearly the most damaging season in the club’s history. Relegation from the Conference would have seen the club end up in regional football and very possibly out of business.

The start: All signs pointed to a bad year with an opening day loss at home to Northwich Victoria. After one point in six games Rob Newman, who worked wonders the previous year, lost his job after a Friday night loss to Exeter. Draws with Forest Green and Kidderminster steadied the ship before ten-man United held off Stevenage to finally record a win in game nine.

What happened next: Home form kept United competitive, away form kept them in trouble. The 5-0 loss at Histon in the FA Trophy, perhaps the single worst result the club will ever have, preceded a dismal run after Christmas. Robbie Simpson hit a great run of form but consecutive 5-0 losses against York and Altrincham left Jimmy Quinn’s team looking doomed. They turned it round with 4-0 and 7-0 wins on successive weekends, before Simpson’s legendary winner at Aldershot teed up survival on the final day of the season against Tamworth.

1984-85: 3 points

There was no recovering from a terrible start; this was surely the worst season the club has ever recorded.

The start: defeat at Bradford on the opening day was followed by a 1-0 win against Millwall the following weekend. It was a false dawn. Six straight losses followed.

What happened next: The club was relegated to the fourth tier with only 21 points, 25 adrift of the next worst team. Four wins all season, none at home after Boxing Day, 23 in a row without a win, defeat in the FA Cup against Peterborough. An unmitigated disaster.

2024-25: 1 point

This one doesn’t need much elaboration, we’re still in the midst of the winless start. The first time that the club has got to the end of game nine without a win.

Interestingly enough, and to end on a cheerier note, of these eight seasons with poor starts, only twice have we actually been relegated (and one re-election)…