Last night, Cambridge United announced they had parted company with head coach Garry Monk with the club sitting bottom of League One.
With The U’s looking destined to suffer relegation to League Two, the announcement came of little surprise. The former Sheffield Wednesday boss had only took over at the Abbey Stadium last March, eventually helping the club avoid the drop into the fourth tier. However, it was arguably the resulted from other teams which salvaged their League One status, with Monk picking up just two wins.
This season has been much of the same. Aside from a couple of glimpses, form hasn’t improved and the 45-year-old leaves the club eight points from safety with only 15 games to play. The 1-0 defeat against Exeter City on Saturday proved to be his final outing.
Few would be surprised if the club were already preparing for the drop back into League Two. With that in mind, who should Cambridge have their sights set on?
Jon Brady
Jon Brady caused a surprise in December when he made the decision to step down at Northampton Town after nearly four years in charge. The announcement came following the Cobblers 2-0 defeat at Stevenage, a result which temporarily saw them drop into the relegation places. Still, the 50-year-old wasn’t thought to be under any kind of major pressure, and he has since admitted that he departed in order to seek out a new challenge.
Cambridge would certainly offer that new challenge. Although Brady may be an option for clubs in League One next season, he is a manager who has vast experience in League Two having earned promotion from the division with Northampton in 2023. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him emerge as a frontrunner in the coming days.
Mark Bonner
An ex-Cambridge manager, could Bonner be an option to return to the Abbey Stadium. The 39-year-old was the last person to earn promotion with the U’s, having achieved a second-placed finish in League Two in 2021. He then followed that up with a comfortable first campaign in League One, leading to him committing his future to the club in September 2023. However, he was sacked just two months later with the club in danger of being sucked into a relegation battle.
Bonner spent a brief time at Gillingham earlier this season, taking charge of just 28 games before his departure last month. A popular figure amongst Cambridge supporters, this could be the fans choice.
Dino Maamria
The former Burton Albion boss has been out of work since leaving the Brewers in December 2023. Although he spent only just over a year at the Pirelli Stadium, he achieved an impressive 37% win rate. With Burton now staring down the barrel of relegation to League Two, it’s fair to say they would jump at the chance of those sort of figures right now.
Still, that could be to Cambridge’s advantage. Maamria has been linked with a number of roles in recent months, including Shrewsbury Town and Carlisle United.
