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Conference and former league club Cambridge United and Conference South side Cambridge City are considering a merger. City, who took the Southern League title ahead of United in 1962-63, are having to sell their Milton Road ground to clear substantial debts. The money raised will be insufficient to buy a new ground. Meanwhile, United are having to pay £200,000 a year to rent the Abbey Stadium they used to own. City chairman Arthur Eastham commented, 'This is not a footballing city, this is a sleepy place with a university. Yet I cannot think of any equivalent city that, with the rise of Histon just outside it, is trying to support three clubs at this level.' Mergers are usually unpopular with fans. The one recent successful example is the creation of Inverness Caledonian Thistle with the merged club more than holding its own in the Scottish Premier League. But just try telling fans in Bristol or Sheffield that their cities might have a better place on the footballing map if their rival clubs came together.
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