Brophy and Bonne

[lionel]

Article on BBC sport website- Cambridge highlighting the brilliant and supportive actions of Brophy and Bonne in helping a man in distress.

Really good to have these two lads as part of our club.

[zx10racer22]

I genuinely love Brophy. I understand the frustrations of his play sometimes, but he also has qualities, always gives 100% and from this episode is clearly a gem of a human being.

[jamesm6688]

There’s more important things than football. Nice that these two men are recognised for being decent human beings.


Sure everyone here has seen this 2 min video, but well worth a reminder / look if not - . Seems pertinent to share here. Amazing work by Norwich.

[joffjog]

Never one to miss the chance to extol the virtues of The Broph, though do hate I always feel the need to preface with “understand people’s frustrations etc.” as above.

As he potentially comes to the end of his time at the club (optimistic he’ll stay 🤞🏻), I reckon we should have a Big Celebration O’ Broph! The man is an intelligent, reliable, hard working and versatile player, an outstanding servant to the club and just a peach of a man. I find the way he communicates with his team mates, coaching staff and match officials fascinating. His net positive to the club far, far outweighs the negative (despite the intense feelings from some about his lack of goals/assists) and I think only with his leaving will some understand just how important he is/has been to us.

On a personal level, I can’t speak higher of the man. He has personally gone out of his way to help my family through our recent tough time with my daughter’s health, making her feel special and included at a time of severe social isolation. If he is to leave this summer, I hope he goes with love, respect and appreciation from the fans (who will hopefully have regained their emotional stability after a successful relegation battle where we never actually even entered the drop zone 🙃). I’ll be following his career closely and shall remain President of the James Brophy Official Fan Club for life 💛🖤

P.S Props to Bonne too for the excellent actions that started this thread

[lionel]

Would absolutely love for The Broph to stay. Ultimately, it's the football that dictates and that is more than plenty at the Div One level.

By all accounts, he's a gem of a bloke as well. So if you put the ability, heart and personal qualities together we have a good'un.

[malotru]

After Sir Wes hung up his boots, Brophy has been my favourite U’s player. His run and assist for Wes’s goal against Accrington was probably my favourite Abbey moment in 21/22. Also not forgetting his assist for Smith’s goal at Wigan.

Since Bonner left he hasn’t hit his previous heights of bursts of acceleration into space down the wing but as seen against Wigan, he’s still hopefully got an assist or 2 in him. And I will celebrate hard if he did manage to score before the end of the season.

I think someone mentioned he lives round Newmarket way with his family so is obviously settled in the area.
My head says the whole midfield needs rebuilding from scratch but heart says I would offer him a 2 year deal on similar terms as he is a valuable squad member who can do 40+ games a season in several positions.

[Emperor Delbert Gradius]

1 goal in 150 games. Time to move on.

[El Goodo]

There are a couple of players in this team I think fall into the "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" category – Brophy being one & Digby the other.

Could they be better? Obviously. But I suspect both will be quite a struggle to replace when the days do come.

[danielcufc]

Apr 11, 2024 16:51:12 GMT El Goodo said:

There are a couple of players in this team I think fall into the "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" category – Brophy being one & Digby the other.

Could they be better? Obviously. But I suspect both will be quite a struggle to replace when the days do come.

The one thing with both of them is that they have been pretty injury free in their time here. This has made them reliable players in a small squad. If Brophy stays I would be fine, but if he gets released or takes an offer elsewhere then I won't be gutted either. It may be a chance for him for a pay day elsewhere if that's his motivator or maybe location is more important. We shall see.

[danboyb]

E G makes a very good point. It’s very easy to throw the lack of goals at Brophy, any replacement would better that. But we wouldn’t be guaranteed availability, flexibility, work rate or popularity in the dressing room. Brophy brings all those things, which outweighs the frustration of his goal scoring, or lack of it.

Not saying he should be a regular starter, but there is games where we will need him, he’ll be a better option than “New signing” who might make us more of a threat going forward, but then won’t run back 50 yards and put in a last ditch challenge.

I think there is room for both types of player if we get the overall balance of the squad right.

His assists will improve if we get a striker like Ahadme who is on the same page and can actually finish. I can understand those who want him gone due to his appearances/goals, I will never understand those who actually watch us and want rid of him cos he’s “rubbish” He’s really not.

[funkymonk]

Of all the scapegoats that have been anointed, Brophy is definitely the most peculiar.

[zx10racer22]

Whether he is worth re-signing also comes down to money. I'm always a bit skeptical about where some of the budget / transfer value / wages websites get their data, given the source in supposedly confidential. But if they are to be believed, the likes of Brophy and Digby cost us significantly less than the likes of Cousins and Kachunga.

If you said one of Brophy or Kachunga needs to go and one can stay, on purely football terms, I'd keep Kach.

But if... hypothetically... Kach is on 3x what Brophy is on per week, I think Brophy offers better value for money and I'd look to retain him whilst moving Kach on, so we can look to bring in someone else for that money.

I actually don't think it's been our hardworking, lower paid, less talented players who have gone missing this season. We know their level and they give it everything.

I think it's been more that our bigger name summer signings from last season, who have played in higher leagues and are allegedly on far higher wages, who have been a disappointment. They're the ones who were supposed to move us on a level and haven't really done so.

[lionel]

Apr 12, 2024 13:40:09 GMT zx10racer22 said:

Whether he is worth re-signing also comes down to money. I'm always a bit skeptical about where some of the budget / transfer value / wages websites get their data, given the source in supposedly confidential. But if they are to be believed, the likes of Brophy and Digby cost us significantly less than the likes of Cousins and Kachunga.

If you said one of Brophy or Kachunga needs to go and one can stay, on purely football terms, I'd keep Kach.

But if... hypothetically... Kach is on 3x what Brophy is on per week, I think Brophy offers better value for money and I'd look to retain him whilst moving Kach on, so we can look to bring in someone else for that money.

I actually don't think it's been our hardworking, lower paid, less talented players who have gone missing this season. We know their level and they give it everything.

I think it's been more that our bigger name summer signings from last season, who have played in higher leagues and are allegedly on far higher wages, who have been a disappointment. They're the ones who were supposed to move us on a level and haven't really done so.

You've possibly given a perfect summary of the season. For me, the attacking Championship (the defense broadly speaking has been okay) quality has only been seen in patches. Also, has not hugely gelled with the hard-working players who have mainly played at a lower level. The attacking bright spots has been Gassan and Fejiri who brings injury baggage.