Jimmy Quinn has put an end to speculation about his future by signing a new contract to 2010.

The U's boss has recently been linked with a number other clubs, including Football League clubs Gillingham and Port Vale, but he stated his desire to stay at the Abbey Stadium and Chairman Lee Power revealed several weeks ago that talks were already underway to extend Quinn's contract.

Assistant manager Alan Lewer, who joined the club in May, has signed a similar new deal, bringing a great deal of stability to the football side of the club with United placed fourth in the table and aiming to make progress both on and off the pitch.

"I'm delighted that the Board have faith in me to take the club through the next two and a half years," Quinn told cambridgeunited.com after penning his new deal.

"It's not been easy a lot of the time, and our progress is down to a lot of hard work that has gone on behind the scenes. The Chairman and Paul Barry and Adrian Hanauer are all involved and they all want to see the club progress, and there are a lot of people who have gone through bad times here.

"There's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel now and I, along with the players and the fans, want to play my part in that and bring back the glory days to the club.

"This is a lovely club and with good planning and organisation and the right people on board I think we can keep moving forward," Quinn added.

"We've got Norman Gautrey on board now as Chief Executive and he's making a difference, and the only way is up. We have to keep our feet on the ground - obviously we're doing quite well at the moment but there's a long way to go - and I'm absolutely delighted to sign a new deal."

The manager feels the news about his contract will help him to keep strengthening the squad, both in terms of attracting new players and also assuring existing players about stability at the club and persuading them to stay.

"There's been a lot of speculation about other clubs but I'm true to my word and I've always wanted to stay," he confirmed. "I feel I've got responsibility here to the players I've brought in, and although I always have one eye on improving the squad to make us better, I'd like to spend the next two and a half years being successful here.

"I'm pleased that we can all concentrate on Cambridge United now. I'm quite sure that the speculation has filtered through to the players because my name has been mentioned in connection with a few teams and I've had a lot of people ringing me about it, so hopefully this will settle everybody down and we can get on with the job.

"This new contract will help in my talks with players, too. As soon as the January transfer window opens players are allowed to speak to other clubs and sign contracts for other clubs for the start of next season, and it's important to me that we improve the team and also keep the better players that we've got, so that we can improve as a team again for next season. So the players that have done well up to this point we need to have a chat to before Christmas, and make sure that they're happy to stay and build on that."

Quinn was delighted that Alan Lewer also signed the same length of contract and commented, "Alan has been fantastic since he came here in the summer. I know the fans have a laugh with 'Jimmy and Fester' and all that, but it's great fun and that's what it's all about at the end of the day.

Chief Executive Norman Gautrey (centre) with Lewer and Quinn

"Life is about trying to be happy in your job and I'm the type of person who, if I wasn't happy here, I wouldn't want to stay. So a lot of credit for that has to go to the Board and the fans for making that happen. You've got to be happy in what you do and we've got a great bunch of lads here.

"I keep saying that we're not going to win every game, but if they go out and keep showing the passion and commitment they've shown to me and the fans so far then I'll be happy with that. We've had one defeat in 20 games and hopefully we can keep going along those lines, but we mustn't get carried away.

"We're trying to take things forward and improve on what we've got and I'll certainly be doing that as regards the football side of the club, and we've got people here who are looking at improving the business side. We might never be a Man Utd or one of the biggest clubs in the country, but we can certainly be a well-run club and one that can be respected, both in football terms and off the field as well."

Recently appointed Chief Executive Norman Gautrey concluded the negotiations during the last three weeks and he was pleased to announce the news.

"We are delighted to have finally concluded our negotiations with Jimmy and Alan and hope that this now puts an end to all the speculation regarding their futures with the club," he commented.

"The deals offered are fair from both the club and the individuals' points of view and the fact that it has taken some time to conclude these is testament to the fact that both parties wanted the deal to be right. This will now further stabilise the club and enable us to continue developing the club in line with our business plan.

"We at the club are delighted with the start to the season and hope that now that we have some certainty regarding the future of the management team we can continue the progress that we have made on the pitch this season."

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