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Revision as of 17:01, 25 March 2009

Colchester United
File:Colchester badge.png
Full nameColchester United Football Club
Nickname(s)The U's
Founded1937
GroundColchester Community Stadium
Colchester
Capacity10,000
OwnerEngland Robbie Cowling
ManagerScotland Paul Lambert
LeagueLeague One
2007-08The Championship,
24th (relegated)

Colchester United Football Club is an English football team based in the town of Colchester, Essex.

The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910. Colchester United now play in the new Colchester Community Stadium, following the last game at Layer Road was at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Colchester United are perhaps most famous for beating Don Revie's Leeds United 3–2 in the 5th round of the FA Cup in 1971. Their highest ever league finish was achieved in 2006–07, when they ended the season in 10th place in the Championship whilst having the division's lowest attendance.

Colchester United Ladies are a very successful part of the club, having won promotion to the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division in 2006-07.

History

Colchester Town, nicknamed 'The Oystermen', were the original local side, established in 1867 and playing at Layer Road from 1909 until 1937, when they were dissolved. The stadium was originally owned by the army, who still have a strong presence in the town, until it was purchased by the club in 1919. Shortly before Town folded, Colchester United was set up. The owners had intended to run both teams, one professional and one amateur, under the same umbrella but the Essex County FA ruled that both teams could not be run under one set of rules, and so Town were wound down.

In the 1947/48 season Colchester, then in the Southern League, produced one of the most notable F.A. Cup runs by a non-league side, beating fellow-non-league side Banbury Spencer in the First Round before beating league clubs Wrexham, Huddersfield and Bradford Park Avenue. They finally fell to Blackpool in the fifth round.

United went from strength to strength, and they were elected to the Football League in 1950. They lost their league status for two seasons from relegation in 1990 until 1992, when they won a non-league double by collecting the Conference title and the Football Trophy.

In 1996-97 season Colchester were runners up in the Football League Trophy and in more recent times they won promotions from League One (in 2005–06) claiming second place to the Championship.

2006-07 was Colchester's first season in the second tier of English football, and after a slow start they soon entered the higher reaches of the division and there was even ambitious talk of a challenge for promotion to the Premier League. In the end, they finished 10th in the final table above some much more fancied sides including Leeds United, Norwich City and Crystal Palace.

2007-08, however, was less successful, as Colchester finished bottom of the Championship with 38 points and were relegated back to League One.

Stadium

Main articles: Layer Road and Colchester Community Stadium

Colchester United formed in 1937 and took over Layer Road from the recently defunct Colchester Town. That remained their home until 2008. At its closure, the ground had a capacity of 6,340, though it had previously been much higher, with a record attendance of 19,072.

In 2000, Colchester announced plans to move to a new 10,000 capacity all-seater community stadium at Cuckoo Farm, which were given the go-ahead by Colchester Borough Council on November 13 2006. Construction of the stadium, funded by the club but owned by the local council, started in June 2007, and the stadium opened at the start of the 2008-09 season.

Although generally known as the Colchester Community stadium, and sometimes as Cuckoo Farm, it is officially called, under a ten year sponsorship deal, the Weston Homes Community Stadium.[1]

Rivalries

Colchester's main rivalry is with fellow Essex side Southend United, with a competitive head-to-head record of 29 wins to Southend, 21 wins for Colchester and 16 draws.[2]

Colchester United also have a rivalry with Ipswich Town their geographically closest league opponents, whom they met for the first time in a league fixture for almost half a century in the 2006–07 season. A 1-0 win at home followed by a 3–2 defeat away for Colchester saw Ipswich take their overall competitive record against Colchester to 8 wins, 4 losses with 4 draws.[3] By finishing above both Ipswich & Norwich in the 2006-07 season Colchester United took the "Pride of Anglia" title for the first time.

League Two side Wycombe Wanderers are also fierce rivals to Colchester United, dating back to both clubs' latter years in the Conference.[4] Whilst not a local derby, the rivalry goes back to the 1985–86 season, when Wycombe defeated Colchester 2–0 in an FA Cup tie marred by crowd trouble at Loakes Park.

Colchester and Wycombe were also involved in a race for the Conference title throughout the 1991–92 season, during which Colchester defeated Wycombe 2–1 at Adams Park with an injury-time wind-assisted winner from their goalkeeper, Scott Barrett.

Another controversial meeting was during the 1998–99 season. Relegation-threatened Wycombe were leading Colchester 2–1 at Adams Park until the ninth minute of stoppage time, when Colchester were awarded, and converted, an equalising penalty. However, due to lack of recent games between the two sides, Colchester United fans consider Ipswich and Southend bigger rivals.

Well-known Fans

  • BBC Radio DJ Steve Lamacq - A fan for almost 30 years, he has given interviews and written articles for newspaper [5] expressing his personal views and admiration for the club.
  • Poet and filmmaker Ray Hollingsworth - A life-long fan who produced the documentary 'Made in Colchester', a passionate and thorough tribute to Layer Road, United's home for 70 years. The documentary contains a reading one of his poems [6] read by local children piece by piece throughout the duration of the documentary.
  • Absent Kid - Formed in Colchester, the band consists of brothers Martin & Richard Williams, Mark Butters, Dominic Harrison & Craig Jeal. They appeared at Colchester's last Layer Road match between Colchester United and Stoke City [7]. Members of the band are supporters of the club and performed their set in replica shirts [8].
  • MP Bob Russell - MP for the Colchester area, he has been a supporter for more than 50 years and watched his first game in February 1957, a league match at Layer Road against Newport County which Colchester won 1-0 [9]. He has been both an ardent fan and critic of the team and often campaigns for causes that involve the club.
  • Les Oakes - He achieved his notoriety as a supporter of Colchester United and was renowned amongst the fans for voicing his opinions to the managers during matches. Mr Oakes passed away in October 2000 aged 67 but is still remembered by current fans for his harshly critical comments of underperforming members of the team. [10].

Players

Current squad

As of 12 December 2008.[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Dean Gerken
2 DF England ENG John White
4 MF England ENG Johnnie Jackson
5 DF Australia AUS Chris Coyne (captain)
6 DF England ENG Paul Reid
7 FW England ENG Steven Gillespie
8 MF England ENG Dean Hammond
9 FW England ENG Clive Platt
10 MF England ENG Kemal Izzet
11 MF Ireland EIR Mark Yeates
12 DF England ENG Pat Baldwin
14 FW Nigeria NGA Akanni-Sunday Wasiu
15 FW England ENG Jamie Guy
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 MF England ENG David Perkins
18 DF England ENG Phil Ifil
19 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Alan Maybury
20 DF England ENG Neal Trotman (on loan from Preston North End)
21 MF England ENG Ashley Vincent (on loan from Cheltenham Town)
22 MF England ENG Simon Hackney
23 GK England ENG Mark Cousins
26 MF England ENG Lewis Gobern (on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers)
27 MF England ENG Anthony Wordsworth
28 FW England ENG Karl Hawley (on loan from Preston North End)
30 MF England ENG Medy Elito
32 DF England ENG Marc Tierney

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
3 DF England ENG Matthew Lockwood (at Barnet)
16 DF England ENG Matt Heath (at Brighton & Hove Albion)
24 FW England ENG Scott Vernon (at Northampton Town)
28 DF England ENG James Hammond (at Fisher Athletic)

Notable former players

The following players have been inducted into Colchester United's Hall of Fame for being one of "...those who have made a difference to the club's history."[12] In addition, Peter Wright was awarded the title of "U's Player of the Century". [13]

Also included is former manager, Dick Graham.[17]

Managers

Honours

References

  1. ^ Colchester reveal ground sponsors
  2. ^ All time results between Colchester United and Southend United Soccerbase
  3. ^ All time results between Ipswich Town and Colchester United Soccerbase
  4. ^ Football Rivalries: The Complete Results Bluebird to the Bone
  5. ^ Lamacq, Steve (30th January, 1999). "Football Fan's Eye View: Colchester United - A swift and defiant single-finger salute". The Independant. United Kingdom: Independent News and Media Limited. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Callum Hultquist, Kathryn Peacock, Joe Palmer, Sian Rees - from Stagecoach, Colchester (Poetry Spoken by), Ray Hollingsworth (Poet). Made in Colchester (Documentary). Colchester, UK: Sparklefilms. Event occurs at 5:06 - Chapter 2 (and throughout video). ISBN 5-060183-680005. In the tenth month / Nineteen '0 seven / The wind it blew / And the skies were leaden / With dubined boots / And rolled up sleeves / They ran onto the pitch / Through the mud an leaves / The soldier boys / Of the Kings Royal Rifles / Beardmore, Mansfield, Young and Brookes / Ladies and Gentlemen / Boys and Girls / Here starts the glory of Layer Road {{cite AV media}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid prefix (help); Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "The Golden Ticket (with program of events for Colchester United v Stoke City match)". Colchester, UK: Colchester United (official website). 24th April, 2008. 1:30 - 2pm Absent Kid perform on pitch {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Absent Kid @ Layer Road". Myspace.com (Absent Kid). 26th April, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "MP is match ball sponsor". Colchester Liberal Democrats. Colchester, UK: Prater Raines Ltd. 22nd February, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Soccer: U's mourn loyal fans". Echo Newspapers. Basildon, UK: Newsquest Media Group. 9th October, 2000. Mr Oakes, 67, was one of the U's most colourful fans and was famed around Layer Road as the scourge of U's managers. From the terraces, Les tormented every U's boss since Benny Fenton with his nonstop banter. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Profiles". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  12. ^ "Hall of Fame - Rules and Info". www.cu-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  13. ^ "Former Players Dinner Announced". www.cu-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  14. ^ a b "2006/7 Fans' Inductees". www.cu-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  15. ^ a b c "2006/7 Commitee Inductees". www.cu-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  16. ^ a b c d e "2007/8 Commitee Inductees". Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |= ignored (help)
  17. ^ "2007/8 Special Inductee". www.cu-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-08.

External links

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