Colchester United – Unreliable History, Club Records & Details

1971 was the time that they came to modern prominence, thanks to the  Grandad’s Army side that shocked the footballing world by claiming their pensions on the Thursday and beating Leeds United 3-2 in the 5th Round of the FA Cup on the Saturday.  Leeds were THE team of the time and it was a great performance by the U’s, being 3-1 up at one stage.  The dream died in the next round when they lost 0-5 to Everton, but reaching the quarter finals  is still a record that they share for a Fourth Division team.

A couple of years after that they became the front runners of today’s financial revolution by having the first commercially sponsored League match against Crewe Alexandra. The local paper put up money for the pre-match entertainment, but the effectiveness of the display of paper-folding was significantly reduced by a strong September summer breeze.  Perhaps the Isley Brothers would have been a better option.

The club were at the top of the division when they sacked Mike Walker as manager in 1987 and more recently, the club have been through some lean times.  1990 saw them relegated to the Conference, although two years later they won that League and the FA Trophy to complete the non-league “Double”.  In 1997, Colchester reached the final of the Auto Windscreen Shield, but lost on penalties to Carlisle United.

They do have fun with their scoring though.  In a game against Torquay United on New Year’s Day 1996, they scored after only 15 seconds of the match and with the score at 2-2 nearing the final whistle, Colchester got the winner – 15 seconds from the end.  At Layer Road in the 1999-2000 season against Bristol Rovers, the home side were 4-1 down, but came back to win by the odd goal in 11 with a last minute winner.  Colchester are the only club in the League who have never featured in a 0-0 draw.

With a brief flirtation with the Championship between 2006-2008, featuring a 42 year old Teddy Sheringham, the relationship ended badly for Colchester, depressingly gradually slipping into League Two and in the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-2021, flirting again, but with the wrong partner of the National League.

FAMOUS PLAYERS : – Ray Crawford, Barry Huntley, Dick Palmer, Mike Walker (Dad of Ian), Micky Cook, Tony Adcock, Bobby Hunt, Martyn King, Reg Stratton.

FAMOUS FANS : – Steve Lamacq (Radio OneFM DJ)

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