| In
1937, the club formed as Colchester Town and they played lots of
matches, but had to wait until 1950 to play their first official League
game. Their promotion to the League came as a result of the
excellent FA Cup run of 1948, when, as a non-league side, they beat
three League sides (including First Division Huddersfield Town) to get
to the 5th Round. They stayed in the lower reaches of the league
for their early years and went the whole of the 1956-57 season in the
Division 3 (South) unbeaten at home. In 1962 the club finished
runners-up in Division 4 and have been going up and down between the
bottom two divisions ever since.
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.
The arrival of Geraint Williams
as manager in 2006 carried on the good work of Mick Wadsworth and helped
the U's to their highest ever league placing in 2006-07.
FAMOUS PLAYERS : - Ray
Crawford, Barry Huntley, Dick Palmer, Mike Walker (Dad of Ian), Mickey
Cook FAMOUS
FANS : - Steve Lamacq (Radio OneFM DJ) |
