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1983–84 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1983–84
chairman	Maurice Cadman
manager	Cyril Lea
stadium	Layer Road
league	Fourth Division
league result	8th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	3rd round
(eliminated by
Charlton Athletic)
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	3rd round
(eliminated by
Manchester United)
cup3	Associate Members' Cup
cup3 result	2nd round (southern section)
(eliminated by
Southend United
league topscorer
Tony Adcock (26)
season topscorer
Tony Adcock (33)
highest attendance	13,031
v Manchester United, 9 November 1983
lowest attendance	1,226
v Torquay United, 28 April 1984
average attendance	2,847
largest win	6–0
v Hartlepool United, 3 December 1983
largest loss	1–5
v Aldershot, 23 April 1984
pattern_name1	Home
pattern_la1	_blue_stripes4
pattern_b1	_bluestripes4
pattern_ra1	_blue_stripes4
leftarm1	0000FF
body1	0000FF
rightarm1	0000FF
shorts1	FFFFFF
socks1	FFFFFF
prevseason	1982–83
nextseason	1984–85

(eliminated by Charlton Athletic) (eliminated by Manchester United) (eliminated by Southend United Tony Adcock (26) Tony Adcock (33) v Manchester United, 9 November 1983 v Torquay United, 28 April 1984 v Hartlepool United, 3 December 1983 v Aldershot, 23 April 1984 The 1983–84 season was Colchester United's 42nd season in their history and third consecutive season in fourth tier of English football, the Fourth Division. Alongside competing in the Fourth Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Associate Members' Cup.

Another promotion push ended a long way short with an eighth-placed finish, 15 points shy of the promotion places. Colchester reached the third round of the League Cup, where they faced Manchester United at Layer Road only to suffer a 2–0 defeat. They also reached the third round of the FA Cup, exiting to Charlton Athletic. In the inaugural Associate Members' Cup, the U's fell to a 2–0 defeat to Essex rivals Southend United in the second round.

Season overview

Cyril Lea began his first full season in charge by bringing in assistant Stewart Houston in a player-coach capacity. He had however already seen the frustrating exit of last seasons top scorer Ian Allinson, who was allowed to leave the club for Arsenal on a free transfer following an administrative error.

In the early stages of the season, Colchester kept pace with the leaders as they embarked on a League Cup run. Following a 1–1 draw at Second Division Swansea City, chairman Maurice Cadman pledged Lea funds to purchase two players if there was an attendance greater than 5,000 in the second leg of the tie. As such, 5,204 were in attendance to see the U's beat the Swans 1–0. They were drawn at home to Manchester United in the third round as Layer Road saw its final-ever five figure gate when 13,031 saw the 2–0 defeat for the U's.

Colchester's form tailed off in the latter stages of the season as they ended the season 15 points adrift of the promotion places in eighth position, despite Tony Adcock's 33 goals. Now frustrated at his board's successive attempts to fund promotion that ultimately ended in failure, Maurice Cadman announced that win bonuses would be dropped for the 1984–85 season replaced by an insurance-backed promotion bonus. He also announced that the club had been put up for sale at a value of £150,000.

Attendances on average were up, largely in thanks to the cup runs, but otherwise league attendances dropped off, and a new low of 1,226 witnessed Colchester's 3–0 win over Torquay United on 28 April 1984. Meanwhile, stalwarts Micky Cook, who had set a club record of 614 league appearances, and Steve Leslie both retired through injury.

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1983	CB	SCO	Stewart Houston	ENG Sheffield United	Undisclosed
August 1983	CB	ENG	Tony Hadley	ENG Southend United	Undisclosed
September 1983	FB	SCO	Ian Phillips	ENG Northampton Town	£5,000
October 1983	CB	ENG	Adam Nichols	ENG Wits University	Free transfer	url=http://coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=415	title=Adam Nichols	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=29 April 2018 }}
15 October 1983	FW	ENG	Dave Hubbick	ENG Dagenham	Free transfer
January 1984	FW	ENG	Les Mutrie	ENG Hull City	£10,000
February 1984	CB	ENG	Rudi Hedman	Apprentice	Free transfer

Total spending: ~ £15,000

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	GK	ENG	Ian Cranstone	ENG Wealdstone	Free transfer
End of season	GK		Bobby Hamilton	Free agent	Released
End of season	CB	ENG	Adrian Keith	ENG Haverhill Rovers	Released
End of season	FB	ENG	Wayne Ward	ENG Wivenhoe Town	Released
End of season	MF		Andy Gooding	ENG Wivenhoe Town	Released
Summer 1983	FW	ENG	Roy McDonough	ENG Southend United	Undisclosed
2 January 1984	CB	ENG	Adam Nichols	Free agent	Released	name=FG	Date of departure refers to the date of the player's final game for the club}}
14 April 1984	FB	ENG	Micky Cook	Free agent	Retired

Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
September 1983	FB	ENG	Phil Coleman	WAL Wrexham	March 1984

Match details

Fourth Division

Main article: 1983–84 Football League

Results round by round

|color_-4=green1|color_21-=red1

League table

Matches

Houston Serella Adcock Wignall Ferguson Pollard Walwyn Cook O'Neill Hockaday Miller Snodin Humphries Humphries Adcock Leslie Adcock Nichols Phillips Groves Adcock Bowen Waddle Wignall Bowen Phillips Mutrie Wignall Walwyn Pearce Gage Belfon Riley Banton Lawrence Lucas Phillips Adcock Stonehouse Adcock Groves Adcock Larkin Gallagher Mell

League Cup

Main article: 1983–84 Football League Cup

Wignall Senior Senior Wignall Bowen Moses

FA Cup

Main article: 1983–84 FA Cup

Hadley Houston

Associate Members' Cup

Main article: 1983–84 Football League Trophy

Peters Kellock

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="16"|Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season |}

Goalscorers

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1	ENG	FW	Tony Adcock	26	0	5	2	33
2	WAL	FW	Keith Bowen	12	5	1	0	18
3	ENG	CB	Steve Wignall	8	0	2	0	10
4	SCO	CB	Stewart Houston	4	1	0	0	5
SCO	FB	Ian Phillips	5	0	0	0	5
6	ENG	FB	Micky Cook	2	0	0	0	2
ENG	WG	Perry Groves	2	0	0	0	2
ENG	FW	Les Mutrie	2	0	0	0	2
9	ENG	MF	Jeff Hull	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	MF	Steve Leslie	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	CB	Adam Nichols	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	MF	Roger Osborne	1	0	0	0	1
	Own goals	4	0	0	0	4
	TOTALS	69	6	8	2	85

Disciplinary record

Nationality	Position	Name	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy
ENG	CB	Tony Hadley	0	0	1	1
ENG	FB	Micky Cook	2	0	0	0
	TOTALS	2	0	1	1	0

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1	ENG	Alec Chamberlain	18	1	1	0	20
	TOTALS	18	1	1	0	20

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
CB	ENG	Tony Hadley	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
CB	SCO	Stewart Houston	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
MF	ENG	Andy Farrell	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
FW	ENG	Craig Oldfield	3 September 1983	Blackpool	Layer Road
FB	SCO	Ian Phillips	9 September 1983	Stockport County	Edgeley Park
FW	ENG	John Taylor	14 September 1983	Reading	Elm Park
FW	ENG	Dave Hubbick	15 October 1983	Northampton Town	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Adam Nichols	18 October 1983	Bury	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Les Mutrie	28 January 1984	Stockport County	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Rudi Hedman	4 March 1984	Bury	Gigg Lane

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Colchester Utd 0–2 Manchester United". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 3–0 Torquay United". Coludata.co.uk.
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
Hudson, Matt. (11 July 2012). "The 1970s and 1980s". Colchester United FC.
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
"Stewart Houston". Coludata.co.uk.
"Tony Hadley". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ian Phillips". Coludata.co.uk.
"Adam Nichols". Coludata.co.uk.
"Dave Hubbick". Coludata.co.uk.
"Les Mutrie". Coludata.co.uk.
"Rudi Hedman". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ian Cranstone – fact file". mehstg.com.
(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Adrian Keith". Coludata.co.uk.
"Wayne Ward". Coludata.co.uk.
(2 August 2015). "ESSEX SENIOR LEAGUE DRAGONS A – Z PART THREE". Welcome To The Dragons' Den.
"Roy McDonough". Coludata.co.uk.
"Micky Cook". Coludata.co.uk.
"Phil Coleman". Coludata.co.uk.
"Phil Coleman". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database.
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
"Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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