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1987–88 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1987–88
chairman	Jonathan Crisp
manager	Mike Walker
(until 1 November)
Steve Foley (caretaker)
(1 November until 6 November)
Roger Brown
(from 6 November)
stadium	Layer Road
league	Fourth Division
league result	9th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	3rd round
(eliminated by
Plymouth Argyle)
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	1st round
(eliminated by
Fulham)
cup3	Associate Members' Cup
cup3 result	Quarter-finals (southern section)
(eliminated by
Notts County)
league topscorer
Dale Tempest (11)
season topscorer
Dale Tempest (14)
highest attendance	3,215
v Tamworth, 14 November 1987
lowest attendance	912
v Peterborough United, 13 October 1987
average attendance	1,776
largest win	4–1
v Peterborough United, 12 September 1987
v Rochdale, 3 November 1987
3–0
v Bolton Wanderers, 11 December 1987
largest loss	0–4
v Carlisle United, 23 April 1988
v Bolton Wanderers, 2 May 1988
pattern_name1	Home
pattern_la1	_white_stripes
pattern_b1	_stripesandshouldersonwhite
pattern_ra1	_white_stripes
leftarm1	87CEEB
body1	87CEEB
rightarm1	87CEEB
shorts1	87CEEB
socks1	87CEEB
prevseason	1986–87
nextseason	1988–89

(until 1 November) Steve Foley (caretaker) (1 November until 6 November) Roger Brown (from 6 November) (eliminated by Plymouth Argyle) (eliminated by Fulham) (eliminated by Notts County) Dale Tempest (11) Dale Tempest (14) v Tamworth, 14 November 1987 v Peterborough United, 13 October 1987 v Peterborough United, 12 September 1987 v Rochdale, 3 November 1987 3–0 v Bolton Wanderers, 11 December 1987 v Carlisle United, 23 April 1988 v Bolton Wanderers, 2 May 1988 The 1987–88 season was Colchester United's 46th season in their history and seventh 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.

After a promising start to the season under Mike Walker, a disagreement between him and chairman Jonathan Crisp saw Walker leave Layer Road and in his place Roger Brown was recruited. From joint top of the table, Brown's side won just five games in the second half of the season to finish the season ninth.

Colchester reached the third round of the FA Cup, beating Tamworth and Hereford United before elimination by Plymouth Argyle. In the Associate Members' Cup, Colchester reached the southern section quarter-final, where they were defeated 3–2 by Notts County. The club were less successful in the League Cup as they fell to a 5–1 aggregate defeat to Fulham.

Season overview

Keen to improve on last years play-off disappointment, manager Mike Walker recruited former U's boss Allan Hunter as his coach.

Club regulars Tony Adcock and Alec Chamberlain both left the club during the summer of 1987 in big money moves. Adcock signed for Second Division Manchester City for £75,000, while Chamberlain joined First Division Everton for £80,000 as understudy to Neville Southall. Walker then broke the club transfer record to bring in striker Dale Tempest for £40,000.

Chairman Jonathan Crisp announced that, in light of worsening football hooliganism across the nation, a 100% members-only scheme would be in place for the new season, banning away fans from attending matches at Layer Road. To deflect any negative attention, he also leaked details regarding a new stadium at Turner Rise while introducing developers Norcross Estates as shirt sponsors.

Owing to the new scheme, only 1,300 members attended the first fixture of the season, a drop of 1,400 on last seasons average attendance. A new record low crowd was set on 29 September when just 1,140 watched the 2–1 win over Swansea City.

Having rebuilt his side and winning seven out of eight games, Walker was abruptly sacked by Crisp while the U's were joint-top of the Fourth Division table. Crisp had claimed that Walker had resigned, but alleged personal differences were said to have been the cause. Bizarrely, Walker won the Manager of the Month award after he had been sacked.

Incoming as new manage was Roger Brown, formerly manager of Poole Town while working as a factory manager. He had been recommended to Crisp by his advisors, but he took the U's from top spot on New Year's Day to ninth at the end of the season after earning just five wins from January until May.

Crisp had to concede his membership scheme in November after hundreds of Wolverhampton Wanderers fans registered as members to boost the Layer Road attendance to an unusually high figure of 2,413 for that season. Crisp claimed the scheme had only been an experiment, and this was reflected in the season average of just 1,776.

Following on from his Turner Rise leaked plans, Crisp considered selling Layer Road and ground sharing Portman Road with Ipswich Town while the new stadium was built. His decision however was swayed by a group of former club directors. By selling up, Crisp would have recouped his outlay, but when the stadium plans were delayed over land ownership, Colchester United would have been left completely homeless with no assets except for the players.

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1987	CB	ENG	John Ray	Apprentice	Free transfer	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=453	title=John Ray	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=22 July 2018 }}
Summer 1987	FW	ENG	Mario Walsh	ENG Torquay United	£15,000
18 August 1987	GK	ENG	Trevor Lake	ENG West Ham United	Undisclosed	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=445	title=Trevor Lake (Goalkeeper)	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=22 July 2018 }}
28 August 1987	FW	HKG	Dale Tempest	BEL Lokeren	£40,000
September 1987	MF	ENG	Gary Smith	ENG Fulham	Non-contract
30 October 1987	CB	NIR	Colin Hill	POR Marítimo	Undisclosed
December 1987	WG	IRL	Tommy Keane	ENG AFC Bournemouth	£10,000
December 1987	MF	ENG	Keith Williams	ENG Bath City	Free transfer
26 December 1987	GK	WAL	Mark Walton	ENG Luton Town	£17,500	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=446	title=Mark Walton (Goalkeeper)	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=22 July 2018 }}
March 1988	CB	ENG	Steve Hetzke	ENG Chester City	£10,000
March 1988	CB	ENG	Stuart Hicks	ENG Wisbech Town	Free transfer
23 April 1988	CB	ENG	Scott Daniels	Apprentice	Free transfer
6 May 1988	WG	ENG	Lee Hunter	Apprentice	Free transfer

Total spending: ~ £92,500

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	FB	SCO	Ian Phillips	ENG Aldershot	Undisclosed
End of season	WG/MF	ENG	Simon Burman	ENG Weymouth	Undisclosed
Summer 1987	GK	ENG	Alec Chamberlain	ENG Everton	£80,000
Summer 1987	MF/FB	ENG	Andy Farrell	ENG Burnley	£5,000
Summer 1987	CB	ENG	Kirk Game	ENG Dartford	Released
June 1987	FW	ENG	Tony Adcock	ENG Manchester City	£75,000
July 1987	CB	ENG	Keith Day	ENG Leyton Orient	Undisclosed
18 August 1987	GK	ENG	Trevor Lake	Free agent	Retired	name=FG	Date of departure refers to the date of the player's final game for the club}}
13 October 1987	MF	ENG	Sean Norman	ENG Wycombe Wanderers	Undisclosed
5 December 1987	FW	ENG	Simon Lowe	ENG Scarborough	Undisclosed
Early 1988	FB	ENG	Scott Young	ENG Wycombe Wanderers	£5,000	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=439	title=Scott Young	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=22 July 2018 }}
2 January 1988	FB	ENG	Terry Baker	ENG Billericay Town	Released
15 April 1988	FB	ENG	Paul Hinshelwood	ENG Dartford	Undisclosed
2 May 1988	MF	ENG	John Reeves	ENG Enfield	Released

Total incoming: ~ £165,000

Loans in

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	End date	Ref.
Summer 1987	GK	WAL	Graham Benstead	ENG Norwich City	24 November 1987
August 1987	GK	WAL	Mark Walton	ENG Luton Town	13 October 1987	name=Loanend1	Loan end date refers to the date of the player's final game in his first spell for the club}}
14 November 1987	GK	WAL	Mark Walton	ENG Luton Town	18 December 1987	name=Loan2	Loan start and end dates refer to the date of the player's first and final games in his second spell for the club}}
December 1987	CB	ENG	Darren Angell	ENG Portsmouth	18 December 1987
February 1988	GK	CAN	Craig Forrest	ENG Ipswich Town	29 April 1988	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=455	title=David H Coleman	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=22 July 2018 }}
February 1988	CB	ENG	Glenn Keeley	ENG Oldham Athletic	26 February 1988
19 February 1988	FB	ENG	David Coleman	ENG AFC Bournemouth	19 March 1988	name=Loan	Loan start and end dates refer to the date of the player's first and final games for the club}}
25 March 1988	FW	ENG	Sean Farrell	ENG Luton Town	6 May 1988

Loans out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
	CB	ENG	John Ray	ENG Wycombe Wanderers
	FB	ENG	Scott Young	ENG Wycombe Wanderers

Match details

Fourth Division

Main article: 1987–88 Football League

Results round by round

League table

Matches

English Lowe Flounders White Mell Moss Tempest Chatterton Walsh Edwards Hinshelwood Chatterton Chatterton Phil Bonnyman Chatterton Hinshelwood Chatterton Bull White Tempest English Lister Luke Cook Russell Fishenden English White Carter MacDonald Farrell Saddington Halpin Wilkins Thomas Came Chandler

League Cup

Main article: 1987–88 Football League Cup

Marshall Rosenior Davies

Associate Members' Cup

Main article: 1987–88 Associate Members' Cup

Norman Gooding Halsall Thorpe Lund

FA Cup

Main article: 1987–88 FA Cup

Tempest Chatterton Wilkins Hill Phillips Matthews

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="14"|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	HKG	FW	Dale Tempest	11	1	0	2	14
2	ENG	WG	Winston White	7	0	1	3	11
ENG	MF/DF	Richard Wilkins	9	2	0	0	11
4	ENG	MF	Nick Chatterton	7	2	0	0	9
5	ENG	FB	Paul Hinshelwood	5	0	0	0	5
6	ENG	DF/MF	Tony English	2	0	0	0	2
ENG	FW	Mario Walsh	2	0	0	0	2
8	ENG	FB	David Coleman	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	FW	Sean Farrell	1	0	0	0	1
NIR	CB	Colin Hill	0	1	0	0	1
ENG	FW	Simon Lowe	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	MF	Sean Norman	0	0	0	1	1
ENG	MF	John Reeves	1	0	0	0	1
	Own goals	0	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	47	6	1	6	60

Disciplinary record

Nationality	Position	Name	Fourth Division	FA Cup
ENG	WG	Winston White	1	1
ENG	CB	Terry Baker	3	0
ENG	MF	John Reeves	0	1
ENG	MF	Gary Smith	3	0
ENG	DF/MF	Tony English	2	0
ENG	FB	Stephen Grenfell	2	0
ENG	CB	Stuart Hicks	2	0
ENG	FB	Paul Hinshelwood	2	0
ENG	CB	Glenn Keeley	1	0
ENG	CB	Rudi Hedman	1	0
ENG	MF	Sean Norman	1	0
HKG	FW	Dale Tempest	1	0
ENG	MF	Keith Williams	1	0
	TOTALS	20	2	0

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Fourth Division	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1	ENG	Graham Benstead	6	0	1	7
WAL	Mark Walton	6	1	0	7
3	CAN	Craig Forrest	6	0	0	6
	TOTALS	18	1	1	20

Player debuts

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

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
GK	ENG	Graham Benstead	15 August 1987	Burnley	Turf Moor
FW	ENG	Mario Walsh	15 August 1987	Burnley	Turf Moor
GK	ENG	Trevor Lake	18 August 1987	Fulham	Craven Cottage
GK	WAL	Mark Walton	25 August 1987	Fulham	Layer Road
FW	HKG	Dale Tempest	29 August 1987	Scunthorpe United	Old Showground
CB	NIR	Colin Hill	30 October 1987	Darlington	Layer Road
MF	ENG	Gary Smith	6 November 1987	Halifax Town	The Shay
GK	WAL	Mark Walton	14 November 1987	Tamworth	Layer Road
MF	ENG	Keith Williams	11 December 1987	Bolton Wanderers	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Darren Angell	18 December 1987	Tranmere Rovers	Prenton Park
GK	WAL	Mark Walton	26 December 1987	Exeter City	St James Park
WG	IRL	Tommy Keane	1 January 1988	Scunthorpe United	Layer Road
CB	ENG	John Ray	30 January 1988	Scarborough	Athletic Ground
CB	ENG	Glenn Keeley	5 February 1988	Crewe Alexandra	Layer Road
FB	ENG	David Coleman	19 February 1988	Burnley	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Steve Hetzke	1 March 1988	Swansea City	Vetch Field
GK	CAN	Craig Forrest	4 March 1988	Wrexham	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Sean Farrell	25 March 1988	Cambridge United	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Stuart Hicks	8 April 1988	Rochdale	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Scott Daniels	23 April 1988	Carlisle United	Brunton Park
WG	ENG	Lee Hunter	6 May 1988	Tranmere Rovers	Layer Road

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Colchester Utd 3–0 Tamworth". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 3–2 Peterborough 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.
"John Ray". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mario Walsh". Coludata.co.uk.
"Trevor Lake (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Dale Tempest". Coludata.co.uk.
"Gary Smith". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colin Hill". Coludata.co.uk.
"Tommy Keane". Coludata.co.uk.
"Keith Williams". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mark Walton (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Steve Hetzke". Coludata.co.uk.
"Stuart Hicks". Coludata.co.uk.
"Scott Daniels". Coludata.co.uk.
"Lee Hunter". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ian Phillips". Coludata.co.uk.
"Simon Burman". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alec Chamberlain (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Andy Farrell". Coludata.co.uk.
"Kirk Game". Coludata.co.uk.
"Tony Adcock". Coludata.co.uk.
"Keith Day". Coludata.co.uk.
"Sean Norman". Coludata.co.uk.
"Simon Lowe". Coludata.co.uk.
"Scott Young". Coludata.co.uk.
"Terry Baker". Coludata.co.uk.
"Paul Hinshelwood". Coludata.co.uk.
"John Reeves". Coludata.co.uk.
"Graham Benstead (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Darren Angell". Coludata.co.uk.
"David H Coleman". Coludata.co.uk.
"Glenn Keeley". Coludata.co.uk.
"Sean Farrell". Coludata.co.uk.
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
"Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 3–0 Tamworth". Coludata.co.uk.
"Exeter City 0–2 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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