1997–98 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Colchester were eliminated at the first round stage of the League Cup, and also the first round of the Football League Trophy after reaching the 1997 Final. They once again lost to a non-League side in Hereford United in the FA Cup second round following a replay.

The club were awarded a settlement of £300,000 from Ipswich Town owing to the saga over George Burley's acrimonious exit from Colchester to their Suffolk neighbours in late 1994. Meanwhile, Alfred McAlpine were named as the consultants commissioned for the process of building a new stadium for Colchester United, with the club's lease on Layer Road due to expire in 2002.

Manager Steve Wignall broke the club's transfer record by spending £50,000 on Neil Gregory, who joined from Ipswich Town to reunite with his brother David.

Colchester's had a late season upturn in form, winning ten of their final 15 games as they missed automatic promotion by just one point. This meant that they had qualified for the play-offs, where they would face seventh-placed Barnet, who themselves earned a place in the play-offs by just one point ahead of Scunthorpe United.

Barnet won the first-leg at Underhill Stadium 1–0, but both sides were reduced to ten men in the game after Guy Branston was sent off for the U's and Sean Devine saw red for Barnet. Colchester won the Layer Road leg 3–1 after extra time with goals from David Gregory and David Greene. Barnet also had Lee Howarth sent off on 60 minutes while Barnet were leading 2–1 on aggregate.

The win took Colchester to Wembley for the second time in a year and a third trip in six years. The fixture was moved to Friday night to accommodate an England versus Saudi Arabia friendly, and as such attracted a relatively low crowd of 19,486. The game was also broadcast on Sky Sports. David Gregory converted from the penalty spot on 22 minutes to win the match 1–0 for Colchester and earn promotion back to the third tier of English football for the first time in 17 years.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £50,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Third Division

Main article: 1997–98 Football League

Results round by round

League table

Matches

Buckle Brydon Allon Abrahams Taylor Abrahams Greene Flack Houghton Quinn Adcock Skelton Forbes Buckle Sale D'Auria Painter Rankin Knill Sale Rioch Darby Duguid Minton Adcock Stamps Skelton Howard Roberts Haydon Dorner Buckle McGleish Wilkins Price D. Gregory D. Gregory Skelton Abrahams Lock Sale D. Gregory Lock Dunne Duguid McGinty Darby Fisher Rimmer

Football League play-offs

Main article: 1998 Football League play-offs#Third Division

Devine Greene Howarth

Football League Cup

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Cup

FA Cup

Main article: 1997–98 FA Cup

D. Gregory

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1997–98 Football League Trophy

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

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

Goalscorers

Disciplinary record

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Player debuts

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

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

1. (2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
2. "Colchester Utd 1–1 Leyton Orient". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Colchester Utd 2–0 Chester City". Coludata.co.uk.
4. "Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
5. Hudson, Matt. (11 August 2013). "The 1990s and 2000s". Colchester United FC.
6. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
7. "David Rainford". Coludata.co.uk.
8. {{Soccerbase. 10816. David Rainford
9. "Aaron Skelton". Coludata.co.uk.
10. {{Soccerbase. 7332. Aaron Skelton
11. "Ian Hathaway". Coludata.co.uk.
12. {{Soccerbase. 3333. Ian Hathaway
13. {{Soccerbase. 5831. Paul Newell
14. "Jeremy Goss". Flown From the Nest.
15. "Tamer Fernandes". Coludata.co.uk.
16. {{Soccerbase. 2473. Tamer Fernades
17. "Neil Gregory". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 3084. Neil Gregory
19. (3 July 2008). "Ernie Loses Battle With Cancer". Colchester United FC.
20. {{Soccerbase. 33851. Ernie Cooksey
21. "Garrett Caldwell (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
22. {{Soccerbase. 9167. Garrett Caldwell
23. "Andy Partner". Coludata.co.uk.
24. "Paul Gibbs". Coludata.co.uk.
25. {{Soccerbase. 9167. Paul Gibbs
26. "Tony McCarthy". Coludata.co.uk.
27. {{Soccerbase. 4999. Tony McCarthy
28. "Chris Fry". Coludata.co.uk.
29. {{Soccerbase. 2684. Chris Fry
30. "Adam Locke". Coludata.co.uk.
31. {{Soccerbase. 4576. Adam Locke
32. "Steve Whitton (Midfielder / Forward)". Coludata.co.uk.
33. {{Soccerbase. 8483. Steve Whitton
34. "Isaiah Rankin". Coludata.co.uk.
35. {{Soccerbase. 10491. Isaiah Rankin
36. "Wayne Brown". Coludata.co.uk.
37. {{Soccerbase. 140. Wayne Brown
38. "Guy Branston". Coludata.co.uk.
39. {{Soccerbase. 10503. Guy Branston
40. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
41. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
42. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
43. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
44. "Colchester Utd 2–1 Rotherham United". Coludata.co.uk.