2007–08 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Ahead of Colchester's largely unexpected second season in the Championship, their star performers Wayne Brown, Jamie Cureton, Richard Garcia, and Chris Iwelumo all left the club citing a "lack of ambition" as their reason for wanting to leave. Cureton left for Norwich City for £750,000, prompting manager Geraint Williams to break the club's record transfer fee twice on the same day by signing Mark Yeates from Tottenham Hotspur and then spending £300,000 on Milton Keynes Dons' forward Clive Platt. The following day, England legend Teddy Sheringham also signed for the club.

Over the summer, Robbie Cowling took over as chairman from Peter Heard, who stepped down after 16 years to become Life President. Cowling instigated a major change at the club by reverting Heard's previous attitude towards not using agents, admitting that if Colchester were to compete then they would have to use agents.

Once a fortress in their first season in the Championship, Layer Road faced its final season hosting Colchester United. Unfortunately, Colchester could muster only four home wins across the season, with their final Layer Road win a 2–0 victory over neighbours Ipswich Town. One of the reasons for the U's struggling was the lack of replacement for Wayne Brown in the centre of defence. While they kept up a good scoring record through Platt and fellow new signing Kevin Lisbie, the defence leaked goals, conceding 86 in the league. Despite early season promise with the U's hovering around mid-table, by Christmas it was apparent they were in a relegation battle.

In the January transfer window, Cowling made funds available to Geraint Williams. He brought in Chris Coyne from Luton Town for another club record fee of £350,000, while Dean Hammond and Philip Ifil were also brought in for six-figure fees. There was a brief turnaround in form in January and early February, but a ten game run without a win including five consecutive defeats left the writing on the wall for the U's.

Colchester could have been relegated from the Championship on 5 April, but the 2–0 win over rivals Ipswich ensured that the U's neighbours would not be the team relegating them. However, the inevitable occurred four days later when, without playing, relegation was confirmed when results went against them. In addition to conceding 86 goals, they kept a clean sheet on just two occasions all season.

On 26 April, Layer Road hosted its final competitive game, just over 70 years since its first. With the move to the Colchester Community Stadium looming in the summer, Colchester played their final home game against Premier League-bound Stoke City, who were 1–0 victors on the day. In spite of the relegation and lowly league position, it was still Colchester's second-best-ever league performance.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £900,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £1,750,000

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Championship

Main article: 2007–08 Football League Championship

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Tonge Platt Connolly Gerken Reid Sheringham Yeates Virgo Gray Lisbie Connolly Zhi Barker Izzet Yeates Platt Vine Lawrence Lisbie Miller Trotter Haynes King Lisbie Baldwin Elokobi Connolly O'Toole Priskin Whittingham Hasselbaink Virgo Stewart Armstrong Carney Jackson St Ledger McIndoe Orr Easter MacLean Sawyer Watson Small Hasselbaink Folan Cureton Dublin Brunt Morrison Bednář Elito Lisbie Fox Ward Doyle Hayes Vernon

Football League Cup

Main article: 2007–08 Football League Cup

FA Cup

Main article: 2007–08 FA Cup

Boyd Lee

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 0–1 Stoke City". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Colchester Utd 1–3 Peterborough United". 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. "Colchester United". FootballSquads.
8. "All Colchester United football club players: 2008". 11v11.com.
9. {{Soccerbase. 46688. Tom Devaux
10. {{Soccerbase. 49099. James Hammond
11. "James Hammond". 11v11.com.
12. "Fabian Batchelor". 11v11.com.
13. "Mark Yeates". Coludata.co.uk.
14. {{Soccerbase. 35004. Mark Yeates
15. "Clive Platt". Coludata.co.uk.
16. {{Soccerbase. 9302. Clive Platt
17. "Teddy Sheringham". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 7239. Teddy Sheringham
19. "Tom Webb". Coludata.co.uk.
20. {{Soccerbase. 46690. Tom Webb
21. "Tom Webb". 11v11.com.
22. "Luke Guttridge". Coludata.co.uk.
23. {{Soccerbase. 18059. Luke Guttridge
24. "Medy Elito". Coludata.co.uk.
25. {{Soccerbase. 46689. Medy Elito
26. "Danny Granville". Coludata.co.uk.
27. {{Soccerbase. 3028. Danny Granville
28. "Kevin Lisbie". Coludata.co.uk.
29. {{Soccerbase. 9744. Kevin Lisbie
30. "Chris Coyne". Coludata.co.uk.
31. {{Soccerbase. 12397. Chris Coyne
32. "Phil Ifil". Coludata.co.uk.
33. {{Soccerbase. 39138. Phil Ifil
34. "Dean Hammond". Coludata.co.uk.
35. {{Soccerbase. 23702. Dean Hammond
36. "Scott Vernon". Coludata.co.uk.
37. {{Soccerbase. 33620. Scott Vernon
38. {{Soccerbase. 9575. Ademola Bankole
39. "Ade Bankole". 11v11.com.
40. "Chris Iwelumo". Coludata.co.uk.
41. {{Soccerbase. 11505. Chris Iwelumo
42. "Robbie King". Coludata.co.uk.
43. {{Soccerbase. 40800. Robbie King
44. "Jamie Cureton (Forward)". Coludata.co.uk.
45. {{Soccerbase. 1843. Jamie Cureton
46. {{Soccerbase. 43390. Craig Hughes
47. "Craig Hughes". 11v11.com.
48. "Marino Keith". Coludata.co.uk.
49. {{Soccerbase. 9392. Marino Keith
50. {{Soccerbase. 43056. Matthew Paine
51. "Matt Paine". 11v11.com.
52. {{Soccerbase. 37203. Lawrie Wilson
53. "Lawrie Wilson". 11v11.com.
54. "Richard Garcia". Coludata.co.uk.
55. {{Soccerbase. 21391. Richard Garcia
56. "Wayne Brown". Coludata.co.uk.
57. {{Soccerbase. 140. Wayne Brown
58. "Garry Richards". Coludata.co.uk.
59. {{Soccerbase. 38763. Garry Richards
60. "15. George Elokobi (Defender)". Coludata.co.uk.
61. {{Soccerbase. 39301. George Elokobi
62. "Matthew Connolly". Coludata.co.uk.
63. {{Soccerbase. 42484. Matthew Connolly
64. "Bela Balogh". Coludata.co.uk.
65. {{Soccerbase. 47492. Bela Balogh
66. "Adam Virgo". Coludata.co.uk.
67. {{Soccerbase. 23053. Adam Virgo
68. "Izale McLeod". Coludata.co.uk.
69. {{Soccerbase. 33408. Izale McLeod
70. "Matt Heath". Coludata.co.uk.
71. {{Soccerbase. 27974. Matt Heath
72. "John White". Coludata.co.uk.
73. {{Soccerbase. 35580. John White
74. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
75. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
76. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
77. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
78. "Sheffield United 2–2 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
79. "Colchester Utd 2–2 Sheffield United". Coludata.co.uk.