2008–09 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Following relegation from the Championship, Colchester experienced a summer of great change. Club stalwart Karl Duguid left the club to remain in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle, while top scorer Kevin Lisbie joined neighbours Ipswich Town for £600,000. To replace him, Geraint Williams once again broke the club's transfer record, signing Cheltenham Town forward Steven Gillespie for £400,000. Construction on the Colchester Community Stadium had completed and the moving process from Layer Road was underway during the summer months.

The first event to be held at the new stadium was a ramp-up exhibition game against Spanish side Athletic Bilbao on 4 August. Scott Vernon had the honour of scoring Colchester's first goal at their new home as 5,610 witnessed the 2–1 defeat for the U's.

The first ever league fixture came on 16 August when Colchester were held to a 0–0 draw against Huddersfield Town. Mark Yeates was the first competitive goalscorer at the Community Stadium, scoring both goals in a 2–2 draw with Oldham Athletic on 30 August. United couldn't find a win at home, and following a 3–0 defeat at the Stadium by Milton Keynes Dons, Williams was relieved of his duties with a record of one league win from six games and the club in the bottom four.

Assistant manager Kit Symons took charge for four games before Paul Lambert was unveiled as the new Colchester manager in early October. They earned their first home victory of the season on 25 October, a resounding 5–0 win over Carlisle United. Lambert brought in numerous loan players, including Marc Tierney and Jimmy Walker while also signing Alan Maybury.

In December, long-serving Chief Executive Marie Partner left the club as Robbie Cowling shuffled his boardroom, bringing in Steve Bradshaw to the position. Partner had spent over 21 years with the club. Cowling would soon buy out all remaining shares in the club.

The club earned back-to-back wins for the first time in 19 months as they beat Yeovil Town and Northampton Town to set up a run across the New Year of nine games unbeaten. A run of ten wins and four draws from 18 games eventually earned Lambert the January League One Manager of the Month award as the U's rose to seven points off the play-off positions.

Lambert made further late season loan signings by bringing in Karl Hawley, Neal Trotman and Ashley Vincent. However, with the play-offs on the horizon, Colchester's form took a downturn as they lost six of the remaining nine home games, including consecutive defeats in the final four home games. A club record attendance was set on 4 April, when 9,599 witnessed a 1–0 win for Leeds United at the Community Stadium. This was the highest attendance for a home league game since 20 April 1974 in a 2–0 defeat by Gillingham.

Colchester ended the season in 12th position, 13 points off a play-off place. They had endured their worst-ever home season, suffering twelve defeats, while they also enjoyed their best-ever away season, registering eleven victories on the road.

In the cup competitions, Colchester returned to the Football League Trophy by reaching the southern section semi-final, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Luton Town. They were beaten by Ipswich Town 2–1 in the second round of the League Cup at Portman Road, while Leyton Orient won in the first round of the FA Cup.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £500,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £600,000

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

League One

Main article: 2008–09 Football League One

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Boland Jones Vernon Wasiu Smalley Pope Baldock Taylor Shotton Yeates Platt Jackson Owusu Fleetwood Hayles Jackson Platt Robinson Yeates D. Hammond Wasiu Laurent Christophe Yeates Wordsworth Ricketts Boyd Reid Ainsworth Prutton Yeates Vernon Puncheon Gillespie Yeates Finnigan Vernon Rodgers Perkins Deeney Roberts Perkins Robson-Kanu Lansbury Smith Beckwith Yeates

Football League Cup

Main article: 2008–09 Football League Cup

Lisbie

Football League Trophy

Main article: 2008–09 Football League Trophy

FA Cup

Main article: 2008–09 FA Cup

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

Specific

References

1. "Colchester Utd 0–1 Leeds United". Coludata.co.uk.
2. "Colchester Utd 1–0 Stockport County". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
4. Hudson, Matt. (11 August 2013). "The 1990s and 2000s". Colchester United FC.
5. "Colchester Utd 0–1 Leeds United". Coludata.co.uk.
6. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
7. "Colchester United". FootballSquads.
8. "All Colchester United football club players: 2009". 11v11.com.
9. "Matt Heath". Coludata.co.uk.
10. {{Soccerbase. 27974. Matt Heath
11. "Matt Lockwood". Coludata.co.uk.
12. {{Soccerbase. 4578. Matt Lockwood
13. "Paul Reid". Coludata.co.uk.
14. {{Soccerbase. 18282. Paul Reid
15. "Steven Gillespie". Coludata.co.uk.
16. {{Soccerbase. 38527. Steven Gillespie
17. "David Perkins". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 22779. David Perkins
19. "Akanni-Sunday Wasiu". Coludata.co.uk.
20. {{Soccerbase. 49514. Akanni-Sunday Wasiu
21. "Alan Maybury". Coludata.co.uk.
22. {{Soccerbase. 8906. Alan Maybury
23. "Marc Tierney". Coludata.co.uk.
24. {{Soccerbase. 35713. Marc Tierney
25. "Simon Hackney". Coludata.co.uk.
26. {{Soccerbase. 40810. Simon Hackney
27. "Sam Corcoran". Coludata.co.uk.
28. {{Soccerbase. 51316. Sam Corcoran
29. {{Soccerbase. 46688. Tom Devaux
30. "Teddy Sheringham". Coludata.co.uk.
31. {{Soccerbase. 7239. Teddy Sheringham
32. "Aidan Davison (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
33. {{Soccerbase. 1963. Aidan Davison
34. "Kevin McLeod". Coludata.co.uk.
35. {{Soccerbase. 22758. Kevin McLeod
36. "Karl Duguid (Midfielder)". Coludata.co.uk.
37. {{Soccerbase. 2193. Karl Duguid
38. "Ade Bankole". 11v11.com.
39. {{Soccerbase. 9575. Ademola Bankole
40. "Danny Granville". Coludata.co.uk.
41. {{Soccerbase. 3028. Danny Granville
42. "Luke Guttridge". Coludata.co.uk.
43. {{Soccerbase. 18059. Luke Guttridge
44. "Tom Webb". Coludata.co.uk.
45. {{Soccerbase. 46690. Tom Webb
46. "Tom Webb". 11v11.com.
47. "Kevin Lisbie". Coludata.co.uk.
48. {{Soccerbase. 9744. Kevin Lisbie
49. "Kevin Watson". Coludata.co.uk.
50. {{Soccerbase. 8342. Kevin Watson
51. "Fabian Batchelor". Coludata.co.uk.
52. "James Hammond". 11v11.com.
53. {{Soccerbase. 49099. James Hammond
54. "Gary Borrowdale". Coludata.co.uk.
55. {{Soccerbase. 33971. Gary Borrowdale
56. "Sam Williams". Coludata.co.uk.
57. {{Soccerbase. 43360. Sam Williams
58. "Lee Hills". Coludata.co.uk.
59. {{Soccerbase. 47645. Lee Hills
60. "Jermaine Easter". Coludata.co.uk.
61. {{Soccerbase. 24357. Jermaine Easter
62. "Jimmy Walker (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
63. {{Soccerbase. 8237. Jimmy Walker
64. "Lewis Gobern". Coludata.co.uk.
65. {{Soccerbase. 39641. Lewis Gobern
66. "Neal Trotman". Coludata.co.uk.
67. {{Soccerbase. 44591. Neal Trotman
68. "Ashley Vincent". Coludata.co.uk.
69. {{Soccerbase. 38410. Ashley Vincent
70. "Karl Hawley". Coludata.co.uk.
71. {{Soccerbase. 24025. Karl Hawley
72. "Jamie Guy". Coludata.co.uk.
73. {{Soccerbase. 40737. Jamie Guy
74. "Jamie Guy". 11v11.com.
75. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
76. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
77. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
78. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
79. "Gillingham 0–1 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
80. "Bristol Rovers 0–0 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.