2009–10 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Paul Lambert vowed he would have a mass clear out of players over the summer as each player was called in to meet him to discuss their future before May was over. He had identified his transfer targets with chairman Robbie Cowling willing to fund those ambitions. Incoming were Ashley Vincent, following a loan spell last season, as well as Lee Beevers, David Fox, Magnus Okuonghae and Ben Williams, all on permanent deals. Outgoing was Mark Yeates, last season's top scorer, who joined Middlesbrough for £450,000.

Lambert's contracted outcasts were consigned to training with the youth team and denied squad numbers and a place in the squad photo. Chris Coyne left the club to return to his native Australia, while Jamie Guy, Matt Heath, Philip Ifil, Johnnie Jackson, Matt Lockwood and John White were all among those affected by Lambert's managerial tactics. He then brought in Hamilton Academical forward Joël Thomas in a long protracted transfer deal for £125,000.

Three days prior to the season opener against Norwich City, the club announced the signing of former striker Kevin Lisbie on loan from Ipswich Town. He scored twice on his second debut for the club as Colchester thrashed Norwich 7–1 at Carrow Road. A week later, Colchester remained at the top of League One following a 2–1 win over Yeovil Town. Norwich City contacted Robbie Cowling following the game asking to approach Lambert regarding their vacant manager position after they had sacked Bryan Gunn following the U's famous victory. Cowling initially refused, but later relented with Lambert declaring his interest in joining City. Cowling offered Lambert the chance to talk to Norwich on the proviso no offer could be accepted until compensation was discussed and agreed between the two clubs. Compensation was never agreed and Lambert resigned with Colchester due to host Gillingham the same day. Lambert's assistants Ian Culverhouse and Gary Karsa also resigned the day after his appointment at Norwich.

Cowling vowed to take Norwich to a Football League tribunal. In the meantime, former Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd was unveiled on 3 September as Lambert's replacement. He enjoyed a nine game unbeaten run following his appointment, while making the loan signings of Danny Batth, Kayode Odejayi and John-Joe O'Toole. The latter two were then signed on a permanent basis in the January transfer window.

With the Lambert compensation issue still continuing into January, and with the U's set to host Lambert's Norwich in the league, Cowling refused to allocate additional tickets to the travelling Norwich fans for the fixture. Cowling claimed he would prefer the stadium have an empty seat than one occupied by another Norwich City fan. The game itself attracted a record attendance of 10,064, but Norwich gained revenge over the U's, winning 5–0 on the day.

At the end of February, Colchester's form took a negative turn, suffering an eight game winless run and dropped from third place to seventh and outside of the play-off places for only the second time this season. With seven games remaining, Colchester were unable to make a return to the play-off spots and would eventually finish eighth, eight points away from the play-offs, yet a result that was their fourth best-ever league result.

Colchester were eliminated from the League Cup in the first round by Leyton Orient, while Gillingham beat the U's following a penalty shoot-out in the Football League Trophy. In the FA Cup, the U's beat Bromley and Hereford United on their way to the third round, but were heavily beaten 7–0 at Deepdale by Preston North End in the game prior to their 5–0 home defeat by Norwich.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £185,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £850,000

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Pre-season friendly

Vincent McGurk

League One

Main article: 2009–10 Football League One

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Platt Fox Perkins Vernon Vincent Lisbie Carrington Beckford Odejayi Henry Elito Harley Brooke Odejayi Tierney Platt Wordsworth Wordsworth Gillespie Doherty Johnson Holt Prutton Odejayi Wordsworth Kuffour Lines Odejayi Price Taiwo Hughes Wordsworth Prutton Legge MacDonald Harley Batth Wordsworth O'Donovan Prutton Novak

Football League Cup

Main article: 2009–10 Football League Cup

Platt Melligan

Football League Trophy

Main article: 2009–10 Football League Trophy

Report (archived) Miller Palmer Weston McCammon Wordsworth Fox Lockwood Perkins

FA Cup

Main article: 2009–10 FA Cup

Odejayi Platt Gillespie Sedgwick Parkin Williams Carter

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

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

Goalscorers

Disciplinary record

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.

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 0–5 Norwich City". Coludata.co.uk.
2. "Colchester Utd 1–2 Leyton Orient". 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. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
6. "Colchester United". FootballSquads.
7. "All Colchester United football club players: 2010". 11v11.com.
8. "Lee Beevers". Coludata.co.uk.
9. {{Soccerbase. 32338. Lee Beevers
10. "Craig Arnott". 11v11.com.
11. {{Soccerbase. 60450. Craig Arnott
12. "Thomas Bender". Coludata.co.uk.
13. {{Soccerbase. 52335. Tom Bender
14. "David Fox". Coludata.co.uk.
15. {{Soccerbase. 39789. David Fox
16. "Bradley Hamilton". Coludata.co.uk.
17. {{Soccerbase. 54391. Bradley Hamilton
18. "Russell Malton". 11v11.com.
19. {{Soccerbase. 98877. Russell Malton
20. "Magnus Okuonghae". Coludata.co.uk.
21. {{Soccerbase. 44411. Magnus Okuonghae
22. "Ashley Vincent". Coludata.co.uk.
23. {{Soccerbase. 38410. Ashley Vincent
24. "Ben Williams (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
25. {{Soccerbase. 32426. Ben Williams
26. "Joël Thomas". Coludata.co.uk.
27. {{Soccerbase. 49713. Joel Thomas
28. "Gary Holt". 11v11.com.
29. {{Soccerbase. 3587. Gary Holt
30. "Kayode Odejayi". Coludata.co.uk.
31. {{Soccerbase. 19157. Kayode Odejayi
32. "John-Joe O'Toole (Midfielder)". Coludata.co.uk.
33. {{Soccerbase. 47180. John-Joe O'Toole
34. "Ian Henderson". Coludata.co.uk.
35. {{Soccerbase. 29475. Ian Henderson
36. "Morten Knudsen". 11v11.com.
37. {{Soccerbase. 53228. Morten Knudsen
38. "David Prutton". Coludata.co.uk.
39. {{Soccerbase. 17848. David Prutton
40. "Mark Yeates". Coludata.co.uk.
41. {{Soccerbase. 35004. Mark Yeates
42. "Chris Coyne". Coludata.co.uk.
43. {{Soccerbase. 12397. Chris Coyne
44. "Akanni-Sunday Wasiu". Coludata.co.uk.
45. {{Soccerbase. 49514. Akanni-Sunday Wasiu
46. "Dean Gerken". Coludata.co.uk.
47. {{Soccerbase. 33809. Dean Gerken
48. "Johnnie Jackson". Coludata.co.uk.
49. {{Soccerbase. 31170. Johnnie Jackson
50. "Dean Hammond". Coludata.co.uk.
51. {{Soccerbase. 23702. Dean Hammond
52. "Jamie Guy". Coludata.co.uk.
53. {{Soccerbase. 40737. Jamie Guy
54. "Kevin Lisbie". Coludata.co.uk.
55. {{Soccerbase. 9744. Kevin Lisbie
56. "Danny Batth". Coludata.co.uk.
57. {{Soccerbase. 52337. Danny Batth
58. "Josh Payne". Coludata.co.uk.
59. {{Soccerbase. 49997. Josh Payne
60. "Christian Ribeiro". Coludata.co.uk.
61. {{Soccerbase. 46745. Christian Ribeiro
62. "Franck Queudrue". Coludata.co.uk.
63. {{Soccerbase. 20101. Franck Queudrue
64. "Matt Heath". Coludata.co.uk.
65. {{Soccerbase. 27974. Matt Heath
66. "John White". Coludata.co.uk.
67. {{Soccerbase. 35580. John White
68. "David Perkins". Coludata.co.uk.
69. {{Soccerbase. 22779. David Perkins
70. "Matt Lockwood". Coludata.co.uk.
71. {{Soccerbase. 4578. Matt Lockwood
72. "Pat Baldwin". Coludata.co.uk.
73. {{Soccerbase. 28704. Pat Baldwin
74. "Sam Corcoran". Coludata.co.uk.
75. {{Soccerbase. 51316. Sam Corcoran
76. "Sam Corcoran". 11v11.com.
77. "Medy Elito". Coludata.co.uk.
78. {{Soccerbase. 46689. Medy Elito
79. "Simon Hackney". Coludata.co.uk.
80. {{Soccerbase. 40810. Simon Hackney
81. "Simon Hackney". 11v11.com.
82. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
83. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
84. "All matches". Coludata.co.uk.
85. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
86. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
87. "Norwich City 1–7 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
88. "Preston North End 7–0 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
89. "Gillingham 0–0 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
90. "Colchester Utd 2–1 Carlisle United". Coludata.co.uk.