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When Saturday Comes #34

Blog written by wessex_exile
Published: 17th April 2022 16:55

[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and our Easter Bank Holiday programme is already underway, following a dismal 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park yesterday. It’s not so much the result that galls, in truth deep down I suspect we all thought it was going to be a difficult trip to get anything out of, it was the manner of that defeat. To say the U’s were lacklustre is a massive understatement – and it wasn’t as if it was down to Exeter City simply outplaying us, I didn’t think they were all that to be honest. I can cope with defeat, heaven knows the U’s have given me enough practice in recent years, but to go down without a whimper, relying on Man of the Match Sham to keep it from becoming a cricket score against an average Exeter City, was just dreadful.


[b]On route to Exeter â€" Taunton, the Jewel in the South West’s Passage[/b]

Heyho, we go again on Easter Monday at home to Bradford City, still looking for the points to mathematically ensure survival. If there’s any positive to take from yesterday, it was despite good wins for both Barrow, smashing table-topping FGR 4-0, and Scunthorpe narrowly beating Rochdale 1-0, Oldham had at least read the script, beaten 2-0 at home by promotion-chasing Northampton. That result preserved the 8pt (plus goal difference) safety cushion we have from relegation, and with only four games to go, Oldham must win three of those four to have any chance of overtaking the U’s (or win 2 and draw 2 and take their chances with goal difference). Barrow and Stevenage aren’t out of the woods yet though, so Oldham’s immediate priority will be closing the 3pt gap and reining in at least one of those two first.

First up for the Latics is a trip to the New Lawn on Monday, to take on an FGR side who will be smarting and keen to avenge that Good Friday capitulation against Barrow. If the U’s beat Bradford City and Oldham fail to win, that’s it, we’re finally officially safe. Then the post-season inquest can begin, to make sure we don’t find ourselves in this situation for a third season running.

[b]TWTWTW[/b]
In a troubling development in the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin has warned the West of “[i]unpredictable consequences[/i]” if the US and allies continue to supply arms to Ukrainian forces. President Zelensky went one step further, openly expressing concerns that the world should be prepared for the possibility that Russia will launch a nuclear strike against Ukraine. However, Kremlin’s warning has also been seen as tacit admission that the supply of arms is actually proving effective, particularly coming on the back of the sinking of the Russian warship [i]Moskva[/i]. Although not admitted by the Russian defence ministry, who claim it was down to a fire on board causing an ammunition magazine to explode, NATO and US officials agree with Ukrainian claims they hit the vessel with two of their Neptune missiles. Badly damaged in the attack, the [i]Moskva[/i] sank whilst being towed back to port. â€" that at least has been admitted by Russia â€" I mean it’s not like they could otherwise explain why a 12,490-tonne warship appears to have gone missing.


[b]”[i]Russian warship â€" go to hell![/i]”[/b]

On the domestic front, yet another difficult week for beleaguered Boris. Earlier in the week it was announced that following the Met Police “partygate” investigation, he, his wife Carrie Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak will all receive fixed-penalty notices for breaking his own Covid rules during lockdown â€" specifically his surprise birthday celebration in June 2019. FPNs are an administrative alternative to prosecution, meaning Boris will avoid having a criminal record (unless of course he’s stupid enough not to pay the fine â€" Downing Street have already confirmed he will pay it). However, political commentators agree he is the first known Prime Minister to have broken the law whilst in office, and certainly the first to receive an FPN. Whilst Prime Minister, Tony Blair was questioned by police (not under caution) over the cash-for-honours allegations, but ultimately the CPS decided there was insufficient evidence against anyone to secure a conviction.

More fines may follow, as he is still being investigated about other Downing Street gatherings that broke the Covid rules in place at the time. A YouGov poll for The Times has revealed that nearly two thirds of Britons believe he should resign if he is issued with more FPN fines. It would appear his own party is already embarking on a damage-limitation exercise of their own following the scandal, airbrushing any mention of the PM from some of the Conservative Party campaign literature for next month’s local elections, particularly the Welsh and Scottish manifestos.

[b]U’s World[/b]
The big news for everyone in the Colchester United bubble, and of little interest to anyone outside it, is the departure of Director of Performance Jon De Souza from the club. Leaked by U’sual supersleuth [b]TheOldOakTree[/b], when he spotted De Souza’s removal from the club’s Companies House listing early yesterday morning, ironically this was prior to that dreadful performance at Exeter City. De Souza was head of the department tasked with improving performances of the U’s teams, players and staff, so surely if he hadn’t gone already, Good Friday would have been the nail in the coffin?

Southend United are holding a testimonial for defender John White on 22nd May at Roots Hall, which obviously Colchester United are delighted to support, along with near rivals Leyton Orient. The day will start with an 1130 kick-off game between a Southend XI and Leyton Orient XI. The big match will of course be when a U’s legend takes to the field against a Southend side, and it is reported that already signed up for this are Sammie Szmodics, Tom Eastman, Freddy Sears, Matt Heath and Anthony Wordsworth. There will be plenty of other activities for families too, music pitch-side etc., and tickets can be purchased here: https://ww2.theticketsellers.co.uk/tickets/rivals-unite-2022/10053666.


[b]U’s legend[/b]

[b]Stat attack[/b]
I was quite surprised that there have only been 37 matches in our past against Monday’s opponents Bradford City, I thought it would have been much more than that. The main reason for this was that between January 1978, when Bobby Robert’s U’s won 2-1 at Valley Parade, and November 2004 when Phil Parkinson gained a 2-2 draw at Layer Road, our paths only crossed once in 1981/82.

Overall our record against the Bantams is pretty good, winning 13, drawing 14 and losing just nine league fixtures, though we haven’t beaten them since doing the double in 2015/16. We did also beat Bradford City 4-3 in the first round of the FA Cup back in November 2010, and our visit to Valley Parade in 2019/20 was one of those matches lost due to the Covid curtailment of the season.

Of course any consideration of stats where Bradford City is concerned would have to include the events of Saturday 30th December 1961, with the U’s winning 9-1 to record their greatest ever league victory, matched only by the FA Cup first round game against Leamington Spa in November 2005. Thanks to the sterling research of [b]pwrightsknees[/b], I have already covered this game in [i]Matches of Yesteryear #38[/i] here: https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/colchesterunited/forum/253299/matches-of-

Many of you know that during my time studying at Bradford University and living in the city throughout most of the 1980s, Bradford kind of become my adopted side when I couldn’t get to U’s matches (which was often being a poor student and/or a non-driver at the time). I won’t deny it, standing on the original massive Kop terrace was quite an experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time doing so.

I was also immensely proud at how the entire Bradford community I was part of, regardless of race, creed or religion, rallied to support those whose lives were irreparably damaged by that dreadful event on 11th May 1985. In a match against Lincoln City which should have been a celebration of promotion, fifty-six supporters (including two of Lincoln City’s) died and at least 265 were injured when the main stand was engulfed in flames.

Through adversity comes strength, and the Bradford Disaster Appeal set up within 48 hours of the disaster eventually raised over £3.5m (which would be £10.8m today) to support the families affected. This fund particularly supported the work of the now internationally renowned Burns Unit which was jointly established by Bradford University and Bradford Royal Infirmary to deal with the hundreds of victims. Burns victims throughout the world have since benefitted from the pioneering work of the Bradford Burns Unit.

Overall, 28 police officers and 22 supporters, all of whom were documented as saving at least one life, received either police commendations or bravery awards. Alongside countless undocumented supporters and officers, they collectively managed to rescue all but one of the supporters who made it to the front of the stand. Player/coach Terry Yorath was injured when forced to jump from a window to escape the flames, having already evacuated supporters from a bar area to save them.

In July 1985 a multi-denominational memorial service was held on the pitch in front of the burnt-out stand and a giant cross made up of two large charred wooden members from the stand. Part of the service was held in Urdu and Punjabi for the local Asian community in Manningham who had opened their homes to Bradford City supporters that afternoon to aid in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

[b]Match of the Day
[i]Manchester United v Aston Villa
Saturday 26th October 2002
Premier League (Tier 1)
Attendance 67,619[/i][/b]

[i]Match of the Day[/i] for this blog, and yep, you’ve read that correctly, the random match selector has picked one of my very few non-U’s bits of memorabilia in my collection, Manchester United’s Premier League home game against Aston Villa. How so I’m sure you’re wondering? Well, back in the day before all of this bribery and corruption nonsense, companies keen to either drum up more business, or just keep hold of commercial relationships they already have, weren’t averse to sweetening the deal at times. Bottles of scotch at Christmas, free tickets for events, that sort of stuff.

This match was one of them. A firm we were doing a lot of business with at the time, who dealt in digital survey equipment got in touch to see if we’d like to come along as their guests to an all-expenses paid afternoon at Old Trafford. I was the primary contact with them at the time, being actively involved in the roll-out of digital survey as a means of capturing preliminary site plans for our investigations. Also, as there were no others involved with quite the emotional commitment I had with football, our Senior Management Team were more than happy to give me the green light.

Our host for the afternoon, a gentleman I’ve done a lot of business with over the years, was also our driver for the day, collecting me and two others (from other companies) on the way north. He was particularly proud of his new-fangled GPS, which he’d paid several thousand for apparently, and which had to be hard-wired into his electrical system in a Heath Robinson ‘bolt-on’ sort of way. For the time, it was very impressive, immediately picking up on a need for route deviation as soon as we drifted onto a service station slip road on the way there.

The day wasn’t just a ticket and a programme either, and we not only had time in the Manchester United shop (not that I wanted anything), but he threw in a 3-course dinner with wine in the Red Café too, and needless to say the seats were the executive padded variety they had there at the time â€" a far cry from the cramped knee crushers we had to endure in the Carabao Cup. Although in truth my interest in the Premier League was, and still is, minimal, I did have one particular vested interest in this game. After six years at Charlton Athletic, at the beginning of this season Mark Kinsella had signed for Aston Villa. Even though my mantra is generally anyone by Manchester United, that was more than enough reason to be a ‘discreet’ Villan that day. Apparently, and we warned about this, rival club colours would not be tolerated in the Red Café, and overtly displayed partisanship may well result in ejection from the executive area, so I had to behave.

The two sides were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson and Graham Taylor, Graham Poll was the referee, and the line-ups were as follows:

At the beginning of the season Manchester United had broken the English transfer record, signing Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United for £29.1m, so I was looking to see what that got you for your money. I was also expecting to see Ryan Giggs as well, and I briefly did pre-match, but he felt a twinge during the warm-up and to be safe was withdrawn as a result. Being nearly 20 years ago, and watching teams I was particularly unfamiliar with, I will have to rely for the most part on match reports and stats I can glean from the internet. Fortunately, unlike for instance U’s games from 20 years ago, there are still plenty of records from this Premier League clash available.

Aston Villa headed into this match still seeking their first away win of the season, and already starting to struggle at the wrong end of the table in 15th place. It hadn’t exactly been a rosy start to the season for Manchester United either and following back-to-back defeats against Bolton Wanderers and Leeds in September, they’d slipped to 10th position. Things had improved since then and going into this game they had climbed back to 4th place, which would mean qualification for the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League if they held on to it. But this was Manchester United, anything less than automatic qualification, preferably as Premier League champions, would be viewed as an abject failure.

However, far from overawed by their illustrious opponents, and following Graham Taylor’s very almost gung-ho attack-minded approach to the game, it was Aston Villa who took the game to their hosts straight from the start. Indeed, if youngster Stefan Moore had bought his shooting boots, Villa could have easily been 2-0 up inside the first 15-20 minutes, shooting wide when he really should have tested Barthez, and a second effort that Barthez did well to save.

Apart from the usual class from Beckham in midfield, who was getting into some entertaining tussles with Kinsella, Manchester United just looked lethargic, not really helped by a massive crowd who rarely seemed to wake up and get behind their team. On 35 minutes Aston Villa got exactly what they deserved. Laurent Blanc tried to be clever, running the ball out along his own goal line, but only managed in poking it our for a corner. Up stepped our man Mark, to float the corner over and straight on to the head of onrushing Mellberg (who Blanc failed to pick up) who powered home a header that Barthez could do nothing about. The packed-out away section went ballistic, silencing the already subdued Old Trafford crowd, and I celebrated with some muted mini fist pumps.

Finally though, this was the wake-up call that Sir Alex’s side needed, with Scholes fizzing a blistering strike just wide, and then Beckham crashing his effort against the crossbar, but it stayed at 1-0 to half-time. Somewhat revitalised by that late rally, and no doubt with Ferguson’s half-time team talk still ringing in their ears, Manchester United came out with the same level of endeavour for the second half.

Now it was very much whether Aston Villa could hold on to their slender lead, rather than doing anything too foolhardy trying to add to it. I didn’t look like they would either, with wave after wave of attacks from Manchester United crashing against their beleaguered defence. Eventually, inevitably, that defence was breached with misfiring Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan rising highest to head home Mikael Silvestre’s cross and level the scores. There were nearly 68,000 in Old Trafford that day, it’s the largest domestic fixture crowd I’ve been part of, and the roar wasn’t just deafening, it hit you in the chest like a wall of sound you more felt than heard â€" quite amazing really.

Manchester United weren’t done either, and with their tails up Ole Gunner Solskjaer looked to have seized all three points for the hosts, but for goalkeeper Peter Enckelman to pull off a miraculous one-handed save late on, which certainly drew the loudest cheer from the visiting supporters in the second half. And that’s how it finished, a 1-1 draw that Aston Villa certainly deserved based on most of the first half, but only just managed to hold on to during the second half â€" but I was happy, particularly as I’d seen Kinsella get the assist.

[b]Manchester United 1 (Diego Forlan 77’) Aston Villa 1 (Olof Mellberg 35’)[/b]

My day was improved no end to discover as we were leaving the ground that the U’s had gained a very credible 1-1 draw at Huddersfield as well, particularly as we were starting to slip down the league table. Not that I knew it at the time, but this was the beginning of the end for Steve Whitton as manager, with Phil Parkinson destined to take over in February.

Although they would only lose three more games that season, it would take until mid-April for Manchester United to get to the top of the Premier League. However, once there no one was budging them, and they eventually finished five points clear of second place Arsenal to win their eighth title in eleven seasons.

Aston Villa had just enough about them to avoid relegation, but only by 3pts. Although Mark had a good first half to the season at Villa Park, he rarely made an appearance in the second half, not helped by a couple of injuries. After only two appearances in 2003/04, he was released mid-season and joined Championship West Bromwich Albion on a short-term contract to the end of the season â€" and a very successful one it was too, with WBA winning promotion back to the Premier League.

Up the U’s!

More blogs by wessex_exile:

Knees-up Mother Brown #24
After another weekend break to spend a very enjoyable afternoon with Spireite Craig watching the U’s get a well-deserved point at runaway leader Mansfield Town, followed by promotion back to the EFL for Chesterfield, the matchday Saturdays left before the end of the season are running out. So, given I’m away again next Saturday again to join 9,000+ for the visit of Planet Hollywood, I’m going to slip in a Good Friday special ahead of what will undoubtedly be two extremely important fixtures in deciding the fate of Colchester United. On Monday the family are arriving for their traditional Easter Egg Hunt (and obligatory roast dinner), so here goes for the visit of t’other Exiles to the JobServe. Come on Col U!
Published: 30th March 2024 13:54
Knees-up Mother Brown #23
Following a disappointing result at Holker Street, exacerbated by yet more poor refereeing to deny us a clear penalty in the first half and award a non-existent free-kick to give the Bluebirds a first half lead (albeit the free-kick was an absolute blinder), and the inevitable postponement of the Donny game on Tuesday, the U’s now find themselves in the relegation zone. It is what it is, and with seven of our remaining 11 games at home, our destiny is still very much in our own hands – but everyone has to do their job, both on and off the (repurposed) pitch.
Published: 17th March 2024 14:35
Knees-up Mother Brown #22
Thanks to a combination of postponements and a trip to Sutton following the U’s, it has been three weeks since the last blog, as the U’s prepare to face a very tricky opponent in Barrow AFC. Since they were voted out of the football league in 1972 (arguably thanks to Ronnie Radford’s screamer against Newcastle in the Edgar Street mud), the Bluebirds spent 48 years in the non-league wilderness before their return following the Covid-19 curtailment to the 2019/20 season. Some are surprised at how well they’re doing this season, but probably shouldn’t be – under new manager Pete Wild they finished a very respectable 9th last season and are clearly aiming to improve on that this time around. Mind you, we’ve got our own new management team in place too, and whilst wins are proving elusive right now, we’re certainly making ourselves a team hard to beat.
Published: 10th March 2024 14:16
Knees-up Mother Brown #20
Bill Shankly once said that form is temporary, class is permanent. He was of course correct, but let’s hope never more so than today’s visit to Wetherby Road to take on the form side of League 2, Harrogate Town. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say the Sulfurites have defied the expectations of most pundits, many tipping them to be in another relegation scrap this season. But, long-standing manager (and former player) Simon Weaver has turned things around, and they currently sit just two places and two points outside the play-offs. Weaver was rightly awarded the Sky Bet League 2 Manager of the Month for January – hope he looks after it, because it’ll be Danny’s soon.
Published: 11th February 2024 14:09
Knees-up Mother Brown #19
February, and the U’s enter the most pivotal month of the season. Six games in just four weeks, with four of them against sides also in the bottom six. By March we should be either well clear of danger, or even deeper in the sh*t. With Danny Cowley’s U’s still unbeaten, and looking stronger game on game, I’m sure it’ll be the former, but first we have to do our bit to consign Steve ‘Sour Grapes’ Cotterill’s FGR back to non-league. After our shambolic 5-0 defeat at New Lawn, nothing would give me greater pleasure, even if it meant losing one of my closest awaydays in the process. What’s the excuse going to be today Steve – shocking pitch, faking head injuries, Mexican banditry or some other bit of sour-grapery bullsh*t?
Published: 4th February 2024 14:18
Knees-up Mother Brown #18
It’s the last Saturday of January, and thanks to a succession of games either not on a Saturday, postponed because of the weather, or me actually being there, this is only the second blog of the New Year. The upside of all that is that Danny and Nicky Cowley have had a full two weeks to continue to work on both the physical and mental agility/ resilience of the U’s squad. It will be interesting to see how they get on against a Morecambe side unbeaten in the league so far this year, their only defeat a 2-0 loss in the FA Cup against Championship side Swansea City. With a game in hand over most above them, and only six points below 7th place, the Shrimps will probably think they still have an outside chance of making the play-offs. I sincerely doubt it, but we’d willingly swap places if we had the chance.
Published: 28th January 2024 14:17
Knees-up Mother Brown #16
After another break from blogging, with the U’s getting last Saturday off thanks to our FA Cup first round departure at Shrewsbury, not that there was too much disgrace from that particular performance, [i]KMB15[/i] returns. Heaven knows though, there’s been precious little to smile about in recent weeks, conceding 11 goals in the last three matches alone. Not counting when he was temporarily stood down as interim Head Coach, this is Matty Etherington’s tenth game in charge, and his future as manager is already hanging by a thread. Ironic therefore that today he goes up against his former club Crawley Town, so here’s hoping the WAGMI-owned club fold as easily as their embarrassingly worthless contract clause claim did.
Published: 14th January 2024 13:57
Knees-up Mother Brown #15
After another break from blogging, with the U’s getting last Saturday off thanks to our FA Cup first round departure at Shrewsbury, not that there was too much disgrace from that particular performance, [i]KMB15[/i] returns. Heaven knows though, there’s been precious little to smile about in recent weeks, conceding 11 goals in the last three matches alone. Not counting when he was temporarily stood down as interim Head Coach, this is Matty Etherington’s tenth game in charge, and his future as manager is already hanging by a thread. Ironic therefore that today he goes up against his former club Crawley Town, so here’s hoping the WAGMI-owned club fold as easily as their embarrassingly worthless contract clause claim did.
Published: 10th December 2023 14:10
Knees-up Mother Brown #14
The blog returns with [i]KMB14[/i], after another awayday last weekend and first visit for me to Edgeley Park to see the U’s pit their wits against the heir apparent champions Stockport County. Despite a stewarding fubar that I’ve probably mentioned more than enough already, it was a good day out overall, with the U’s more than a match for Stockport for most of the game, apart that is from a 90 second lapse in concentration either side of half-time. Certainly no disgrace though, and with the U’s getting straight back on the bike midweek with a comfortable 1-0 victory over League 1 Posh (albeit against largely their second string), I think we can look forward to this afternoon against promotion contenders Barrow with a degree of confidence.
Published: 26th November 2023 14:31
Knees-up Mother Brown #13
[i]KMB13[/i], and this weekend I’m sure we will all, in our own way, pause to remember the fallen. With war again raging in Europe, and the Middle East aflame, I’m sadly reminded of the lyrics of Eric Bogle.
Published: 26th November 2023 10:48
Knees-up Mother Brown #12
It’s a wet, windy first weekend of November, which can mean only one thing – it’s the magic of the FA Cup again! Today we face a trip to the New Meadow, home of League 1 Shrewsbury Town. I’ve never been to the New Meadow, my last trip to Salop was to watch the U’s win 2-1 in our FA Cup second round match at Gay Meadow back in December 2005 – and what a day that was too. That match was featured in [i]Matches of Yesteryear #20[/i], and it was pleasing to see it was the focus of a club interview with Greg Halford last week. There is also something very noteworthy about today – unless my calculations are awry, this will be our 200th appearance in the world’s greatest cup competition.
Published: 5th November 2023 12:42
Knees-up Mother Brown #11
Well, following the U’s has been a bit of a rollercoaster through the last week. Ben Garner’s U’s slumped to a very poor home defeat last Saturday against Harrogate Town, despite taking the lead with a sublime strike from Chay Cooper. Robbie had seen enough, and that evening Ben was let go, with U21 lead coach Matty Etherington announced as the interim Head Coach on Monday. On Tuesday night, Matty Etherington’s U’s put in one hell of a shift, to come away from Grimsby (Cleethorpes – ed.) with all three points and a masterclass from Arthur Read – happy days, could Matty be our man? Well, not right now that’s for sure, after a call to Robbie from Crawley Town yesterday letting him know that apparently Matty is tied up in a contract exit clause from his brief spell at Crawley, seemingly forbidding him from operating in a head coach/ manager role until May 2024 (when his Crawley contract would have expired). So, Matty Etherington is stood down, with Assistant Head Coach Scott Marshall stepping up as our new interim Head Coach for the tough trip to Accrington Stanley.
Published: 29th October 2023 14:34
Knees-up Mother Brown #10
Back again, after another U’s-induced matchday ‘experience’ at FGR, and what an experience it was. What was already a poor match between two poor sides descended into insanity after the red card for Mingi, with the U’s dismantled repeatedly to let four second half goals in. I hardly ever leave a game before the final whistle, but as the board went up for nine more minutes I’d seen enough and me and Alfie headed out for our lift home (and as a result, missed the frank exchange of views between players and supporters at the end). However, let’s focus on the positives, whatever was said, a much changed U’s were a different team on Tuesday at League 1 Cambridge. The U’s thoroughly deserved the win and their Pizza Slice Trophy three points, thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from Chay Cooper.
Published: 22nd October 2023 14:20
Knees-up Mother Brown #10
Back again, after another U’s-induced matchday ‘experience’ at FGR, and what an experience it was. What was already a poor match between two poor sides descended into insanity after the red card for Mingi, with the U’s dismantled repeatedly to let four second half goals in. I hardly ever leave a game before the final whistle, but as the board went up for nine more minutes I’d seen enough and me and Alfie headed out for our lift home (and as a result, missed the frank exchange of views between players and supporters at the end). However, let’s focus on the positives, whatever was said, a much changed U’s were a different team on Tuesday at League 1 Cambridge. The U’s thoroughly deserved the win and their Pizza Slice Trophy three points, thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from Chay Cooper.
Published: 22nd October 2023 14:20
Knees-up Mother Brown #9
So, what have we learned so far this season. Well, clearly when we play against better teams who also like to play the attractive passing game, we’re as good as anyone in this league (I submit as evidence m’lud, Gillingham, Mansfield and Notts County). When we’re up against the gnarlier more ‘traditional’ outfits, who want nothing more than to get in our faces, close us down and bully us, not so much. The trouble is, this league is made up of about 25% of the former and 75% of the latter, so we’re on a hiding to nothing if we don’t put that right and develop some steel (without the needless indiscipline). With absolutely no disrespect to today’s visitors, I suspect Morecambe will be more of the latter today, as will FGR and Harrogate up next, so what better chance to prove our mettle and take all nine points on offer?
Published: 8th October 2023 14:44
Knees-up Mother Brown #7
Another Saturday, and another chance to really see what Garner’s U’s are made of. On the evidence from last weekend, it would seem something very special indeed, other Saturday’s perhaps less so. Okay, so Tranmere weren’t that great, but as has already been said, you can only play the team put out against you, and with 8-9 out of 10 performances all over the pitch it was no surprise that three of the U’s, Goodman, Read and Fevrier were named in the EFL Team of the Week. I do wonder, had we had the chance to beat Swindon on day one, whether our momentum might have been different, but nevertheless we are at least off and running now. Mansfield, however, will be a much sterner test than Tranmere, whose manager Ian Dawes joined a long list that have fallen foul of the losing to Col U curse, getting sacked on Monday morning.
Published: 17th September 2023 14:07
Knees-up Mother Brown #6
The rollercoaster ride that is following the U’s continues, as we wait to see whether it’ll be Dr Jekyll of Gillingham or Mr Hyde of (fill in blank) that turns up at the JobServe today. With back to back home games against Tranmere today and the Scabs next Saturday, never has it been more important to get our season well and truly on track. Six points and a comfortable mid-table slot will do wonders for our confidence, anything less just doesn’t bear thinking about. The least said about Walsall the better, other than to say if we wait until we’ve conceded midway through the second half to actually start playing, that’s not good. What’s even more frustrating is that when we eventually did, we could have easily equalised, and maybe even won that one (albeit that would have been hard on the Saddlers).
Published: 10th September 2023 14:33
Knees-up Mother Brown #5
Now that the euphoria of our stunning 3-0 victory at league leaders Gillingham has begun to subside, Ben Garner’s U’s ready themselves for a back to earth tough trip to the Bescot this afternoon. I’ve been to Walsall many times, some days good, others less so, and this was one definitely on my radar for this season. However, and as already mentioned on the board earlier, even without the train strike going on, with a long day ahead tomorrow (hopefully) finishing off the eagle seat designs, my aching bones decided two longish trips in one weekend was probably asking a bit too much. More on our deadline day transfer activity later, but for now good luck Junior, and I hope it works out well for you at Stoke City.
Published: 3rd September 2023 14:31
Knees-up Mother Brown #4
Well, apart from family birthday celebrations, last weekend was a barren source of amusement. Joe Taylor did at least show any remaining doubters just how important he’s going to be for our 2023/24 season, to net his third and fourth goals of the season. Our defence, however, showed the importance of remaining concentrated (or not) for the entire 100+ minutes of league games these days, gifting Gilbey an 88th minute equaliser, and then Dennis a 90+10’ winner. Sadly, another weak referee muddied the waters, not sending Mo Eisa off for blatant dissent when it could have made all the difference. Apparently, none of the officials saw what everyone else did, but then he still had words with Eisa and the captain about the dissent – what’s the story Mr Brook, either you saw it or you didn’t?
Published: 27th August 2023 14:28
Knees-up Mother Brown #3
Not so much after the Lord Mayor’s show, maybe more the comedy warm-up act beckons, as the U’s take on MK Dongs at the JobServe today, with the Lionesses against Spain to follow in the World Cup final tomorrow morning. The family will be gathering for the game tomorrow, with the dubiously happy coincidence that it also marks my passing of another year on this planet. [b]Durham[/b] has hit several nails on the head in his excellent match preview, not least just how poor we were on Tuesday against the real Dons. But, as [b]RS[/b] has already pointed out, we are only two games into the season, could have beaten Championship Cardiff City, and should have had at least a point against Bradford City, so not quite time to break out the Leonard Cohen albums just yet.
Published: 20th August 2023 13:52
Knees-up Mother Brown #2
I must confess, with the Lionesses’ World Cup quarter-final welcome distraction this morning, and given last Saturday’s false start to our league campaign, I was sorely tempted to just recycle last weekend’s [i]Knees-up Mother Brown[/i]. However, me and the boy’s midweek trip to Cardiff, along with the other 319 brave souls, has filled me with positivity, so here goes. It may be abbreviated to a degree, depends probably on how much of a distraction the Lionesses prove to be.
Published: 13th August 2023 14:09
Knees-up Mother Brown #1
Here we go then, another season and another blog, as Ben Garner’s U’s prepare to embark on their 82nd season as a football league club. Surely this is the best day to be a football supporter – a day full of hopes, dreams and aspirations, a day when clubs cement their ambition for the hallowed ground of (at least) the play-offs. We’ve had a very solid positive pre-season, some new faces have joined, some more are still anticipated, and as [b]Durham[/b] has already highlighted in his excellent review, the ’will he won’t he’ saga of Junior Tchamadeu continues to rumble on. This season for once feels different, there’s an air of positivity and believe pervading not just the squad but the fanbase too, the club is working hard to reengage with the supporters and under Ben Garner we have a manager who really does look to be on the verge of Col U greatness.
Published: 6th August 2023 14:20
The U'sual Ramblings #34
In the words of Frank Sinatra (or actually Paul Anka) “[i]and now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain[/i]”, as [i]The U’sual Ramblings #34[/i] brings the season to a close. Despite the frustration of the actual result last Saturday at the Keepmoat (take a bow Mr Sunny Sukhvir Gill and your powderpuff linesmen), our season is finishing on a very positive note overall – certainly considerably more positive than it could have been. First and foremost Ben Garner is making the U’s very difficult to defeat, or even just score against. Latterly, we seem to be starting to get things right at the other end too (let’s face it, we should have scored at least three last weekend). On Monday, Mansfield have to go for it if they are to have any chance of making the play-offs, which with our solid defence, pace in midfield and strength in attack should make for an entertaining game in front what will probably be our largest home crowd of the season.
Published: 7th May 2023 20:54
The U'sual Ramblings #33
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #33[/i] and following a battling point away at Creepy Crawley, the U’s are on the brink of League 2 survival, only needing to match whatever Hartlepool do at home to the aforementioned Creepies to ensure league football next season (though hindsight will probably show we were safe on Easter Monday after the demolition of Crewe). Mathematical safety with only two games to go is hardly something to crow about I grant you, but given we’re on a seven game unbeaten run, three clean sheets in a row and proving ourselves a very difficult team to beat, it bodes well under Ben Garner’s guidance for next season. Whisper it, but with today’s opponents 22nd in the League 2 form table, and next Saturday’s opponents Doncaster Rovers rock bottom in 24th place, two more victories might even see Ben nominated for the Manager of the Month award?
Published: 25th April 2023 21:41
The U'sual Ramblings #32
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #32[/i] sees the U’s face another tricky match, traveling to the North West for a game against the Class of ’92 playthings, Salford City. It must grate on the Ammies that their nouveau riche top spot has been usurped by the Hollywood Dragons, but given they are pushing for promotion to League 1 and Wrexham have yet to escape the National League, maybe not that much? However, given recent results, particularly against teams better placed than Salford City, the U’s will be full of confidence that we can get something from this game. With the four teams below us all having potentially winnable games this afternoon, and our crucial visit to Crawley up next, these next few days look like they’re going to be a defining moment in our bid to avoid relegation.
Published: 16th April 2023 14:26
The U'sual Ramblings #31
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #31[/i], and first off Happy Easter to one and all, and I hope the Easter Bunny rewards you with way too much chocolate this Bank Holiday weekend and the U’s with a long overdue three points tomorrow. Travelling over to promotion-chasing Stevenage on Good Friday, there was no time for a pre-match blog, so this will have to cover both games over the Easter weekend. More on the Good Friday game later but suffice to say I doubt many realistically expected much from the trip to Broadhall Way, so the well-deserved point was a welcome bonus. Pity about results around us, but we can’t do anything about that, just play the teams in front of us.
Published: 10th April 2023 18:54
The U'sual Ramblings #30
So it’s April Fool’s day for [i]The U’sual Ramblings #30[/i], but please don’t expect anything seasonally appropriate, because right now where we are is no joke at all. Yes, I still have confidence we’ll have enough about us to avoid the drop – the matches are fast running out, and with three teams still below us, we ought to get through this season relatively unscathed. That will give Ben Garner the summer to work on and strengthen his squad to be able to adapt to the tactics he wants going forward. There you go, as April Fool’s jokes go, that’s about as far as I can take it for now 😊.
Published: 2nd April 2023 14:39
The U'sual Ramblings #29
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #29[/i], and still Ben Garner is looking for his first victory as U’s Head Coach. One might argue he really should have had it at Valley Parade on his debut, but two late goals denied him even a point. Ironically, two late goals at Brisbane Road last Saturday earned the U’s the point that at a minimum they deserved, and that really did feel like a victory in that context. Sadly, some of the gloss was taken off of that sensational comeback by moronic chants about the late Justin Edinburgh from a tiny minority of U’s supporters. I’m not sure the club will ever be able to positively identify the culprits and give them the bans they deserve, but when your club hits national headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s a(nother) black day for Colchester United Football Club.
Published: 26th March 2023 15:15
The U'sual Ramblings #29
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #29[/i], and still Ben Garner is looking for his first victory as U’s Head Coach. One might argue he really should have had it at Valley Parade on his debut, but two late goals denied him even a point. Ironically, two late goals at Brisbane Road last Saturday earned the U’s the point that at a minimum they deserved, and that really did feel like a victory in that context. Sadly, some of the gloss was taken off of that sensational comeback by moronic chants about the late Justin Edinburgh from a tiny minority of U’s supporters. I’m not sure the club will ever be able to positively identify the culprits and give them the bans they deserve, but when your club hits national headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s a(nother) black day for Colchester United Football Club.
Published: 26th March 2023 14:45
The U'sual Ramblings #28
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #28[/i], and this is one I didn’t expect to be writing. I had hoped by now I’d already be on the first leg of a trip up to that London village for the U’s at Brisbane Road. But, as has often been the case this season, train strikes made that journey impossible. I could have got there, but with the last train back leaving Paddington just after 4.30pm, not got home – not unless I was content to watch the first half only, and even that would have been a tight call. Still, I guess if strikes weren’t an inconvenience, nobody would bother with them. The good news is that with unions currently voting on an improved offer (polls close on Monday), hopefully the industrial action is drawing to a close?
Published: 19th March 2023 14:20
The U'sual Ramblings #27
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #27[/i] arrives on the morning of Ben Garner’s debut home game as Head Coach of Colchester United Football Club. During the week Ben added a number of faces to his backroom staff, but more on that later. We face, in Stockport County, yet another a very difficult fixture in a run of what have been very difficult fixtures, and they keep coming too, with the U’s away at runaway leaders Leyton Orient next up. Although points have been a rare commodity for the last few weeks, still we maintain a reasonably healthy nine point safety margin from the dreaded non-league trapdoor, and with those below us slowly using up their games in hand. We can certainly take heart from the performance at Valley Parade, if not the result. But then again, as has been mentioned already, the three points Tom Eastman snatched from the Bantams back in August probably wasn’t deserved, just as their three points last Saturday wasn’t deserved, so maybe honours even?
Published: 12th March 2023 14:39
The U'sual Ramblings #26
The morning of [i]The U’sual Ramblings #26[/i], and we bid a warm welcome to Ben Garner as the new Head Coach of Colchester United Football Club. Including the infamous Ron Meades, Ben is the 54th manager in charge of the U’s, and the 44th different person to hold that role since the glory days of Ted Davis got the ball-rolling before the war. Ted Davis is still the most successful U’s manager (using the points per game metric) in our history, if you don’t count Steve Foley’s single caretaker manager win between Mike Walker and Roger Brown. It might be a tall order to expect Ben to challenge Ted’s record but given since Aidy Boothroyd we’ve struggled to find a manager who challenged even getting into the top half of the PPG rankings, I’m confident Ben Garner will at least do that. Not unreasonably, given his appointment was only announced on Thursday, today he will adopt a watching brief, whilst Ross prepares the team for the tough trip to Valley Parade.
Published: 5th March 2023 14:40
The U'sual Ramblings #25
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #25[/i], and the U’s find themselves temporarily managerless, after the sudden departure of Matt Bloomfield, assistant Richard Thomas and goalkeeping coach Lee Harrison back to Wycombe Wanderers. Ross Embleton has been placed in charge as interim Head Coach whilst the club look for a replacement, and Ross has sent out a very strong message that he’s very much considering this his opportunity to show he’s the man for the job. In an interview with the Gazette, Ross said “[i]We need to stick together – that’s what we’ve called upon here of the squad, of the staff, of everybody at the club. We need to go about it in the right manner and support each other and the biggest focus is no bigger than the weekend. Let’s all make some noise and you’ll get passion, enthusiasm and energy from me[/i]”.
Published: 26th February 2023 14:18
The U'sual Ramblings #24
For [i]The U’sual Ramblings #24[/i] the imperious U’s away victory run faces its sternest challenge to date, on the long 315 mile road trip north to promotion chasing Carlisle United…and that’s if the supporters and team take the shorter A1 route, if they opt for the M6 it’s 344 miles, but either way easily our longest journey this season, or indeed any season for that matter when the two CUFCs are in the same league. I think the second furthest destination we’ve ever played a competitive match is none other then Bedlington Terriers, but don’t let that put you off.
Published: 19th February 2023 16:27
The U'sual Ramblings #23
Here we are then, with [i]The U’sual Ramblings #23[/i] finding the U’s on a rare Saturday afternoon trip to Cleethorpes. This follows a(nother) ‘never say die’ fightback against promotion hopefuls Barrow after substitute Kwesi Appiah slotted home the equaliser in the 96th minute. Yes we could dwell on the what might have beens – if Noah had caught the ball sweeter early on, if Tom’s header had been a fraction more to the right and bounced in off the post, if Big John had just gone for raw power from the spot, if Tom had been more clinical with his one-on-one – but that’s football I suppose. What I am certain of, not that long ago we would have lost that game, and it’s testament to the self-belief that Matt Bloomfield has instilled in the squad that this time we didn’t.
Published: 12th February 2023 14:42
The U'sual Ramblings #22
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #22[/i] finds the U’s anticipating the visit of Barrow AFC to the JobServe, on the back of a gritty, sometimes gnarly performance at Hartlepool, which saw the U’s come home victorious with a 2-1 win. Kels picked up his second in two games early on, and just when I thought we’d have to settle for a point following Sterry’s late equaliser, Matt thought different, sending on Ashley and Newby, and with two minutes to go Newby bundled the ball home (apparently off the boot of hero to zero Sterry) to take the points. Yes, there was an element of luck about the winner, but in this game you make your own luck, and we wouldn’t have scored if we hadn’t been up there trying to score in the first place...if that makes sense?
Published: 5th February 2023 14:56
The U'sual Ramblings #21
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #21[/i], and I’m back after a break last weekend to fit in a trip to Essex. Not the result I was hoping for, but it was still great to catch up with family and friends. I often reflect that as an exile usually restricted to reachable away games in the general vicinity (and occasionally far from the general vicinity), I often travel more in hope than expectation. On Saturday the expectation let me down, but my faith was restored by a stirring battling 1-1 midweek performance against promotion hopefuls Salford City, including in a five minute spell leading up to Kel’s excellent equaliser, some of the best football I’ve seen the U’s play for many years. More of the same please U’s!
Published: 29th January 2023 14:35
The U'sual Ramblings #20
Twenty up for [i]The U’sual Ramblings #20[/i] and we don’t even know yet if we’ll have a game this afternoon at Rochdale or not. The referee deemed the surface unplayable at 9am, and will carry out another inspection at midday, by which time I’d imagine a large proportion of our Essex-based support (including two CUSA coaches) will probably be virtually there. Late calls like this are never good for travelling supporters, but unfortunately they happen sometimes to a sport that is largely played in the autumn and winter seasons. Yes, a postponement will give Matt B even longer to work with his new signings on the training ground, but I’m certain we’d all prefer the momentum currently carrying the U’s along was maintained and the match goes ahead – fingers crossed.
Published: 14th January 2023 14:50
The U'sual Ramblings #19
Here we go then, 6pts from 9 over the festive period, and as commented elsewhere, unbeaten in 2023, and the U’s travel to Harrogate with considerable hope that the progress will be maintained. [i]The U’sual Ramblings #18[/i] arrives with a flurry of activity for the U’s in the transfer market, with Matty Bloomfield clearly starting to model a team of his own design. More on those later, but it remains to be seen how many of the new arrivals make at least the bench, or even a start at Wetherby Road. This blog will be a little shorter than usual due to ongoing family matters.
Published: 8th January 2023 14:25
The U'sual Ramblings #18
Happy New Year everyone! [i]The U’sual Ramblings #18[/i] arrives on the first day of 2023, which I’m sure we all agree will hopefully be a significant improvement for the U’s than the departing 2022. This time last year the U’s were 20th with 22 points, today we’re 22nd on 17 points – not exactly progress by any measure. A disastrous January 2022 saw the departure of Hayden Mullins, with Wayne Brown taking over and eventually steering the U’s to 15th place in the league. Whilst I have every faith in Matt Bloomfield, and heaven knows we could do with some managerial stability right now, these spirited performances that end with nothing (like Boxing Day) really must come to an end. A key component of that will undoubtedly have to be our transfer window activity, so fingers crossed.
Published: 2nd January 2023 14:53
The U'sual Ramblings #17
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #17[/i], and my opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and equally a healthy, wealthy and Happy New Year. It’s been over a fortnight since our narrow defeat at Sutton United, during which time we’ve learned that Alan Judge is now out for at least a year after suffering a triple ligament rupture in his left knee, with the anterior, posterior and medial ligaments all damaged. At his age, whether we see Judgey in a U’s shirt again remains to be seen, but I would like to think so and wish him a speedy recovery. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Ossama Ashley picked up his second yellow early in the second half at Gander Green Lane and won’t be available for tomorrow’s trip to the Priestfield.
Published: 2nd January 2023 14:52
The U'sual Ramblings #16
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #16[/i], and here we are with the last U’s awayday before Christmas. Not just a chance to dig out the Santa hats and tinsel, but with a game at relatively local South Londoners Sutton United promising a decent following. Sadly though, with England playing France in the World Cup quarter-finals at 7pm, and no one appearing to want to move the kick-off to 1pm, it looks like barely a handful will be making the journey to Gander Green Lane. I hope I’m wrong, but as already mentioned, I sadly won’t be one of the travelling few either. Touching briefly on yesterday’s World Cup events, for one beautiful moment it seriously looked like both Brazil and Argentina would be leaving the competition, following a marvellous display of League 2 hoofball from the Dutch, but La Albiceleste squeezed through on penalties.
Published: 11th December 2022 14:36
The U'sual Ramblings #15
Crikey, two weeks away from blogging on the road following the U’s, and then another break thanks to our traditional FA Cup 2nd Round Christmas shopping break last weekend, and it feels a little odd to be sitting down writing another blog. On top of which, over the last two weeks we’ve been bombarded with wall-to-wall World Cup football two or three times a day, makes me feel like I’ve been vaguely unfaithful to my first love – don’t worry U’s, it’s just a bit of FIFA-curious, nothing serious. And so, when Saturday comes this weekend [i]The U’sual Ramblings #15[/i] returns with a tough trip to Mansfield for Colchester United. Much as I might be interested in the outcome of Netherlands v USA this afternoon (come on Holland!), there’ll be absolutely no doubt I’ll be taking full advantage of the IFollow live stream from Field Mill. Safe travelling for the faithful (including our very own [b]Durham[/b], [b]Noah[/b], [b]Gerry[/b] and [b]Witham[/b]).
Published: 3rd December 2022 14:07
The U'sual Ramblings #14
When Saturday comes, and after a two-week furlough despairingly following the U’s, [i]The U’sual Ramblings #14[/i] is back. I’m not going to dwell on the last two performances, one much improved, one much less so, but suffice to say the U’s have failed in my demand to be off the foot of the league and still in the FA Cup. Heyho, no one was ever relegated in November, and our most likely path to Wembley via the Pizza Slice Goblet is still open, so hope springs eternal. Despite my reservations about Qatar being a suitable venue for the World Cup (on human rights and weather grounds) I will be dialling in when I can to watch England, and yesterday also joined a work sweepstake. Typically, given my fortunes following the U’s right now, I drew Morocco ☹
Published: 20th November 2022 17:43
The U'sual Ramblings #13
When Saturday comes, and will it be unlucky [i]The U’sual Ramblings #13[/i]? To be honest, I’m not certain our luck could actually get any worse right now, so fingers crossed that Madame Chance is having a counter-intuitive day for once. Last Saturday my awayday to South Wales was blessed with (mostly) fair weather, trouble-free train journeys, excellent company, but sadly let down massively by another poor performance on the pitch. Pity the U’s couldn’t match the effort of the 193 Faithful who made the journey, the lad on the platform post-match with a bloody nose put up more of a fight than they did.
Published: 29th October 2022 23:08
The U'sual Ramblings #12
Good evening pop-pickers, and here we are again, another football weekend beckons, and for the second in a row I find myself Jack Kerouac following the mighty U’s (hence the early post). Only this weekend I’m going international, as the U’s head for the murky delights of South Wales, [i]The U’sual Ramblings #11[/i] coinciding with a trip for this exile to the Exiles in Newport. It won’t be the last visit this season either, after Alan Smith and Dion Dublin conspired to ensure a spectacularly underwhelming FA Cup 1st round visit to Rodney Parade next month as well. Although I’ll take 3pts over a cup run right now, ask me again in a fortnight when there’s a £41k winning bonus up for grabs.
Published: 21st October 2022 20:51
The U'sual Ramblings #11
It’s Saturday morning, again, the sun is out, again, and [i]The U’sual Ramblings #11[/i] coincides with another of my frequent trips to the County Ground this afternoon. As a result, I’m up and at it a little earlier today, and depending how time goes, this may be a slightly shorter then usual blog if me and the boy are to get to the match in time. Not that we won’t travel with significant hope, after a very good performance on Tuesday at Gillingham that saw the U’s finish top of their EFL Trophy group, and a guaranteed home leg in the second round thrown in for good measure. I’m not certain when the draw will be made, most sides in the competition have still to play their third group matches, but the second round will start w/c 21st November.
Published: 15th October 2022 12:48
The U'sual Ramblings #10
It’s Saturday morning, the sun is out, and [i]The U’sual Ramblings #10[/i] comes to you on the back of an uplifting midweek 2-1 victory over League 1 opposition Charlton Athletic in the Papa John’s Trophy. Barring a calamitous collapse at Gillingham next week, the U’s are surely through to the next round already. Matt Bloomfield rung the changes for this game, so by my estimation he’s now seen 24 of our 40-man squad in action, and most of the rest are either the nippers or injured. I would imagine he’s probably now got a much better idea of his starting XI, and based on Tuesday’s game, surely that must at the very least include Hornby and Eastman?
Published: 9th October 2022 14:15
The U'sual Ramblings #8
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #8[/i] arrives following a significant development at Colchester United. After a dismal performance last Saturday, with the utterly ineffectual U’s losing 1-0 at home to a well-marshalled but otherwise distinctly average Grimsby Town, Robbie had seen enough. Often accused of acting too late, no one could accuse him of that this time, with Wayne Brown relieved of his duties the following day. I for one thought, after Brown turned things around second half of last season, that we’d push on from there. Sadly not, and despite several very positive looking signings over the summer, Brown’s tactics appeared to be through as much spaghetti at the wall and see if any stuck. Very little did unfortunately, and whilst I thank Wayne Brown for his efforts whilst manager (for the 3rd time of asking), it was absolutely the right decision.
Published: 1st October 2022 20:28
The U'sual Ramblings #9
After a week or so of press speculation, bookmakers swinging every which way in the wind, and countless ITK rumours circulating, [i]The U’sual Ramblings #9[/i] comes on the day the identity of our new manager was finally revealed. Take a bow Matt Bloomfield, welcome to Colchester United, and I hope this proves to be a very successful step in a long and distinguished managerial career. As I write this blog early, tomorrow Alfie and I will be on the road to Plough Lane to cheer on Matt Bloomfield’s Blue ‘n’ White Army, the U’s have yet to release the news, so I am relying on the official press release from Wycombe Wanderers as my source – I can’t imagine it’s just an elaborate hoax by the Chairboys?
Published: 1st October 2022 19:27
The U'sual Ramblings #7
The U’s return to a Saturday football league match today, after the cancellation of all fixtures last weekend following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. As a result, [i]The U’sual Ramblings #7[/i] returns after a two-week break, which for yours truly was just as well, as a trip to London last Saturday meant I wouldn’t have been able to blog even if there had been a game. On Monday we have a Bank Holiday for the Queen’s funeral, to allow the nation to mourn her passing. For me, it'll be a much more important day, as it’s also the day my beautiful boy becomes a man.
Published: 17th September 2022 13:41
The U'sual Ramblings #6
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #6[/i], and today if nothing else we can bid farewell to Awful August, and usher in Splendid September. Leaving aside our ongoing injury crisis, poor tactics, poor team selections, poor individual performances and poor team performances, we can’t also deny that on paper at least that was a tough set of fixtures to open the season with. I’m not condoning what went on, but in some regards, coming out of it with 4 pts and not in the relegation zone is almost a bonus. Looking forward, what with some exceptional signings late in the transfer window, and the chance to turn a corner at home against a Hartlepool United side fairing even worse than the U’s, I’ve never been more hopeful that the U’s will start to progress up through the table.
Published: 3rd September 2022 13:51
The U'sual Ramblings #5
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #5[/i] arrives on the day of a tough looking trip to Prenton Park. Normally, I wouldn’t if I’m honest expect too much from today, but I think the U’s can take considerable encouragement from their battling performance against Premier League Brentford. No, we didn’t win, and yes there were still one or two uncertain performances in the squad, but overall it was a much improved U’s compared to the lacklustre Orient game (yeah, thanks for the birthday present U’s – hope you kept the receipt). Even better to see the return of Tom Dallison, who will be a huge asset for the rest of the season, if we can keep him out of the treatment room.
Published: 27th August 2022 14:18
The U'sual Ramblings #4
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #4[/i] comes on a very special day, for me at least, as I finally enter my 7th decade on the third rock from the sun. It has been a somewhat extended celebration, with the big party with family and friends last Sunday at a popular watering hole in Salisbury. That was mainly because this weekend I have the pleasure of Reggie (and Alfie) keeping me company, and Reggie bless him even entered the spirit of the occasion and gave me a lie-in this morning. Kind of anyway, he was shouting at me to get up at 7am, but after stern resistance he relented and snuggled in for another hour or so. So, as much as it will be possible, today’s blog is going to be August 20th themed.
Published: 20th August 2022 13:24
The U'sual Ramblings #3
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #3[/i] comes on the back of an imperious victory at Portman Road, our first there since 13th October 1951, when Jimmy Allen’s U’s won 2-0 courtesy of second half goals from Vic Keeble and Fred Cutting in front of 19,275. This was back in the old Division Three South days, and the U’s would finish the season 10th, with our Suffolk neighbours down in lowly 17th place. Needless to say, some of the gloss of Tuesday’s backs to the wall defensive masterclass was tarnished by the behaviour of a mindless minority in the away end, though the CUFC Police twitter account has since confirmed these were not regular day in day out supporters of Colchester United. Let’s hope investigations identify the culprits, and that they never darken our doorstep again. Our reward is a second round home tie against Premier League Brentford, and whilst it won’t be on the TV, assuming Brentford sell out their 2,000 allocation, it should be a decent crowd and an excellent atmosphere at the JobServe.
Published: 13th August 2022 13:14
The U'sual Ramblings #2
[i]The U’sual Ramblings #2[/i], and the U’s first home match of the season. Much has been written on our narrow defeat away at Northampton Town last Saturday, not least that if they are the yard-stick for promotion contenders, we can take plenty of credit (and hope) from most of our performance, which really should have earned a point. However, we’ve seen these false dawns before – remember away at Notts County, and at Bradford, in recent years, where we thought we were playing contenders, and they turned out to be whipping boys for most of the season. Still, I don’t expect that of Northampton, so stout hearts faithful…and wasn’t it great seeing Nouble bombing down the wing doing what he does best again!
Published: 6th August 2022 13:44
The U'sual Rambling #1
Here we go folks, are we ready for another rollercoaster of joy and dismay? Right now, I’ll probably take an even mix of both if it guarantees a solid midtable finish, but why stop at that. I agree with [b]Durham[/b] in his excellent match review, given how well we finished the second half of the season, ignore the bookies perennial struggler tag – we can do this! For the new season, the blog has slightly metamorphosed into [i]The U’sual Rambling[/i], though largely the same format as last season, albeit perhaps less labour-intensive in content. In my case, pertinent for Saturday given I am missing the opener at Sixfields to dog-sit the beautiful (and high maintenance, super ridiculous, energetic etc.) border collie Reggie.
Published: 30th July 2022 12:51
When Monday Comes #37
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and we reach the end of a topsy-turvy season, much of which hasn’t been that much fun if I’m honest, though latterly considerably improved under Wayne Brown. If I can, I always like to do the first and last game of the season, but sadly a trip to Hartlepool just wasn’t on the cards, not if I actually wanted to get home again tonight, so I had to console myself with a pretty enjoyable trip to the JobServe last weekend – not quite the victory the U’s deserved over Walsall, but a great day out anyway. I know it’ll be too late for the Player of the Year awards, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a Freddie Sears hat-trick this afternoon to round off the season.
Published: 8th May 2022 14:17
When Saturday Comes #36
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] tomorrow, and I will be on a train heading over to God’s own county for my last U’s game of the season. That should have been last Friday’s trip to the Principality, but as posted elsewhere I was more than happy to be pre-booked to dog-sit Emma’s collie Reggie that night and had to be content with one of Nadine’s ‘downstreams’ on iFollow. Given both the performance and the result, whilst I was sorry to miss it in person, I was more than happy with how Friday night turned out in the end. Tomorrow will be a gathering of the clans for us, with at the last count at least 8, possibly more, of the family gathering for the match. Ironically, I’ll see them all again on Bank Holiday Monday for a family birthday, but I’ll be driving over for that one.
Published: 30th April 2022 21:26
When Saturday Comes #35
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and the U’s have already given us a fantastic start to the weekend, with a stirring and well-deserved 2-1 victory at promotion-chasing Newport County. Yes, the Exiles had lost the previous three at home and are looking like they are going to bottle their chance for the play-offs, and yes with the U’s now safe technically we had little to play for, but don’t take anything away from this performance. If Wayne Brown is still being ‘interviewed’ for the full-time role as Colchester United manager, then last night was the equivalent of having an excellent incisive question of your own lined up for the interview panel.
Published: 24th April 2022 15:31
When Saturday Comes #33
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and there was a time, not too long ago, when today’s game against the charmless Steve Evans and Stevenage was looking like it might be a relegation 6-pointer. Whilst we’re not out of the woods quite yet, back-to-back victories over Tranmere Rovers and Harrogate mean we go into this game knowing even if we were to slip up against Stevenage, we’ll still be 8pts plus goal difference ahead of them, and only five games left to play. Still, let’s not dwell on negatives, because three wins on the bounce will be the confidence-booster we’ll need ahead of the tough trip on Good Friday to St James’ Park.
Published: 10th April 2022 14:32
When Saturday Comes #32
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and the U’s face the longish trip to Harrogate Town for only the second time in our history – let’s hope the journey is more fruitful than our 3-0 defeat on our first visit last March. On the back of our stirring 1-0 victory over promotion chasing Tranmere Rovers, not least Junior Tchamadeu’s blistering injury time winner, we can be at least hopeful for a better return this time. Moreso considering our two previous 1-0 defeats were also against promotion contenders Bristol Rovers and league leaders FGR, with the U’s unlucky not to have got points in both of them.
Published: 3rd April 2022 14:25
When Saturday Comes #31
After the excitement of our televised game against FGR on Monday night, and all the positive attention we’ve received as a result of Robbie making it our “Game for Ukraine” fundraiser, [i]When Saturday Comes[/i] comes back down to earth with a bump against promotion-chasing Tranmere Rovers. Despite the disappointing 1-0 defeat on Monday night, I guess we can at least take a small positive that if FGR are currently the best team in our league, we for the most part matched them on the pitch. Again we’re left cursing our luck, particularly when Junior’s late effort struck the base of the post rather than squeezing in to give us the point I felt we deserved – but I’ve said before, when you’re at the wrong end of the table, luck has a tendency to go walkies.
Published: 26th March 2022 18:03
When Monday Comes #30
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] came and went without a match for the U’s, so it’s [i]When Monday Comes[/i] for this blog. No surprise to anyone really, given the build-up that tonight’s televised “[i]Game for Ukraine[/i] against table-topping Forest Green Rovers has been receiving. Well, I say table-topping, and they still are, but I suspect way back when Sky chose this game for broadcast they were probably thinking it might have been the match that clinched promotion for FGR? Since then, their form has absolutely tanked, their last win was eight games ago at home to Rochdale, and their unassailable 16-point gap from having to worry about the lottery of the play-offs has been whittled away to just [b][u]six[/b][/u] points, with the chasing pack closing in fast.
Published: 22nd March 2022 17:33
When Saturday Comes #29
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and the U’s face a vital game against the current worst side in the Football League, Scunthorpe United, at Glanford Park. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is one of those ‘6-pointers’, because frankly I think Scunnie look doomed already – nine points adrift of safety, ten really when you consider their dreadful -35 goal difference, and just two points from their last 15 available. But, any sign of complacency will be our downfall – the U’s must build on their stirring victory over promotion hopefuls Port Vale and put further distance between ourselves and the relegation zone.
Published: 13th March 2022 13:52
When Saturday Comes #28
So here we are, [i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and the must-win three home games left is now just one, and probably the trickiest of the set too, at home against promotion-chasing Port Vale. As demoralising as it was to succumb to an injury-time equaliser against the O’s, it was at least a slightly improved performance, certainly worthy of 3pts most days. Still, it is what it is, so we find ourselves yet again desperate for points, and more so still looking for our next morale-boosting home win.
Published: 6th March 2022 14:47
When Saturday Comes #27
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] and our must-win four home games are now whittled down to three, following a thoroughly dispiriting 2-1 home defeat to Hartlepool on Tuesday night. As ever, when your down on your luck nothing ever seems to go your way, and Coxe’s jinking run into the box really deserved more than the goal kick eventually awarded. After beating the ‘keeper at the near post, if the ball had struck the base of the post a fraction firmer it would have been a tap-in for Sears, a fraction slighter and it glances/ spins in, but exactly at the point it did hit, it spins across the face of goal and out for the goal-kick. Just to say too, probably one of the best performances I’ve seen for Coxe too.
Published: 27th February 2022 13:06
When Saturday Comes #26
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] the country finds itself mopping after, in rapid succession Storm Dudley (can anyone say that without using a Brummie accent?) and particularly Storm Eunice battered the UK. Yesterday was certainly an entertaining day for yours truly, most of which was spent trying to prevent decrepit fence panels being turned into frisbees. I more or less succeeded, but not with a fence that will stand much longer (or indeed not at all if it wasn’t lashed to the garden table). Still, it’ an ill wind for fencing contractors, including the one I have arriving next week to put a new one up.
Published: 20th February 2022 13:57
When Saturday Comes #25
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] returns this weekend after my grand day out last Saturday at Brisbane Road, and what a grand day it was. Beer, mates, a thousand of the vociferous faithful, and a well-deserved 3pts from a sublime Sears strike to cap off an excellent day. It was a shame the U’s couldn’t maintain their momentum on Tuesday night in a very competitive fixture at high-flying Mansfield, but not for want of trying, and certainly on the second performance a point would not have been undeserved. But those are the breaks when you’re at the wrong end of the league and your luck is against you.
Published: 13th February 2022 14:45
When Saturday Comes #24
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i] this weekend, I will find myself heading south to meet up with my mate Craig, his brothers and no doubt many hundreds of other Spireites for their match at Eastleigh Football Club. As a result, with an early start planned, this weekend’s blog is a bit earlier than usual. The last time we all did a Chesterfield awayday, the then struggling Spireites won 2-1 at Havant & Waterlooville with an injury-time penalty, so I’m hoping for something similar tomorrow.
Published: 29th January 2022 22:08
When Saturday Comes #23
[i]When Saturday Comes[/i], and the U’s have a new management team in charge for a tough trip to Salford. Football is a results business, and sadly Hayden Mullins and his assistant Alex Dyer couldn’t deliver those results on the pitch. Yes they’ve had some tough breaks when luck and competent officials have just completely deserted them, but bottom line is we haven’t been good enough, and it was the right call by Robbie Cowling to no doubt reluctantly let them go after seven defeats in the last eight games, our solitary point a dour 0-0 at Bradford City.
Published: 23rd January 2022 14:24
When Saturday Comes #22
It’s the 15th of January, and still the U’s are attempting to play their first home match of 2022. Weather looks good (check), players have returned from injury (check), no on-day Covid testing to get in the way (check), so barring fire famine or flood, I reckon we must have at least a 50:50 chance of a game at the JobServe this afternoon. Whether it’ll be three much-needed points or not, and if you’ll pardon the pun, I at least did see green shoots at the New Lawn on Tuesday. We still lost, and the table doesn’t lie, but definitely signs to encourage me that whilst it’s not going to be a comfortable journey, we’ll be alright by May.
Published: 16th January 2022 14:32
When Saturday Comes #21
Here we are then, what should have been the first home game of 2022, and I discover seconds before posting this that the game is called off because of a waterlogged pitch. Having gone to the trouble of writing this, even though we’re not playing I’m going to post it anyway – it’s not like you’ve got anything else to do this afternoon.
Published: 9th January 2022 14:45
When Saturday Comes #20
Finally, When Saturday Comes…and the U’s (for now at least) have a match to play. Mind you, I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, so there’s still time yet for yet another Covid/ injury postponement, I guess. I certainly hope not, as I’m planning on heading over to Crawley for this one. Mind you, now that the EFL have decreed there will be no on the day testing to eliminate the possibility of last-minute cancellations, I think I’ll defer buying a train ticket until this evening. Needless to say, a repeat of our last visit to Broadfield (The People’s Pension Stadium under the terms of a sponsorship deal) would do very nicely indeed.
Published: 1st January 2022 16:45
When Saturday Comes #19
When Saturday Comes…and the U’s find themselves fixtureless again, following Hartlepool’s request to postpone the game because of positive Covid tests amongst their squad. To heap further fixture congestion problems on the U’s, in short order Forest Green Rovers did likewise for our already rearranged match at the New Lawn on Tuesday night, and for the same reason. They’re not on their own either, with in all (so far) four Premier League and 19 EFL matches postponed today – all for positive Covid tests in their squads.
Published: 19th December 2021 14:54
When Saturday Comes #18
A little later than usual today I’m afraid – ‘tis the season to be jolly and all that, so I have just been out for the obligatory Xmas tree – bah humbug. Mind you, I was treated to the sight of literally hundreds of Santas (and the occasional elf) on a charity fun run through Calne on the way, which for want of a better expression was certainly surreal. Officially entitled [i]Santa’s Scamper[/i], the entry fee for participants goes to charitable causes, and to date the organisers have raised nearly £8k for charities such as Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Dorothy House, Hope for Tomorrow, Barnardos and of course their main charity every year, Hannah’s Trees – well done Santas!
Published: 12th December 2021 14:48
When Saturday Comes #17
Honestly dahling, playing on a Saturday is so passé these days. Yep, When Saturday Comes and yet again we’re not playing on a Saturday afternoon, meeting the 2013 FA Cup winners Wigan Athletic at the dreadfully uncivilised kick-off time of Sunday lunchtime at 12.30pm. Mind you, the only one of our six games in November that we lost, the Stevenage horror show, was also the only one played on a Saturday afternoon, so maybe I shouldn’t complain too much about rearranged kick-offs? If our improved performances avoiding Saturday afternoon continues into December, I certainly won’t be complaining, with five of our seven scheduled matches also on days other than a Saturday.
Published: 5th December 2021 13:03
When Saturday Comes #16
When Saturday Comes, and this time instead of an international break we played yesterday evening, and now have the luxury of sitting back and seeing what’s going to happen around us in the league table. A gritty display last night saw the U’s fight back from a being a goal down, with Freddy netting his 8th of the season, helped in no small measure by an inch-perfect through ball from Alan Judge. Whisper it, but with (at least) 30 competitive matches to go to the end of the season, Freddy’s average of 0.4 goals per game would actually see him reach that mythical ’20 goals per season’ figure – not bad for an Ipswich reject 😊.
Published: 28th November 2021 14:29
When Saturday Comes #15
When Saturday Comes, and finally the U’s return to the league programme after what seems an age as a result of our international break. The Forest Green match has been rearranged for 21st December, the last Tuesday before Xmas, and it will no doubt be a chilly night on top of the hill overlooking Nailsworth. Originally billed as a 7pm kick-off, it seems to have been pushed back to 7.45pm now – better make sure before I set off on the short drive for that one. Talking of short drives, bravo to our U18s winning 2-0 at Swindon in the FA Youth Cup midweek, to set up a mouth-watering home tie against Arsenal in the 3rd Round.
Published: 21st November 2021 13:35
When Saturday Comes #14
This week, When Saturday Comes the U’s find themselves on an international break and a weekend off for the WAGs to get in some Christmas shopping. Just as well too, given the U’s have inconsiderately eased past AFC Sudbury to deny them the customary FA Cup Second Round break in December to do likewise. We wait to hear who our opponent will be at the JobServe – it’ll be either top of League One Wigan Athletic or Cameron Coxe’s National League parent club Solihull Moors, who replay at Damson Park on Tuesday evening. Incidentally, Solihull Moors may be part of history being made today, with their match at Meadow Lane already expected to easily top 10,000, and may break the record attendance for that league, which currently stands at 11,083 when Bristol Rovers faced Alfreton Town in 2015.
Published: 14th November 2021 14:06
When Saturday Comes #13
When Saturday Comes…will we still be in the FA Cup? I heard somewhere during the week that the U’s have been eliminated from the FA Cup by non-league opposition more times than any other league club! Remarkable really when you consider that many non-U’s associate Colchester United with the greatest FA Cup giant-killing of all time. Following tonight, we travel to Portman Road on Tuesday night to see if we can stay in the Pizza Slice Trophy. Regardless that it is a much-maligned competition these days, surely that’s motivation enough for our tractor boy contingent?
Published: 6th November 2021 16:16
When Saturday Comes #12
A relegation six-pointer already, seriously! Grim news so early in a season which had such promise, but that may well turn out to be the reality when the dust settles in May. On the eve of All-Hallows Eve, I’m wondering whether the U’s will have served up Trick or Treat by 5pm this afternoon. Plenty has been written over the last week by supporters, the press, even the Chairman about the protests during and after the Sutton United rocky horror football show, and whilst everyone has the right to voice their opinion on the club’s fortunes on and off the pitch, that doesn’t give anyone (even the Chairman) the right to be abusive – it’s not big, it’s not clever, and if anything it undermines the validity of that opinion.
Published: 31st October 2021 14:12
When Saturday Comes #11
This blog is a little earlier than usual, to give me and Alfie time to load up the car and sally forth for our first awayday of the season together, on the road to Vale Park – “[i]He who would valiant be, 'gainst all disaster, let him in constancy follow the Master[/i]”. Not quite sure who the master is in that analogy, but let’s hope it’s Hayden Mullins on Saturday. All being well, I’m looking forward to catching up with fellow U’sual boarders ([b]Noah[/b], [b]Durham[/b] maybe?, anyone else) when I get there. I won’t be meeting up with Clampin (Covid) or Judge (calf injury) who will miss out on making the trip, nor of course Tchamadeu (see below).
Published: 24th October 2021 9:44
When Saturday Comes #10
So here we are again, still looking for that elusive first home league win of the season, only this time against high-flying (and recently non-league) Harrogate Town. That isn’t meant to be in any way disrespectful for Harrogate Town, they should be applauded for what they have achieved so far, but it is nevertheless a measure of how far our stock has fallen in recent years that we find ourselves in this situation. I have no doubt that today will be a difficult game, but it’ll be even more so if Hayden Mullins doesn’t take anything from recent performances and realise that what he’s trying just doesn’t seem to be working – he simply has to change things around. Whether he will or not remains to be seen – maybe he will, maybe won’t and the old guard will finally come good? I guess we’ll know one way or another by 5pm.
Published: 17th October 2021 14:32
When Saturday Comes #9
After the complete horror-show that was U’s v Salford last Saturday, we find ourselves desperately clinging on to our away form like a drowning man to a lifebuoy…and I have no doubt Tranmere will be seriously stamping on our fingers in that regard. As a Friday night kick-off, I can look forward to the live match stream, which I was fortunately spared for the Salford game (it sounded bad enough). Swings and roundabouts though, if this hadn’t been rearranged to a Friday night, I may well have joined my Tranmere mate Chris and his family for the weekend – Prenton Park is always a good visit for an awayday, so safe travelling and good luck to [b]Durham[/b] and the rest of the U’s faithful who make the trip.
Published: 9th October 2021 16:58
When Saturday Comes #8
I’ve gone back through my archive, and the last football match I attended before last Saturday at the County Ground was U’s at Cheltenham on 29th February 2020 (and covered in LfW11) – In other words a 574 day wait. Others have mentioned about finding other things to do, losing their love for live football, things like that, and certainly my bank balance has appreciated the break from costly awaydays for the best (worst) part of 18 months. If I’m honest, I was slightly worried that I would go the same way, that the attraction would fade after so long, but I needn’t have been. As a result, it’ll be a slightly different format to this [i]When Saturday Comes[/i] blog.
Published: 3rd October 2021 12:51
When Saturday Comes #7
Well that didn’t go as planned at all – after a stirring battling performance full of grit, character and togetherness with the small band of travelling supporters at Barrow, the U’s then finally returned back to the JobServe and completely failed to turn up against bogey side Crawley. They weren’t the only ones either, Hayden Mullins was absent as well, and we have since learned he has Covid-19 and will also miss tomorrow’s game at Swindon too – I know we all wish Hayden a speedy recovery. Fortunately, I won’t be missing the match, with tickets arriving last weekend – first live game for best part of 18 months, and I can’t bloody wait!
Published: 25th September 2021 17:57
When Saturday Comes #6
After over a month of absence, the U’s finally make a welcome return to the JobServe for a home league fixture. Sutton seem to have quickly got over their Covid-19/ injury crisis/ international call-up woes, fielding a team the following Tuesday that was strong enough to push Cardiff City hard in a narrow 3-2 defeat to the Championship side. But enough of that, I haven’t seen the outcome of the EFL investigation, but I don’t doubt the decision has either already been or will be rubber-stamped. Gamesmanship – maybe, but I hope at least the EFL are now a bit more alert to the fact that some might think they can treat them like chumps when it suits their purpose? Still – it’s great to be back home isn’t it!
Published: 19th September 2021 13:48
When Saturday Comes #5
“[i]Well, I can tell u my son was stood nearer the back of the Holker Street end and although he couldn't see who was responsible, he was disgusted and was very clear in telling me that the 'N' word was used by someone stood directly behind the goal nearer the front. I'm sick of hearing this, no one but the player being abused heard anything so maybe he was mistaken crap. This shite still exists despite everything that the authorities try to do because unfortunately there are still racists in every, city, town, village and hamlet in this country. [SwearFilter] scum of the earth.[/i]”
Published: 12th September 2021 15:36
When Saturday Comes #4
I start with an apology for the no-show last weekend, but for all the right reasons. My nephew and his fiancé finally managed to tie the knot on Friday, at the fifth time of asking (previous four attempts falling foul of covid restrictions unfortunately). It was a fantastic afternoon and evening over in Essex, but meant it just wasn’t possible to get a blog produced. A significant proportion of the wedding party were U’s supporters, including the groom, but any thought of live-streaming the Rochdale game at the evening celebration might have resulted in the fastest divorce on record, so we contented ourselves with surreptitious glances at the BBC Sports updates – and what an own goal it was! Different circumstances, but I was (painfully) reminded of Aidan and Kevin’s howler at Blackburn – golden rule, never, ever pass the ball directly towards your own goal.
Published: 4th September 2021 19:16
When Saturday Comes #3
The goalless U’s have eventually got that monkey off their backs, with the Frank and Freddie show combining to win a somewhat dubious penalty, in the 5th minute of injury time, allowing Freddie to get his new goal account at the U’s off and running (all in all he now has 37 goals, five of them penalties). It was tight though, and on another day the goalkeeper would have got a hand to it, but they all count, whether it’s a 25 yard peach or one off the arse. Everyone has rightly said that without doubt Mansfield were the best side we’ve faced so far – I’ll go so far as to say they’ll probably be one of the best sides we face all season. Though it wasn’t comfortable viewing at the time, some of their passing and movement, particularly on the break, was breath-taking at times. But enough of the love-in, however good they were, the U’s stood up to them, kept them out for the most part, and eventually got the point we deserved.
Published: 22nd August 2021 13:19
When Saturday Comes #2
Two games into the season, and although still goalless, it has been a reasonably promising start for the U’s. A tough opening day fixture away at Carlisle, and in front of a bumper crowd which delayed kick-off by 15 minutes, the U’s were largely resolute in defence, whilst still creating enough chances to have won the game if our finishing had been sharper. To be fair though, were it not for prodigal son Shamal George making his return to Brunton Park, we could just have easily lost – a performance which rightly earned him the Man of the Match award. Midweek at Championship club Birmingham City in the Carabao Cup was an even more spirited performance, and one which really should have seen the U’s victorious, but if you don’t take your chances you will get punished, and we did in the 75th minute. Much has been said about the opposition being a second (third?) string side, and with players taking the field with squad numbers in the 50s, that can’t be disputed. But, when you’re facing a team that actually has squad numbers in the 50s, you realise just how big a club our opposition was.
Published: 22nd August 2021 13:18
When Saturday Comes #1
So here we go for another rollercoaster ride on the trials and tribulations of being a U’s supporter. 2021/22 is a noteworthy personal milestone, as we start my 50th season following Colchester United Football Club. Nowhere near as long-suffering and venerable as some of you out there I know, but it’s significant to me that’s for sure. More of less this time next (on my birthday as it happens) will be my actual 50th anniversary – will I be celebrating with the U’s in League 1? Who knows, but with the players that Hayden Mullins has added to the squad during the summer, hope springs eternal.
Published: 8th August 2021 14:29
Letters from Wiltshire #48
“[i]And now the end is near, and so we face the final curtain…regrets, we’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention[/i]”. Not quite right Paul Anka, probably more than a few, but otherwise a fair assessment of where the U’s are today. It’ll be interesting to see how we perform with the relegation monkey finally off their back – I’m not expecting miracles, particularly with Tranmere needing at least a point to guarantee making the play-offs, but they’ll certainly be more nervous than we will be, so can we make that count? This will be my last blog of the season, and not yet sure what I may or may not do for next season, but suggestions are always welcome.
Published: 8th May 2021 13:42
Letters from Wiltshire #47
Here we are, at the penultimate game of the season, and our last game in front of the cardboard U’s faithful at the JobServe. It has been a long, difficult, and definitely strange season, which frankly I’ll be glad to see the back of. That’ll we’ll be here again in August is definitely going to be something to celebrate, but I suspect we’re facing a summer of significant rebuilding both on the pitch, and possibly off it too. I won’t be the only one, but the biggest oddity for me has been being able to watch every single game – not always easy viewing, but something I’ve never done before, and probably never will again. But it doesn’t really make up for not being there in person, the long train journey away-days, meeting fellow U’s and other supporters, and of course sharing a beer or three. Fingers-crossed we can return to the terraces in 2021/22.
Published: 2nd May 2021 13:35
Letters from Wiltshire #46
That was quite a week for us all then. In the space of four short but remarkably tense days we have gone from having to take shoes and socks off to check how many more points we need to guarantee survival, or whether we would even achieve it, to breathing a huge sigh of relief knowing we’re almost there. But close of play this afternoon, whether by our own actions or the failure of others, I am sure survival will be confirmed. Of course, Tuesday night not only all but guaranteed it, it also virtually condemned local rivals Southend United to non-league football for the foreseeable. Looking at the host of fully professional former football league sides currently battling it out for the two promotion slots out of the National league (including Hartlepool, Torquay, Stockport, Wrexham, Chesterfield and Notts County), it is not going to be a walk in the park for Southend to return any day soon.
Published: 25th April 2021 13:51
Letters from Wiltshire #45
Tonight, Colchester United face Southend United in what may not necessarily be the most important game of our respective histories (though it’s certainly very close), but is almost certainly the most important Essex derby ever. However this season pans out, by the end of it there’ll either be only one team in Essex, or worst case scenario, none at all. If the U’s win, then Southend will be 9pts behind with just three games to go, and a minimum of a -12 goal difference to overturn if they want to overtake us. Certainly mathematically possible, but that would rely on a remarkable turnaround in their form, form that they’ve shown precious little sign of achieving so far this season. The stalking horse is Grimsby, with their game in hand, who have rather belatedly shown an improvement in form, so their match against automatic promotion chasing Morecambe tonight is equally important, particularly if we want to avoid the unthinkable, with both Essex clubs dropping out of the league.
Published: 21st April 2021 17:24
Letters from Wiltshire #44
So here we are, as the nation mourns the passing of His Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh, the U’s face the first of two season-defining moments, with our late kick-off match at home to Walsall. Before then, no doubt many will have been focused on events elsewhere, not least the early kick-offs for Grimsby (at home to promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers), and particularly Essex rivals Southend United, who faced a tricky visit to Exeter City – still very much in the hunt for at least a play-off spot. As I finalise this blog, I know that Grimsby have beaten Bolton 2-1, and Southend earned a credible 0-0 draw in the West Country. More to the point, the U’s will know this too. Whilst I can’t help but feel that will ought to be to our advantage, it surely must also put additional pressure on a squad whose confidence is paper-thin. We must hope that Hayden Mullins, assisted by Paul Tisdale, get their heads right, and send the lads out this evening fired up with self-belief.
Published: 18th April 2021 15:56
Letters from Wiltshire #43
Well, that has been a lively week for Colchester United in the press, and not least for Robbie Cowling, with not one, or two, but kind of three club announcements in rapid succession to try and put the record straight. First, we had Tribunalgate, which certainly looked very poor according to the initial press reports, but which on closer inspection when some of the ‘fact gaps’ were filled in wasn’t anywhere near the story that some would have us believe. Then of course we had the ‘leak’ that the U’s were about to go into administration, despite all the reassurances we’d been given in previous statements from Robbie. Not so said Robbie again, and particularly angry at what he believed to be the source of the story. Hence statement #3, repeating his assurances, but this time after passing through the lawyer filter to remove his thoughts on the source. To paraphrase Robbie’s conclusion to that statement, let’s hope we can all have a day off from this sort of media shenanigans and enjoy our game at Oldham tonight!
Published: 10th April 2021 14:46
Letters from Wiltshire #42
Well, these sure are strange times at Colchester United, particularly for a club (nor a Chairman) not usually associated with the ‘managerial revolving door’ approach. With results not matching expectations or even minimum requirements, and a brief spell after being appointed Interim Head Coach, Wayne Brown has been released to return to the Jammers, for whenever their pandemic-interrupted football restarts. In comes not one, or two, but three new ‘appointments’. Hayden Mullins steps up as Head Coach to the end of the season, Joe Dunne apparently comes back to the U’s in a sort of unofficial coaching/ team-spirit sort of role, and exceptionally experienced lower-league former Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale arrives to provide Hayden with advice and support – crikey!
Published: 3rd April 2021 12:51
Letters from Wiltshire #41
This afternoon the U’s take on Bradford City in a bid to gather sufficient points to stay clear of the bottom two. It’ll be a tough gig though, even if (as I suspect) Bradford City have left it a bit too late to challenge the play-off spots. They were on a decent run of form, that is until defeats at Newport, Carlisle, Scunthorpe and a goalless draw at home to Oldham put paid to any lingering promotion hopes. For us, it’s simple, to stay out of the bottom two, for all intents and purposes we only need to gain half (or more) of the points that Grimsby or Southend do. Sounds easy, just wish I felt more confident we will…
Published: 30th March 2021 19:11
Letters from Wiltshire #40
Today we learned the sad news that Peter Lorimer has passed away, aged 74, after a long-term illness. Love or loathe Revie’s Leeds, no one can deny that “Hotshot Lorimer” was a truly magnificent footballer, and his passing is a sad day for the global football family.
Published: 21st March 2021 15:57
Letters from Wiltshire #10 - the missing edition
As I rather expected, work has been somewhat manic in recent days, so I'm not going to have time for a blog ahead of the match tonight, so soz about that.
Published: 14th March 2021 13:23
Letters from Wiltshire #39
Editorials are tricky these days without being too downcast, but let’s be honest, there’s not much good news around the club and fanbase at the moment. On a personal positive note, I have my first vaccine jab booked for next weekend, which is a blessed relief. Seemingly being one of the young’uns on the U’sual, I hope many of you have already trod that path, and those yet to won’t be too far behind. It’s a cliché of course, but there really are more important things than football at present. Stay safe and get vaccinated folks, let’s make sure we all get through this together and come out the other side, wherever the U’s will be at that point…
Published: 14th March 2021 13:21
Letters from Wiltshire #38
So the green shoots of recovery we saw emerging last Tuesday night were firmly trampled on Saturday afternoon, as Crawley shone an uncomfortable spotlight on our deficiencies. If we must take some solace from this, Wayne Brown must surely be getting a clearer idea, match by match, of what’s needed for survival. And let’s be honest, as unpalatable as that must be for us, survival is 100% the only concern right now – anything after that is a bonus. So we go again tonight, only this time it’s a very tricky long trip to new arrivals Harrogate, probably the surprise package in the league in my opinion. It’s all about taking chances – Harrogate have lost more games than the U’s, but they’ve won significantly more too, which is why they’re challenging for the play-offs, and we’re…not ☹.
Published: 14th March 2021 13:21
Letters from Wiltshire #37
On Tuesday night, long-suffering U’s fans, and after such a long wait, finally saw something truly remarkable. Yes, on that fog-bound night we witnessed not one but two miracles – Trevor Kettle making two catastrophically poor game-changing decisions, listening to arguments against those decisions, admitting he had been wrong, and reversing them. Oh my days, as I live and breathe, if I’m ever blessed with grandchildren in years to come, will they believe doddery old me when I tell them what happened that night? Oh, and the U’s finally threw the monkey off their back and won a game…
Published: 7th March 2021 13:29
Letters from Wiltshire #36
So, Wayne Brown isn’t yet the Messiah it would seem, but nor necessarily is he a very naughty boy either. In a tricky fixture at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday evening, what I saw started as encouraging – the U’s out of the blocks fast, showing pace, urgency, passion even – but sadly lacking in actual quality on the ball. By comparison, FGR had plenty of that, and very quickly gained total dominance across all areas of the pitch, and sliced through us for two goals in quick succession with alarming ease. It probably would have been more of the same in the second half, but for the red card. It looked fair enough at the time, but following an appeal it has now been rescinded. However, even with just ten men and happily sacrificing possession, we still had nothing to open them up, and still conceded a third from the simplest of free kicks. Worrying signs for Wayne, and lots of work to do, so let’s see how things may have improved tonight…
Published: 7th March 2021 13:29
Letters from Wiltshire #35
As many were predicting, time finally ran out for Steve Ball mid-week, after the U’s lost 2-1 at home to Exeter City. Although a considerable improvement in score-line compared to the 6-1 thrashing they handed out at St James Park earlier in the season, apart from the first 10-15 minutes and very brief glimpses throughout the remainder of the game, it was a poor performance, leaving Robbie Cowling with no choice. After a brief interlude, Robbie named Wayne Brown as our new Interim Head Coach (that’s caretaker as far as I’m concerned), and after an even briefer interlude, Robbie and Wayne in a joint statement put to rest any lingering concerns about Wayne’s attitude to race. If Wayne can show the same sort of leadership on the training ground and in the dressing room as he used to show for the U’s on the pitch, I am certain he’s going to do very well in the job.
Published: 28th February 2021 14:59
Letters from Wiltshire #34
I won’t dwell on Robbie’s latest message to the supporters – we’ve all read it, and we’ve all probably drawn our own conclusions about what it doesn’t say as much as what it does. To me, bottom line, I suspect the clock is now ticking for Steve Ball (at least), turn around this terrible form pretty damn quick, or start clearing out your locker. Regardless of personal opinions on any of the individuals concerned, I would like to think none of us actually wants to see people made redundant in the current climate. But, these are difficult times that require tough decisions. If Steve Ball is up to the job and can turn this around, I’ll be more than happy to support him. If he’s not, he has to go before irreparable harm is done…and we all know what that will look like, we’ve been there before…
Published: 24th February 2021 23:00
Letters from Wiltshire #33
Today we face a trip to Crawley, not usually a venue that bears fruit for the U’s it has to be said. In nine visits we’ve only won once in the league, and once in the League Cup. Of course, we’ll all remember that League Cup victory, indeed many of us were probably there to see us progress through to 5th round and the dream fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford. All of our goal-scorers that night, Luke’s Norris and Gambin, and Cohen Bramall (okay, technically an O.G.), are no longer with us, so let’s hope at the very least that recent departee and subsequent returnee Frank Nouble can bag another like his late equaliser against Mansfield. Steve Ball commented during the week about how tight the league is at the moment, and he’s right that a couple of back to back victories would see us move significantly up the table away from danger – but we’ve got to win them first Steve – something we’ve failed to do since our 1-0 victory at Scunthorpe on December 8th.
Published: 21st February 2021 13:09
Letters from Wiltshire #32
Fifty years ago yesterday, Colchester United of the 4th Division pulled off the greatest cup giant-killing ever, beating 1st Division Leeds United 3-2 at Layer Road. Watched by 16,000, and the Match of the Day cameras, Dick Graham’s U’s, a rag-tag band of mostly aging journeymen, defied the odds to defeat arguably the greatest club side in Europe at the time. “The greatest cup giant-killing ever” is a bold claim, and over the years various football magazines and websites have run their own polls of which was the greatest. Whilst that day at Layer Rd always features, as the years have gone by other feats fresher in the memory have been put forward as a candidate – we probably all remember Ronnie Radford’s screamer against Newcastle, Sutton’s exploits, or even Bradford City quite recently at Stamford Bridge – but these pale into insignificance when you pause to reflect on the Don Revie side that we beat that day. Sprake, Cooper, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Giles etc – all full internationals, all household names – the only one missing was Billy Bremner, and that was because he was injured. By comparison, all we had to offer was Ray Crawford – at his peak arguably on a par with some in the Leeds side, but that peak had been ten years earlier playing for Ipswich and England. Eleven heroes didn’t just try and hold out against Leeds United, they took the game to their illustrious opponents with such tenacity, grit and no small amount of flair, and before we knew it, the U’s were 3-0 in the lead. As legs tired, Leeds got back into the game with goals from Hunter and Giles, but we held firm – typified at the death by Graham Smith pulling off an impossible save to ensure the U’s achieved [b][u]the greatest cup giant-killing ever![/b][/u]
Published: 15th February 2021 17:46
Letters from Wiltshire #31
And so the dust settles on another transfer window closing, and despite (my) expectations that the possibility of incoming business was going to be remote, we have instead seen a veritable flurry of activity, with no less than three coming in. Big Frank Nouble, making a very welcome return on loan from Plymouth Argyle, of course needs no introduction. Neither really does feisty Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu, here on loan last season, and this time signed full-time from Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee. Actually paying hard cash for someone did come as a surprise, presumably offset by the sale of Cohen Bramall to Lincoln for a similarly undisclosed fee. However, the fact that the Addicks have insisted on not only a sell-on clause, but a rarely used buy-back clause too, suggests (a) Wiredu’s signing fee probably wasn’t too high, and (b) Charlton are protecting those finances with these clauses. The last one, which would have been a complete surprise for me were it not for a contact leaking me the news earlier yesterday, is left-back Josh Doherty on loan from Crawley. Josh was only announced once outgoing left-back Bramall was confirmed, and presumably his loan is directly related to part-time fashion model, TV and radio celeb and former left-back Mark Wright signing for Crawley on a non-contract game-by-game basis in December. We have also released seven from the academy, Ollie Kensdale, Miquel Scarlett, Sammie McLeod, Michael Fernandes, Ollie Sims, Danny Collinge and Matt Weaire, and I’m sure we all wish them the best for the future.
Published: 6th February 2021 18:29
Letters from Wiltshire #30
Friday night football – can’t beat it. Gives you that feelgood factor all weekend, sitting back to enjoy a stress-free Saturday afternoon watching others fail in your wake. Of course, you have to win first, which we’ve been struggling to do for a while now, so be prepared for the possibility of a miserable weekend just in case. We share this evening with Reading v AFC Bournemouth, albeit they kick-off an hour later than we do. In the real world, leaders of the UK’s five largest business groups have written to Boris demanding action on the substantial difficulties they are facing over Brexit bureaucracy, whilst French border authorities are reporting that two-thirds of lorries arriving from the UK are empty (i.e. no exports leaving the UK). Still, at least the NHS can enjoy their extra £350m per week…
Published: 30th January 2021 18:37
Letters from Wiltshire #29
Looks like some around the world have started 2021 a bit cross. Never mind the attempted insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month, those normally laid-back Dutch have now been rioting for three nights running about the imposition of a night-time curfew to try and curb the spread of coronavirus. Farmers in Delhi have stormed through police lines and breached the Red Fort in protest against market reforms, and tragic Somalia has just passed the 30th anniversary of their ongoing civil war. In brighter news, President Biden has immediately begun dismantling and/or reversing some of Trump’s more contentious decisions, including rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, renewed funding for the World Health Organisation, revoking the ‘Muslim travel ban’, defunding the border wall, rescinding Trump’s report calling for a ‘more patriotic’ syllabus in schools, and overturning the ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Published: 27th January 2021 18:50
Letters from Wiltshire #28
It’s difficult to think about quite how to write this editorial, without appearing mawkish. On Sunday 17th February 671 people succumbed to coronavirus, with the 7-day average creeping just above 1,000 deaths. On that day, one of those was someone very dear to me, who died in Watford General Hospital of Covid-19 pneumonia. Idiots and conspiracy-theorists will tell you there’s no plague, or that masks infringe their civil liberties, or some other form of spurious non-science bullsh*t, so do me a favour – if they say this to you, please punch them on the f’cking nose for me, and say that’s from Wessex – thank you.
Published: 24th January 2021 18:18
Letters from Wiltshire #27
Welcome to 2021, and hopefully a vaccine-driven start to a much better year for everyone – which as you can guess was going to be my introduction two weeks ago. From a selfish perspective, hopefully an improved year for the U’s as well that sees us cement at the very least a play-off spot, but why stop there – don’t mess around with the lottery of play-offs, go straight for it with automatic promotion (who am I kidding). First up in that quest is a tough match against Tranmere Rovers Cambridge United, and no longer with Chuck to help us out. Still, set up for Jevani to put one over on his former club.
Published: 16th January 2021 16:01
Letters from Wiltshire #26
Well, after a piss-poor Xmas period so far for the U’s, culminating in the Roots Hall horror show on Boxing Day, let’s hope the U’s have burned off those festive calories and are raring to go. They’ll certainly have to be at their best against a Cheltenham side aiming to force their way into the automatic promotion places. In other news, we now finally have confirmation that there will be a trade deal in place with the EU once Brexit arrives in 2021. It remains to be seen whether it’s a good deal or not, and more to the point, who for, but at least it’s not the economic uncertainty of no-deal.
Published: 29th December 2020 18:18
Letters from Wiltshire #25
A little earlier than usual, but as we approach the end of what has been a most difficult year for everyone, I’ll keep the introductory editorial brief, as I’m sure you will all be very busy in the coming days rescuing what you can from this pandemic-ravaged festive period. I simply wish you all peace on earth, goodwill to all (yes, even our South Essex cousins), and here’s to a happy, prosperous and most importantly healthy 2021 for us all.
Published: 24th December 2020 12:30
Letters from Wiltshire #24
Welcome to our last match before Christmas. With South Essex going into Tier 3, by the time we take to the pitch at Roots Hall, it’ll be another behind-closed-doors match. With the Tier 3 boundary creeping inexorably closer, one wonders how long the JobServe will hold out and still be able to allow fans to attend. Robbie is doing all he can to make it possible for supporters to attend, and I confess I’m seriously considering our January 2nd match against Tranmere. In other news, I’m relieved to read that the FA will not take disciplinary action against Colchester United after a shameful minority chose to boo players and officials taking the knee, in the words of the EFL “[i]as they highlight the inequality and injustice experienced by the Black Community[/i]”. I noticed a tiny minority chose to boo at our mid-week match at the Abbey Stadium, but I was pleased to hear they were immediately drowned out by the remainder of the 2,000 cheering and applauding. I admit I’m a little anxious about today…
Published: 19th December 2020 14:39
Letters from Wiltshire #23
As I’ve been providing updates on the ongoing US presidential election, it is worth mentioning that the Electoral College votes have now been cast, which formally confirms Biden as the new President-elect. Normally a formality, as the losing candidate has usually long-since conceded defeat, but these are far from normal times, and America has far from a normal lame-duck President. Still, at least the threat of members of the Electoral College ignoring the popular vote in favour of an outcome demanded by Trump has failed to materialise. In the UK, new Covid tiers were announced this week, with London going into Tier 3. Colchester stays in Tier 2, but only just, with as far north east as Maldon, Braintree and Chelmsford also moving into Tier 3 – and as if you need reminding, Tier 3 means no supporters at matches.
Published: 15th December 2020 17:58
Letters from Wiltshire #22
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…hence I’m a bit late today, following the inevitable Christmas tree hunt – the decorating will have to wait until later I reckon. In the news, despite my confident assurance several weeks ago that Trump appeared to be grudgingly starting to accept that he had lost the US presidency election, he’s since doubled-down on his baseless accusations of election fraud – without obviously providing a single shred of evidence to back it up (and how could he, there isn’t any). His latest apoplectic tirade, just today, follows the Supreme Court telling Texas just where they can stick their egregious lawsuit demanding that Biden’s victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia be thrown out in favour of Trump. From a global perspective, it is deeply troubling that no less than 126 republican congressional representatives signed an amicus brief supporting the challenge. Trump will leave the White House in January, but they will stay at the heart of the US government, and I don’t think that’s good news for democracy, nor even the rest of the world. Ho hum…
Published: 12th December 2020 14:42
Letters from Wiltshire #21
So here we are. What should have been a celebration of the faithful returning to the stadium, a fantastic debut by our new junior Junior (just 16 years of age), and indeed a hard-fought victory against tough opposition, has unfortunately been overshadowed by a very small minority who decided to boo our multi-racial team who [b][u]ALL[/u][/b] chose to take a knee against racism. Needless to say, following on from a similarly reaction from the notoriously intolerant Millwall supporters, we’re now on the front page of football websites. Thankfully, this has been in the context of our Chairman’s splendid response, which basically said if you don’t like it, go away because we don’t want you – bravo Robbie Cowling!
Published: 9th December 2020 18:01
Letters from Wiltshire #20
And finally, for now, we see football supporters return to stadia to watch elite football…well, those that aren’t in Covid-19 Tier 3 anyway. After some of the more recent performances, there are no doubt many of the faithful that would question the moniker ‘elite’, so let’s hope the U’s respond with some pride and passion today. With Essex in Tier 2, that would allow up to 2,000 in attendance, but Robbie (sensibly in my opinion) has currently restricted capacity to just 1,000 whilst he assesses how effective the measures that have been put in place will be to ensure fans stay safe. Whether we get 1,000 in remains to be seen – when the restriction was announced we had 540 season permit holders, I don’t know if we’ve sold any more since, and I severely doubt all of the permit holders we already have will attend. But, whether its 100 or 1,000, it’ll be refreshing to at least hear some crowd noise on the iFollow stream.
Published: 5th December 2020 16:00
Letters from Wiltshire #19
Within the football world, we’re all painfully aware that football clubs are at considerable risk because of the financial pressure resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Worryingly, outside the football bubble, it is clear that retailers too are now feeling the pinch, with Debenhams looking likely to close with the lose of 12,000 jobs, and Arcadia (owner of Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins) going into administration with debts of apparently £30m, putting another 13,000 jobs at risk. Needless to say, the world of social media has stepped in, reminding those that care that Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia, was seen earlier this week relaxing on his £100m superyacht – make of that what you will.
Published: 1st December 2020 11:19
Letters from Wiltshire #18
Trump has finally conceded defeat, albeit in a childlike, begrudging and typically ungracious manner, but at least things are moving on now, and hopefully the beginning of a new, less adversarial era in world affairs. There was an interesting article on one of the news websites this morning looking at how the transition for other administrations have gone – none as poorly (so far) as this, but still some amusing anecdotes nevertheless. Apparently, ahead of George W Bush taking up residence, the departing Clinton team went around the White House removing all the W’s from keyboards – very childish, but quite funny too…
Published: 24th November 2020 18:20
Letters from Wiltshire #17
So I never actually imagined more than two weeks after the event that Trump and his attack-dog “Hot Mess” Giuliani would still be refusing to acknowledge that Biden has won the US Presidential election, but there you have it. Closer to home, we are just past halfway through our circuit-breaker 4-week lockdown, and most of the graphs suggest things are slowly improving, but nowhere near a rate that would see figures return to the pre-October levels. Much closer to home, Alfie has been in self-isolation for the last 14 days because one of his teachers tested positive – delighted to say we have both passed through that period without developing symptoms…and without killing each other either 😊
Published: 20th November 2020 17:30
Letters from Wiltshire #16
Good morning everyone. Outside the football bubble, and across the pond, we have the soon to be ex-President of the United States walled up in his White House bunker, inexorably going through the Kübler-Ross 5 stages of grief…and in a particularly undignified and un-statesman like manner. Clearly we’ve had [u]Denial[/u] by the bucket-load, [u]Anger[/u] as he lashes out firing those he perceives as disloyal, [u]Bargaining[/u] as his legal team try and force recounts of perfectly valid election results, and no doubt a huge amount of [u]Depression[/u] as he sulked in silence for the best part of a week. Now perhaps, as he nearly slips up when eventually breaking radio silence to address the press, we see the beginnings of [u]Acceptance[/u]. If I’m honest, I’d be quite happy for Trump to keep this up and make the transition as embarrassing as possible for himself and his supporters – and if the police could eventually drag him out of the White House in hand-cuffs, all the better.
Published: 14th November 2020 14:02
Letters from Wiltshire #15
Well, there’s a turn up for the books, the mighty U’s unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by lowly Marine AFC, four tiers below us in the league pyramid. These things happen, and we’ve done it to others on more than a few occasions, but the manner of the result on Saturday is what rankles the most. Virtually our strongest line-up available, but the complete lack of any urgency right from the outset was dreadful to see. Even as we reached squeaky bum time into the 2nd half, having drawn level, still we ponderously passed aimless triangles in midfield for far too long. Someone has to pay for that debacle, so let’s hope it’s the auld enemy Southend tonight in the Pointless Trophy…
Published: 10th November 2020 18:22
Letters from Wiltshire #14
Welcome to Lockdown #2, and as I write this blog, an as yet uncertain future with the orange loon threatening to refuse to hand over the keys to the White House and calling on all his white supremacist mates to rise up in arms. Moving on swiftly from chump to champ, Chairman Robbie has again addressed the U’s faithful, with another clear, concise statement on the current situation and how it may or may not affect Colchester United. I know in the past he hasn’t been everyone’s cup of tea, but I do think an awful lot of people are warming to him because of the leadership he has shown through this crisis, and long may it last!
Published: 7th November 2020 12:02
Letters from Wiltshire #13
2020 – the year that just keeps on giving. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the government has announced another lockdown, starting this Thursday and lasting for at least four weeks. The implied threat is there, behave this time, or in the words of the late great Alan Rickman “Christmas is cancelled”. When I read in my local press the police had to break up a Bristol rave this weekend with over 700 revellers in attendance, I fear for the worst. For now, ‘elite’ football is unaffected, which I assume includes the FA Cup next weekend as an ‘elite’ competition, even if non-elite teams like our opponents Marine FC are taking part? As for the future, I personally think now that it is unlikely we’ll see fans back in stadia this season, though I sincerely hope I’m wrong about that…
Published: 3rd November 2020 12:59
Letters from Wiltshire #12
And the matches keep coming thick and fast, with tonight’s trip to league leaders Newport to face – though not, it now transpires, Shrewsbury on Friday night – called off because of rampant Covid-19 amongst The Shrews. As for tonight, if we can keep nicking results against the run of play whilst I’ll certainly be happy, I’ll certainly also be considerably more stressed in the process. Our previous two home matches we probably ought to have looked on as ours to lose and should never have been that difficult. Tonight is different, and if we can grind something out as the underdog against a team who have made a very strong start to the season, I’m sure we’ll all be much happier?
Published: 27th October 2020 14:52
Letters from Wiltshire #11
So, what’s happening in the world outside of coronavirus? Well, the world collectively holds it breath waiting for the outcome of the US presidential election, and what may transpire if the result doesn’t go the way of white supremacists, our own government votes itself a handsome pay rise, then votes against free meals for our most impoverished children during half term, and thousands protest in Poland over new laws that ban abortion in almost all circumstances. What the f*ck…
Published: 24th October 2020 14:04
Letters from Wiltshire #09
There’s enough doom and gloom about concerning the coronavirus pandemic to last several lifetimes, and let’s face it, 2020 really does suck. I’m pretty sure we’re all in need of some positivity right now, something to set our sights on, a goal if you will. Mine came to me in a blinding flash of inspiration as I prepared my wake-up mug of caffeine this morning – never, in all my years of following Colchester United, have I got even close to watching every single match of a season. I suspect I’m not alone in that, even diehards like [b]noah[/b] must miss the occasional one or two each season. Kind of thanks to coronavirus (bizarre huh) and the relaxed approach to match streaming on Saturdays, I’m currently on 8/8, today being the 9th. Why not, I thought, make it all season without missing a game? There’s a lot of ifs, buts and maybes in that, not least if we do emerge from this crisis before the end of the season and the streaming gets canned, but for now I have my goal…
Published: 17th October 2020 14:17
Letters from Wiltshire #08
Lots of discussion this week on football forums, including here, on two subjects – the petition to lobby parliament to allow limited numbers of supporters back into football grounds, and of course the return of that old chestnut from Man City Chief Executive Ferran Soriano, introducing Premier League ‘B’ teams into the EFL. First off, I don’t mind admitting I’ve signed the petition ( https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/552036 ), as have 192,779 others at the time of writing, though I don’t actually think it’ll make any difference. I can completely understand why some do not think this is a good idea, as second-wave spikes of coronavirus infection pop up all over the country (mainly because – let’s face it – some people are dicks and can’t be trusted to sit the right way on a toilet). But to me, the two go hand in hand (not dicks and toilets) – whilst football clubs throughout the country struggle financially without spectators, we are always going to be under threat of this sort of ‘B’ team nonsense as a condition of financial support from the Premier League fat cats. They got their way in 2016 with the EFL trophy, who’s to say they won’t again when the financial squeeze really starts to tighten its grip without paying customers through the turnstiles? Robbie has featured prominently in this debate in recent weeks, and looks like he will again on Sky tomorrow if this tweet from Sophy Ridge is anything to go by - https://twitter.com/SophyRidgeSky/status/1313874336118341632
Published: 10th October 2020 13:13
Letters from Wiltshire #07
Welcome to Matchday #4 everyone, with the U’s making a reasonably solid start to the league campaign, undefeated, two clean sheets, only one goal conceded and sitting comfortably just outside the play-offs. I’d probably feel more comfortable if we were scoring a few more at the other end, so it’s good to see Chuck getting back into action. The big news that’s grabbing most of the column inches now is of course that President Trump is in hospital with coronavirus. Now there are many out there in the social media world who consider this somewhat poetic irony, given his (mixed) messaging on the subject since the crisis began, and there are more than a few wishing that it ends very badly for Trump. I’m not one of them, but I was reminded this morning of a famous quote “[i]I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction[/i]”. Often misattributed to Mark Twain, it was Clarence Darrow in his 1932 work [i]The Story of My Life[/i]. For those, like me, who consider [i]Inherit the Wind[/i] probably the best courtroom drama ever made, Darrow was the lawyer in the real [i]Scopes Monkey Trial[/i].
Published: 3rd October 2020 14:26
Letters from Wiltshire #06
Here we are again, back in the (now) much-maligned EFL Trophy and a home tie against West Ham United U21s, and I think probably our last chance to stay in the competition? Robbie’s most recent rallying cry has been to “buy, buy, buy” when it comes to iFollow streams, and with the likelihood of supporters getting to matches receding, making streaming probably our only viable revenue stream, who can blame him. As an exile, I was never expecting I’d have many opportunities to see the U’s in the flesh this season, so he’s rather preaching to the converted as far as I’m concerned, but I do like the loyalty scheme he’s put together.
Published: 29th September 2020 17:41
Letters from Wiltshire #05
Matchday #3, and Robbie’s not happy. I know opinion is divided, but I have considerable sympathy with the Chairman on this one. I don’t want this to be necessarily a political comment, but many are looking on with bemusement as the government seem to lurch from one knee-jerk reaction to another during this crisis, and I would be saying this of any government, regardless of their political persuasion. The nub of Robbie’s comments is quite simple, what’s the point in having a panel of experts working closely with responsible club owners to plan supporter’s safe return to essentially open air stadia, investing in alterations, changes to layout, developing detailed procedures etc. to then have the rug pulled out from under their feet? I know why, a second wave seems to be coming, and frankly it looks like people simply can’t be trusted to follow the rules – but why then are pubs still open, or does the virus only come out after 10pm?
Published: 26th September 2020 13:46
Letters from Wiltshire #04
After last weeks’ solid point away against Bradford City, tipped by many to be strong promotion contenders, we now face another stern test against fallen giants Bolton Wanderers. Okay, giants may be stretching it a tad, but these guys have won the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice, and the Charity Shield and Football League (Sherpa Van) Trophy once apiece. Christ, they were in the Premier League just eight years ago. But, they are where they are for a reason, and Saturday is all about 11 v 11, literally on a level playing field…
Published: 18th September 2020 16:14
Letters from Wiltshire #03
So here we are, the drôle de guerre is over, the real battle is about to begin. Can we take any positives from the opening exchanges so far? I think so, the style is good, albeit Noah is right that the work in the final third needs considerable improvement if we are going to capitalise on our tippy-tappy triangles in midfield. But we’ve played some decent sides, far better sides than we should expect to face in League 2, and we haven’t been beaten out of sight yet, so let’s see what today brings against a side I think will be there or thereabouts come May next year.
Published: 12th September 2020 12:47
Letters from Wiltshire #02
Three days on from our early Carabao Cup exit at the Madjeski, we prepare to start the next cup competition at Fratton Park – at least we can’t be out of this one by full-time – well, not tonight anyway. For those that gain perverse pleasure from such things, had we prevailed against Reading, only Luton Town would have stood between us and another match against Manchester United! Of course, we wouldn’t have done, because we’d be in a completely different strand of reality, and thus a completely different cup draw, but no harm in a bit of Whatiffery.
Published: 8th September 2020 13:27
Letters from Wiltshire #01
Here we are then, at the start of a new season, curiously this time already well into September. I plan to continue (time permitting) writing blogs for each matchday, but with the season already considerably compressed, and matches as a result coming thick and fast, my apologies in advance if I don’t make it for every single game.
Published: 5th September 2020 14:41
Matches of Yesteryear - Cardiff v U's 11/4/98
Here we are then, after a reasonably solid but distinctly dull semi-final first leg lit up by a moment of sheer brilliance by Bramall, just one match away from a socially distanced Wembley play-off final. We may have a slight advantage, but there is of course still much to do, and I can’t imagine for a moment that Exeter will be that shot-shy again at t’other St James’ Park. It’s all about the result though, performance is irrelevant, so I’ll take an even duller 0-0 every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I hope you’re all keeping safe and well, and for those of you blessed with progeny – Happy Father’s Day!
Published: 21st June 2020 13:51
Matches of Yesteryear - Reading v U's 11/11/2000
So, after months of uncertainty, here we finally are at the start of a well-deserved play-off campaign. I say well-deserved, though in truth the play-offs ought to have been our minimum aspiration back in August. But sometimes life throws you a curve ball – no one could have predicted back then what the world was going to become, that hundreds of thousands would perish, and that most clubs today are probably fighting for their very existence. In fact, as already mentioned by [b]MFB[/b] and [b]Durham[/b], no one could have predicted that were it not for a stirring 3-0 victory at Carlisle in our last match back in March, we wouldn’t have even been in the play-offs. During lockdown, I have been reassured by the honest and stateman-like announcements from our Chairman keeping us all updated, and never more grateful that we have him looking after the club.
Published: 18th June 2020 10:49
Matches of Yesteryear - Millwall v U's 14/4/99
And so here we are, at what would have been the last match of the domestic season, at home to FGR, and almost certainly still in with a shout of making the play-offs – maybe even already guaranteed by now. As I look out this morning, it’s a beautiful sunny day, and I would almost certainly already be on the first leg of a train journey to be amongst the faithful at the Jobserve Community Stadium. Given the location of our opponents, I’d probably be sharing the journey with a few hundred FGR supporters too, but they’ve always been a friendly bunch whenever I’ve met them, so I wouldn’t have been too concerned about that. Instead, we sit and wait to see how and when the season may (or may not) finish – strange times indeed…
Published: 25th April 2020 14:25
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Accrington Stanley 13/1/04
Happy Saturday everyone…well, less of the happy actually, with rain falling freely since yesterday afternoon. Still, good weather to be in lockdown for, takes away that feeling that you might be missing out on some quality time outside. In an open letter yesterday to all supporters of EFL clubs, chairman Rick Parry stated “[i]…with or without spectators, delivering a successful conclusion to the 2019/20 season remains our goal to ensure the integrity of our competitions[/i]”. If that can be achieved, it appears almost certain these will be matches behind closed doors, streamed live to all supporters – which inevitably will break the long-held Saturday 3pm blackout for televised matches. We all know why that blackout was in place, but this is a difficult time, and it requires an innovative solution.
Published: 18th April 2020 13:33
Matches of Yesteryear - Swansea v U's 7/3/06
Good afternoon everyone, I sincerely hope you’re all doing well, and hopefully not going too cabin-feverish! Today would have been a home match against Oldham Athletic, and after our surely guaranteed epic 3-2 victory at Sixfields on Good Friday, it would be just one more victory needed to guarantee a play-off place…think I might have been out in the sun a bit too much over the last few days 😊
Published: 13th April 2020 15:00
Matches of Yesteryear - Yeovil v U's 30/9/17
Good afternoon everyone, and first and foremost I must take the opportunity to wish you all a happy, healthy and most of all chocolicious Bank Holiday Easter weekend. This morning I should have been waking up in Langenhoe with all the kids, probably slightly muzzy-headed after my cousin’s wedding yesterday, and preparing for the journey home via Sixfields to watch the U’s bolster their promotion hopes. Needless to say, first the EFL, and then the wedding had to be postponed, so here I am still in North Wilts, though what a beautiful day it is!
Published: 10th April 2020 13:53
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Swans 3/4/01
Good afternoon everyone, North Wilts calling. We’ve all no doubt heard (and used) variations of the expression “[i]strange times we’re going through[/i]” during this crisis. They certainly are, and without a doubt the term crisis is apt, with deaths and positive tests seemingly rising almost exponentially at the moment. But we’ll get through this, and when we do, I firmly believe as a society we’ll be better for it. We’ll be a society better connected to our family, friends and neighbours, and more caring for those that need support. More so, we'll be a society in tune with the concept that we don’t have to burn fossil fuels to conduct business, we do have the technology available to avoid it, we’ll all be pretty adept at using it, and will all be far more comfortable with using it. It's an ill wind...
Published: 4th April 2020 13:14
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Macclesfield 4/4/92
Good afternoon everyone, I sincerely hope you are all doing well? Today would have been a vital home match against Mansfield, struggling at the wrong end of the league this time after a couple of seasons flattering to deceive at the sharp end. Since the last blog, we now know that all football below the National League is cancelled, and the season expunged from records. A tough break for the likes of Jersey Bulls in the Combined Counties League Division 1, who had won all of their 27 matches and already promoted, but then these are very strange times indeed. I sincerely hope the EFL season can be completed somehow, but I’m increasingly pessimistic about whether it will be.
Published: 28th March 2020 14:33
Matches of Yesteryear - Wycombe v U's 6/3/99
Here we are again, so greetings to all you social distancers and self-isolationists, I sincerely hope you are all well. This would have been our third fixture since the suspension of all football in the UK, and with more and more measures being implemented by the government to minimise social gatherings, including extending the football league break until at least the end of April, one wonders whether we’ll ever finish this season? There have been numerous measures announced, including £50m from the EFL, to minimise the financial burden on us smaller clubs, but Robbie Cowling has gone on record stating that “[i]…to really survive and go forward there is going to be help needed from the Premier League or elsewhere[/i]” – quite right Robbie.
Published: 21st March 2020 14:44
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Bournemouth 27/4/99
Tonight would have been our home fixture against table-toppers Crewe, and a chance to avenge the draw at Gresty Rd which really should have been a victory. However, what’s really interesting about it for me is that myself and probably a considerable number of you out there would have been watching it on i-Follow – exactly what our chairman suggested should have been the first option the EFL considered before deciding to postpone league fixtures. Ho hum, wonder how we would have got on…
Published: 17th March 2020 19:50
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Yeovil 15/8/09
…and so we enter the start of the coronavirus-enforced football league postponement period for 2019/20. As things stand, we will emerge on 4th April away at Bradford City, with nine fixtures (some teams, including Swindon, Crewe and FGR have ten) still to complete over the following 21 days, though I’m sure the end of the season could be extended if needs be. Whether we do restart on 4th April only time will tell.
Published: 14th March 2020 15:04
Matches of Yesteryear - Swindon v U's 23/8/08
Another very busy week at work, so apologies this is a little later than usual. For once I look out on a Saturday with bright skies and the sun even occasionally peeking out – will it be shining on John McGreal and the U’s by 5pm though? It’s at times like this I need the sage words of Doris Day (and latterly Wivenhoe resident Captain Sensible) “[i]Happy talk – keep talkin’ happy talk[/i]”.
Published: 7th March 2020 11:52
Matches of Yesteryear - Posh v U's 11/10/97
Another Saturday, another storm – this time Storm Jorge (pronounced ‘hohr-heh’, the Spanish Met Office apparently beat us to the punch on naming this one, so Storm Ellen will have to wait). After the horizontal blasting we received from Storm Dennis at Salford last weekend, I’m rather hopeful the U’s are learning to adjust to these conditions, and at least the JCS pitch ought to hold up better than the Peninsula’s did last Saturday – will it ever stop raining though…
Published: 28th February 2020 19:28
Matches of Yesteryear - Yeading v U's 12/11/94
I had a chat earlier this week with my neighbour, Head Groundsman at Forest Green, lamenting the interminably dreadful weather we’ve been experiencing, and he wryly asked the rhetorical question ‘do you know when it last wasn’t raining – October!’. Not literally, but it does feel like it right now, and all but the most pristine of surfaces are really starting to creak at the seams now. The news that there’s a pitch inspection at 9am tomorrow does not fill me with hope, particularly as I’ll be halfway to Birmingham by then…
Published: 21st February 2020 21:40
Matches of Yesteryear - Northampton v U's 24/4/99
Well, here we are going through the exhilarating highs and despairing lows of what it is to follow the U’s rollercoaster journey this season – one wonders what Saturday will bring, apart from yet another storm (Dennis this time). Vale Park is a tough enough place to go at the best of times, so will howling winds and lashing rain be the great leveller for the U’s? We shall see, but in the meantime, how about we go back to a time when our perennial concentration around this time of the season always seemed to be at the wrong end of the table, maybe put things a little bit into perspective…
Published: 14th February 2020 18:13
Matches of Yesteryear - Bees v U's 11/3/03 (eventually)
It was noted that Saturday’s stunning defeat of promotion rivals Plymouth Argyle was the first time we had beaten them since our League Cup victory back in 2003. Well our record against tomorrow night’s opponents Grimsby can challenge that – if you’re wondering ‘not another Tuesday night trip to Blundell Park’, the last time we played at Grimsby on a Saturday was also back in 2003…and the last time we won there? Over 40 years ago believe it or not, on 22nd September 1979, winning 2-1 thanks to two goals from Trevor Lee, with the U’s managed by none other than Bobby Roberts on that day.
Published: 10th February 2020 20:51
Matches of Yesteryear - Southend v U's 17/2/04
“[i]…Parky couldn’t quite keep the momentum from September going in the league, and we finished 11th at the end of the season. However, for the entertainment of the faithful, he was just about to embark with the U’s on two successful runs in both the FA Cup and the LDV Vans Trophy, the latter just about to start the following Tuesday (14th October) at Cheltenham[/i]”.
Published: 7th February 2020 21:51
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Blackpool 11/10/03
Ahead of our upcoming match at the Abbey Stadium tomorrow, we again go back to the Parky era, and for this match his first full season in charge at Layer Rd. It’s funny, when I first started following the U’s in the 70s, matches against local rivals Cambridge United always seemed to be a really big thing, up there with Southend in many ways – they just don’t seem to have quite the significance these days?
Published: 31st January 2020 18:26
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Wivenhoe 23/2/91
And so the unbeaten run goes on. Ahead of yet another vital match against a promotion contender on Tuesday night, we pay our first visit to a yet to be featured competition, going back nearly thirty years in the process. Last time in the Matches of Yesteryear series we explored our furthest distance for a ‘local derby’ match at Wycombe, this time we reflect on what must surely have been the shortest distance ever between the U’s and opponents for a competitive match?
Published: 27th January 2020 18:46
Matches of Yesteryear - Wycombe v U's 23/3/02
Ahead of another vital match in our bid for promotion back to League 1, this time at t’other St James’ Park in Devon, we return to our previous spell at that level, and dip again into one of the odder football rivalries (given that over 100 miles separates us from them).
Published: 24th January 2020 16:18
Matches of Yesteryear Special - U's v Bradford City 30/12/61
This one is a special for the Matches of Yesteryear series, as we step slightly outside the original concept of blogs related to my football memorabilia collection. I am delighted that our very own [b]pwrightsknees[/b] approached me with an absolutely fantastic idea just before Christmas, and an idea that really deserves this specific slot in our football calendar. It is also particularly appropriate given the terrible coincidence that Martyn King sadly passed on Christmas Day, the all-time record league goal-scorer for the U’s with 130 goals (1959-64).
Published: 20th January 2020 13:57
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Lincoln 27/10/18
Firstly, my apologies that this is a bit later than usual – it’s been a pretty hectic week at work, and by the time I got home last night, I was ready for a few beers and not a lot more. As we approach a vital double-header at home for the U’s promotion challenge, and on 12 games unbeaten, we come right up to date with an equally vital home game from last season.
Published: 18th January 2020 12:59
Matches of Yesteryear - Cheltenham v U's 22/2/03
The U’s travel to the Globe Arena tomorrow, aiming at the very least to keep the unbeaten run going – though in truth after three somewhat disappointing draws against Exeter, Crawley and Stevenage, surely nothing less than three points is acceptable? Ahead of this trip, the Matches of Yesteryear random number generator has chosen a match which for me has a particularly bitter-sweet poignancy.
Published: 10th January 2020 19:25
Matches of Yesteryear - Newport v U's 14/1/17
Ahead of tomorrow’s match at Stevenage, the Matches of Yesteryear random match selector has chosen one with some familiar faces in, one or two of whom we will see tomorrow, and one we probably won’t.
Published: 3rd January 2020 16:07
Matches of Yesteryear - Notts County v U's 21/3/98
And so we come to the end of 2019 – halfway through a season that promises much, so it seems appropriate that we dip into the 1997/98 season for this blog. May I take the opportunity to wish you all a very Healthy, Prosperous and most of all Happy New Year, starting of course with three points for the U’s against Crawley tomorrow.
Published: 31st December 2019 18:23
Matches of Yesteryear - Brighton v U's 27/10/01
A little later than usual for this one, as I was actually in Colchester yesterday seeing family. Not particularly good timing given the U’s are at home today, but we’re all fairly far flung these days, so the opportunity to get a sizeable amount of the family in one place at the same time couldn’t be overlooked lightly.
Published: 29th December 2019 13:38
Matches of Yesteryear - Bees v U's 6/5/00
First and foremost, let me take the opportunity to wish all the U’sual ‘boarders and occasional visitors, lurkers and alike a very Merry Christmas, and hope you all have a healthy, wealthy and happy New Year! Unseasonably, for the time of year, the random match selector for the first game of the 2019/20 festive period has chosen a match from the balmy end of the football calendar, when shirt-sleeves and shades are very much the order of the day.
Published: 25th December 2019 16:37
Matches of Yesteryear - Bournemouth v U's 27/3/99
After our memorable trip to Old Trafford mid-week, we’re back to earth with a bump this weekend, with a visit from one of our fellow CUFC’ers – Carlisle United…and to keep in step, The Matches of Yesteryear series does likewise and returns to the daily grind of being at the wrong end of a lower league table.
Published: 20th December 2019 15:54
Matches of Yesteryear - Stoke v U's 28/4/07
So here we are, on the eve of probably one of the most important matches in the history of Colchester United for many years. Fitting then, I think, that the random match generator has chosen another very significant match in the history of the U’s.
Published: 17th December 2019 19:25
Matches of Yesteryear - Yeovil v U's 4/11/03
Ahead of a tricky trip to Scunthorpe tomorrow, our Matches of Yesteryear series returns to the EFL Trophy in November 2003, back when it was known as the LDV Vans Trophy.
Published: 13th December 2019 16:58
Matches of Yesteryear - Swindon v U's 1/9/01
I have the first of several Xmas work outings tonight, so I'm posting this a bit earlier.
Published: 6th December 2019 12:41
Matches of Yesteryear - The Blue Eagle (Issue 39)
Well it had to happen eventually…
Published: 3rd December 2019 16:29
Matches of Yesteryear - Exeter v U's 27/11/91
So, back again after my break for international duties. With our ongoing exploits in two of the three domestic cup competitions, it’s nice that the random match selector has chosen one of our earlier forays into a cup competition – albeit the one competition we’re no longer involved in this season…
Published: 22nd November 2019 20:16
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Gills 5/11/94
Interesting that on the eve of our Mickey Mouse game against Ipswich, the match selected is from 1994, when we were managed by George Burley. We know a song about him…
Published: 11th November 2019 21:16
Matches of Yesteryear - Mansfield v U's 18/8/18
Another busy week, so apologies this has had to wait until today. Once again the random match selector throws a curve ball – with the cheers from our imperious victory at Field Mill last Saturday still fresh in the memory, we return to Field Mill (aka The One-Call Stadium) for this one.
Published: 9th November 2019 12:55
Matches of Yesteryear - Tranmere v U's 12/1/02
Well, after a tremendously exciting week for U’s fans everywhere, what better way to calm things down than remembering the daily grind of league football.
Published: 1st November 2019 17:45
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Doncaster 8/1/93
With school half-term upon me, and with much to do before leaving early for Crawley on Tuesday night, I’m going to have to post this one a bit early I’m afraid.
Published: 27th October 2019 19:56
Matches of Yesteryear - Bees v U's 31/12/05
Well here’s a first, the random match selector has chosen the very next match I was at following Shrewsbury in the FA Cup back in December 2005 – spooky.
Published: 25th October 2019 17:43
Matches of Yesteryear - Shrews v U's 3/12/05
Periodically, my Matches of Yesteryear random match generator throws out something that seems somehow appropriate, and given the 2019/20 FA Cup 1st Round draw has just been made, this is no exception.
Published: 21st October 2019 20:30
Matches of Yesteryear - Pompey v U's 21/8/01
[b]Portsmouth v Colchester United
Published: 18th October 2019 19:26
Matches of Yesteryear - PNE v U's 6/8/11
[b]Preston North End v Colchester United
Published: 11th October 2019 21:26
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Southend 10/2/04
[b]Colchester United v Southend United
Published: 8th October 2019 17:18
Matches of Yesteryear - Crewe v U's 17/2/18
[b]Crewe Alexandra v Colchester United
Published: 5th October 2019 12:27
Matches of Yesteryear - Barnet v U's 10/5/98
[b]Barnet v Colchester United
Published: 27th September 2019 19:28
Matches of Yesteryear - Bournemouth v U's 3/4/04
[b]AFC Bournemouth v Colchester United
Published: 23rd September 2019 21:01
Matches of Yesteryear - Crewe v U's 21/4/14
Yesterday was Alfie’s 15th birthday, so I was delighted that the random match generator has selected a game that is an important part of our life together following the U’s. I therefore make no apologies about the focus I will place on this game – I hope it brings you as much pleasure as it did me.
Published: 20th September 2019 13:15
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Northampton 10/11/98
[b]Colchester United v Northampton Town
Published: 16th September 2019 21:46
Matches of Yesteryear - Newport v U's 17/11/18
Apologies all, it’s been quite a hectic week at work so this one had to wait until today I’m afraid. I’m off to the New Lawn after this, so looking forward to seeing Noah and anyone else when I get there.
Published: 14th September 2019 12:04
Matches of Yesteryear - Reading v U's 26/01/02
[b]Reading v Colchester United
Published: 6th September 2019 19:25
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Wycombe 16/11/96
[b]Colchester United v Wycombe Wanderers
Published: 2nd September 2019 19:27
Matches of Yesteryear - Luton v U's 12/09/06
[b]Luton Town v Colchester United
Published: 30th August 2019 19:29
Matches of Yesteryear - Northampton v U's 20/01/04
I won’t have the time to do this tomorrow, so I’m posting this slightly ahead of our trip to Selhurst Park on Tuesday night – look forward to seeing any of you there.
Published: 26th August 2019 13:45
Matches of Yesteryear Blackburn v U's 29/01/05
[b]Blackburn Rovers v Colchester United
Published: 23rd August 2019 23:35
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Huddersfield 16/08/08
[b]Colchester United v Huddersfield Town
Published: 20th August 2019 12:57
Matches of Yesteryear - Swindon v U's 13/11/10
[b]Swindon Town v Colchester United
Published: 16th August 2019 12:41
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v Lincoln 26/8/95
[b]Colchester United v Lincoln City
Published: 13th August 2019 13:22
Matches of Yesteryear - Bournemouth v U's 3/2/01
[b]AFC Bournemouth v Colchester United
Published: 9th August 2019 12:37
Matches of Yesteryear - U's v PNE 3/5/15
Although not an avid collector, I recently catalogued my collection of football memorabilia and I have 175 items, mostly programmes, some fanzines, and a few ticket stubs which aren’t accompanied by anything else. I have no idea how many more may have been misplaced during house moves, clear-outs etc., but the collection spans nearly 30 years (the earliest is the programme from our 1990 Boxing Day game against Barnet at Layer Rd), and is almost universally Colchester United related (though not quite all of it). I have decided to try and put this to some use, by choosing one at random prior to each match and writing a short article about the match, maybe the programme, and even any personal recollections I have of the game (notwithstanding enforced enfeeblement due to excessive libation). I will try and do this ahead of each game this season, but my apologies in advance if I don’t quite achieve that.
Published: 2nd August 2019 16:11