Football Season Guide

Colchester enter their third season in League 1 with much lower expectations than they had when they dropped out of the Championship a few years back. Chairman Robbie Cowling announced earlier in the year that he is scaling down his financial contribution season by season, with a view to the club being self-sufficient by 2016. That means manager John Ward will have a playing budget of £300,000 less for the new campaign, although Cowling did also reveal promising plans to invest heavily in the club’s youth system. As expected Ward has been quiet in the transfer market since his cull of several fringe players at the end of the last season, with player of the year David Perkins the only big name to leave. The U’s played some good football last term with Ward preferring a high-tempo passing style, and they were in the mix for a play-off place until a poor run towards the end of the campaign ended their chances. There is not a lot of pressure on the U’s to gain promotion and that could work in their favour. If Ward can foster a good team spirit, which will have been helped by the lack of movement in and out, and pick up a few good loan or free signings then the U’s could be in amongst the top sides.