Football Season Guide

Colchester United head into the new season with plenty of optimism despite having endured a frustrating end to the 2016/17 campaign. They finished in 8th place in the League Two, missing out on the play-offs by just a single point. Head coach John McGreal deserves lots of credit for getting them so close whilst having had to deal with a squad decimated with serious and long-term injuries throughout the whole season. Winger, Brennan Dickenson, last season’s player of the year, was unlucky enough to be one of the players to suffer an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury and isn’t expected to be fit again until next February at the earliest. There may be a silver lining to his absence however as the club have been able to fend off interest from Championship neighbours Ipswich Town during the close season. Influential defender Luke Prosser and striker Kurtis Guthrie are also expected to miss the start of the new season following respective knee and ankle surgeries. However, McGreal has been boosted by the return of defender Frankie Kent, midfielders Craig Slater and Sammy Szmodics and striker Denny Johnstone to pre-season training having recovered from their respective injuries. It has seen him make modest additions to his squad this summer as he looks for quality rather than quantity. The mananger has brought in defender Cole Kpekawa, winger Ryan Jackson and striker Mikael Mandron on permanent deals and they will go some way to replace defender Richard Brindley and striker Chris Porter, who rejected offers of new deals this summer to leave for pastures new. Porter finished as leading goalscorer and his departure for Crewe Alexandra was particularly surprising. McGreal has some promising youngsters coming through, such as defender Cameron James, and if the U’s can sort out their injury problems they should have every chance of finishing in the top seven this time around.