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Reply | League 2 line-up next season
at 10:36 18 May 2026
Given that we have zero points from 12 over the last two seasons I'd be pretty happy to see the back of Salford plus Notts County are likely to bring 1,000+ fans to the JCS next season as opposed to Salford's 47! |
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Reply | Retained List Announced
at 10:33 18 May 2026
https://www.cu-fc.com/news/202
Following the announcement of Colchester United's retained/released list, Head Coach Danny Cowley said the following:
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the players and staff for their exceptional professionalism and efforts throughout last season.
Last summer brought some unique challenges, and we were not able to bring the group together as quickly as we would have liked. We eventually assembled a group of young players, some living professional football for the first time, balanced by a collection of senior professionals.
Regardless of the age gap between the two groups, the changing room worked. The spirit and togetherness of the group grew as relationships developed.
Our young players brought enthusiasm and energy, while the seniors were magnificent in supporting them. As a group, they have been an absolute pleasure for Nicky and I to work with.
While the future is incredibly exciting, it does naturally bring uncertainty. We have some short term challenges that we must navigate. In football, the only certainty is that it is going to be uncertain!
We have the foundations of a good squad. It has brought much needed stability to this club over the past two seasons.
We are clear on what we need to add. Players who will make us physical and robust enough to successfully endure the stresses of a grueling League Two campaign. Our ambition is clear. We know exactly what we want to achieve for this football club.
We would like to keep as much of this squad together as possible. We only like to make change for significant gain. Continuity brings consistency. Relationships develop both on and off the pitch, as does the understanding of the way we work and the way we play.
Alongside signing players with the playing attributes to compliment our game idea and personalities that will add to our changing room, the timing of our recruitment is equally critical. In the past two seasons, we have had to wait until the end of the transfer window to put the group together.
This has had clear consequences. We dropped far too many points in the opening ten games of both campaigns, leaving us playing catch up. We are really hopeful that the group will come together much earlier this time around.
It was fantastic to secure contract extensions for Jack Payne, Harry Anderson, Teddy Bishop, and Sam Kuffour. Jack, Harry and Teddy have not only been pivotal performers on the pitch but are vital cogs in our dressing room culture.
Sam, as we all witnessed at Cheltenham, possesses incredible athleticism and some really eye catching attributes. We look forward to helping him bring these qualities together on a consistent basis as he continues his upward trajectory.
We are currently working incredibly hard to negotiate new contracts for Arthur Read, Ellis Iandolo, Owura Edwards, Rob Hunt, Samson Tovide, Kane Vincent-Young, and Tom Smith.
While these processes are never straight forward, we would love them to stay and help build what will be a super exciting future with us.
The sad reality of this time of year is having to say goodbye. Firstly, to Matt Macey. Matt has enjoyed two excellent seasons at the club, playing over 100 games. In his first year, he won the League Two Golden Glove award by keeping over twenty clean sheets.
An incredible achievement when you consider the club had conceded over eighty goals the season prior. Again this season, across all competitions, we have conceded less than a goal per game, which again highlights his impact.
We also say goodbye to John-Kymani Gordon after two years at the club. JK finished the campaign by successfully helping Rochdale secure promotion back to the Football League and we wish him the very best moving forward.
Farewells also go to Dom Gape and Jack Baldwin. They are two good senior professionals who played an important role in driving daily standards at the training ground and being top role models to our young professionals.
Finally, to our captain, Tom Flanagan. Tom commands the utmost respect of everyone at this football club. He has enjoyed a fantastic career to date and led this group brilliantly from the front.
He was never frightened to have difficult conversations or do what was right for the group. Tom is currently finishing his Master’s degree in football business and has an incredible amount to offer the game.
We will be fully supporting him through his rehabilitation and in the meantime we would be crazy as a club not to use his expertise, contacts, and experience at this level to help us to continue to move forward.
We must also bid farewell to our loan players. This is always a downside of utilising the loan market. However, in our current position, it is a strategy that grants us the opportunity to work with elite-level young talent and I am sure you will agree that the team was vastly improved by the contributions of Micah, Harvey and more recently Will, Finn and Romeo. Nicky and I are so excited to watch their careers continue to progress.
Apologies for the time taken to communicate this retained list. The truth is I hold the information because I don’t like giving our competitors any advantage until I have to!
After four consecutive seasons of fighting relegation, competing in the top half of the division over the last two years represents real progress. However, for Nicky and I, this will never be enough. I want so much more for us all.
Today people see Colchester United as a stable League Two club with a good Academy that has the capabilities of producing a conveyor belt of young players that can play at the top end of the EFL.
Consequently, many people see us as a stepping stone. If we want to achieve what this club is capable of, we have to get beyond this. We want to be able to develop young talent while achieving our goals of moving up the football pyramid together.
When I close my eyes and think of Colchester United, I think of 10,000 supporters week in, week out driving the team to play high energy, dominant, winning football with players that they love to watch and can really connect with.
I see players, staff and supporters part of something that is much bigger than themselves, that brings us all happiness and success in equal measure. Dream big! Moving forward anything is possible for us!
Thank you once again on behalf of the players and staff for your unconditional, unwavering support this year. I hope you enjoy a fantastic summer, take the time to recharge, and return ready for what has the potential to be an incredible time in the history of Colchester United.
Come on you U’s
Danny and Nicky |
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Reply | Nearly one-club men
at 16:34 15 May 2026
Noah Chilvers must be have a pretty high Col U percentage.
In terms of league games Dillon Barnes has barely played any outside of his time at Col U. Sam Walker was the same for a while but has since chalked up over 100 appearances for Bradford, he's still made more appearances for the U's though with over 200. |
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Reply | Summer 2026 - Ins, Outs & Maybes
at 11:12 15 May 2026
Every year we're one of the last to announce our retained list. I'm not sure whether it helps us or not. |
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Reply | Summer 2026 - Ins, Outs & Maybes
at 09:25 15 May 2026
It was this Friday a year ago that the club released the retained list. Didn't happen until after five though. |
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Reply | Prediction League 2025/26
at 10:40 11 May 2026
If you'd gone for Col U to lose every game 1-0 with no goal scorer then I believe you would've ended up with 73 points which still would've only been good enough for second behind Daniel. |
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Reply | Prediction League 2025/26
at 10:55 8 May 2026
I think the U's have been tougher than ever to predict this season. Two defeats against Barrow, couldn't beat lowly Crawley, away wins at Grimsby, Walsall and Notts County plus throw in a 6-2, three 4-1's, a 2-4 and a 3-4. What chance did we have? |
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Reply | Prediction League 2025/26
at 10:23 8 May 2026
Well done on winning the league Daniel! Fully deserved after leading the way for so long. At 3-1 I thought the 5-4 might be on but it wasn't to be so no season ticket for me. |
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Reply | Glass half full or glass half empty ?
at 09:54 8 May 2026
Definitely half full for me but also a season of what ifs.
Despite finishing with less points and further down the table than last season I feel like we were a much better team this season. A number of times last season we were outplayed and pinched draws and wins but neither of those happened very often this season. I actually think we were the better team in games that we drew or lost on quite a few occasions.
The injuries to Perry, Flanagan, Iandolo, Mbick and Araujo were obviously too much for this squad to deal with. Anderson, Bishop and Goodwin also missed a fair number of matches through injury. Our best matchday 18 (according to me) missed 200 matchday squads in the league this season, that's a massive amount of any club to deal with but especially one with a relatively small squad.
Whilst I understood the club's decision at the time ,and hindsight is a wonderful thing, I really do wish we'd done more to keep Lyle Taylor. For me it's not so much the goals he's scored for Chelmsford City but more the fact he's pretty much played every game since his return from injury and in a league that is more physical than League Two I should imagine. If any of Williams, Goodwin or Tovide had had positive seasons he'd have been quickly forgotten about and probably the same if Mbick had stayed fit but for so much of the season we really could've done with him coming off the bench in those games where we were struggling to make a breakthrough. We failed to score in 16 league games and lost 13 of those. We only lost four times in games we scored in. So many clubs towards the top end of League Two have at least one forward in their squad who is in their 30's. I feel like we were so close to completing our puzzle and then lost one of the most important pieces. It may have been a coincidence but Tovide's best time in a U's shirt was when Taylor was here.
For a club like ours a lot has to go our way for us to be towards the top end of the division but it seems that a lot more went against us than for us with injuries, poor officiating and just general bad luck. I feel like we were a lot, lot closer from turning a good season into a great season than the table implies.
Our last promotion, in the 2005-06 season, was Parkinson's third full season in charge and next season will be Cowley's third full season in charge and if things go our way then maybe, just maybe, another promotion will be on the cards. |
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Reply | Summer 2026 - Ins, Outs & Maybes
at 10:12 7 May 2026
And the first rumour I've heard is that Flanagan, Bishop and Macey have all been released/not re-signing. |
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Reply | Happy 20th everyone!
at 15:13 6 May 2026
And what a day it was! Possibly the most nervous I've ever been watching a football match. Don't remember much about the game itself, not a lot happened, but do remember the celebrations and not wanting to leave the Yeovil away end terrace.
Also stopped at Pizza Hut on the way home and this guy came over and started talking to my dad like they were old friends. My dad didn't have a clue who he was and still to this day doesn't! |
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Reply | Former U's
at 15:29 5 May 2026
I believe that is true but I also heard that we have an extension option on every player who joined permanently under Cowley for the 2024-25 season so that increases the list somewhat (Payne, Macey, Hunt, Anderson and Bishop I think). |
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Thread | Sombreros At The Ready As U's Ride All Over Cheltenham
at 17:06 1 May 2026
Once again it's two consecutive 1-0 defeats, the third time it's happened to the U's in 2026 tells it’s own story really. We shouldn’t have lost the game at Harrogate, have we ever conceded a later winner? But were well beaten by Notts County last Saturday where we didn’t manage a single shot on target and if hadn’t been for Macey making some inspired saves the margin of defeat would’ve been greater. I know it’s the end of a long season, and there were some very tired players out there in blue and white, plus Notts County had something to play for but it was still probably the most disappointing performance of the season I’ve seen, and in front of our highest home attendance too, obviously boosted by decent travelling support from Nottingham.
As far as I know there has been no word on any of our current injured players although we do know that poor Tom Flanagan did his achilles in training last week. Is that career over for him? In his pre-match interview Danny did imply that we may see some of our younger players figure this weekend but not sure who they’ll replace. With nothing left to play for is there really any point in playing the loanees? Although I thought Barbook was our best outfield player last Saturday and the team completely lost it’s shape and drive when he was replaced. With Ipswich on the verge of promotion to the Premier League is he a player we might see back here next season? Probably depends what happens with Read and Bishop and whether Perry will be ready to start the season. We do seem to have a number of central midfielders at our disposal but at times, both this season and last season, we’ve been left short in that area of the pitch. I’ve really got no idea but maybe the U’s are going to line up as follows:
Macey
Vincent-Young Tucker Kuffour Jr Hunt
Read Barbrook
Lisbie Edwards
Payne
Tovide
Subs
Lisbie (Kaion), Jolliffe, Terry, Williams, Kuffour Jr, Anderson, Chamberlain
I think Cowley will start both Tovide and Lisbie in what is likely to be their final appearance for the club. Part of me thinks that Danny, as a football romantic, might replace one Lisbie with another late on in the game.
When we played Cheltenham earlier on in the season our old friend Steve Cotterill had just come in and steadied the ship but early goals in each half, one being a magnificent finish from Mbick, gave the U’s a very comfortable 2-0 victory. I thought Cheltenham worked hard on the day and played neat and tidy football but had no cutting edge whatsoever. They’ve mainly relied on Isaac Hutchinson, who has 16 league goals from midfield this season, as their attacking threat. Incidentally his brother Jake was at the U’s for a time and when we released him Isaac scored the winner against us the very next day. Cheltenham have been safe from relegation for some time now and, like us, have followed three consecutive wins with two defeats. One at home against Tranmere and a 4-0 thrashing at in-form Bristol Rovers last weekend. Are they already thinking about their summer holidays? Are our players doing the same? Could be 0-0 or 4-4 tomorrow depending on which players decide to show up.
The Cheltenham squad includes Ben Stevenson, a classy midfielder who impressed during a loan spell in 2018 but wasn’t quite so impressive during a permanent spell between 2019 and 2021. I always thought he was a player who would look even better at a higher level but we’ re still the club who he has made most appearances for. Harry Pell is another who has appeared for both, I believe we actually paid money for him when he signed for Cheltenham back in 2018, and his time in coincided with a pretty successful spell under John McGreal and he also had the honour of relegating Southend. No one else who has played for both comes to mind but I’m sure there must be some more.
The weather at Whaddon Road tomorrow is set to be sunny and warm at 18 degrees with light winds from the south and the chance of an odd shower. We lead the head to head between the two sides by nine wins to eight and with both teams have nothing to play for I'm going to go for a goalfest and the U's to win 5-4 with goals from Payne, Read, Tovide, Anderson and the winner from Lisbie in his final appearance for the U’s, for now anyway.
Up the U’s! |
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Reply | Team of the Season (Best XI)
at 10:47 1 May 2026
No Lisbie? Seems a bit harsh. The lad scored 11 goals in his first full season in professional football. We'd barely seen him play 12 months ago. Anderson's return has been pretty incredible given that he's missed a 13 matchday squads due to injury. Definitely one of the surprises of the season for me. |
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Reply | TIME TO VOTE FOR THE SEASON AWARDS
at 09:54 1 May 2026
On watching our Goal of the Season contenders I noticed a few things:
- Seven of eight went into the right hand side of the goal
- Five were scored in the same goal
- Of those five, three were scored in the same area of that goal (Top right hand corner, South Stand goal)
- Mbick won three months on the bounce (his injury really did hamper us) |
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Reply | TIME TO VOTE FOR THE SEASON AWARDS
at 09:51 1 May 2026
Award Winners in Full:
Official Player of the Year: Jack Tucker
Players' Player of the Year: Jack Tucker
Young Player of the Year: Kyreece Lisbie
Goal of the Season: Arthur Read
CUSA Away Player of the Year: Jack Tucker
CUSA Player of the Year: Jack Tucker
Hospital Radio Player of the Year: Arthur Read
GM Performer of the Year: Dean Craig
Employee of the Year: Cole Wren
No real surprises here. |
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Reply | Scunthorpe 1-0 Southend
at 09:18 1 May 2026
I like Luke Garrard at Boreham Wood, wouldn't mind him here at some point in the future. I think he's been in the running for the U's job previously, if you believe the rumours that is. |
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Reply | Former U's
at 11:20 30 Apr 2026
Lyle Taylor leaves Chelmsford despite being their top goalscorer and Player of the Season. He also scored their Goal of the Season too. If the deal was right, personally, I'd have him back. |
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Reply | Team of the Season (Best XI)
at 09:18 30 Apr 2026
GK - Macey
RB - Vincent-Young
CB - Tucker
CB - Araujo
LB - Iandolo
DCM - Read
DCM - Bishop
ACM - Payne
RW - Lisbie
ST - Mbick
LW - Anderson
If anyone picks a different XI to this I'll be shocked. Honourable mention for Hunt, one of only three players not to miss a match day squad, who has been pretty solid when called upon despite playing in about four different positions! |
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Site Scores| Prediction League: | 67 | | TOTAL: | 67 |
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