Colchester United are a relatively recent club in historical terms, only being formed in 1937. Previously Colchester Town had flown the Association flag in in this part of Essex, but they went bust mid 1937-38 season and had their record expunged. Whether some in the town had seen the writing was on the wall for Colchester Town, or whether it was a contributory factor in their demise, but United had been formed that same season, applying and being accepted into the Southern League. When Town folded United took the opportunity to take over their ground at Layer Road.

Layer Road is no more Photo © 2005 Ciderspace

The U's first ever competitive game was on August 28th 1937 at Huish. Yeovil & Petters United won 3-0. The return on September 11th was 0-0. The clubs met again towards the end of that season in the two-legged Southern League Cup Final. Colchester emerged victorious 4-3 on aggregate. In the league the Glovers finished 4th, Colchester 6th.

The following season saw each side win their respective home league game, but whilst Yeovil were distracted by one of their great F.A. Cup runs it was Colchester United who finished the season as Southern League Champions. On the strength of this they made their first application to join the Football League, but only received one vote.

After the War the (renamed) Yeovil Town and Colchester United were again rivals in the Southern League. Yeovil got revenge for the 1938 League Cup Final defeat when they took the U's in the 1949 Final 3-0. However Colchester got the far greater prize the next season. Although they hadn't won the Southern League title post-war, when Division Three South was expanded by two clubs in 1950 they were voted in along with Gillingham.

A couple of mid-table seasons were followed by several needs for re-election, but when the cut came for who went into Division Three and who into Division Four in the restructuring for the 1958-59 campaign they were doing well enough to get put into the higher tier. It was in that season that Yeovil and Colchester met again, but now in the F.A. Cup in Round Two. The Glovers got a very creditable 1-1 draw at Layer Road and strongly fancied their chances in the replay at Huish. The 1-7 hammering was a shock, Yeovil's second largest F.A. Cup defeat ever. That was it until 1980 when the teams were again drawn in Round Two of the FAC. The pattern was repeated : a 1-1 draw in Essex, followed by defeat in Somerset. In the intervening years Colchester had bobbed about fairly regularly between Divisions Three and Four. Their greatest moment was the defeat of the then mighty Leeds United in the Fifth Round of the F.A. Cup in 1971.

In the Eighties Colchester appeared a solid Division Four team, but towards the end of the decade cracks began to appear in the club and two flirtations with relegation saw them down to the Conference on the second of them in 1990. History never repeats itself? Well not quite, as Colchester United's first match back in Non-league was at Huish Park - the stadium's first ever competitive match. The result was the same as in 1937 though, a win for the Glovers. Full-time Colchester were bound to be a major force in the Conference, but did have one major handicap - a prat of a manager called Ian Atkins. They ended runners-up to Barnet. In 1991-92 under Roy McDonough they made no mistake, though it was a close run thing. In a titanic struggle Colchester and Wycombe Wanderers were in a mini-league of their own, finishing 21 points clear of the rest. The U's pipped it on goal difference and were back in the Football League.

West (Main) Stand at the Community Stadium Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

In 1998 Steve Wignall took them up to Division Two (now League One) through the play-offs, and there they remained for eight campaigns, a significant achievement for a club with one of the smallest average crowds at this level. The price paid was season after season of finishing in the bottom half of the table with little excitement other than the odd flirtation with relegation. In 2000 the Glovers, not to put too fine a point on it, slaughtered the U's 5-1 in Round One of the FAC. The Round Two LDV tie in 2003 finished 2-2 after extra time, but Colchester went through 4-2 on penalties. We didn't catch up with them in league competition again until 2005-06, losing 2-3 away and drawing 0-0 at home, that point in the final game of the season securing Colchester a rather unlikely promotion to the Championship as runners-up. Even more unlikely was the 10th placed finish in the second tier the following season. However it didn't last and they came back down in 2008, finishing bottom. Since then they've been down in League One - usually as one of the clubs sat just inside or just outside the play-off slots.

East Stand - This time around its where the away fans are housed Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

In the meantime, nearly three decades after they first began trying, Colchester at last have their new stadium, mainly paid for by the council. It's got fairly good facilities although like many out-of-towners suffers from high car park charges and an otherwise near-exclusion zone that means that park'n'ride is your main option, and the concept of the quick pint at the pub near the ground is an impossibility.

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RECENT RESULTS

26/12/2011	Stevenage Borough	Home	NPL1	L	1-6	5276		Henderson 51
31/12/2011	Exeter City	Home	NPL1	W	2-0	3667		Wordsworth 16, Bond 62
02/01/2012	Milton Keynes Dons	Away	NPL1	L	0-1	7892
14/01/2012	Scunthorpe United	Home	NPL1	D	1-1	3165		Gillespie 28
21/01/2012	Chesterfield	Home	NPL1	L	1-2	3312		Gillespie 32
28/01/2012	Leyton Orient	Away	NPL1	W	1-0	4659		Forbes 28

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

CLUB GOALSCORERS

Name	LGE	FAC	FAT	LGC	CC	Total
Anthony Wordsworth	9	0	0	0	0	9
Ian Henderson	7	0	0	0	0	7
Michail Antonio	4	0	0	0	0	4
Kayode Odejayi	4	0	0	0	0	4
Steven Gillespie	3	0	0	0	0	3
Karl Duguid	2	0	0	0	0	2
Matt Heath	2	0	0	0	0	2
Andy Bond	2	0	0	0	0	2
Lloyd James	1	0	0	0	0	1
Ashley Vincent	1	0	0	0	0	1
Own Goals	2	0	0	0	0	2

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

Highest League Attendance: 5276, vs Stevenage Borough, 26/12/2011
Lowest League Attendance: 3023, vs Oldham Athletic, 27/08/2011
Average League Attendance: 3768

CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS

Games Without A Win:	0		Games Without A Home Win:	2
Games Without An Away Win:	0		Games Without Defeat:	1
Games Without A Home Defeat:	0		Games Without An Away Defeat:	1
Games Without A Draw:	2		Games Without A Score Draw:	2
Games Without A No-Score Draw:	10		Games Without Scoring:	0
Games Without Conceding:	1		Home Results Sequence:	LWLWDL
Away Results Sequence:	LDLWLW		Overall Results Sequence:	LWLDLW

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Welcome to the Community Stadium Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

Approaching the Community Stadium Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

Parking

The news is not good.

There is a stadium car park with between 600 and 700 spaces, but it was intended to be Permit Holders only and in its first year they were charging £10.00 per match. Obviously they priced it too high and couldn't sell out as in the second year the price fell to £5.00, but now they've pushed it back up to £6.00 (plus £2.00 transaction fee if booking by phone) and it is also now available to away supporters if spaces are still available for a particular game. However you can not just turn up and pay, you must pre-book. Call 0845 4379089.

Supporters should be aware that the area around the Weston Homes Community Stadium is subject to a Parking Exclusion Zone on matchdays. Covering both existing Clearways and also nearby residential areas, these roads will be marshalled by Colchester United and Essex Police to prevent parking on roads not permitted under the Stadium Travel Plan.

Parking enforcement will be carried out, so you are advised to check signage and lines carefully. Note that the Clearway restriction is not marked by yellow lines - but is zoned within signs marked with a red cross on a blue background. Clearway means that you cannot stop to load or unload passengers, wait or park, and the restrictions apply to those holding disabled drivers "Blue Badge" as well.

The following roads have a Clearway "No Stopping" restriction, which also extends to roadside verges and footways:
Northern Approach Road
Boxted Road
Langham Road
Severalls Lane
Axial Way
United Way

Most other areas around the stadium have either resident only parking restrictions or yellow lines. Residential areas subject to these restrictions include:
Mile End Road
Nayland Road (particularly near the Dog & Pheasant pub)
Turner Road
Mill Road

Marshalls also monitor nearby residential estates such as those leading off from Mill Road onto the 'Roman Place' development.

As if all of that wasn't enough, at the end of each game, a section of Boxted Road will be closed for around 20 minutes. This is fairly similar to that employed at Huish Park in that the section stops traffic going down the road for a period of time to allow pedestrians leaving the stadium a chance to stream out as a priority. It is a road traffic offence to ignore the closure. Owners of any vehicles contravening any of the above parking restrictions are liable for a Fixed Penalty Charge Notice which is currently £70.00. Fans from a number of clubs have reported that they departed having picked up such fines. If you can hunt down some on-street we're advised there's nothing nearer than at least a mile from the stadium

There are commercial car parks in the town centre (map), but be aware these are two to three miles, depending on location, from the stadium.

In our opinion the best parking option is to use the Colchester (North) Railway Station car park. It is huge, with 1,400 spaces, and station car parks are mostly pretty empty at weekends with no commuters to clog them up, so there should be little problem finding a space. The Saturday rate is £2.10 for the whole day (and also the same on weekdays after 4.00p.m. for any midweek matches). It's a short walk (see details under 'By Bus') from there to the Bruff Close shuttle buses.

South Stand - home support switched here after first season in the new stadium. Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

By Supporters Coaches

The Green and White Supporters Club are running coaches to the match for this 2011-12 season fixture as follows:

Coaches will depart from from Yeovil Bus Station at 8.00a.m. and from Huish Park at 8.15a.m. Cost of travel will be £23.00 with concessions available at £21.00. Non-GWSC members are welcomed and will pay two pounds extra.

To place your booking, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 or Rich Rendell on 01935 427072 (Evenings). You can also contact the GWSC office at Huish Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10.30am and 1.30pm on 01935-847879. An answer machine service is also available on this number.

By Rail

The town has three railway stations, Colchester North, Colchester Town and (Colchester) Hythe. North is the only one anywhere near the stadium, and that's about two miles away.

Liverpool Street, by One Railway, is your London station for services to Colchester. Journey times to Colchester North range from 49 minutes to one hour.

Note that in terms of official names, and in particular if you go searching on the National Rail website, "Colchester North" station is known simply as "Colchester" Railway Station. However, you'll find that the locals and most local bus services refer to it as "Colchester North" to avoid confusion with the Colchester Town station which is the more central one of the two, but further away from the ground.

2011-12 Season Special Notes For Those Travelling By Rail:

Be aware that there are some Engineering Works on the railways that may cause disruption to your journey to and from the game. The two sets of Engineering Works like between Salisbury and Basingstoke and between London Liverpool Street and Ilford and both will add significant time to your journey.

South West Trains: Between Basingstoke And Salisbury

There are no trains stopping between these two stations - buses replace trains for all intermediate stations. The route from Yeovil Junction up to London Waterloo makes a detour via Southampton Central, where the service will stop. You can still travel direct if you're getting on at Yeovil (or any station up as far as Salisbury) but you'll find the loop adds an extra 30 minutes to your journey time - South West Trains warn of delays of up to 60 minutes in practice for this service.

National Express East Anglia: Between Liverpool Street and Ilford

The line is out entirely between Maryland and Forest Gate meaning that you can not take a direct service from Liverpool Street. Buses replace trains, but we do not recommend you take this unless you're taking a different route to most Yeovil fans. Instead join the Central Line (probably at Oxford Circus or Bank - note that you can't change on the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road due to the Crossrail work there) and travel eastbound to Newbury Park. Then take a stopping service to Ingatestone, which takes 35 minutes. From there you should be able to get on a service to Colchester. This detour roughly doubles the final leg of your journey from just under an hour to around 1 hour 50 mins. Note that on the way back, you'll be too late to use the Waterloo and City Line, so you'll need to either go via Oxford Circus, or take the Jubilee Line at Stratford.

Overall Effect Of 2011-12 Season Engineering Works:

The overall effect of the two bits of engineering works is that whereas taking the 8:29a.m. service from Yeovil Junction up to Colchester would take you 4 hours 11 minutes on the Friday, getting you to your destination by 12:40p.m. the same journey one day later is timetabled to take 5 hours 17 minutes, getting you in at a slightly less comfortable 1:46p.m. Bearing in mind that Colchester's Community Stadium is a fair trek out of town, and that Engineering Works tend to result in unpredictable timetable variations on top of the above plans, and we'd say that is the latest service you should consider for getting to the ground. Your return journey will again take roughly the same sort of time.

North Stand - home end the first season, away end the second, now back to the home end. Photo © 2009 Ciderspace

By Bus

The Shuttle Bus Service from Bruff Close was free when we first started coming to the Community Stadium but now carries a £1.50 charge return according to the club's Official Site. What is slightly confusing is that matchday tickets still carry the ticket stubs - at present Colchester's official site is saying you should not use these stubs but that they may change that in the future. For a 3.00 p.m. kick-off the shuttle buses will run from 1.00 p.m. at Bruff Close to the stadium at regular intervals; buses returning to Bruff Close from the stadium run between 4.50 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. Journey time on the shuttle is around 10 minutes.

Bruff Close is a short walk from North Station forecourt. Walk down Station Approach and turn left to cross Bergholt Road at the crossing. Continue on to Mile End Road and cross it at the crossing just twenty yards up. Bruff Close is directly in front of you with The Big Yellow Warehouse on the right hand side.

There are further shuttle bus services available from points around the town, though the Bruff Close one is the easiest and most obvious for those not familiar with Colchester. Details of those other services can be found here and currently include departures from the Ancient Briton, Drury Arms and Fat Cat pubs, which also stop at Head Street in the town.

Taxis

A selection of Colchester taxi companies can be found here.

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The nearest pub to the stadium is the Dog and Pheasant on Nayland Road, and that's three-quarters of a mile away. It is billed as home fans only. Near the railway station and the shuttle bus pick up point is the Bricklayers. This is also claimed to be home fans only, though that seems peculiar for a real ale pub, which it is. We had no problem getting a drink there, though we weren't dripping colours it has to be said. There was an impressive selection of real ale and cider. In North Station Road is the Norfolk, which is a Greene King outlet and will allow away fans. A little further on is the Albert, a Beefeater - arghh. Pretty much damning all except the Bricklayers, better pubs than those so far mentioned can be found in the town centre and out the other side - though it's a fair hike from the station car park. In town we have found the beer in the Fox & Fidler to be quite good; the beer in the Hole in the Wall was nothing special, but the food was good value. Crossing under the inner ring road The Dragoon - an Adnams pub - was one we favoured in years gone by, when Layer Road was the destination, and still appears fine. However the outlet immediately opposite, which was utterly dire and always entirely empty, has now had a complete revamp and renaming as the Fat Cat and has up to twenty different real ales on at one time, mostly served by gravity.


Club Bar :

As far as we are aware there are no alcohol provisions for away fans at the stadium. Food is the usual sort of garbage one gets fobbed off with at most football grounds.

Local Pubs :

Most convenient for the shuttle buses © Martin Baker Bricklayers: Should you arrive in the area of Colchester (North) railway station and the shuttle bus terminus this is the only decent pub to use whilst you work out how you are going to negotiate the couple of miles to the football stadium. It's said to be home fans only, but we've had no problems getting served wearing colours so possibly only when the naughtier clubs are in town. There's a public bar and a lounge, with a pool table and darts in the former. There's a full range of Adnams beers, including relevant seasonals, plus around six guests and at least one traditional cider - Crones was on last time. Usual sort of selection of keg, with Kronenbourg 1664, Carlsberg and Fosters as the lagers. Food is home cooked, good value, but lunchtimes only and not Saturdays. Has own parking. Opening times are 11.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11.00 a.m. - midnight Friday, 11.00 a.m - 11.00 p.m Saturday, noon - 11.00 p.m. (closes 6.30 p.m. in the winter) on Sunday. Bricklayers, 27, Bergholt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5AA. Tel: 01206 852008. Map: Click Here.

Recommended for its real ale © Hugh Gleave Fat Cat: Single, and oddly shaped, room pub, the third of the same name to be opened by the Fat Cat Brewery. The first, in Norwich, is I believe the only pub to ever win the award of CAMRA National Pub of the Year twice. The Colchester version isn't in that league, but is a good effort if you are a real ale fan. Obviously it stocks the Fat Cat range of beers, and supplements them with numerous guests. On a slow day you can expect a dozen beers to be available, and this can rise to as many as twenty. The majority are served by gravity. Food is served both lunchtimes and evenings but is a very restricted menu. There's a small (partially) covered yard at the back for smokers. Opening is noon - 11 p.m. every day except Friday when it's noon - midnight, and Saturday, which is 11.00 a.m - midnight. For those that recall Colchester from Layer Road days this pub was The Royal, then a dire hole, and is right opposite The Dragoon (below). Fat Cat, 65, Butt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3BZ. Tel: 01206 577990. Map: Click Here.

Town centre outlet © Hugh Gleave Fox & Fiddler: Town centre hostelry that's much bigger than it appears from the outside. The Mighty Oak Brewery provides the regular beers, with additional choice from guests usually from micro-breweries. Good quality home produced food is available lunch times only. There's an outside area to the rear that is partly covered and also heated. Opening times are 11.00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11.00 a.m. - midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon - 10.30 p.m. Sunday. Fox & Fiddler, 1, St John's Street, Colchester, Essex, CO2 7AA. Tel: 01206 560520. Map: Click Here.

A town centre option © Hugh Gleave Hole In The Wall: Not the easiest to spot, tucked in the lanes off the town centre between the Mercury Theatre and the Arts Centre. Claims up to six real ales, but only two very mainstream ones on when we called in. The food, however, was good value if standard fare and served throughout the day. Two external semi-covered areas for smokers and others. Opening: noon - 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday; noon - midnight Friday and Saturday; noon - 10.30 p.m. Sunday. Hole In The Wall, Balkerne Passage, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1PT. Tel: 01206 579897. Map: Click Here.

Good 'local' style pub © Hugh Gleave The Dragoon: Friendly extrovert landlord when we used it in past years. Don't know if he's still there. The beer is a wide range of Adnams plus the odd guest and was excellently kept. Food was simple, unpretentious and good value, with the chilli hot and spicey, and available lunchtimes only (except Friday evenings when fish and chips are served up). Has Sky Sports on a big screen, pool table and darts. Nice beer garden at the back, with a covered area for smokers. Opening 11.00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. The Dragoon, 82, Butt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3DA. Tel: 01206 573464. Map: Click Here.

© Hugh Gleave The Norfolk: Recently refurbished. About 300 yards from Colchester North station, going towards the town centre and away from the stadium. Advantage is it accepts away fans. Disadvantage - Greene King ales are pretty poor these days. Does IPA, Abbot and Old Speckled Hen as its real ales. There's a pool table and Sky Sports on a big screen. The Norfolk, 132, North Station Road, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1UZ. Tel: 0871 9170007. Map: Click Here.

Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :

Not quite as ghastly as 'New-Town' Essex. Deep enough into the county and old enough not to be totally dominated by Mockneys speaking Estuarine. But it's getting that way, so make the most of what's left before the chav generation takes over completely.

Top-Tip :

Wear good walking shoes, you are quite likely to need them. In fact a rucksack, tent, sleeping bag, compass and two days supply of food could be a good idea.

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