1975–76 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1975–76 season
Chairman	Jack Rippingale[1]
Manager	Bobby Roberts
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division	22nd (relegated)
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Dover)
League Cup	1st round (eliminated by Crystal Palace)
Top goalscorer	League: Steve Leslie (6) All: Steve Leslie (7)
Highest home attendance	6,240 v Crystal Palace, 10 January 1976[2]
Lowest home attendance	2,245 v Chesterfield, 7 February 1976[3]
Average home league attendance	3,385[4]
Biggest win	3–1 v Crystal Palace, 25 August 1975 2–0 v Brighton & Hove Albion, 20 September 1975 v Walsall, 11 October 1975 v Aldershot, 16 March 1976
Biggest defeat	0–6 v Brighton & Hove Albion, 17 January 1976
Home colours
← 1974–75 1976–77 →

The 1975–76 season was Colchester United's 34th season in their history and their second consecutive season in third tier of English football, the Third Division. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the League Cup.

With Jim Smith departing for Second Division Blackburn Rovers in the summer, his former Colchester United coach Bobby Roberts was appointed manager in his place. A succession of poor results spelt relegation for Colchester, while they exited both cup competitions in the first round.

Season overview

Jim Smith was prized away from Colchester by Second Division Blackburn Rovers over the summer. His coach Bobby Roberts was appointed manager but his early days in charge proved ominous for the remainder of the season. A winless first five games was only worsened by Smith returned to sign top scorer Bobby Svarc for £25,000 from the cash-strapped U's.

Colchester suffered defeat at the hands of non-League opposition in the FA Cup once again after being taken to a replay and then extra time by Dover. They were soundly beaten 4–1 at the end of extra time. They also lost out in the League Cup first round 4–3 on aggregate against Crystal Palace. Despite this, Colchester rallied for a mid-season resurgence of form to climb to twelfth position in the league table, but some crushing defeats including 6–1 at Chesterfield and 6–0 at Brighton & Hove Albion put the U's back in the relegation mire. Relegation was confirmed as Colchester finished 22nd position in the table, with Steve Leslie the club's top scorer with a record low of just six league goals.^[5]

Players

As of match played 26 April 1976.^[6]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Lee Smelt	GK		Edmonton	(1958-03-13)13 March 1958 (aged 17)	0	0	Bishop's Stortford	Summer 1975	Free transfer
Mike Walker	GK		Colwyn Bay	(1945-11-28)28 November 1945 (aged 29)	102	0	Watford	July 1973	£4,000
Defenders
Stewart Bright	FB		Colchester	(1957-10-13)13 October 1957 (aged 17)	0	0	Apprentice	Summer 1974	Free transfer
Micky Cook	FB		Enfield	(1951-04-09)9 April 1951 (aged 24)	246	9	Orient	1 March 1969	Free transfer
Barry Dominey	CB		Edmonton	(1955-10-21)21 October 1955 (aged 19)	35	3	Enfield WMC	September 1973	Free transfer
Derek Harrison	CB		Littlethorpe	(1950-02-09)9 February 1950 (aged 25)	0	0	Torquay United	Summer 1975	Free transfer
Mick Packer	FB		Willesden	(1950-04-20)20 April 1950 (aged 25)	72	1	Watford	July 1973	Free transfer
Lindsay Smith	CB		Enfield	(1954-09-18)18 September 1954 (aged 20)	138	6	Apprentice	20 April 1971[a]	Free transfer
Johnny Williams	FB		Tottenham	(1947-03-26)26 March 1947 (aged 28)	0	0	Watford	June 1976	Undisclosed
Midfielders
Ray Bunkell	MF		Edmonton	(1949-09-18)18 September 1949 (aged 25)	40	1	Swindon Town	December 1973	Part exchange
Paul Dyer	MF		Leicester	(1953-01-24)24 January 1953 (aged 22)	0	0	Notts County	Summer 1975	Undisclosed
Steve Foley	MF		Clacton-on-Sea	(1953-06-21)21 June 1953 (aged 21)	109	24	Apprentice	July 1969	Free transfer
Steve Leslie	MF		Hornsey	(1952-09-04)4 September 1952 (aged 22)	146	27	Apprentice	20 April 1971[a]	Free transfer
Forwards
Ian Allinson	WG		Hitchin	(1957-10-01)1 October 1957 (aged 17)	1	0	Apprentice	Summer 1974	Free transfer
Terry Anderson	WG		Woking	(1944-03-11)11 March 1944 (aged 31)	4	0	Baltimore Comets	23 August 1975[b]	Free transfer
John Froggatt	FW		Stanton Hill	(1945-12-13)13 December 1945 (aged 29)	54	18	Boston United	Summer 1974	£6,000
Colin Garwood	FW		Heacham	(1949-06-29)29 June 1949 (aged 25)	0	0	Huddersfield Town	February 1976	£4,000
Bobby Gough	FW		Ladywood	(1949-07-20)20 July 1949 (aged 25)	0	0	Southport	January 1976	£7,000

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1975	GK		Lee Smelt	Bishop's Stortford	Free transfer	[7]
Summer 1975	CB		Derek Harrison	Torquay United	Free transfer	[8]
Summer 1975	MF		Paul Dyer	Notts County	Undisclosed	[9]
June 1975	FB		Johnny Williams	Watford	Undisclosed	[10]
23 August 1975	WG		Terry Anderson	Baltimore Comets	Free transfer	[11][a]
January 1976	FW		Bobby Gough	Southport	£7,000	[12]
February 1976	FW		Colin Garwood	Huddersfield Town	£4,000	[13]

• Total spending: ~ £11,000

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	CB		Ray Harford	Romford	Player-coach	[14]
Summer 1975	MF		Jimmy Lindsay	Hereford United	£13,000	[15]
18 August 1975	MF		Bobby Roberts	Colchester United	Manager	[16]
October 1975	FW		Bobby Svarc	Blackburn Rovers	£25,000	[17]
January 1976	MF		Phil Thomas	Free agent	Retired	[18]

• Total incoming: ~ £38,000

Loans in

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	End date	Ref.
16 August 1975	FB		Jon O'Donnell	Cambridge United	16 August 1975	[19][a]
January 1976	FW		Billy Telford	Peterborough United	7 February 1976	[20][b]
24 January 1976	GK		Len Bond	Bristol City	14 February 1976	[21][a]
February 1976	FW		Colin Garwood	Huddersfield Town	February 1976	[13]

Match details

Third Division

Results round by round

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
20	Sheffield Wednesday	46	12	16	18	48	59	0.814	40
21	Aldershot (R)	46	13	13	20	59	75	0.787	39	Relegation to the Fourth Division
22	Colchester United (R)	46	12	14	20	41	65	0.631	38
23	Southend United (R)	46	12	13	21	65	75	0.867	37
24	Halifax Town (R)	46	11	13	22	41	61	0.672	35

Matches

League Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][22]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	WAL	Mike Walker	47	0	43	0	2	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Stewart Bright	20	0	18+2	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Micky Cook	43	1	39	1	2	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Barry Dominey	42	2	32+6	1	2	1	2	0
	DF	ENG	Derek Harrison	8	0	5+2	0	1	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Mick Packer	46	3	44	2	2	1	0	0
	DF	ENG	Lindsay Smith	45	6	39+2	4	2	1	2	1
	DF	ENG	Johnny Williams	39	0	36	0	2	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Ray Bunkell	45	4	40+1	4	2	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Paul Dyer	40	2	34+2	2	2	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Foley	30	5	26+3	5	1	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Leslie	41	7	36+3	6	2	1	0	0
	FW	ENG	Ian Allinson	5	0	3+2	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Terry Anderson	18	0	13+3	0	1+1	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	John Froggatt	44	5	41	5	1	0	2	0
	FW	ENG	Colin Garwood	15	2	15	2	0	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Bobby Gough	22	5	22	5	0	0	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	GK	ENG	Len Bond	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Jon O'Donnell	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Bobby Roberts	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Phil Thomas	10	0	7+1	0	0	0	2	0
	FW	ENG	Bobby Svarc	10	5	8	3	0	0	2	2
	FW	ENG	Billy Telford	2	1	1+1	1	0	0	0	0

Goalscorers

^[22]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		MF	Steve Leslie	6	1	0	7
2		CB	Lindsay Smith	4	1	1	6
3		MF	Steve Foley	5	0	0	5
		FW	John Froggatt	5	0	0	5
		FW	Bobby Gough	5	0	0	5
		FW	Bobby Svarc	3	0	2	5
7		MF	Ray Bunkell	4	0	0	4
8		FB	Mick Packer	2	1	0	3
9		CB	Barry Dominey	1	1	0	2
		MF	Paul Dyer	2	0	0	2
		FW	Colin Garwood	2	0	0	2
12		FB	Micky Cook	1	0	0	1
		FW	Billy Telford	1	0	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0	0
			TOTALS	41	4	3	48

Disciplinary record

^[23]

Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
	MF	Steve Foley	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	FW	John Froggatt	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	FB	Micky Cook	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	FB	Johnny Williams	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		TOTALS	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[24]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		Mike Walker	14	0	0	14
		TOTALS	14	0	0	14

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[25]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
MF		Paul Dyer	16 August 1975	Preston North End	Deepdale
CB		Derek Harrison	16 August 1975	Preston North End	Deepdale
FB		Jon O'Donnell	16 August 1975	Preston North End	Deepdale
FB		Johnny Williams	23 August 1975	Mansfield Town	Layer Road
FB		Stewart Bright	8 November 1975	Shrewsbury Town	Layer Road
FW		Bobby Gough	10 January 1976	Crystal Palace	Layer Road
GK		Len Bond	24 January 1976	Hereford United	Layer Road
FW		Billy Telford	24 January 1976	Hereford United	Layer Road
FW		Colin Garwood	14 February 1976	Shrewsbury Town	Gay Meadow

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1976". 11v11.com. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

Specific