1983–84 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1983–84 season
Chairman	Maurice Cadman[1]
Manager	Cyril Lea
Stadium	Layer Road
Fourth Division	8th
FA Cup	3rd round (eliminated by Charlton Athletic)
League Cup	3rd round (eliminated by Manchester United)
Associate Members' Cup	2nd round (southern section) (eliminated by Southend United
Top goalscorer	League: Tony Adcock (26) All: Tony Adcock (33)
Highest home attendance	13,031 v Manchester United, 9 November 1983[2]
Lowest home attendance	1,226 v Torquay United, 28 April 1984[3]
Average home league attendance	2,847[4]
Biggest win	6–0 v Hartlepool United, 3 December 1983
Biggest defeat	1–5 v Aldershot, 23 April 1984
Home colours
← 1982–83 1984–85 →

The 1983–84 season was Colchester United's 42nd season in their history and third consecutive season in fourth tier of English football, the Fourth Division. Alongside competing in the Fourth Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Associate Members' Cup.

Another promotion push ended a long way short with an eighth-placed finish, 15 points shy of the promotion places. Colchester reached the third round of the League Cup, where they faced Manchester United at Layer Road only to suffer a 2–0 defeat. They also reached the third round of the FA Cup, exiting to Charlton Athletic. In the inaugural Associate Members' Cup, the U's fell to a 2–0 defeat to Essex rivals Southend United in the second round.

Season overview

Cyril Lea began his first full season in charge by bringing in assistant Stewart Houston in a player-coach capacity. He had however already seen the frustrating exit of last seasons top scorer Ian Allinson, who was allowed to leave the club for Arsenal on a free transfer following an administrative error.

In the early stages of the season, Colchester kept pace with the leaders as they embarked on a League Cup run. Following a 1–1 draw at Second Division Swansea City, chairman Maurice Cadman pledged Lea funds to purchase two players if there was an attendance greater than 5,000 in the second leg of the tie. As such, 5,204 were in attendance to see the U's beat the Swans 1–0. They were drawn at home to Manchester United in the third round as Layer Road saw its final-ever five figure gate when 13,031 saw the 2–0 defeat for the U's.

Colchester's form tailed off in the latter stages of the season as they ended the season 15 points adrift of the promotion places in eighth position, despite Tony Adcock's 33 goals. Now frustrated at his board's successive attempts to fund promotion that ultimately ended in failure, Maurice Cadman announced that win bonuses would be dropped for the 1984–85 season replaced by an insurance-backed promotion bonus. He also announced that the club had been put up for sale at a value of £150,000.

Attendances on average were up, largely in thanks to the cup runs, but otherwise league attendances dropped off, and a new low of 1,226 witnessed Colchester's 3–0 win over Torquay United on 28 April 1984. Meanwhile, stalwarts Micky Cook, who had set a club record of 614 league appearances, and Steve Leslie both retired through injury.^[5]

Players

As of match played 11 May 1984.^[6]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Alec Chamberlain	GK		March	(1964-06-20)20 June 1964 (aged 18)	4	0	Ipswich Town	Summer 1982	Undisclosed
Defenders
Phil Coleman	FB		Woolwich	(1960-09-08)8 September 1960 (aged 22)	96	7	Millwall	February 1981	£15,000
Tony Hadley	CB		Upminster	(1955-07-05)5 July 1955 (aged 27)	0	0	Southend United	August 1983	Undisclosed
Rudi Hedman	CB		Lambeth	(1964-11-16)16 November 1964 (aged 18)	0	0	Apprentice	February 1984	Free transfer
Stewart Houston	CB		Dunoon	(1949-08-20)20 August 1949 (aged 33)	0	0	Sheffield United	Summer 1983	Undisclosed
Ian Phillips	FB		Cumnock	(1959-04-23)23 April 1959 (aged 24)	0	0	Northampton Town	September 1983	£5,000
Steve Wignall	CB		Liverpool	(1954-09-17)17 September 1954 (aged 28)	288	17	Doncaster Rovers	September 1977	£5,000
Midfielders
Andy Farrell	MF/FB		Colchester	(1965-10-07)7 October 1965 (aged 17)	0	0	Apprentice	Summer 1982	Free transfer
Jeff Hull	MF		Rochford	(1960-08-25)25 August 1960 (aged 22)	27	4	Basildon United	17 December 1982[a]	Undisclosed
Steve Leslie	MF		Hornsey	(1952-09-04)4 September 1952 (aged 30)	471	45	Apprentice	20 April 1971[a]	Free transfer
Roger Osborne	MF		Otley	(1950-03-09)9 March 1950 (aged 33)	113	7	Ipswich Town	February 1981	£25,000
Forwards
Tony Adcock	FW		Bethnal Green	(1963-03-27)27 March 1963 (aged 20)	83	23	Apprentice	31 March 1981	Free transfer
Keith Bowen	FW		Northampton	(1958-02-26)26 February 1958 (aged 25)	13	4	Brentford	25 March 1983[b]	£10,000
Perry Groves	WG		Bow	(1965-04-19)19 April 1965 (aged 18)	31	3	Cornard Dynamos	Summer 1981	Free transfer
Dave Hubbick	FW		South Shields	(1960-03-16)16 March 1960 (aged 23)	0	0	Dagenham	15 October 1983[a]	Free transfer
Les Mutrie	FW		Newcastle upon Tyne	(1951-04-01)1 April 1951 (aged 32)	0	0	Hull City	January 1984	£10,000
Craig Oldfield	FW		Warley	(1963-11-24)24 November 1963 (aged 19)	0	0	Stowmarket Town	Summer 1982	Free transfer
John Taylor	FW		Norwich	(1964-10-24)24 October 1964 (aged 18)	0	0	Apprentice	Summer 1981	Free transfer

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1983	CB		Stewart Houston	Sheffield United	Undisclosed	[7]
August 1983	CB		Tony Hadley	Southend United	Undisclosed	[8]
September 1983	FB		Ian Phillips	Northampton Town	£5,000	[9]
October 1983	CB		Adam Nichols	Wits University	Free transfer	[10]
15 October 1983	FW		Dave Hubbick	Dagenham	Free transfer	[11][a]
January 1984	FW		Les Mutrie	Hull City	£10,000	[12]
February 1984	CB		Rudi Hedman	Apprentice	Free transfer	[13]

• Total spending: ~ £15,000

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	GK		Ian Cranstone	Wealdstone	Free transfer	[14]
End of season	GK		Bobby Hamilton	Free agent	Released	[15]
End of season	CB		Adrian Keith	Haverhill Rovers	Released	[16]
End of season	FB		Wayne Ward	Wivenhoe Town	Released	[17]
End of season	MF		Andy Gooding	Wivenhoe Town	Released	[18]
Summer 1983	FW		Roy McDonough	Southend United	Undisclosed	[19]
2 January 1984	CB		Adam Nichols	Free agent	Released	[10][a]
14 April 1984	FB		Micky Cook	Free agent	Retired	[20][a][b]

• Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
September 1983	FB		Phil Coleman	Wrexham	March 1984	[21][22]

Match details

Fourth Division

Results round by round

  Win   Draw   Loss

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
6	Blackpool	46	21	9	16	70	52	+18	72
7	Peterborough United	46	18	14	14	72	48	+24	68
8	Colchester United	46	17	16	13	69	53	+16	67
9	Torquay United	46	18	13	15	59	64	−5	67
10	Tranmere Rovers	46	17	15	14	53	53	0	66

Matches

League Cup

FA Cup

Associate Members' Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][23]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Fourth Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Football League Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Alec Chamberlain	56	0	46	0	3	0	5	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Phil Coleman	9	0	7+1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Tony Hadley	55	0	44+1	0	3	0	5	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Rudi Hedman	4	0	3+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Stewart Houston	51	5	42	4	3	1	5	0	1	0
	DF	SCO	Ian Phillips	48	5	43	5	3	0	0	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Steve Wignall	45	10	36	8	3	0	4	2	2	0
	MF	ENG	Andy Farrell	21	0	15	0	1	0	5	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Jeff Hull	39	1	33	1	0	0	4	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Leslie	32	1	25	1	3	0	2	0	1+1	0
	MF	ENG	Roger Osborne	44	1	34+2	1	3	0	4	0	1	0
	FW	ENG	Tony Adcock	53	33	41+2	26	3	0	5	5	2	2
	FW	WAL	Keith Bowen	55	18	46	12	3	5	4	1	2	0
	FW	ENG	Perry Groves	50	2	38+4	2	2	0	4+1	0	1	0
	FW	ENG	Dave Hubbick	14	0	3+7	0	1+1	0	2	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Les Mutrie	16	2	10+4	2	0	0	0	0	1+1	0
	FW	ENG	Craig Oldfield	4	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
	FW	ENG	John Taylor	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	DF	ENG	Micky Cook	45	2	36	2	2	0	5	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Adam Nichols	7	1	4+2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0

Goalscorers

^[23]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1		FW	Tony Adcock	26	0	5	2	33
2		FW	Keith Bowen	12	5	1	0	18
3		CB	Steve Wignall	8	0	2	0	10
4		CB	Stewart Houston	4	1	0	0	5
		FB	Ian Phillips	5	0	0	0	5
6		FB	Micky Cook	2	0	0	0	2
		WG	Perry Groves	2	0	0	0	2
		FW	Les Mutrie	2	0	0	0	2
9		MF	Jeff Hull	1	0	0	0	1
		MF	Steve Leslie	1	0	0	0	1
		CB	Adam Nichols	1	0	0	0	1
		MF	Roger Osborne	1	0	0	0	1
			Own goals	4	0	0	0	4
			TOTALS	69	6	8	2	85

Disciplinary record

^[24]

Nationality	Position	Name	Fourth Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Football League Trophy		Total
	CB	Tony Hadley	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
	FB	Micky Cook	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
		TOTALS	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	1

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[25]

Place	Nationality	Player	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1		Alec Chamberlain	18	1	1	0	20
		TOTALS	18	1	1	0	20

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[26]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
CB		Tony Hadley	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
CB		Stewart Houston	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
MF		Andy Farrell	27 August 1983	Darlington	Feethams
FW		Craig Oldfield	3 September 1983	Blackpool	Layer Road
FB		Ian Phillips	9 September 1983	Stockport County	Edgeley Park
FW		John Taylor	14 September 1983	Reading	Elm Park
FW		Dave Hubbick	15 October 1983	Northampton Town	Layer Road
CB		Adam Nichols	18 October 1983	Bury	Layer Road
FW		Les Mutrie	28 January 1984	Stockport County	Layer Road
CB		Rudi Hedman	4 March 1984	Bury	Gigg Lane

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: 1984". 11v11.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

Specific