Chairman Jonathan Crisp FA Cup 1st Round | Fourth Division 6th Milk Cup 1st Round | |
 | ||
Manager Cyril Lea
(Until 10 April 1986)
Mike Walker
(From 10 April 1986) Freight Rover Trophy 1st Round (Southern section) | ||
The 1985–86 season was Colchester United's fifth consecutive season in the Football League Fourth Division.
Contents
Season Review
With the Heysel disaster following on the heels of Bradford City stadium fire, Layer Road faced £500,000 worth of safety improvements. With no money, the club closed areas of Layer Road reducing capacity to 4,900.
Manager Cyril Lea continued the policy of recruiting ex-Ipswich players. Topping the table in October 1985, the U's imploded, suffering six successive League defeats, four without scoring, and were knocked out of the FA Cup by non-League Wycombe. Lea could not find a strike partner for Tony Adcock following Keith Bowen's career-ending car crash. The manager had a good record and produced a free-scoring side but could not get the club over the promotion finishing line and three weeks from the end of the season he was sacked.
Former goalkeeper Mike Walker, coach of U's reserves, took over as Caretaker and United were unbeaten in the remaining eight matches - winning five. Walker had hoisted U's to seventh just nine points short of promotion.
It was a notable season for hat tricks with Perry Groves twice achieving the feat against Southend and brothers Tommy and Tony English scoring trebles within five days of each other. The English brothers were both sent off at Crewe in a game which United won 2-0.
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Fourth Division Results Summary
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Fourth Division Results
Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk
League Cup
Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk
FA Cup
Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk
League Trophy
Southern Section
Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk
Most Frequent Starting XI
This section shows players in a 5-4-1 formation with the most league starts during the season.