Chairman Gordon Parker FA Cup 2nd Round Auto Windscreens Shield 1st Round | Manager Steve Wignall Coca-Cola Cup 1st Round | |
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Division Three 4th (Promoted via Playoffs) | ||
The 1997–98 season was Colchester United's sixth consecutive season in fourth tier of English football. The season ended in success with Colchester achieving promotion after beating Torquay United 1–0 at Wembley Stadium in the Playoff final.
Contents
Season Review
Colchester, once famed giantkillers, again lost to a non-League side when Hereford won a 1997/8 replay at Edgar Street on penalties. The FA Cup was truly Steve Wignall's Achilles Heel.
Meanwhile, the club was vindicated in the Courts when the George Burley case was settled at £300,000 and, with the lease on Layer Road due to expire in 2002, Kirklees McAlpine were commissioned as consultants for the new stadium.
Wignall broke the club's transfer record spending £50,000 on Neil Gregory. The dividend was paid when U's won 10 of their last 15 missing automatic promotion by one point, but more importantly qualifying for the play-offs. In the play-off semi-finals, Barnet held a 1-0 lead but in a powder-keg Layer Road atmosphere, a brace from David Gregory, the second in extra time, turned the tie in U's favour and earned a third trip to Wembley in six years.
Disappointingly moved to a Friday night to accommodate a meaningless England v Saudi Arabia friendly match, the Play-Off Final with Torquay attracted just 19,486 with live TV coverage another factor. David Gregory's 22nd minute penalty was enough to fire U's back to the third tier after 17 years away. Once again the streets of Colchester thronged to an open-top bus parade.
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Division Three 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
Division Three Results
Source: 1997–98 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk
Play-Offs
Source: 1997–98 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk
League Cup
Source: 1997–98 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk
FA Cup
Source: 1997–98 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk
League Trophy
Southern Section
Source: 1997–98 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk
Most Frequent Starting XI
This section shows players in a 4–4–2 formation with the most league starts during the season.