The 1960–61 season was Colchester United's 19th season in their history and their eleventh season in the third tier of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

, the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and the new

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

competition. Colchester reached the second round in both cups, beating

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...

in the first round of the FA Cup before being eliminated by

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

. In the League Cup, Colchester hosted First Division

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

in the first round. They won 4–1, but were knocked out by

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in round two. In the league, Colchester had a very poor season. Seven consecutive defeats left the club languishing in the bottom four by early October 1960, and they remained no higher than one place above the

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

positions for the rest of the season. They were relegated for the first time in their history in 23rd position.

Season overview

After gathering just one point in eleven games, Colchester had hit the bottom of the

by October 1960 and never managed to climb out of the bottom five places. Average attendances plummeted, with a new record–low attendance of 3,141 achieved in the final game of the season against

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. Despite this,

Martyn King Martyn Noel Geoffrey King (23 August 1937 – 25 December 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Career King signed for Colchester United from local side Pegasus in 1956, but it was not until 1959, when he was on ...

managed to score a hat–trick in the game, a 4–3 win for Colchester and finished the season with 25 goals to his name. Colchester had conceded a club record 101 goals in the league. Aside from Colchester's league woes, they did enjoy some success in the inaugural

competition. They hosted First Division

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

and comprehensively beat them 4–1 in front of a season-best 9,130 crowd. In round two, they were beaten 2–0 at home to

. In the

, Colchester achieved their best win of the season at home to

in the first round, but were dumped out of the cup by

in round two.

Players

Transfers

In

* Total spending: ~ £3,000

Out

Match details

Third Division

Results round by round

League table

Matches

League Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

, - !colspan="14", ''Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season''

Goalscorers

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.

References

General

Books * * * * Websites * * *

Specific

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colchester United F.C. Season 1960-61 1960-61 English football clubs 1960–61 season