The 1975–76 season was Colchester United's 34th season in their history and their second consecutive season in 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. 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

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 ...

. With Jim Smith departing for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in the summer, his former Colchester United coach Bobby Roberts was appointed

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

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

over the summer. His coach Bobby Roberts was appointed

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 Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

opposition in the

once again after being taken to a replay and then

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. They were soundly beaten 4–1 at the end of extra time. They also lost out in the

first round 4–3 on aggregate against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. 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 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 ...

and 6–0 at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

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.

Players

Transfers

In

* Total spending: ~ £11,000

Out

* Total incoming: ~ £38,000

Loans in

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

Disciplinary record

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 1975-76 1975-76 English football clubs 1975–76 season