The 2001–02 season was Colchester United's 60th season in their history and their fourth successive 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

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 ...

. Alongside competing in the Second 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 ...

, 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 ...

and the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. Steve Whitton led the U's to a 15th placed league finish. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in the first round. In the League Cup, Colchester defeated First Division

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

, before falling to defeat to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in the second round. They also reached the second round of the Football League Trophy, beating

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

in the first round but they were eliminated by

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in the second round.

Season overview

Colchester leapt to the top of the

table by the end of August, having beaten

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 ...

6–3 in the opening game of the season, and also knocked out First Division

out of the

. However, they failed to capitalise on this despite

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 ...

Steve Whitton equalling the club's record transfer fee of £50,000 for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

international

Adrian Coote Adrian Coote (born 30 September 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. Born in England, he made six appearances for the Northern Ireland national football team, Northern Ireland nation ...

from

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. They finished 15th, a steady year-on-year improvement after recording 18th and then 17th-place finishes in the previous campaigns respectively. After beating Portsmouth in the first round of the League Cup,

proved too much for the U's in the second round.

eliminated Colchester from the

in the first round, and

defeated the U's in the second round of the

following a first round win over

Players

Transfers

In

* Total spending: ~ £50,000

Out

* Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Second Division

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Football League Cup

Football League Trophy

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

, - !colspan="16", ''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 2001-02 2001-02 English football clubs 2001–02 season 2001–02 Football League Second Division by team