1980–81 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1980–81 season

Chairman

Jack Rippingale^[1]

Manager

22nd (Relegated)

3rd Round

1st Round

Top goalscorer

League:
Kevin Bremner (8)
All:
Kevin Bremner (10)

Highest home attendance

4,864 (Charlton Athletic)

Lowest home attendance

1,430 (Carlisle United)

Average home league attendance

2,663

Home colours

← 1979–80

1981–82 →

The 1980–81 season was Colchester United's fourth consecutive season in the Football League Third Division. The season ended in relegation back to the Football League Fourth Division.

Season Review

Chairman Maurice Cadman's warning about the clubs financial difficulties was expected to spark an exodus of players. However, only Steve Dowman left in the summer joining Wrexham for £75,000.

The club received their first-ever shirt sponsorship from Royal London Insurance but failed to win in the opening eight games. Beating Millwall 3-0 in the ninth attracted national coverage. Sergeant Frank Ruggles of Essex Police marched on the field and tried to arrest Lions' defender Mel Blyth for swearing.

Manager Bobby Roberts signed unknown Highland Leaguer Kevin Bremner for a club record £25,000 and six consecutive home wins saw Colchester well placed at Christmas. But when Trevor Lee moved to Gillingham in a club record deal worth £90,000 form dipped and United slipped down the table. On transfer deadline day, Roberts matched the record fee in recruiting Roger Osborne and also paid £15,000 each for Roy McDonough and Phil Coleman.

Eight games without a win ensured relegation by just two points, and amid news of a 25,000 all-seater stadium development along the Avenue of Remembrance came the stark reality of a new all-time lowest attendance of 1,430 at the final day win over Carlisle and the season's average of just 2,641. Roberts was given a vote of confidence despite relegation. The Council refused the new stadium plans and re-iterated their covenant on Layer Road that prevented any activity other than football.^[2]

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
––	GK	Mike Walker
––	DF	Phil Coleman
––	DF	Micky Cook
––	DF	Mick Packer
––	DF	Steve Wignall
––	DF	Steve Wright
––	MF	Ian Allinson
––	MF	Russell Cotton

No.	Position	Player
––	MF	Steve Foley
––	MF	Steve Leslie
––	MF	Dennis Longhorn
––	MF	Roger Osborne
––	MF	Eddie Rowles
––	FW	Tony Adcock
––	FW	Kevin Bremner
––	FW	Roy McDonough

Player Info

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Mike Walker	Colwyn Bay	28 November 1945	Watford	25 August 1973	£4,000
DF	Phil Coleman	Woolwich	8 September 1960	Millwall	21 February 1981	£15,000
DF	Micky Cook	Enfield	9 April 1951	Leyton Orient	6 October 1969	Free
DF	Mick Packer	Willesden	20 April 1950	Watford	25 August 1973	Free
DF	Steve Wignall	Liverpool	17 September 1954	Doncaster Rovers	13 September 1977	£5,000
DF	Steve Wright	Clacton-on-Sea	16 June 1959	Youth Team	1 August 1977	Free
MF	Ian Allinson	Hitchin	1 October 1957	Youth Team	1 August 1974	Free
MF	Russell Cotton	Wellington	4 April 1960	Youth Team	1 August 1977	Free
MF	Steve Foley	Clacton-on-Sea	21 June 1953	Youth Team	1 August 1971	Free
MF	Steve Leslie	Hornsey	4 September 1952	Youth Team	1 August 1970	Free
MF	Dennis Longhorn	Hythe	12 September 1950	Aldershot	9 August 1980	Free
MF	Roger Osborne	Otley	9 March 1950	Ipswich Town	14 February 1981	£25,000
MF	Eddie Rowles	Gosport	10 March 1951	Darlington	26 December 1977	£15,000
FW	Tony Adcock	Bethnal Green	27 March 1963	Youth Team	1 August 1981	Free
FW	Kevin Bremner	Banff	7 October 1957	Keith	11 October 1980	£25,000
FW	Roy McDonough	Solihull	16 October 1958	Chelsea	14 February 1981	£15,000

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
1 August 1980	DF	Leo Cusenza	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1980	FW	Tony Adcock	Youth Team	Free
9 August 1980	DF	Nigel Crouch	Ipswich Town	Free
9 August 1980	MF	Dennis Longhorn	Aldershot	Free
11 October 1980	FW	Kevin Bremner	Keith	£25,000
14 February 1981	MF	Roger Osborne	Ipswich Town	£25,000
14 February 1981	FW	Roy McDonough	Chelsea	£15,000
21 February 1981	DF	Phil Coleman	Millwall	£15,000

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
9 August 1980	DF	Leo Cusenza	Harlow Town	Free
30 August 1980	FW	Gary Harvey	Harwich & Parkeston	Free
4 November 1980	MF	Tony Evans	Kongsvinger	Free
3 January 1981	FW	Trevor Lee	Gillingham	£90,000
3 February 1981	FW	Bobby Gough	Hendon	Free
7 February 1981	MF	Bobby Hodge	Torquay United	Free
18 April 1981	DF	Nigel Crouch	Harwich & Parkeston	Free

Results

Third Division Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
21	Sheffield United (R)	46	14	12	20	65	63	+2	40
22	Colchester United (R)	46	14	11	21	45	65	-20	39
23	Blackpool (R)	46	9	14	23	45	75	-30	32

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Third Division Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16/08/1980	Plymouth Argyle	H	2-2	2,061	Hodge, Gough
20/08/1980	Fulham	A	0-1	4,250
23/08/1980	Walsall	H	1-1	1,979	Rowles
30/08/1980	Exeter City	A	0-4	3,918
06/09/1980	Burnley	A	0-1	4,391
13/09/1980	Millwall	H	3-0	2,724	Foley, Lee, Rowles
16/09/1980	Chesterfield	H	1-1	2,171	Lee
20/09/1980	Charlton Athletic	A	2-1	4,323	Foley, Hodge
27/09/1980	Chester City	H	1-1	2,147	Lee
30/09/1980	Chesterfield	A	0-3	6,674
04/10/1980	Huddersfield Town	A	0-2	8,400
07/10/1980	Portsmouth	H	1-0	2,702	Lee
11/10/1980	Barnsley	H	2-2	2,749	Gough, Hodge
18/10/1980	Blackpool	A	1-1	6,997	Allinson
22/10/1980	Reading	A	0-1	3,955
25/10/1980	Rotherham United	H	0-0	2,623
28/10/1980	Hull City	H	2-0	2,239	Allinson, Lee
01/11/1980	Sheffield United	A	0-3	12,810
04/11/1980	Portsmouth	A	1-2	10,895	Lee
08/11/1980	Swindon Town	H	1-0	2,153	Hodge (pen.)
11/11/1980	Fulham	H	3-2	2,543	Wignall, Allinson (2)
15/11/1980	Plymouth Argyle	A	1-1	4,905	Bremner
29/11/1980	Oxford United	H	3-0	2,114	Hodge (pen.), Bremner (2)
06/12/1980	Carlisle United	A	0-4	3,196
20/12/1980	Newport County	A	1-0	2,160	Hodge (pen.)
26/12/1980	Brentford	A	1-2	6,240	Bremner
27/12/1980	Gillingham	H	2-1	3,879	Packer (pen.), Lee
10/01/1981	Blackpool	H	3-2	2,378	Foley, Gough (2)
17/01/1981	Oxford United	A	1-2	3,498	Foley
31/01/1981	Walsall	A	1-3	3,195	Allinson
03/02/1981	Exeter City	H	1-2	2,357	Bremner
07/02/1981	Millwall	A	1-3	4,565	Bremner
14/02/1981	Burnley	H	2-1	3,082	McDonough, Bremner
21/02/1981	Chester City	A	0-0	1,778
28/02/1981	Charlton Athletic	H	2-0	4,864	Foley, Packer (pen.)
07/03/1981	Huddersfield Town	H	1-2	3,644	Packer
17/03/1981	Hull City	A	1-0	3,586	Cotton
22/03/1981	Reading	H	1-2	3,705	Bremner
28/03/1981	Rotherham United	A	0-2	7,956
04/04/1981	Sheffield United	H	1-1	2,439	Allinson
07/04/1981	Barnsley	A	0-3	13,283
11/04/1981	Swindon Town	A	0-3	6,120
18/04/1981	Gillingham	A	0-0	4,408
20/04/1981	Brentford	H	0-2	2,609
25/04/1981	Newport County	A	0-1	4,619
02/05/1981	Carlisle United	H	1-0	1,430	McDonough

Source: 1980-81 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
09/08/1980	R1 (L1)	Gillingham	H	0-2	2,514
12/09/1980	R1 (L2)	Gillingham	A	1-2	5,220	Gough

Source: 1980-81 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
22/11/1980	R1	Portsmouth	H	3-0	5,387	Lee, Allinson, Bremner
13/12/1980	R2	Yeovil Town	H	1-1	3,394	Wignall
17/12/1980	R2 (R)	Yeovil Town	A	2-0	5,803	Lee, Bremner
03/01/1981	R3	Watford	H	0-1	7,769

Source: 1980-81 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Three		FA Cup		League Cup
No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK		Mike Walker	52	0	46	0	4	0	2	0
––	DF		Phil Coleman	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Micky Cook	50	0	45	0	4	0	1	0
––	DF		Nigel Crouch	11	0	10	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		Leo Cusenza	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		Mick Packer	49	3	43	3	4	0	2	0
––	DF		Steve Wignall	48	2	42	1	4	1	2	0
––	DF		Steve Wright	17	0	17	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Ian Allinson	52	7	46	6	4	1	2	0
––	MF		Russell Cotton	20	1	19	1	0	0	1	0
––	MF		Tony Evans	10	0	8	0	0	0	2	0
––	MF		Steve Foley	36	5	31	5	3	0	2	0
––	MF		Bobby Hodge	29	6	24	6	3	0	2	0
––	MF		Steve Leslie	47	0	43	0	4	0	0	0
––	MF		Dennis Longhorn	26	0	22	0	3	0	1	0
––	MF		Roger Osborne	12	0	12	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Eddie Rowles	26	2	21	2	3	0	2	0
––	FW		Tony Adcock	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Kevin Bremner	38	10	34	8	4	2	0	0
––	FW		Bobby Gough	18	5	15	4	2	0	1	1
––	FW		Gary Harvey	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Trevor Lee	32	9	26	7	4	2	2	0
––	FW		Roy McDonough	12	2	12	2	0	0	0	0

Scorers

^[4]

All

Scorer	Goals
Kevin Bremner	10
Trevor Lee	9
Ian Allinson	7
Bobby Hodge	6
Steve Foley	5
Bobby Gough	5
Mick Packer	3
Roy McDonough	2
Eddie Rowles
Steve Wignall
Russell Cotton	1

League

Scorer	Goals
Kevin Bremner	8
Trevor Lee	7
Ian Allinson	6
Bobby Hodge	6
Steve Foley	5
Bobby Gough	4
Mick Packer	3
Roy McDonough	2
Eddie Rowles	2
Russell Cotton	1
Steve Wignall	1

FA Cup

Scorer	Goals
Kevin Bremner	2
Trevor Lee	2
Ian Allinson	1
Steve Wignall	1

League Cup

Scorer	Goals
Bobby Gough	1

Most Frequent Starting XI

This section shows players in a 3-5-2 formation with the most league starts during the season.

Pos.	Name	Apps.	Goals
GK	Mike Walker	46	0
DF	Micky Cook	45	0
DF	Steve Wignall	42	1
DF	Mick Packer	43	3
MF	Steve Foley	30	5
MF	Ian Allinson	43	6
MF	Bobby Hodge	22	6
MF	Steve Leslie	41	0
MF	Dennis Longhorn	21	0
FW	Kevin Bremner	33	8
FW	Trevor Lee	25	7

Walker

Cook

Wignall

Packer

Allinson

Hodge

Leslie

Foley

Longhorn

Bremner

Lee

References

↑ Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
↑ "The U's History: The 80s". Colchester United F.C. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
↑ "1980–81 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
↑ "1980–81 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2011.

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