List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

Colchester United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Colchester, Essex, that was founded in 1937. The club went on to compete in the Southern Football League from 1937 until 1950,^[1] when they were elected to the Football League.^[2] During this time, Colchester produced one of the most notable FA Cup runs by a non-league side in 1947–48, as they defeated fellow non-leaguers Banbury Spencer in the first round, before beating Football League clubs Wrexham, Huddersfield Town and Bradford Park Avenue. They finally fell to Blackpool in the fifth round.^[3] The club played in the Third Division South for eight seasons, until the league was re-organised at the end of the 1957–58 season. The club finished in 12th position in the table, meaning that from the 1958–59 season, the U's would be playing in the Third Division.^[4] Colchester remained in the Third Division until they were relegated in 1961,^[5] but made an immediate return to the third tier when they finished the 1961–62 season in second position, one point behind champions Millwall.^[6] Three years later, the club finished 23rd of 24 clubs in the Third Division, as they were relegated back to the Fourth Division.^[7] Another single season in the fourth tier followed as Colchester were promoted in fourth position.^[8] Their spell in the Third Division didn't last long, as they again finished in the relegation zone in 1968.^[9] The U's remained in the Fourth Division for a further six seasons, but during this period, the U's embarked on one of the most notable runs in FA Cup history, as manager Dick Graham took his ageing side to the 1970–71 quarter-finals. They dispatched non-league side Ringmer, before knocking-out Cambridge United, Barnet and Rochdale following a replay. United faced Don Revie's Leeds United in the fifth round, who were at the top of the First Division at the time. The U's race to an unprecedented 3–0 lead in the match, before Leeds pulled two goals back. The match ended 3–2 to Colchester to record a famous giant-killing victory. They then faced Everton in the quarter-final match but lost 5–0 at Goodison Park.^[10] Three seasons later, Colchester sealed promotion once again as they ended the 1973–74 season in third place.^[11] Relegation followed in 1976,^[12] with promotion following one season later.^[13] Colchester returned to the Fourth Division for the final time in 1981 as they finished 22nd of 24 teams.^[14] The club struggled financially in the late 1980s and suffered a drop in form, causing them to finish bottom of the Football League in 1990 and were relegated to the Conference.^[10][15]

Colchester returned to the Football League at the second attempt, finishing second to Barnet in 1990–91,^[16] before beating Wycombe Wanderers to the title in 1991–92. The club completed a league and cup double as they lifted the FA Trophy. Now in the recently renamed Division Three, Colchester earned a play-off spot in the 1996–97 season, but lost in the semi-finals to Plymouth Argyle. The U's reached Wembley for the 1997 Football League Trophy Final, where they were defeated on penalties by Carlisle United.^[17][18] However, Colchester did achieve Wembley success the following season as they beat Torquay United 1–0 in the 1998 Football League Third Division play-off Final.^[19] The club consolidated their position in the third tier for a number of seasons, before they achieved another feat in earning promotion to the Championship in 2006 by finishing in second position to Southend United.^[20] Colchester finished in 10th position in the Championship, their highest-ever league finish.^[21] However, the following season, they were relegated back to League One, where they currently play.^[22]

Since their formation in 1937, Colchester United have spent two seasons in the second tier of English football, 36 seasons in the third tier, 24 seasons in the fourth tier and two seasons in non-League football.^[23] The table below details Colchester United's in all senior first-team competitions from the 1937–38 season to the end of the most recently completed season.

Key

Details of abandoned competitions are shown in italics and appropriately footnoted.

Seasons

Season	League[23][24][25]									FA Cup[23]	League Cup[23]	Other[23][26]		Top goalscorer[27][lower-alpha 1]		Average attendance[28][lower-alpha 2]
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos			Comp	Result	Name	Goals
1937–38	SFL	34	15	8	11	90	58	38	6/18	DNE	–	SLC	W	Alec Cheyne	33	5,167
1938–39	SFL	44	31	5	8	110	37	67	1/23	R1	–	SLC	SF	Arthur Pritchard	44	8,307
1939–40	SFL	3	1	1	1	4	3	3	N/A	N/A	–	–	–	Len Astill Joe Birch Alec Cheyne George Law	2	4,200
No competitive football was played between 1939 and 1945 due to the Second World War
1945–46	SFL	20	7	3	10	29	47	17	8/11	4QR	–	–	–	Bob Hodgson	5	3,858
1946–47	SFL	31	15	4	12	65	60	35	8/17	R1	–	SLC	SF	Arthur Turner	24	6,218
1947–48	SFL	34	17	10	7	88	41	44	4/17	R5	–	SLC	F	Bob Curry	30	9,231
1948–49	SFL	42	21	10	11	94	61	52	4/22	R1	–	SLC	F	Arthur Turner	24	8,476
1949–50	SFL	46	31	9	6	109	51	71	2/24	4QR	–	SLC	W	Vic Keeble	42	8,639
1950–51	FLD3S	46	14	12	20	63	76	40	16/24	R1	–	–	–	Bob Curry	15	10,571
1951–52	FLD3S	46	17	12	17	56	77	46	10/24	R3	–	–	–	Vic Keeble	17	9,429
1952–53	FLD3S	46	12	14	20	59	76	38	22/24	R3	–	–	–	Kevin McCurley	18	8,002
1953–54	FLD3S	46	10	10	26	50	78	30	23/24	R1	–	–	–	Bert Barlow	10	7,797
1954–55	FLD3S	46	9	13	24	53	91	31	24/24	R1	–	–	–	Ken Plant	13	7,284
1955–56	FLD3S	46	18	11	17	76	81	47	12/24	R1	–	–	–	Kevin McCurley	29	7,668
1956–57	FLD3S	46	22	14	10	84	56	58	3/24	R1	–	–	–	Ken Plant	24	9,351
1957–58	FLD3S	46	17	13	16	77	79	47	12/24	R1	–	–	–	Ken Plant	19	10,891
1958–59	FLD3	46	21	10	15	71	67	52	5/24	R4	–	–	–	Neil Langman	26	8,357
1959–60	FLD3	46	18	11	17	83	74	47	9/24	R1	–	–	–	Martyn King	30	7,856
1960–61	FLD3	46	11	11	24	68	101	33	23/24	R2	R2	–	–	Martyn King	25	5,203
1961–62	FLD4	46	23	9	12	104	71	55	2/24	R1	R1	–	–	Bobby Hunt	40	5,532
1962–63	FLD3	46	18	11	17	73	93	47	12/24	R1	R2	–	–	Martyn King	27	5,313
1963–64	FLD3	46	12	19	15	70	68	43	17/24	R3	R2	–	–	Bobby Hunt	24	5,242
1964–65	FLD3	46	10	10	26	50	89	30	23/24	R2	R1	–	–	Billy Stark	14	3,634
1965–66	FLD4	46	23	10	13	70	47	56	4/24	R1	R2	–	–	Reg Stratton	21	5,225
1966–67	FLD3	46	17	10	19	76	73	44	13/24	R2	R1	–	–	Reg Stratton	24	5,714
1967–68	FLD3	46	9	15	22	50	87	33	23/24	R3	R1	–	–	Reg Stratton	11	4,591
1968–69	FLD4	46	20	12	14	57	53	52	6/24	R2	R2	–	–	Danny Light	14	6,048
1969–70	FLD4	46	17	14	15	64	63	48	10/24	R1	R2	–	–	Ken Jones	16	4,664
1970–71	FLD4	46	21	12	13	70	54	54	6/24	QF	R2	–	–	Ray Crawford	31	6,362
1971–72	FLD4	46	19	10	17	70	69	48	11/24	R1	R3	WC	W	Brian Lewis	22	5,695
1972–73	FLD4	46	10	11	25	48	76	31	22/24	R2	R1	–	–	Mick Mahon	12	3,440
1973–74	FLD4	46	24	12	10	73	36	60	3/24	R1	R1	–	–	Bobby Svarc	26	5,601
1974–75	FLD3	46	17	13	16	70	63	47	11/24	R2	QF	–	–	Bobby Svarc	25	5,460
1975–76	FLD3	46	12	14	20	41	65	38	22/24	R1	R1	–	–	Steve Foley	7	3,385
1976–77	FLD4	46	25	9	12	77	43	59	3/24	R4	R1	–	–	Colin Garwood	24	4,944
1977–78	FLD3	46	15	18	13	55	44	48	8/24	R2	R3	–	–	Bobby Gough	17	4,566
1978–79	FLD3	46	17	17	12	60	55	51	7/24	R5	R1	–	–	Bobby Gough	22	3,921
1979–80	FLD3	46	20	12	14	64	56	52	5/24	R3	R2	–	–	Trevor Lee	18	3,932
1980–81	FLD3	46	14	11	21	45	65	39	22/24	R3	R1	–	–	Kevin Bremner	10	2,956
1981–82	FLD4	46	20	12	14	82	57	72	6/24	R3	R3	–	–	Ian Allinson	26	3,161
1982–83	FLD4	46	24	9	13	75	55	81	6/24	R1	R2	–	–	Ian Allinson	26	2,690
1983–84	FLD4	46	17	16	13	69	53	67	8/24	R3	R3	AMC	R2 (S)	Tony Adcock	33	2,847
1984–85	FLD4	46	20	14	12	87	65	74	7/24	R2	R1	AMC	R2 (S)	Tony Adcock	28	2,225
1985–86	FLD4	46	19	13	14	88	63	70	6/24	R1	R1	AMC	R1 (S)	Tony Adcock	16	2,253
1986–87	FLD4	46	21	7	18	64	56	70	5/24	R2	R1	AMC	R1 (S)	Tony Adcock Tommy English	12	2,753
1987–88	FLD4	46	19	10	17	47	51	67	9/24	R3	R1	AMC	R2 (S)	Dale Tempest	14	1,776
1988–89	FLD4	46	12	14	20	60	78	50	22/24	R4	R1	AMC	QF (S)	Mario Walsh	15	2,871
1989–90	FLD4	46	11	10	25	48	75	43	24/24	R2	R1	AMC	R1 (S)	Trevor Morgan	12	3,139
1990–91	CON	42	25	10	7	68	35	85	2/22	R2	–	BLT FAT	R2 R4	Mario Walsh	18	3,196
1991–92	CON	42	28	10	4	98	40	94	1/22	R1	–	BLT FAT	R2 W	Roy McDonough	29	3,381
1992–93	FLD3	42	18	5	19	67	76	59	10/22	R2	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Gary Bennett Steve McGavin	10	3,768
1993–94	FLD3	42	13	10	19	56	71	49	17/22	R1	R1	FLT	R3 (S)	Steve Brown	13	2,833
1994–95	FLD3	42	16	10	16	56	64	58	10/22	R3	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Steve Whitton	13	3,201
1995–96	FLD3	46	18	18	10	61	51	72	7/24	R1	R1	FLT	R3 (S)	Tony Adcock	17	3,299
1996–97	FLD3	46	17	17	12	62	51	68	8/24	R1	R2	FLT	F	Tony Adcock	14	3,422
1997–98	FLD3	46	21	11	14	72	60	74	4/24	R2	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	David Gregory	10	3,267
1998–99	FLD2	46	12	16	18	52	70	52	18/24	R1	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	David Gregory	14	4,303
1999–2000	FLD2	46	14	10	22	59	82	52	18/24	R1	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Steve McGavin	16	3,801
2000–01	FLD2	46	15	12	19	55	59	57	17/24	R1	R2	FLT	R1 (S)	Mick Stockwell	11	3,466
2001–02	FLD2	46	15	12	19	65	77	57	15/24	R1	R2	FLT	R2 (S)	Scott McGleish	16	3,705
2002–03	FLD2	46	14	16	16	52	56	58	12/24	R1	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Joe Keith Scott McGleish	9	3,367
2003–04	FLD2	46	17	13	16	52	56	64	11/24	R5	R2	FLT	F (S)	Scott McGleish	17	3,730
2004–05	FL1	46	14	17	15	60	50	59	15/24	R4	R3	FLT	R1 (S)	Craig Fagan	14	3,481
2005–06	FL1	46	22	13	11	58	40	79	2/24	R5	R1	FLT	F (S)	Chris Iwelumo	19	3,843
2006–07	FLC	46	20	9	17	70	56	69	10/24	R3	R1	–	–	Jamie Cureton	24	5,466
2007–08	FLC	46	7	17	22	62	86	38	24/24	R3	R1	–	–	Kevin Lisbie	17	5,446
2008–09	FL1	46	18	9	19	58	58	63	12/24	R1	R2	FLT	SF (S)	Mark Yeates	13	5,076
2009–10	FL1	46	20	12	14	64	52	72	8/24	R3	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Kevin Lisbie	13	5,437
2010–11	FL1	46	16	14	16	57	63	62	10/24	R3	R2	FLT	R2 (S)	Dave Mooney	14	4,071
2011–12	FL1	46	13	20	13	61	66	59	10/24	R2	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Anthony Wordsworth	13	3,747
2012–13	FL1	46	14	9	23	47	68	51	20/24	R1	R1	FLT	R2 (S)	Jabo Ibehre Freddie Sears	8	3,530
2013–14	FL1	46	13	14	19	53	61	53	16/24	R1	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	Freddie Sears	12	3,631
2014–15	FL1	46	14	10	22	58	77	52	19/24	R3	R1	FLT	R2 (S)	Freddie Sears	14	3,704
2015–16	FL1	46	9	13	24	57	99	40	23/24	R4	R1	FLT	R1 (S)	George Moncur	14	4,299
2016–17	FL2	46	19	12	15	67	57	69	8/24	R1	R1	FLT	Group Stage (S)	Chris Porter	16	3,974

Footnotes

References

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