1987–88 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1987–88 season
Chairman	Jonathan Crisp[1]
Manager	Mike Walker (Until 1 November 1987) Roger Brown (From 1 November 1987)
Fourth Division	9th
FA Cup	3rd Round
Littlewoods Cup	1st Round
Sherpa Van Trophy	2nd Round (Southern section)
Top goalscorer	League: Dale Tempest (11) All: Dale Tempest (14)
Highest home attendance	2,599 (Cardiff City)
Lowest home attendance	1,140 (Swansea City)
Average home league attendance	1,784
Home colours
← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 season was Colchester United's seventh consecutive season in the Football League Fourth Division.

Season Review

Prolific striker Tony Adcock decided it was time to move on and £80,000 saw him join Second Division Manchester City.

Manager Mike Walker recruited former U's boss Allan Hunter as his coach whilst Chairman Jonathan Crisp announced an ill-advised bombshell. In light of the worsening hooliganism countrywide he adopted a 100% members-only scheme, banning away fans. To deflect the furore Crisp leaked details of a proposed new stadium at Turner Rise and introduced developers Norcross Estates as shirt sponsors. Only 1,300 members attended the first fixture of the 1987–88 season, a drop of 1,400 on the previous average.

 Walker broke the club's transfer record spending £40,000 on striker Dale Tempest while a new lowest crowd was set as 1,140 watched the 29 September 1987 win over Swansea.   Having rebuilt his side winning seven out of eight games Walker was sensationally sacked by Crisp as United were joint top of the Fourth Division. Crisp claimed Walker had resigned, but an alleged personal matter between the pair was said to have been the spark. Walker was awarded Manager of the Month after he had been sacked.

 New manager Roger Brown took over a successful team and destroyed it. Recommended to Crisp by his 'advisors', Brown had been a factory manager and in charge at Poole Town.   From top spot on New Years Day Brown's team won just five games to finish ninth - United's lowest position for 15 seasons.

When hundreds of Wolves fans claimed membership and 'boosted' the Layer Road attendance to 2,413, Crisp scrapped his membership scheme declaring it had only been an experiment. The seeds of United's sad demise had been sown and the season's average was a paltry 1,769.

Crisp considered selling Layer Road and ground sharing with Ipswich whilst the Turner Rise stadium was built. Fortunately he was swayed by a group of ex-directors of the club. Crisp would have recouped his outlay, but when the stadium plans were delayed, over land ownership, United would have been totally homeless with no assets bar players.^[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 Mark Walton –– DF Scott Daniels –– DF Tony English –– DF Stephen Grenfell –– DF Rudi Hedman –– DF Steve Hetzke –– DF Stuart Hicks –– DF Colin Hill –– MF Nicky Chatterton

No. Position Player –– MF Lee Hunter –– MF Tommy Keane –– MF Mark Radford –– MF John Reeves –– MF Gary Smith –– MF Winston White –– MF Richard Wilkins –– FW Dale Tempest –– FW Mario Walsh

Player Info

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Mark Walton	Merthyr Tydfil	1 June 1969	Luton Town	26 December 1987	£17,500
DF	Scott Daniels	South Benfleet	22 November 1969	Youth Team	1 August 1988	Free
DF	Tony English	Luton	19 October 1966	Coventry City	1 January 1985	Free
DF	Stephen Grenfell	Enfield	27 October 1966	Tottenham Hotspur	28 November 1986	£15,000
DF	Rudi Hedman	Lambeth	16 November 1964	Youth Team	1 August 1983	Free
DF	Steve Hetzke	Marlborough	3 June 1955	Chester City	1 March 1988	£10,000
DF	Stuart Hicks	Peterborough	30 May 1967	Wisbech Town	8 April 1988	Free
DF	Colin Hill	Uxbridge	12 November 1963	C.S. Marítimo	30 October 1987	Free
MF	Nicky Chatterton	South Norwood	18 May 1954	Millwall	12 September 1986	Free
MF	Lee Hunter	Oldham	5 October 1969	Youth Team	1 August 1987	Free
MF	Tommy Keane	Galway	16 September 1968	Bournemouth	1 January 1988	£10,000
MF	Mark Radford	Leicester	20 December 1968	Youth Team	1 August 1986	Free
MF	John Reeves	Hackney	8 July 1963	Fulham	17 August 1985	Free
MF	Gary Smith	Harlow	3 December 1968	Fulham	6 November 1987	Free
MF	Winston White	Leicester	26 October 1958	Bury	3 April 1987	Free
MF	Richard Wilkins	Lambeth	28 May 1965	Haverhill Rovers	17 November 1986	Free
FW	Dale Tempest	Leeds	30 December 1963	Lokeren	29 August 1987	£40,000
FW	Mario Walsh	Paddington	19 January 1966	Torquay United	15 August 1987	£15,000

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
1 August 1987	DF	Scott Daniels	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1987	DF	John Ray	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1987	MF	Lee Hunter	Youth Team	Free
15 August 1987	FW	Mario Walsh	Torquay United	£15,000
18 August 1987	GK	Trevor Lake	West Ham United	Free
28 August 1987	FW	Dale Tempest	Lokeren	£40,000
30 October 1987	DF	Colin Hill	C.S. Marítimo	Free
6 November 1987	MF	Gary Smith	Fulham	Free
11 December 1987	MF	Keith Williams	Bournemouth	Free
26 December 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	Free
1 January 1988	MF	Tommy Keane	Bournemouth	£10,000
1 March 1988	MF	Steve Hetzke	Chester City	£10,000
8 April 1988	DF	Stuart Hicks	Wisbech Town	Free

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
9 May 1987	GK	Alec Chamberlain	Everton	£80,000
9 May 1987	DF	Keith Day	Leyton Orient	Free
9 May 1987	MF	Andy Farrell	Burnley	Free
17 May 1987	FW	Tony Adcock	Manchester City	£75,000
18 August 1987	GK	Trevor Lake	Retired	Free
13 October 1987	MF	Sean Norman	Wycombe Wanderers	Free
5 December 1987	FW	Simon Lowe	Scarborough	Free
21 January 1988	DF	Terry Baker	Billericay Town	Free
30 January 1988	DF	John Ray	Wycombe Wanderers	Free
8 April 1988	MF	Keith Williams	Salisbury City	Free
15 April 1988	DF	Paul Hinshelwood	Dartford	Free

Loans In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Parent Club	Date Returned	Notes
15 August 1987	GK	Graham Benstead	Norwich City	24 November 1987
25 August 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	13 October 1987
14 November 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	18 December 1987
18 December 1987	DF	Darren Angell	Portsmouth	18 December 1987
5 February 1988	DF	Glenn Keeley	Oldham Athletic	26 February 1988
19 February 1988	DF	David Coleman	Bournemouth	19 March 1988
4 March 1988	GK	Craig Forrest	Ipswich Town	29 April 1988
25 March 1988	FW	Sean Farrell	Luton Town	6 May 1988

Results

Fourth Division Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
8	Leyton Orient	46	19	12	15	85	63	+22	69
9	Colchester United	46	19	10	17	47	51	-4	67
10	Burnley	46	20	7	19	57	62	-5	67

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

Fourth Division Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
15/08/1987	Burnley	A	3-0	5,369	Walsh, English, Lowe
21/08/1987	Torquay United	H	0-1	1,372
29/08/1987	Scunthorpe United	A	2-2	2,003	Wilkins, White
31/08/1987	Scarborough	H	1-3	1,525	Tempest
04/09/1987	Crewe Alexandra	A	0-0	1,843
12/09/1987	Peterborough United	H	4-1	1,164	White, Tempest, Chatterton (pen.), Walsh
16/09/1987	Hereford United	A	0-1	1,951
19/09/1987	Hartlepool United	A	1-3	1,698	Hinshelwood
25/09/1987	Exeter City	A	0-2	1,443
29/09/1987	Swansea City	H	2-1	1,140	Tempest, Hinshelwood
21/10/1988	Newport County	A	2-1	1,200	Wilkins, Chatterton
09/10/1987	Leyton Orient	H	0-0	1,665
17/10/1987	Wrexham	A	1-0	1,493	Reeves
20/10/1987	Carlisle United	H	1-0	1,328	Tempest
24/10/1987	Cambridge United	A	1-0	2,450	Chatterton (pen.)
30/10/1987	Darlington	H	2-1	1,659	Wilkins, Chatterton
03/11/1987	Rochdale	A	4-1	1,399	Wilkins (2), Chatterton (pen.), Hinshelwood
06/11/1987	Halifax Town	A	2-1	1,432	Wilkins, Chatterton (pen.)
21/11/1987	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0-1	2,413
27/11/1987	Stockport County	A	1-1	1,703	Chatterton
11/12/1987	Bolton Wanderers	H	3-0	1,725	Wilkins, White (2)
18/12/1987	Tranmere Rovers	A	2-0	2,642	White (2)
26/12/1987	Exeter City	A	2-0	2,675	Wilkins, Tempest
28/12/1987	Cardiff City	H	2-1	2,599	Tempest, English
01/01/1988	Scunthorpe United	H	0-3	2,287
02/01/1988	Peterborough United	A	0-2	3,666
15/01/1988	Hartlepool United	H	0-0	1,768
30/01/1988	Scarborough	A	1-3	2,155	Hinshelwood (pen)
05/02/1988	Crewe Alexandra	H	1-4	1,822	Tempest
13/02/1988	Cardiff City	A	0-1	5,458
19/02/1988	Burnley	H	0-1	2,520
26/02/1988	Newport County	H	0-0	1,784
01/03/1988	Swansea City	A	2-1	4,011	Tempest, White
04/03/1988	Wrexham	H	1-2	1,797	Coleman
12/03/1988	Leyton Orient	A	0-0	3,125
19/03/1988	Darlington	A	0-2	2,034
25/03/1988	Cambridge United	H	0-0	2,146
01/04/1988	Halifax Town	H	2-1	1,992	Hinshelwood, Farrell
04/04/1988	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-2	13,433
08/04/1988	Rochdale	H	1-0	1,864	Tempest
15/04/1988	Torquay United	A	0-0	3,508
19/04/1988	Hereford United	H	1-0	1,367	Tempest
23/04/1988	Carlisle United	A	0-4	1,496
29/04/1988	Stockport County	H	2-0	1,607	Tempest, Wilkins
02/05/1988	Bolton Wanderers	A	0-4	5,540
06/05/1988	Tranmere Rovers	H	0-0	1,704

Source: 1987-88 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18/08/1987	R1 (L1)	Fulham	A	1-3	2,782	White
25/08/1987	R1 (L2)	Fulham	H	0-2	1,554

Source: 1987-88 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
14/11/1987	R1	Tamworth	H	3-0	3,215	Wilkins, Tempest, Chatterton (pen.)
05/12/1987	R2	Hereford United	H	3-2	2,216	Chatterton (pen.), Wilkins, Hill
11/01/1988	R3	Plymouth Argyle	A	0-2	10,351

Source: 1987-88 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Trophy

Southern Section

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13/10/1987	Group	Peterborough United	H	3-2	912	Tempest (2), Norman
24/11/1987	Group	Cambridge United	A	0-0	857
19/01/1988	R1	Leyton Orient	H	1-1 6-5 on Pens	1,351	Winston White
09/02/1988	R2	Notts County	H	2-3	1,564	White (2)

Source: 1987-89 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Four		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK		Graham Benstead	19	0	18	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	GK		Craig Forrest	11	0	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	GK		Trevor Lake	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
––	GK		Mark Walton	24	0	17	0	3	0	1	0	3	0
––	DF		Darren Angell	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Terry Baker	21	0	15	0	2	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF		David Coleman	6	1	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Scott Daniels	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Tony English	51	2	43	2	3	0	2	0	3	0
––	DF		Stephen Grenfell	49	0	41	0	3	0	1	0	4	0
––	DF		Rudi Hedman	51	0	42	0	3	0	2	0	4	0
––	DF		Steve Hetzke	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Stuart Hicks	7	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Colin Hill	30	1	25	0	2	1	0	0	3	0
––	DF		Paul Hinshelwood	49	5	40	5	3	0	2	0	4	0
––	DF		Glenn Keeley	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		John Ray	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Nicky Chatterton	33	9	26	7	3	2	2	0	2	0
––	MF		Lee Hunter	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Tommy Keane	19	0	16	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
––	MF		Sean Norman	11	1	8	0	0	0	2	0	1	1
––	MF		Mark Radford	15	0	14	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	MF		John Reeves	25	1	20	1	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	MF		Gary Smith	12	0	11	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	MF		Winston White	50	11	41	7	3	0	2	1	4	3
––	MF		Richard Wilkins	54	11	46	9	3	2	2	0	3	0
––	MF		Keith Williams	10	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Sean Farrell	9	1	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Simon Lowe	12	1	10	1	0	0	2	0	0	0
––	FW		Dale Tempest	51	14	44	11	3	1	0	0	4	2
––	FW		Mario Walsh	15	2	11	2	2	0	2	0	0	0

Scorers

^[4]

All Scorer Goals Dale Tempest 14 Winston White 11 Richard Wilkins Nicky Chatterton 9 Paul Hinshelwood 5 Tony English 2 Mario Walsh Darren Angell 1 David Coleman Sean Farrell Colin Hill Simon Lowe Sean Norman John Reeves

League Scorer Goals Dale Tempest 11 Richard Wilkins 9 Nicky Chatterton 7 Winston White Paul Hinshelwood 5 Tony English 2 Mario Walsh Darren Angell 1 David Coleman Sean Farrell Simon Lowe John Reeves

FA Cup Scorer Goals Nicky Chatterton 2 Richard Wilkins Colin Hill 1 Dale Tempest

League Cup Scorer Goals Winston White 1

League Trophy Scorer Goals Winston White 3 Dale Tempest 2 Sean Norman 1

Most Frequent Starting XI

This section shows players in a 5-4-1 formation with the most league starts during the season.

Pos. Name Apps. Goals GK Graham Benstead 18 0 DF Colin Hill 22 0 DF Rudi Hedman 41 0 DF Tony English 43 2 DF Stephen Grenfell 39 0 DF Paul Hinshelwood 40 5 MF Richard Wilkins 46 9 MF Winston White 40 7 MF Nicky Chatterton 26 7 MF John Reeves 18 1 FW Dale Tempest 44 11

Benstead Hill Hedman English Grenfell Hinshelwood Chatterton Wilkins White Reeves Tempest

References

1. Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
2. "The U's History: The 80s". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
3. "1987–88 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
4. "1987–88 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2011.