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The U’sual Ramblings #25, and the U’s find themselves temporarily managerless, after the sudden departure of Matt Bloomfield, assistant Richard Thomas and goalkeeping coach Lee Harrison back to Wycombe Wanderers. Ross Embleton has been placed in charge as interim Head Coach whilst the club look for a replacement, and Ross has sent out a very strong message that he’s very much considering this his opportunity to show he’s the man for the job. In an interview with the Gazette, Ross said “We need to stick together — that’s what we’ve called upon here of the squad, of the staff, of everybody at the club. We need to go about it in the right manner and support each other and the biggest focus is no bigger than the weekend. Let’s all make some noise and you’ll get passion, enthusiasm and energy from me”.
The world outside U’s World Last week I reported on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts unlock the deadlock surrounding the post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade protocol stand-off with the EU. Yesterday it was announced that a deal, called the “Windsor agreement” would be announced on Monday. Tory Eurosceptics remain deeply suspicious, with one source allegedly reporting that his plans for the deal risk “civil war”.
More worryingly though, Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell remains critically ill in hospital after being shot by two men in front of his son at an Omagh sports complex. Five men have so far been arrested in connection with the incident, which has been widely linked in the press to the New IRA, a splinter group committed to their opposition to the Good Friday Agreement and determined to use violence to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.
Speaking on the anniversary of Putin’s Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky has said he is planning to meet China’s leader Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing’s plan to end the war in Ukraine. China has already signposted its intent to provide Russia with weapons, but western leaders are sceptical of the plan, and doubt they will actually follow through with that pledge. Most believe the Chinese peace deal will prove to be unacceptable to Zelensky, particularly as Putin is applauding it.
Whatever one’s opinion on Sir Keir Starmer (I admit I’m not a fan), the latest opinion poll, researched for the online iPaper, suggests Labour are on course for a Blairite 1997 landslide at the next General Election. The poll indicates Labour at 47% and the Tories at 29%, and more alarmingly for the conservatives, failing to close the gap on Labour under Rishi Sunak.
U’s World So that’s that then, no sooner had the Matt Bloomfield era started, it was over. As intensely irritating as it is, particularly given it involved dear friends Wycombe Wanderers, I guess we can’t be surprised. I’d imagine Matt Bloomfield was going to be top of Wycombe’s list of targets when they needed a new manager, it’s just with Gareth Ainsworth leaving the Chairboys for the hot-seat at QPR, that moment arrived much sooner than expected.
If there’s any consolation, Bloomfield leaves us in a much better position than he joined us, with a much improved squad, and not to mention self-belief, and definitely a much better prospect for potential new U’s managers. I’m not going to dwell on bookie talk, but some of the names being touted as ‘favourites’, including Ben Garner, Danny Cowley, Paul Tisdale and Lee Bowyer, bear testimony to that. Heck, even Paul Lambert is a long-odds suggestion on the list.
It'll be what it is, and I am certain Robbie will want to ensure that his hefty investment in the January transfer window gets the right level of experience at the helm to protect it. In the meantime, I know all U’s fans will get 100% behind Ross Embleton as he temporarily takes control.
In other news, Robbie has spoken publicly about his plans for a new U’s training ground. As good as Florence Park is, it is beset by various planning restrictions largely demanded by the residential neighbours. Robbie has purchased Forrester Park golf course and intends to build a new and better training facility alongside the golf course, free from the current restrictions endured at Florence Park.
Ironically, when the club do move out of Florence Park it will be sold for housing development, netting Robbie a healthy profit which I wouldn’t begrudge him a penny of. And then all those objecting nimby neighbours who currently live on the outskirts of Tiptree backing on to open green space will instead find themselves hemmed in in the middle of a housing estate — how poetic.
Stat attack What a load of Cobblers.
We’ve played Northampton 80 times in all competitions since we first met on 30th September 1950 under manager Jimmy Allen, the U’s losing that fixture 2-1 at the old County Ground. Overall, we’ve won 30, drawn 14 and lost 36 in all those years, including 12 cup matches (four in the League Cup, the remainder in the various iterations of the EFL Trophy).
Our best performance just based on goals scored were two 5-1 victories back in the day at Layer Road, under Benny Fenton back in December 1956, and the (to me) under-rated Bobby Roberts in October 1981. However, in reality the best performance probably has to be John McGreal’s 4-0 victory at Sixfields in February 2019, and a game I had the pleasure of attending (and we missed a penalty).
I can’t remember how many games I’ve seen against Northampton, but it must be quite a few, but the Tuesday night visit to Sixfields for the January 2004 LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section semi-final (see MoY#07) ranks right up there as one of the best. By coincidence, we’d knocked out Wycombe Wanderers on a freezing cold night in the previous round, and despite Greg Halford getting torn a new one by Martin Smith, so much so that Parky spared him any further torment and subbed him for Scott McGleish on 33 minutes, it was Super Scotty that put the U’s through with a second half hat-trick, the last one the Silver Goal in the first half of extra-time.
With the shoe on the other foot, Benny Fenton again features, as his U’s were hammered 6-1 at the County Ground in April 1955, and more recently Roger Brown’s U’s were beaten 5-0 in September 1988, also at the County Ground.
Given Northampton are currently on the fringes of automatic promotion, this will clearly be a stern test for Ross Embleton’s first game in charge, more so as the Cobblers will undoubtedly be smarting from their home defeat against fellow relegation botherers Grimsby Town, allowing our own opponents last Saturday Carlisle United to leapfrog them with their own 1-0 victory over the U’s.
But then again, on current form it has now been four games without a win for Northampton, and actually a long way behind the U’s over the last ten games (the U’s are 5th, Northampton 19th having only won twice in those ten games). So, definitely winnable for the U’s, but by no means a certainty.
Match of the Day Colchester United v Gillingham 18th August 2009 Coca-Cola Football League 1 (Tier 1) Attendance 4,849
Courtesy of ColuData, with thanks
Match of the Day for this blog, and in recognition of our current situation, I make no apologies about choosing a special today, and what’s more a match I couldn’t be at (what with it being an evening kick-off and all that). We go back to the last time a U’s manager walked out on the club, after Paul Lambert and his assistant Gary Karsa resigned on the eve of our game against Gillingham at the JobServe, with the U’s top of League 1.
After Lambert’s U’s trounced Norwich City 7-1 at Carrow Road on the opening day of the season, the Canaries decided that he was the man for them, and through both fair means and foul (mostly foul) managed to secure the services of Lambert very much against the wishes of Robbie Cowling and the football club. Yes, we hosed them for compensation, but it was a move which still rankles with many U’s fans, albeit Lambert had already earned himself a reputation amongst the faithful as a bit of a tough disciplinarian at best, and not in a particularly good way either, or at worst an appalling man-manager. Joe Dunne was elevated to the role of caretaker manager, with Paul Clarke as his no. 2, taking on Joe’s former club Gillingham (where he was almost as much of a legend as he was at Col U), managed by Mark Stimpson.
For his debut game in charge of the U’s, Joe Dunne’s line-up was:
1….Ben Williams 3….Lee Beevers 4….Magnus Okuonghae 5….Pat Baldwin (captain) 23..Marc Tierney 10..Kem Izzet 11..Simon Hackney (17. David Perkins 90’) 14..David Fox 29..Scott Vernon 7….Ashley Vincent (19. Joël Thomas 81’) 20..Kevin Lisbie (22. Anthony Wordsworth 90’)
On the bench for the U’s was one of Lambert’s parting gifts to the club, former Hamilton Academical striker Joël Thomas, who we had signed for £125,000 during the summer. It is widely reported we were actually in for both Thomas and fellow striker Richard Offiong, the latter very much the greater of two weevils in this move. But Offiong declined the transfer at the last minute, leaving just Thomas to head south to the JobServe.
Buoyed by not only the stunning victory at Carrow Road, but a more regulation 2-1 home victory over Yeovil Town the previous Saturday, nearly 5,000 turned up for the Tuesday evening game against Gills, boosted by a reasonably decent turnout of supporters from Kent. Whilst I wasn’t there, it is widely observed by those who were that the atmosphere was electric, in a very much “f’ck you Lambert” sort of way, roaring the U’s on at every opportunity.
With less than ten minutes on the clock the JobServe so nearly had something to really celebrate, as David Fox’s low shot seemed destined to go in, but Jack Payne slid in at the last minute to clear off the line. Gillingham though were no slouches, and by 11 minutes had taken the lead. Left-back John Nutter cut into the box from the left to lay the ball across the six yard box and perfectly into the path of Curtis Weston, who made no mistake from close range with Ben Williams helpless.
It could have been two as well, after Josh Gowling got his head to a Nutter corner, but fortunately Kem Izzet was on the line to head clear. But it certainly wasn’t one way traffic, with the U’s pressing and harrying Gillingham constantly, and on 38 minutes we were level. Kevin Lisbie turned his marker Gowling inside out, before laying off to unmarked Scott Vernon to expertly side foot his shot beyond the dive of Alan Julian and inside the far post, sending the U’s support ballistic.
The South Stand celebrates
A draw at half-time was nothing less than the U’s deserved and roared on by the South Stand almost constantly through the second half, the U’s pressed on for the winner. On 66 minutes that chance arrived, with Lisbie and Vernon again working well together, this time immaculate control from Vernon before turning and sliding the ball perfectly out to Lisbie on the edge of the box. Lisbie made no mistake, lifting his shot over the dive of Julian and into the far corner — and the JobServe erupted!
As much as the Gills huffed and puffed to try and get back into the game, the U’s on the pitch and the wall of noise from the South Stand off the pitch were having none of it. Both Andy Barcham and Adam Miller had speculative efforts go wide, but it was Simon Hackney who came closest to claiming the next goal, but his excellent 25-yard free-kick was well saved by Julian to keep the Gills in the game. Joël Thomas came on with less than ten minutes to go for his debut, and on 90 minutes Joe Dunne used some game management to replace Hackney and Man of the Match Kevin Lisbie (to thunderous applause) with Perkins and Wordsworth.
However, with no further goals arriving, referee Grant Hegley eventually called time and the JobServe went ecstatic in celebration — f’ck you indeed Paul Lambert!
Colchester United 2 (Scott Vernon 38’; Kevin Lisbie 66’) Gillingham 1 (Curtis Weston 11’)
Post-match Joe Dunne described leading Colchester to victory against his former club as the “greatest footballing day of my life”, and in March 2020 Jon Waldron of the Gazette listed it as one of the ten best games he’d seen at the JobServe.
As much as that evening was about raw emotion, we were dumped back into harsh reality shortly after, losing away at MK Dons and at home to Leeds United on successive Saturdays, and Joe was replaced by Aidy Boothroyd at the beginning of September. Although it grates to say it, Lambert’s Norwich City would go on to win the league at a canter, nine points clear of second place Leeds United. The U’s finished two places outside the play-offs, but given we were 8pts adrift, that sounds closer than in reality it was.
The Joël Thomas experiment was an unmitigated disaster, with Thomas only making five appearances off the bench in the first half of the season. In January 2010 he was loaned back to the ‘Accies, and on his return to the U’s for pre-season training in the summer the Frenchman made it clear he really didn’t want to be at Colchester United any longer. His contract was terminated by mutual consent and Thomas then resigned to Hamilton Academicals, technically his third stint at the club.
There’s a (very) short BBC South East highlights reel on YouTube, showing the goals, for those who wish to relive the moment.
Lovely finish from Lisbie. He was such a good player for us.
Fun fact...when Beckham's son came on for Brentford B a few weeks ago he came off the bench at the same time as Lisbie's son.
When you look at the team that day you wonder who from the current starting squad would get in that one. Chilvers and Junior perhaps? I feel a young and fit Perkins and/or Wordsworth would walk into our current team and they were both on the bench that day!
We got off to such a good start that season and tracked ahead of our promotion season for most of it but capitulated at the business end of the season with a pathetic 10 points from our last 14 games. To put that into context Wayne Brown's relegation threatened team from last season managed 23 points from their final 14 games. Since the 2004/05 season the only time we've achieved less points from the last 14 games was the Championship relegation season where we only managed 6. We even got 16 the season we were relegated from League One!
The U'sual Ramblings #25 on 11:01 - Feb 27 by RSCOSWORTH
Lovely finish from Lisbie. He was such a good player for us.
Fun fact...when Beckham's son came on for Brentford B a few weeks ago he came off the bench at the same time as Lisbie's son.
When you look at the team that day you wonder who from the current starting squad would get in that one. Chilvers and Junior perhaps? I feel a young and fit Perkins and/or Wordsworth would walk into our current team and they were both on the bench that day!
We got off to such a good start that season and tracked ahead of our promotion season for most of it but capitulated at the business end of the season with a pathetic 10 points from our last 14 games. To put that into context Wayne Brown's relegation threatened team from last season managed 23 points from their final 14 games. Since the 2004/05 season the only time we've achieved less points from the last 14 games was the Championship relegation season where we only managed 6. We even got 16 the season we were relegated from League One!
think it all went down hill that season when Boothroyd tried the jedi mind tricks and got the team to walk over some hot coals!
The U'sual Ramblings #25 on 11:01 - Feb 27 by RSCOSWORTH
Lovely finish from Lisbie. He was such a good player for us.
Fun fact...when Beckham's son came on for Brentford B a few weeks ago he came off the bench at the same time as Lisbie's son.
When you look at the team that day you wonder who from the current starting squad would get in that one. Chilvers and Junior perhaps? I feel a young and fit Perkins and/or Wordsworth would walk into our current team and they were both on the bench that day!
We got off to such a good start that season and tracked ahead of our promotion season for most of it but capitulated at the business end of the season with a pathetic 10 points from our last 14 games. To put that into context Wayne Brown's relegation threatened team from last season managed 23 points from their final 14 games. Since the 2004/05 season the only time we've achieved less points from the last 14 games was the Championship relegation season where we only managed 6. We even got 16 the season we were relegated from League One!
You're not wrong, though to be fair back then we were a top half League 1 side, not a bottom half struggling League 2 side, so I wouldn't expect too many of our current squad to be contenders for a starting place. I agree about Junior and Noah, they'd be in with a shout, as (I think) would Matt Jay, and in a way that's a positive for who we have right now. Lisbie was an exquisite footballer, and Perkins, one of my favourite players of the recent era, often seems overlooked when we consider the quality of the squad in the late noughties.
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