Soccer: U's out to double crowds

Target Six is being introduced for the U's next two League games - against Cambridge United on Saturday, October 20, and Wycombe Wanderers three days later - in a bid to boost the poor Layer Road attendances from the current 3,500 average to the 6,000 mark.

U's chief executive Marie Partner launched the Target Six project and said: "We are making a point of targeting new supporters from areas surrounding the town.

"We are initially aiming at children living in areas as far afield as Harwich, Dovercourt and Clacton on one side of the town and to Halstead and Braintree on the other. Find out more about Colchester United FC "In our bid to improve on our home crowds the club are placing tickets for the Cambridge and Wycombe games in the kids' hands via our Colchester United Football in the Community activities throughout the area.

"If my memory serves me correctly, the last time we had 6,000 or more fans in the ground was for the Manchester City Second Division game more than two years ago."

That game, beamed live on Sky TV, actually attracted a near sell-out gate of 6,554 and Mrs Partner added: "Our incentive is to woo those fans back.

"We don't just want to do that. Our continuing aim is to maintain and improve on that."

U's press officer Matt Hudson has already reported a very healthy demand for the free tickets from students at Essex University.

Team manager Steve Whitton lost no time in throwing his support behind the project.

He said: "I will go along with any scheme that attracts more people to our games, but we can only go on doing what we are doing, playing entertaining football and hopefully winning games.

"It's so hard to attract new fans, but it's so easy to lose them if things aren't going well."

Steve Whitton - "we can only go on doing what we are doing, playing entertaining football and hopefully winning games."

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