Colchester United chairman Peter Heard has warned the board of directors cannot go on running the club at an annual loss of £450,000.

The millionaire U's chief has urged U's fans to rally behind the club and help the Layer Road bigwigs achieve their vision of a new stadium and First Division football.

In a rare interview, Heard told This Is Essex: "It has always been my ambition as chairman to take Colchester United into a new stadium and to see the club make progress on the pitch.

"For me that means a realistic goal of promotion to Division One and wherever it's financially possible the board will back the manager in his bid to strengthen his squad to achieve that."

Plans to build a new 10,000 all-seater "community stadium" at Cuckoo Farm in conjunction with Colchester Council are already nearing fruition.

Heard said: "We have all-party political support for that and, I honestly believe the town could support a Division One club.

"If we can get there it would be a huge achievement because on the current level of support we can't really sustain the club in Division Two - average gates of 3,300 are not good enough.

"We need regular home gates of 4,500, plus increasing commercial income to break even. If only half, or even a quarter, of the estimated 25,000 Colchester fans who watched the club win the FA Trophy at Wembley seven years ago came to watch our games now things could be a lot different."

Heard refused to be drawn, however, on the controversial "resignation" of former team boss Mick Wadsworth and the club's current position one off the bottom of the Second Division table with only two wins to their name.

He said: "All I will say is Mr Wadsworth was appointed by the full board and I stand by that. He has gone now - he is over and done with.

"I have heard the terms 'crisis' and 'traumatic time' used. I don't accept that. We have had a very big upheaval in the summer - some say too big and too quick - but neither I as chairman, nor the board of directors, have ever interfered with the manager of the day's personnel or team selections.

"He spends his budget and selects his team as he sees fit."

Meanwhile, Heard admitted the U's have experienced a poor start to the season and said new manager Steve Whitton had a big job to do.

He added: "We are very anxious to put things right and are all working to sustain and develop the club to take it forward.

"The bottom line is, under my chairmanship we must get as good a Football League club as I and the board and the finances can afford."

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