U's have the feel-good factor, says Cowling

9:43am Thursday 19th July 2012 in Sport By Jonathan Waldron

Robbie Cowling believes the club’s summer signings have brought a feel-good factor to Colchester United .

The signing of experienced striker Clinton Morrison earlier this week has been welcomed by U’s supporters.

Morrison’s arrival follows that of Freddie Sears and Marcus Bean, in readiness for the new season.

And popular defender Magnus Okuonghae’s U-turn in deciding to stay at Colchester served as a further boost.

U’s boss John Ward has had to contend with a reduced budget and has lost some experienced players, including Ben Williams, Kayode Odejayi and Steven Gillespie.

However, chairman Cowling feels the U’s new arrivals have provided a big lift for everyone with Colchester allegiances.

Cowling said: “I think it’s a great time to be a Colchester United fan.

“There’s a buzz around Colchester United and I think people are recognising it.

“We have good players and staff and the new training ground is exciting for everyone at the club.

“The arrival of Clinton Morrison earlier this week was great news.

“It’s a signing that has been in the background for a little while now and we’re very pleased to have him at Colchester.

“What has been really excellent is that having reduced John Ward’s budget by so much, I still believe he’s managed to put together a squad which has the potential to exceed what we did last season.

“John has got limitations on what he can do in terms of the budget but I think we’ve done well this summer.”

See Thursday's Gazette for more on this story and all of the latest Colchester United news, including a match report from their pre-season friendly against Vitesse Arnhem.

Comments(15)

totallyfootball says...
10:16am Thu 19 Jul 12

No Mr Cowling it is just a small ray of hope, what the fans want to see is positive ongoing development not the occasional knee jerk reaction here and there to pacify them. We are still a long way from the required finished team to compete at this level as you will see once the season starts, don't stop here!

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Matthegame says...
11:03am Thu 19 Jul 12

A new training ground that many in League One would dream of is a knee jerk reaction? I suppose 18 months of scouting and negotiating deals for proven talents like Morrison, Bean and Sears was spontaneous as well. Funnily enough all the above would indicate to a rational thinker that this is a sign of ongoing development.
Cowling is merely stating their is a positive feeling about the place, what's wrong with that? Stop trying to suck all the excitement and anticipation for the coming campaign into your pit of misery and despair.
Up the U's.

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totallyfootball says...
11:55am Thu 19 Jul 12

Not sucking anything out, just got my feet on the ground and being a realist Matthew, not getting too carried away mate. No point in having al the tools and we still can't finish the job. Two seasons in mid table mediocrity does not show ongoing progress it shows contentment and lack of drive to me, o is it what some people call stability?Sadly the fans have more about them and more ambition than those at the top in this club. Can you tell me why all the talent in this area would rather play the for Ryman or Conference clubs who don't have the prospect of fantastic training facilities? My money is on mid table again unless a couple more players with experience and ability are located and lets not make excuses about the financial restrictions that have been imposed, its the same for everyone.

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Matthegame says...
12:30pm Thu 19 Jul 12

What local talent are you referring to? Which players are in the Ryman league as opposed to League one, where according to you they 'supposedly' belong?
If you were a realist, as you claim you would recognise that as a club we are at our level. Consider the primary income being attendance, and the add ons that go with it. Last season there were 20 clubs with a higher attendance than us, that roughly equates to there being 20 teams with a higher turnover than us. .
So that's 20 teams spending more on transfers and wages, there are more than 6 teams who by that same calculation will be enjoying an income at least three times our own. Do you see where this is going now?
No, it quite plainly isn't the same for everyone, nowhere near.
The fact the club are talking about challenging for promotion at all is ambitious. Mid-table is likely, whether you choose to believe it or not, we have a decent squad and we may even hover around the play-offs and surprise a few people.

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Mr Honest says...
2:39pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Oh Mattthetwat the media man is on his high horse again. I know its a bit difficult for you to understand but totallyfootball is basically saying that although these signing are positive, we cant rest on our laurels and that this shouldnt be the end of it. No need to get all defensive. As for this training ground, I read somewhere that the club cant train after 1pm or 2pm due to an agreement with the planners to appease the local residents. How ridiculous agreeing to this. So Col U get smashed 5-0 at home against Walsall yet Wardy cant get them on the field for a double session because they have to be off by lunchtime because of any noise. What a joke. Also, although happy with Morrison and Sears, Magnus is only staying cos he couldnt get a better deal elsewhere and Marcus Bean is pretty average. A new keeper and 2 defenders then we can talk about top 8 rather than top half.

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super waluigi says...
3:14pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Totally and mr honest.....

I don't understand your critism of this thread.
Cowling is correct in saying that there is a buzz about the football club right now. He can probably feel it being close to the players and I can feel it being closer to the fans. Nothing more or nothing less needed to be said.

There is a time and a place for being negative. For example, I gave steve86 a hard time last year for his negative views. Most recently, he has been very accepting to the changes at col u, which points out that his criticism last year was an honest opinion and that he will post his views accordingly.
You two however, are willing to bite your noses off before the season has even started. Pointing out irrelevant garbage that may not even happen. I respect your views on Magnus (even though I disagree) because they are fact, and happening. But every thing else???? Keep it.

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totallyfootball says...
3:33pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Thanks Mr Honest, at least someone can see where I am coming from. Matthew you have hit one of the biggest nails right on the head, attendance. And how do you get attendance figures up, by playing a brand of attractive football. I watched about ten games last season and I could not see the resemblance of anything near a brand or style that I could see would be developed or improved. So will I being going to as many games this year......no. As for the players in the lower leagues, get in your car and have a drive around places like Lowestoft, Leiston, Braintree, Needham Market just to name a few and see the young talent that is untapped and playing a good style of football.

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Matthegame says...
3:34pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Media man on his high horse? Are you getting yourself confused old chap?
Your incoherent ramblings about training times and repetition comment on our squad/ new signings are woefully off topic. Keep up.

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totallyfootball says...
3:42pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Super W I am not being negative just trying to keep some sort of perspective and our feet on the ground, that way we don't get too carried away and disappointed. Lets do things in bite size chunks. At this moment in time I would describe things as promising, interesting and a step in the right direction. I don't have a lot of time for Cowling but thats for another day. I would still like to see the positions covered Mr Honest mentioned and more youth being blooded, if as Matthew puts it "we are playing at our level" what have we got to lose by putting a couple of the youngsters in each game and start building in earnest and ease out some of the complacency?

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super waluigi says...
4:03pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Totally, you are way off topic and continually contradictIng yourself. If attendance is so important then why are you talking us out of getting over excited? Optimism and word of mouth will bring initial fans in.

To be honest, you don't sound much like a football man, more like a complainer. Your advice to me this time last year was this.... " you think a snail is slow, wait till you see Eastman"....... Great advice mate

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totallyfootball says...
5:26pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Mm lost me there Super I think you are not following the thread and therefore not tying my comments up with those that go before, never mind. As for not being a football man I am involved at a higher level and have been for the past 16 years, so maybe I expect too much. As for the comment on Eastman I don't think that was me but I will leave you with your thoughts. It amazes me that people get so heated over other peoples comments, we all see the game differently and people should accept that, its not as if I am ramming my opinion down your throat. Any way I will leave it here, results will tell, have a good season.

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Steve86 says...
8:08pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Interesting arguments here, I see both sides of this argument, and understand where you guys are coming from. However, I have to agree with Cowling here, and why not be happy before the start of the season, when the results are down, and the quality of football is poor, then people go negative, like myself. At the moment I'm looking forward to the season, and feel we have a good team, and maybe a forward that will actually score goals (Freddie). As you are aware I was negative a lot last year, mainly because of the negative performances and the lack of ambition on the field. But also mainly because of the lack of attacking threat, but I feel that we have a better attacking threat now. Yes we have a good training facility, which I'm really really hoping improves the fitness of our players, who can run for most of the game rather then half.

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Originally from ... says...
12:53pm Fri 20 Jul 12

totallyfootball wrote:
Not sucking anything out, just got my feet on the ground and being a realist Matthew, not getting too carried away mate. No point in having al the tools and we still can't finish the job. Two seasons in mid table mediocrity does not show ongoing progress it shows contentment and lack of drive to me, o is it what some people call stability?Sadly the fans have more about them and more ambition than those at the top in this club. Can you tell me why all the talent in this area would rather play the for Ryman or Conference clubs who don't have the prospect of fantastic training facilities? My money is on mid table again unless a couple more players with experience and ability are located and lets not make excuses about the financial restrictions that have been imposed, its the same for everyone.
That is a ridciulous comment. How can the financial restrictions be the same for everyone when the U's have 3,000 gates and others have 20,000+ gates. I don't know why people post if they don't actually know what the rules are and how they are applied. This is an unfair rule for clubs with a small supporter base and unfairly penalises them. Mid table would be pretty good I reckon.

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Noah4x4 says...
1:15pm Fri 20 Jul 12

As a loyal season ticket holder for many seasons, I can't disagree with the comment that the style of play has been disappointing in recent times.

However, what I saw at Heybridge, and what I have read about our Dutch excusion fills me with enthusiasm.

At Heybridge, we played a style of football that should bring back the fans. Sears was sensational, as was the rest of our attack.

I echo the sentiment, let's give JW and RC a chance and not **** everything before the season has even commenced. I can't wait for tomorrow to come - and the Hammers.

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Noah4x4 says...
1:19pm Fri 20 Jul 12

Oo-er, the *** wasn't a naughty word in the context used!

Let's instead say not ".....criticise" before the season has even commenced.

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