Jamie Cureton says Colchester United’s facilities have been transformed since he played for the club nearly a decade ago.

The 40-year-old striker, who finished as the Championship’s top goalscorer after scoring 23 goals for the U’s in the 2006-07 season, has been training with the club’s under-21 squad as he builds up his fitness ahead of the new campaign.

Cureton, who is a free agent after leaving Dagenham and Redbridge last season, says he has been impressed by Colchester’s Florence Park training ground in Tiptree.

It is a far cry from when the forward was plying his trade for the U’s under Phil Parkinson and Geraint Williams, at a time when they did not have their own training ground.

Cureton said: “The chairman (Robbie Cowling) has done a great job – he’s built from the bottom and the facilities are second to none.

“We used to go to Layer Road, get changed and then drive to the Uni or the Garrison!

“We used to get bread rolls and baguettes and now they’ve got everything on tap – it’s lovely!

“I wish we’d have had that kind of thing when I was at Colchester!

“Hopefully now, they can build a team that can grace all of that.”

Cureton said he was disappointed to see his former club Colchester suffer relegation from League One last season.

The veteran striker suffered the same fate with Dagenham last season and says it is important the U’s look to the future.

“I still follow Colchester and whenever I could, I still get along to a game,” said Cureton, who has scored 287 goals in his professional career to date, which spans nearly 850 games.

“Getting relegated is disappointing but now it’s a case of just rebuilding and hopefully, they can move on to better things now, get out of this division and start to move forward again.

“Relegation isn’t always the end of the world – it’s very disappointing but now it’s another challenge for the players and the club to get out of this level.”