U's boss Ward praises players' efforts (From Gazette)

Oh Dear. After having travelled up in the afternoon on Friday from Southampton I arrived at Colchester North station anticipating to see a hoard of fans eager to come and watch the new style U's. When I did arrive at the ground 20 mins or so before the game and took my seat,and looked around I asked myself am I at a league one football ground. The atmosphere was like a it had died. I have had plenty of experience of going to numerous grounds around the country and most of them you can feel the hairs stand up on your back with the intensity of the noise and crowd. Personally I feel sorry for Robbie Cowling because I think he is fighting a dead duck at Colchester. I felt so dissapointed in what I thought would be a 7000 gate at least. No wonder managers and top players have left for pastures new after experiencing such depression in a stadium. I sat for the first time in the south stand which was noisy to an extent but looking over to the west stand it looked like they had all sat down and gone to sleep. The only time they made any kind of noise was at half time when thet clapped the players off. I always feel very envious when I have either been at St Marys or Carrow road seing the crowds so noisy and chanting. I might be old now but i love a good atmosphere in a ground and I like many others miss the Layer Road warmth feel. Without price reductions in tickets at Colchester I think support will dwindle even further. However I will still continue to support the same team that I have for the past 56 years and thats Col Utd.

I agree with most of what you said there Crazy.....the atmosphere is terrible, but to me the club are not doing enough.....offering season ticket purchases with a voucher book is OK a good idea but the hard working people of Colchester need normal prices lower! I can't keep saying it enough the local people I talk to say if the prices were lower we would all go..... as I told the guy on the phone last month wouldn't colu be better in having 9000+ paying adults £15 and children £5 which would also include purchases in the club shop plus food & drinks and a better atmosphere, or stick to their guns and have a one third filled stadium with no atmosphere.
It seems to me that all decisions are being made with no fully thought through plans...at least Friday we had no police vans....horses...etc like last season.....money has been wasted and in all the wrong places!!
Club and fans need to get together and sort things out before it all goes down hill, we have a good manager and a Colchester team playing the way we all want them too but we need to fill that stadium and support them, they derserve that.

haggydaggy wrote:
I agree with most of what you said there Crazy.....the atmosphere is terrible, but to me the club are not doing enough.....offering season ticket purchases with a voucher book is OK a good idea but the hard working people of Colchester need normal prices lower! I can't keep saying it enough the local people I talk to say if the prices were lower we would all go..... as I told the guy on the phone last month wouldn't colu be better in having 9000+ paying adults £15 and children £5 which would also include purchases in the club shop plus food & drinks and a better atmosphere, or stick to their guns and have a one third filled stadium with no atmosphere. It seems to me that all decisions are being made with no fully thought through plans...at least Friday we had no police vans....horses...etc like last season.....money has been wasted and in all the wrong places!! Club and fans need to get together and sort things out before it all goes down hill, we have a good manager and a Colchester team playing the way we all want them too but we need to fill that stadium and support them, they derserve that.

Well said Haggy. I have mates in the surrounding Colchester villages all saying the same thing to me. We would go but with the travelling costs to Colchester, plus the £1.50p shuttle bus and £2 train station car park fees, add on the booking fee and credit cards when phoning in to book a ticket which again is a 0845 number which costs a fortune when hanging on the end of a mobile phone, then get charged a fortune for a hot dog or drink can you wonder why we have low attendances.

Why do we have to be the only club to sell seats cheaper than the old standing at layer road which most people moaned about? I would love to know the real reason the people of colchester have never got behind their team. Haven't really noticed the bargain food, drinks or parking at away grounds either