Colchester United chairman Robbie Cowling has hit out at the abusive behaviour that was directed at the club’s staff in the immediate aftermath of their opening-day defeat at Accrington Stanley.

U’s head coach John McGreal was subjected to abuse from a small minority of fans following their 3-1 loss at the Wham Stadium, while other members of the club’s staff were also allegedly targeted outside the ground.

Cowling has warned that he will take the “harshest possible action” against those who were abusive towards the club’s staff, after saying it went beyond what is an “acceptable” level.

In a comprehensive statement on the Colchester United website, the U's supremo said: “Saturday’s disappointing result, which I can assure everyone fell short of all of our expectations, was followed by my staff being subjected to abusive fan behaviour that went beyond what is an acceptable level.

“No job should warrant personal abuse and Colchester United take these matters very seriously.

“Therefore anyone involved in any further personal abuse of my staff can expect the club to take the harshest possible action available to it.

“Colchester United, like all clubs with a proud long history, have enjoyed many ups and downs.

“In terms of its league standing, the highest up was the two years it enjoyed in the Championship and the lowest down was the two years it spent in the Conference league.

“However, a small group of our fans set their expectations for Colchester United against its short lived high.

“That is of course unrealistically high. On the flip side, we should all be able to agree that it would be very unambitious for the club to base its own expectations on it lowest low.”

Cowling also stated in the statement that he feels the expectation levels of a small group of supporters are “unrealistic”.

But the U’s supremo stressed that they are gradually building a club to justify a higher-league status.

After a two-year stint in the Championship between 2006 and 2008, their highest status in the club's history, Colchester spent eight seasons in League One prior to being relegated to English football’s fourth tier, in 2016.

Cowling said: “I certainly don't want Colchester United to bounce around the lower divisions forever, nor do any of the staff at the club.

“But before we can expect any more than that, we have to build a club that can justify a higher league status. Slowly but surely that is what we are doing.

“Let me just clarify that statement; slowly but surely Colchester United are building a club that can set greater expectations for itself than 10th in League Two.

"How high we can build the club to raise our expectations and how long it will take I don't know, but we will always look to improve.

“So we will go into every game this season trying to win it and we will compete to finish as high up the league as we can.

“Hopefully we will be challenging for automatic promotion or failing that a play-off position.

“Having a playing budget that is not in the top 7 let alone the top 3 would make that some achievement for the club, but as I have said above it is not an exact right for any club to buy its league position and we are as well placed as anyone else to make that kind of a challenge.”