1964–65 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1964–65 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Neil Franklin
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division	23rd (relegated)
FA Cup	2nd round (eliminated by Torquay United)
League Cup	1st round (eliminated by Torquay United)
Top goalscorer	League: Billy Stark (13) All: Billy Stark (14)
Highest home attendance	6,074 v Peterborough United, 16 April 1965[2]
Lowest home attendance	2,218 v Torquay United, 2 September 1964[3]
Average home league attendance	3,634[4]
Biggest win	4–1 v Barnsley, 9 January 1965
Biggest defeat	0–5 v Queens Park Rangers, 26 February 1965
Home colours
← 1963–64 1965–66 →

The 1964–65 season was Colchester United's 23rd season in their history and their third successive season in the Third Division, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Neil Franklin's first full season in charge saw an influx of new players, with 14 new arrivals at Layer Road replacing a host of experienced players, including former apprentice Peter Wright and experienced wing half Roy McCrohan. As such, Colchester's form suffered and the club battled against relegation for much of the season. They were eventually relegated after finishing in 23rd-position.

Colchester's fortunes in the cup competitions were no better than the league. They experienced early exits in each cup, twice being eliminated by Torquay United.

Season overview

With manager Neil Franklin looking to make his mark on the Colchester first-team, out went Roy McCrohan, Keith Rutter and Peter Wright, and in came 14 new players across the season. The biggest surprise to United fans was when Wright was not named on the retained list for the season. The former apprentice who had spent his entire career as a part-time professional with Colchester had scored 99 goals in 453 league and cup matches.

Having already sold one half of the previously prolific strike force of Bobby Hunt and Martyn King when Hunt left for Northampton Town earlier in 1964, Franklin sold King to Wrexham in October of the same year, and without their goals, a season of struggle ensued. Colchester could only manage 50 league goals across the season.

Franklin's first-ever signing, Derek Trevis, was an ever-present during the season, as was Duncan Forbes, while Billy Stark ended the season as top scorer with 14 league and cup goals. It was an injury-plagued season for Colchester, with Barrie Aitchison, Mike Grice, Martyn King, Gareth Salisbury and Billy Stark all ruled out as early as September, meaning Franklin had to call upon Noel Kearney, a former Ipswich Town player who had been released by the club three months earlier. Kearney signed on a month-long trial and played three games for Colchester, all of which ended in defeat.

Colchester were relegated back to the Fourth Division with Franklin having already been handed a year's contract extension mid-season. Average attendance hit an all-time low figure of 3,634 and the Supporter's Club could only muster 997 members.^[5]

Players

As of match played 23 April 1965.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Alan Buck GK Sandy Kennon DF John Docherty DF Duncan Forbes DF John Fowler DF Brian Hall DF Tecwyn Jones DF Richie Griffiths DF David Laitt DF Mick Loughton DF Ray Price

No. Position Player MF John Mansfield MF Derek Trevis FW Barrie Aitchison FW Dennis Barrett FW Pat Connolly FW Mike Grice FW Bobby Hill FW John Hornsby FW Arthur Langley FW Gareth Salisbury FW Billy Stark

Match details

Friendlies

Third Division

Third Division results round by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A
Result	L	L	W	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	D	D	L	D	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	L	L	D	L	L	D	D	W	W	W	L	L	L	L	L
Position	22	21	17	20	22	15	20	21	21	21	22	23	24	24	24	24	22	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21	21	20	21	21	21	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	21	21	22	22

Last updated: 16 May 2016.
Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

  Win   Draw   Loss

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
20	Oldham Athletic	46	13	10	23	61	83	0.735	36
21	Luton Town (R)	46	11	11	24	51	94	0.543	33	Relegated to Fourth Division
22	Port Vale (R)	46	9	14	23	41	76	0.539	32
23	Colchester United (R)	46	10	10	26	50	89	0.562	30
24	Barnsley (R)	46	9	11	26	54	90	0.600	29

^{Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Number of goals scored}

^{(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.}

^Notes:

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Matches

League Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Alan Buck	11	0	10	0	1	0	0	0
	GK		Sandy Kennon	10	0	10	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		John Docherty	46	1	41	1	3	0	2	0
	DF		Duncan Forbes	51	0	46	0	3	0	2	0
	DF		John Fowler	40	0	35	0	3	0	2	0
	DF		Richie Griffiths	11	0	9	0	0	0	2	0
	DF		Brian Hall	10	1	10	1	0	0	0	0
	DF		Tecwyn Jones	25	0	25	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Mick Loughton	28	1	25	1	3	0	0	0
	DF		Ray Price	11	0	11	0	0	0	0	0
	MF		John Mansfield	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF		Derek Trevis	51	7	46	6	3	1	2	0
	FW		Barrie Aitchison	41	4	36	3	3	0	2	1
	FW		Pat Connolly	25	7	21	6	3	1	1	0
	MF		Mike Grice	45	1	40	1	3	0	2	0
	FW		Bobby Hill	15	0	14	0	0	0	1	0
	FW		Arthur Langley	36	13	33	12	3	1	0	0
	FW		Gareth Salisbury	17	3	15	2	1	1	1	0
	FW		Billy Stark	30	14	28	13	2	1	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	GK		Percy Ames	30	0	26	0	2	0	2	0
	DF		Edgar Rumney	11	0	11	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		Noel Kearney	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		Martyn King	7	2	6	2	0	0	1	0
	FW		Tommy McColl	6	1	4	1	0	0	2	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		FW	Billy Stark	13	1	0	14
2		FW	Arthur Langley	12	1	0	13
3		FW	Pat Connolly	6	1	0	7
		MF	Derek Trevis	6	1	0	7
5		FW	Barrie Aitchison	3	0	1	4
6		FW	Gareth Salisbury	2	1	0	3
7		FW	Martyn King	2	0	0	2
8		DF	John Docherty	1	0	0	1
		FW	Mike Grice	1	0	0	1
		DF	Brian Hall	1	0	0	1
		DF	Mick Loughton	1	0	0	1
		FW	Tommy McColl	1	0	0	1
			Own goals	1	0	0	1
			TOTALS	50	5	1	56

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		TOTALS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.^[9]

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
			Not recorded	46	3	2	51

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[10]

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
FW	Barrie Aitchison	22 August 1964	Carlisle United	Layer Road
FW	Pat Connolly	22 August 1964	Carlisle United	Layer Road
FW	Gareth Salisbury	22 August 1964	Carlisle United	Layer Road
MF	John Mansfield	12 September 1964	Brentford	Layer Road
FW	Noel Kearney	12 September 1964	Brentford	Layer Road
GK	Alan Buck	3 October 1964	Exeter City	St James Park
DF	Tecwyn Jones	10 October 1964	Bristol City	Ashton Gate Stadium
FW	Arthur Langley	10 October 1964	Bristol City	Ashton Gate Stadium
DF	Mick Loughton	7 November 1964	Southend United	Roots Hall
DF	Ray Price	6 February 1965	Oldham Athletic	Boundary Park
GK	Sandy Kennon	6 March 1965	Watford	Layer Road
DF	Brian Hall	6 March 1965	Watford	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 August 1964	DF	Ray Price	Norwich City	Free transfer	[11]
1 August 1964	MF	John Mansfield	Apprentice	Free transfer	[12]
1 August 1964	FW	Barrie Aitchison	Tottenham Hotspur	£750	[13]
1 August 1964	FW	Dennis Barrett	Apprentice	Free transfer	[14]
22 August 1964	FW	Pat Connolly	Macclesfield Town	£1,200	[15]
22 August 1964	FW	Gareth Salisbury	Luton Town	Free transfer	[16]
1 September 1964	FW	Arthur Langley	Oxford United	£1,500	[17]
12 September 1964	FW	Noel Kearney	Free agent	Trial	[18]
1 October 1964	DF	Tecwyn Jones	Wrexham	Part exchange with Martyn King	[19]
1 January 1965	FW	John Hornsby	Evenwood Town	£25/5s	[20]
6 March 1965	GK	Sandy Kennon	Norwich City	Free transfer	[21]
6 March 1965	DF	Brian Hall	Mansfield Town	Free transfer	[22]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
31 May 1964	GK	George Ramage	Leyton Orient	Released	[23]
31 May 1964	DF	Roy McCrohan	Bristol Rovers	Released	[24]
31 May 1964	FW	Tony Miller	Crittall Athletic	Released	[25]
31 May 1964	FW	Peter Wright	Romford	Released	[26]
1 August 1964	DF	Keith Rutter	Romford	Free transfer	[27]
30 September 1964	FW	Martyn King	Wrexham	£3,000 plus Tecwyn Jones	[28]
5 October 1964	FW	Noel Kearney	Chelmsford City	Released	[18]
31 October 1964	DF	Edgar Rumney	Sudbury Town	Player-coach	[29]
1 December 1964	FW	Tommy McColl	Chelsea	Nominal	[30]
26 February 1965	GK	Percy Ames	Romford	Free transfer	[31]

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3. 
• Kent, Jeff (1990). The Valiants' Years: The Story of Port Vale. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7. 

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1965". 11v11.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016. 
• "TigerBase – Season View". TigerBase. Retrieved 12 May 2016. 
• "1960/61 to 1969/70" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016. 

Specific