Cowling sympathises with U's players' plight

11:00am Friday 25th May 2012 in Sport By Jonathan Waldron

Cutting back - U's chairman Robbie Cowling has admitted he does not blame the club's out-of-contract players for considering their options, this summer. Cutting back - U's chairman Robbie Cowling has admitted he does not blame the club's out-of-contract players for considering their options, this summer.

Robbie Cowling has admitted he does not blame Colchester United’s out-of-contract players for considering a move away from the Weston Homes Community Stadium this summer.

More than half a dozen U’s players will see their current deals expire in the coming weeks and are yet to commit themselves to the club for next season.

Colchester’s player of the year Kayode Odejayi last week rejected a new deal with the U’s in favour of a switch to League Two side Rotherham.

And with the U’s reducing their playing budget, chairman Cowling admitted more could follow him out of the exit door.

Cowling said: “We’re cutting back and we’re expecting to lose some of our players.

“I don’t think any of our players want or wanted to leave Colchester United and they were enjoying it.

“They are happy with us.

“But they will want to try and earn what they’re used to earning.

“They will want to make sure that they get the right salary for them and no-one can blame them for that.”

See Friday's Gazette for more on this story and all of the latest Colchester United news.

Comments(16)

Ozzie says...
12:12pm Fri 25 May 12

This just means in reality, that the more sought after players that are out of contract, who are able to find equivalent wages or even improved wages elsewhere, that they will potentially leave the club. However, I guess with the financial restraints the U's find themselves under, it would be foolhardy of the Chairman to try and act any differently. It would be really sad if we lost more players to Division Two clubs, as we did with Kayode Odejayi, going to Rotherham, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility. I think it is a reality check, too in terms of our financial position and being unable to compete with similar wage demands. It kind of makes loyal U's fans, like myself, think that maybe we are in a league (or even two!) higher than where we should be. Championship? We are having a laugh! - unless we buy or loan a proficient goalscorer and a player similar to Rowlands, to shore up the midfield. Hopefully Woody and Magnus ('The Beast') Okuonghae will stay and provide a reasonable backbone for another consolidation season next season. Without acquisitions to our squad, and/or blooding youngsters, I cannot see the U's making an impact in the division yet again next season. It is a sad fact that we will probably have to settle for mid-table mediocrity or worse still, the relegation trapdoor may threaten this coming season. Up the U's!

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Surb says...
1:09pm Fri 25 May 12

Surely, if all these cuts are happening, they need to cut ticket prices too, as fans would be paying the same prices to watch even worst football. The performances last year wern't exactly worth the money.

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crazy comments says...
2:16pm Fri 25 May 12

Life is very difficult for the U's at present, and not a bright future to look forward to. Every supporter will see things in a different perspective to see how we can counter these problems. Thats why i'm so surprised that certain older players have been given fresh contracts when personally I would rather have had a smaller squad and seen the money that was saved, spent on some quality. I think if the football is the same as last season, then less people will be attending games. Robbie Cowling will then struggle even further with the small income he gets from the gate. Will Robbie then continue or walk. If he does the latter then the club could find itself again without a training ground, because Robbie owns the land its on. To me the future of Col Utd looks bleak.

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Catboy says...
7:31pm Fri 25 May 12

Losing Odejayi is a very postive move - he was allegedly on an amazing £6k a week and he was a really poor striker, statistically the worst ever in our history since he signed permanently. I think when you are puttting your faith in youngsters, having a core of experienced players is really crucial to help them come through, especially when things don't go quite so well; they can put things in perspective. If you have ever played football you will understand how important that is. I know I might be in the minority but I think it is important to keep a core of the team; I think they still have a lot to give. I think Robbie has been given a hard time - he has given a lot to the club, if he wanted to buy land and sell it he could do that without spending copious amounts of cash developing it. I agree the outlook is on the face of it bleak but when you rely on youngsters coming through it is also very unpredictable and exciting.

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Medicated Soap says...
8:21pm Fri 25 May 12

The irony is that we couldn’t compete with most League Two sides over wages in 2005; in fact we had by far the smallest budget in League One for the 2005/06 promotion season.

Of course the U’s were a much fitter leaner beast under the shrewd management of Peter Herd, no one came to the U’s for money and agents were always given short shrift as a point of principle. Fast forward seven years and too many players currently at the club are accustomed to wages which far exceed the market value for their limited talents.

Next season we will again have a significantly larger budget than we did in 2005/06, yet relegation is a far more likely outcome than promotion. The current regime has shown precious little common sense when it comes to getting value for the money spent on the playing budget. Then we have a manager who is more than happy to re-sign the same old players as he has no ideas as to how, or the inclination to, move the club forward.

Will we toil around in mid-table mediocrity for another few seasons before relegation to League Two, or will we finish in the bottom four as soon as next season? Who knows?! Luck will play a part as it has done this season. The simple fact of life in the Third Division is that clubs that don’t invest their first teams, or have an efficient strategy to bring in new blood, get weeded out sooner rather than later - i.e. relegated.

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Medicated Soap says...
8:32pm Fri 25 May 12

Clearly the training ground at Tiptree is primarily a vehicle to improve the chances of Cowling’s proposed lucrative housing development scheme being given the go-ahead. As soon as Robbie gets his pay day he’ll drop the U’s like a sack of hot coals, it’s Jonathan Crisp all over again.

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super waluigi says...
10:21pm Fri 25 May 12

Robbie is being honest as always.

Colchester, like 95 other football league clubs in England have a squad of players that all want more wages and better job prospects. With top players like Wayne Rooney (a few seasons ago) and Robin Van Persie (this season) dropping transfer request on teams like Man u or Arsenal, who can blame Ben Williams or Ashley Vincent wanting a richer lifestyle and better football. That is life.

Colchester United won't be the only team in England to loose a few good players. As a result of new rules there will be plenty of good talented young and experienced players offered to lower league teams, and again like always, it will be about getting the best out of the players that stay, and those that are bought in to replace those leaving. As we saw with Jamie Cureton, who could not get a game (or a goal) at other clubs before signing for Colchester, he then left, only to wish he had stayed at Colchester, because it simply just worked for him at Colchester.

Anyone who wishes to predict that relegation is on the cards this season or in the next 4 seasons (or whatever) is a fool because no one has simply had to experience this new ruling before. What the next season throws at Colchester and the other clubs in L1 and L2 is a mystery to us all, and that includes club managers and owners.

I do however have some faith in John Ward. I think that Tom Eastman, Ben Coker, Andy Bond and the resigning of duigid are transfers as good as any managers before him. I think he will find one or two good players again this season. John might not be the best manager in the league, and he might not be as inspirational as some have suggested on here before. But he is shrewd, and he is willing to help nurse Colchester through a very difficult few seasons ahead.

Lets get behind Colchester again this season, and who knows, perhaps we can again defy the odds and stay in League 1, or even better, defy even bigger odds and have another top 10 finish.

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Tony Burns says...
10:55am Sat 26 May 12

Well said walguigi because I suspect we are at the start of a massive change in the financing of football clubs. Even our friends up the road are talking about no money to spend apart from bargain basement deals.
Ever since we tried to hang onto our status in the Championship we have spent far too much money on agents, fees and salaries. If John Ward is given the chance I believe he will bring us through the changing times and the training facility will do nothing but enhance our status. Just think, we have applied for the same level as Ipswich!
I don't think Robbie Cowling is another Johnathan Crisp,

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25414nora says...
5:42pm Sat 26 May 12

Good to see most of the comments on here are not so hostile towards Mr Cowling and John Ward. Some are even using words like 'reality check' and 'perspective' which is good to hear. We have achieved a top ten Div 1 position for three consecutive years, and that is some achievement. Let us be in no doubt the coming season is going to be a hard test for the U's, I dont think the attendences are going to improve in the short term. It's going to be a case of playing the hand your dealt with, and trying to get the best out of the players you've got.. Just been reading about Luton Town, once a top division club, they are desperate to get back into the football league. Recently they took 30,000 fans to wembley, only to fail in the play off against York City. The 'Hatters' once entertained us with top name footballers.. Malcolm Macdonald, Brian Stein, Mal Donaghy, Bruce Rioch, and a management team of David Pleat, and Ray Harford.. To now see them playing in the 5th tier of the football league, is really putting things in perspective.. Up the U's.

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Eddy D says...
5:59pm Sat 26 May 12

Well done to everyone above making positive and supportive comments. No one likes the idea of the big players going but if they want out then let them go. It was clear to see in the last two to three months if not earlier that most of them had lost heart anyway and, I guess facing pay cuts, that is to be expected. I doubt any of us, professional as we are, would give our all if we knew we were likely to lose in excess of 10-15% of our pay. Ward has done well in the transfer market and his combined signings have cost less than most individual signings made by GW, PL and AB, many of which were a disaster (Simon Hackney and Joel Thomas for example). Ward said months ago he was looking elsewhere and it's comforting to know he has been looking at this for some time. By all accounts there are 840+ players out of contract across the four top leagues, effectively 10 apprxox per club so there's bargains to be had. This ruling effects all clubs and many arent as organised and prepared as ours. Let's be positive, that doesnt mean seeing everything through rose tinted glasses, we know there are issues but we have to be realists too. These are tough times but doesnt our club tend to work better in these situations? We like the under dog tag, we've never responded well to being favourites. I'm looking forward to the new season. If we can get by and do okay for the next 2-3 seasons I think the future will be bright. (Well done Huddersfield by the way).Up the u's.

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Catboy says...
7:10pm Sat 26 May 12

Medicated Soap wrote:
Clearly the training ground at Tiptree is primarily a vehicle to improve the chances of Cowling’s proposed lucrative housing development scheme being given the go-ahead. As soon as Robbie gets his pay day he’ll drop the U’s like a sack of hot coals, it’s Jonathan Crisp all over again.
You probably don't know that Robbie is integral part of the village. He has put a lot of money into Thurstable and has given his a lot of his own time to support the school his kids went to. It must be very frustrating for him to continually hear this negative stuff. He is a multi millionaire and doesn't need to worry about the business which is why he has turned his attention to the Us. We all have our gripes about the stadium etc but lets not question Robbies comittment to the club and his local community - it is an absolute insult to compare him to Crisp. If you want to compare him to anything Dave Whelan would be a good comparitor. Sorry to be so heavy but I have met Robbie a few times and he wants the best fot the Us.

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Arthur Fonzarelli says...
11:05pm Sat 26 May 12

Surb wrote:
Surely, if all these cuts are happening, they need to cut ticket prices too, as fans would be paying the same prices to watch even worst football. The performances last year wern't exactly worth the money.
I was looking to take my football mad 6 year old son to a few matches at Colchester last season, I ended up going to Charlton Athletic instead without paying anymore for the whole package (Tickets/Parking/Die
sel/Programme/Hot Dogs).

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crazy comments says...
12:17pm Sun 27 May 12

25414nora wrote:
Good to see most of the comments on here are not so hostile towards Mr Cowling and John Ward. Some are even using words like 'reality check' and 'perspective' which is good to hear. We have achieved a top ten Div 1 position for three consecutive years, and that is some achievement. Let us be in no doubt the coming season is going to be a hard test for the U's, I dont think the attendences are going to improve in the short term. It's going to be a case of playing the hand your dealt with, and trying to get the best out of the players you've got.. Just been reading about Luton Town, once a top division club, they are desperate to get back into the football league. Recently they took 30,000 fans to wembley, only to fail in the play off against York City. The 'Hatters' once entertained us with top name footballers.. Malcolm Macdonald, Brian Stein, Mal Donaghy, Bruce Rioch, and a management team of David Pleat, and Ray Harford.. To now see them playing in the 5th tier of the football league, is really putting things in perspective.. Up the U's.
Your dead right Nora Luton were once a top team and have had some fantastic players over the years. It's so sorry to see them where they are now. We will have to go with what we have next season but all I ask is that JW tries to get the team play more of an attacking entertaining type of football. I think it would be fair to say the majority Col Utd supporter dont hate J.W. as a person, just the opposite in fact, a real nice guy. Its more frustration how the team plays to his tactics the case. I read an article in the East Anglian this week about Garry Bennet. He mentions when playing under Ian Atkins the team played defensive football yet when big Roy Mac took over as manager he played non stop pushing forward football. Surely you remember it was some great stuff. Like you and super I dont care if we do finish mid table as long as the football played is improved this coming season, because it was pretty awful at times last season. Luton though in the 5th tier still get crowds of 6 to 7 thousand which is testimony to how they play. We should be getting gates of 5000 at least, but that will never materialize in its present state, not unless changes are made.

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crazy comments says...
12:47pm Sun 27 May 12

Tony Burns wrote:
Well said walguigi because I suspect we are at the start of a massive change in the financing of football clubs. Even our friends up the road are talking about no money to spend apart from bargain basement deals. Ever since we tried to hang onto our status in the Championship we have spent far too much money on agents, fees and salaries. If John Ward is given the chance I believe he will bring us through the changing times and the training facility will do nothing but enhance our status. Just think, we have applied for the same level as Ipswich! I don't think Robbie Cowling is another Johnathan Crisp,
The training faciity should be a fine addition, but lets hope its not wasted. We should now be able to practice all those set pieces corners and free kicks, plus formations. Once watched them train up the university and thought it was a comical joke. With another ex Col utd player Steve Ball now joining as a coach this coming season, soon we will have more coaches than players. Steve Foley who has joined Leiston would have been a better proposition for me. We need someone with more tactical ideas than we have now.

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crazy comments says...
5:06pm Sun 27 May 12

See that Clive Platt has signed for Northampton. Centre forwards seem to be in demand.

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Surb says...
1:19pm Tue 29 May 12

Arthur Fonzarelli wrote:
Surb wrote:
Surely, if all these cuts are happening, they need to cut ticket prices too, as fans would be paying the same prices to watch even worst football. The performances last year wern't exactly worth the money.
I was looking to take my football mad 6 year old son to a few matches at Colchester last season, I ended up going to Charlton Athletic instead without paying anymore for the whole package (Tickets/Parking/Die

sel/Programme/Hot Dogs).
Don't blame you, better football too.

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