Author: Matt Hudson and Jim French
My Layer Road - U's fans remember the Layer Road Years
At first glimpse, Layer Road – the former home of Colchester United – was little more than a ramshackle collection of tin-roofed stands, suited more to the world of non-league football than to the hurly burly of the professional game. However, this tiny stadium came within a couple of games of hosting a Premiership team as the U’s swept all before them in the memorable Championship season of 2006/7.
The Essex side spent 71 years at their home in the west of the town and that penultimate season summed up all that was so magical about the stadium that appeared to have so little, but offered so much. Reputations were slain as the U’s swept all before them in the U’s second tier.
Two years on and Colchester United are in their new 10,000 all-seater stadium on the other side of the town, but the memories of Layer Road and all that it saw will live on for many years to come.
My Layer Road: U’s fans remember the Layer Road years, a book by the club’s Media Manager Matt Hudson and U’s author Jim French, brings together a collection of those memories, anecdotes and never seen before photos which sum up the essence of one of football’s quirkiest football grounds.
From the years of the Second World War that saw the stadium used as a Wardens Outpost to the match against Leeds United that saw Don Revie’s all conquering side beaten convincingly to the astonishment of the world’s media, the more notable events at Layer Road are chronicled by those that watched on from the terraces, as well as those that created the stories on the pitch.
Alongside the big stories, there are also the very personal memories of fans, players and staff as the tales of a very special football ground are committed to print.
