2008–09 Colchester United F.C. season
The 2008–09 season was Colchester United's 67th season in their history and first season back in the third tier of English football following relegation, League One. Alongside competing in League One, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Football League Trophy.
| 2008–09 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Robbie Cowling | |||
| Chairman | Robbie Cowling | |||
| Manager | Geraint Williams (until 22 September) Kit Symons (caretaker) (22 September until 8 October) Paul Lambert (from 9 October) | |||
| Stadium | Colchester Community Stadium | |||
| League One | 12th | |||
| FA Cup | 1st round (eliminated by Leyton Orient) | |||
| League Cup | 2nd round (eliminated by Ipswich Town) | |||
| Football League Trophy | Semi-final (southern section) (eliminated by Luton Town) | |||
| Top goalscorer | League: Mark Yeates (12) All: Mark Yeates (13) | |||
| Highest home attendance | 9,559 v Leeds United, 4 April 2009 | |||
| Lowest home attendance | 3,179 v Stockport County, 24 February 2009 | |||
| Average home league attendance | 5,076 | |||
| Biggest win | 5–0 v Carlisle United, 25 October 2008 | |||
| Biggest defeat | 0–3 v Milton Keynes Dons, 20 September 2008 v Scunthorpe United, 28 March 2009 | |||
| ||||
Colchester returned to League One following relegation from the Championship last season. It was also their first season in their new home the Colchester Community Stadium after moving from Layer Road over the summer. It took them until October to register their first home victory by beating Carlisle United 5–0, but by this time the club had already seen managerial changes. After a poor start to the season in which the U's found themselves sporadically in the relegation zone, Geraint Williams was sacked and Paul Lambert was brought in as his replacement in early October. Colchester had a good mid-season run from November through January but had to settle for a mid-table finish come the end of the season.
Colchester were eliminated from the FA Cup at the first round stage by Leyton Orient, while rivals Ipswich Town beat the U's at Portman Road in the second round of the League Cup. They made the area semi-final of the Football League Trophy where they lost out to Luton Town.