Marked for Matt Macey
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Colchester United's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Colchester United has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Matt Macey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Cambridge United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jack Tucker
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Sep 2026
JK Gordon has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Colchester United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Tom Flanagan
Nobody at Colchester United is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Sep 2026
Out, 2‑3 to Plymouth Argyle, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 7.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matt Macey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matt Macey, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Ben Perry at 21 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ben Perry did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Colchester United have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Matt Macey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ben Perry has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ben Perry’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Colchester United.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Kyreece Lisbie at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Colchester United.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Pascal Köpke named player of the month
The award goes to Pascal Köpke, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Colchester United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Matt Macey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Frankie Edwards out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colchester United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Matt Macey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Shrewsbury Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Frankie Edwards out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colchester United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Pascal Köpke has a hand in both — 7.92
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.92, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matt Macey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Colchester United
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pascal Köpke. 2‑1 against Tranmere Rovers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oliver Carter is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jonathan Clarke has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Frankie Edwards out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colchester United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Matt Macey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Colchester United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Tucker is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ben Perry and Colchester United agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ellis Iandolo commits to Colchester United for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matt Macey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Colchester United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ellis Iandolo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Jaden Williams's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.