Colchester United are busy planning for a League Two promotion push, next season.

But recent history suggests that bouncing back to the third tier at the first time of asking is not nearly as easy as one might think.

Strikingly, only 20 per cent of the teams relegated to League Two in the last ten years have been promoted at the first time of asking.

Indeed, the last decade has generally seen clubs who have dropped into the bottom tier of English football struggle to immediately recover from the disappointment of relegation.

The last club to achieve the feat was Shrewsbury Town, who successfully won promotion back to League One in the 2014-15 season, just 12 months after dropping out of the division.

Scunthorpe United did the same thing in the 2013-14 campaign, emulating the likes of Swindon Town and Wycombe Wanderers who have also bounced back straight away, in recent years.

But it has generally been unusual for relegated League One clubs to go back at the first time of asking, in recent years.

As U’s chairman Robbie Cowling admitted earlier this month, there is no guarantee that Colchester will win promotion next season, despite there being genuine hope that new first-team coach John McGreal can bring them success.

“John (McGreal) is ambitious and we are as a club, so we’ll set ourselves some good targets,” he said.

“We would love to get promotion but we have to be realistic – there are some good clubs in League Two and I don’t think that there will be any easy games.

“It’s nice going forward perhaps into a league where we can have some real expectations instead of seeing ourselves as perhaps the smaller club on many occasions.

“I think the supporters should have a lot of optimism, going into next season.

“We have a good chance in this league to do extremely well.

“I also think that with the things that we’re putting in place that the club is ready to take off at any day now and do extremely well.”

While there are some examples of clubs recovering relatively quickly from the disappointment of relegation to League Two, recent history has shown that it is generally the case that it takes time for them to get back to the third tier.

Tellingly, just 13 teams overall in the last decade have bounced back by winning promotion back to League One within two seasons of going down.

Former Colchester skipper Richard Wilkins, who experienced both promotion and relegation during his time at Layer Road, says it is vital that his old club have a plan in place to recover quickly from what has happened this season.

He said: “If you have a magic wand, you go down and rebuild and work hard so that people come and watch a winning team.

“But there’s no guarantee of that and sometimes you drop and you keep dropping - there’s no guarantee that you’ll go straight back up.

“It’s mega important that they look at a one-three-five year plan of where they want to be.”

Reassuringly perhaps, it is unusual for League One teams to suffer back-to-back relegations and find themselves in non-league football within two years of going down, The fate has happened to three teams in the last decade - Tranmere Rovers, Stockport County and Luton Town, who returned to League Two in 2014 after five seasons in non-league football.

Nevertheless, U’s legend Micky Cook believes it is essential that everyone at the club re-evaluates for their first League Two campaign since the 1997-98 season.

“Colchester United have always been a club that I’ve been deeply involved with but there’s no guarantee that they will be able to come straight back to League One status,” said the U’s highest-ever appearance maker.

“I was involved in a relegation situation when I was at Colchester and whoever is at the club, from the very top to the car park attendant, has to have a good hard look at themselves and ask “could I have done the job any better?”.

“You don’t want to be slipping out of the league - I wouldn’t want that to happen to my old club and neither would the directors or the supporters.

“It’s a good time to see who’s on board and who isn’t and see who’s behind you and who isn’t it.”

UPS AND DOWNS OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS

2005-06: Promoted to League One: Carlisle United, Northampton Town, Leyton Orient, Cheltenham Town.

Relegated to League Two: Hartlepool United, MK Dons, Swindon Town, Walsall.

Relegated to the Conference National: Oxford United, Rushden and Diamonds.

2006-07: Promoted to League One: Walsall (champions), Hartlepool United, Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Chesterfield, Bradford City, Rotherham United, Brentford.

Relegated to the Conference National: Boston United, Torquay United.

2007-08: Promoted to League One: MK Dons, Peterborough United, Hereford United, Stockport County (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Bournemouth, Gillingham, Port Vale, Luton Town.

Relegated to the Conference National: Mansfield, Wrexham.

2008-09: Promoted to League One: Brentford, Exeter City, Wycombe Wanderers, Gillingham (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Northampton Town, Crewe Alexandra, Cheltenham Town, Hereford United.

Relegated to the Conference National: Chester City, Luton Town.

2009-10: Promoted to League One: Notts County, Bournemouth, Rochdale, Dagenham and Redbridge (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Gillingham, Wycombe Wanderers, Southend United, Stockport County.

Relegated to the Conference National: Grimsby Town, Darlington.

2010-11: Promoted to League One: Chesterfield, Bury, Wycombe Wanderers, Stevenage (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Dagenham and Redbridge, Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Swindon Town.

Relegated to the Conference National: Lincoln City, Stockport County.

2011-12: Promoted to League One: Swindon Town, Shrewsbury Town, Crawley Town, Crewe Alexandra (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Wycombe Wanderers, Chesterfield, Exeter City, Rochdale.

Relegated to the Conference National: Hereford United, Macclesfield Town.

2012-13: Promoted to League One: Gillingham, Rotherham, Port Vale, Bradford City (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Scunthorpe United, Bury, Hartlepool United, Portsmouth.

Relegated to the Conference National: Barnet, Aldershot Town.

2013-14: Promoted to League One: Chesterfield, Scunthorpe United, Rochdale, Fleetwood Town (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Tranmere Rovers, Carlisle United, Shrewsbury Town, Stevenage.

Relegated to the Conference National: Bristol Rovers, Torquay United.

2014-15: Promoted to League One: Burton Albion, Bury, Shrewsbury Town, Southend United (via the play-offs).

Relegated to League Two: Notts County, Crawley Town, Leyton Orient, Yeovil Town.

Relegated to the Conference National: Cheltenham Town, Tranmere Rovers.

2015-16: Promoted to League One: Northampton Town, Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Accrington Stanley or AFC Wimbledon.

Relegated to League Two: Crewe Alexandra, Colchester United, Doncaster Rovers, Blackpool.

Relegated to the Conference National: Dagenham and Redbridge, York City.