Colchester United encouraged by season-ticket sales

Tickets to watch John McGreal’s side at the JobServe Community Stadium went on sale earlier this month, with the U’s hoping for a rise in attendances in the 2018-19 campaign following last season’s dip in crowd numbers.

There has been an increase in most ticket prices to watch Colchester this season, with the club’s matchday programme now included in the package.

But summer sales have so far been encouraging and have been boosted by the arrival of new signings such as Harry Pell and Frank Nouble, according to U’s general manager Tim Waddington.

Waddington told the Daily Gazette: “I wasn’t expecting a startling rise in sales at this stage but we are slightly ahead of where I expected us to be and we’re on target to hit where we want to.

“It’s slightly different in that a lot of people go for Annual Subscriptions or automatic renewal.

“I think the signings we’ve made so far have had an effect already and they were a real statement of intent.”

Colchester will be hoping for better cup success this season, having bowed out of the FA Cup, EFL Cup and Football League Trophy at the first hurdle in each of the last two campaigns.

“Having a good cup run can be really significant,” added Waddington.

“It would be great if we could do that and have another big game at the Community Stadium.

“They are the kind of days that create history for a club.

“As a club, we know that we need to create more of those moments.

“We had the great experience of playing Spurs here and now we want to be taking the scalp of a big team.

“Teams like Yeovil have shown that the revenue from a good cup run and playing the likes of Manchester United can generate revenue that’s season changing, if not decade changing.

“If you look at our finances at the start of last season, we had an early spike from the visit of Aston Villa.

“It gave us a really good lift early on.”

Colchester's players are due to report back for duty tomorrow, for pre-season fitness testing.