ROBBIE: U’S WANT TO GET BACK UP LADDER
COLCHESTER chairman Robbie Cowling says his club would love to get promoted – regardless of any financial concerns elevation to League One may bring.
The U’s had an excellent start to the season but mixed form at the start of 2019 means they are caught up in a mass battle for the automatic promotion and play-off places.
But despite fears that the club’s finances may not be able to cope with a transition to England’s third tier, Cowling was defiant in his hopes for the future as he addressed a fans’ forum.
He said: “There’s not a single reason that I wouldn’t want to get promoted. Not one.
“I addressed it in the summer, where people seem to think that I don’t want the club to get promoted or that we can’t afford it.
“But we’d certainly love to get as far as we can do and there is a chance – that’s what keeps us all
coming back, isn’t it?
“We obviously have to achieve that within our means.
“If we got ourselves promoted and made ourselves bankrupt doing it, then that would be the wrong thing to do.
“But, if we go up, we’ll have more money from the league and we’ll have the gates against the bigger clubs in League One.”
Since Cowling bought Colchester in 2006, the club have suffered two relegations and dropped to the fourth tier in 2016 for the first time since the turn of the millennium.
The chairman also believes that promotion would help younger players develop further as the pressure of finishing in the league’s upper echelons would lessen, allowing the manager to put more emphasis on player progression.
“I felt it was, in some ways, a better league in which to blood some of the youngsters,” said Cowling.