Next Colchester United Manager Odds

Colchester United are on the lookout for a new manager following the sacking of Ben Garner as head coach.

The 43-year-old was only appointed as Col U manager in early March and oversaw just seven wins in 27 matches, equating to a 26% win percentage.

There were a series of mixed reactions to the news that the former Charlton Athletic coach had been sacked, with some fans of the Essex club believing that the club were unlucky with results on the pitch. However, the U's league positioning sees them sit 91st in the EFL, meaning that they will need to pick up points sooner rather than later on a regular basis if they are to avoid being in a relegation battle once again this season.

Former West Ham United winger Matthew Etherington is the firm bookmakers’ favourite for the job, having been appointed as Under-21 Lead Coach at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Prior to his current job at Colchester, Etherington was Peterborough United’s Under 18s coach and actually managed the Posh as Interim Manager in February 2021, overseeing a narrow 2-1 defeat to Championship leaders Fulham.

Since then, Etherington has managed Crawley Town for three matches, having become manager of the Red Devils in November 2022 and won one match before departing the club due to disagreements with the board’s management of the club.

Neil Harris is on the search for a new job following his dismissal by Gillingham.

The 46-year-old has a plethora of managerial experience in leagues above League Two, having coached Millwall between 2015 and 2019 where he won the League One play-offs in 2017, as well as managing Cardiff City from 2019 to 2021.

During his time at Gillingham, he managed to win 31 and draw 25 of his 90 matches in charge and was harshly sacked this season with the Gills sitting in eighth place after just 11 matches.

Steve Cotterill is another name that has been mooted for the Colchester job following his shock departure from Shrewsbury Town at the end of last season.

The 59-year-old is held in high regard for the stability that he has offered to clubs in the EFL, having stabilised Burnley’s position in the Championship between June 2004 and November 2007 despite of their financial woes, while winning the League Two title with Notts County in 2009/10 following 14 wins and three draws in 18 matches, on top of also leading Bristol City to the League One title and EFL Trophy in 2014/15.

Two of Cotterill’s other managerial successes have come on either side of his career, having overseen 255 matches as Cheltenham manager between February 1997 and May 2002, winning the FA Trophy, Football Conference and the Third Division title in his time there, while in his last managerial job at Shrewsbury, he consolidated the club’s League One status on limited funding between November 2020 and June 2023.

Ex-Colchester manager Aidy Boothroyd has been linked with a shock return to the club despite managing Indian Super League outfit, Jamshedpur.

Boothroyd memorably managed to win the Championship play-offs with Watford in 2005/06 and managed Colchester during the 2009/10 season, winning 19 and drawing 12 of his 44 matches in charge, before departing to join Coventry City.

The 52-year-old’s most notable managerial spell of late saw him become a coach in England’s youth setup, winning the 2018 Toulon Tournament, however, his time as England Under 21s manager came to a crashing halt in the 2021 Euros, as England finished bottom of Group D behind Switzerland, Croatia and Portugal despite having one of the strongest squads at the tournament.

Former Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell is an outsider to become Colchester’s next manager at odds of 14/1.

The 41-year-old is without a club following his departure from Gresty Road in April 2022 following Alexandra’s relegation to League Two, with that role being his only managerial job to date, having held that role for five years.

During his time as Crewe manager, Artell oversaw their promotion to League One via a second-place finish in League Two in the 2019/20 season. The former Rotherham United defender managed Alexandra 274 times, winning 100 matches and drawing 51, seeing him have a win percentage of 36.5%.

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