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Matt Bloomfield

Colchester United are going to announce the appointment of a new manager this afternoon.

There are strong rumours that it is going to be Matt Bloomfield.

It can’t be, can it?

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Comments

  • If that career is what he wants to get into, it feels quite a good match - they are looking for a young hungry manager, they are relatively convenient from where he chooses to live.

    Surely we would wish him well, hope he learns well and succeeds in the role and who knows if and when our job eventually becomes available, as one day it must, maybe he would then have shown himself as ready to step up to a bigger better club.

  • I’ve never understood how Matt and his young family cope with him working in Wycombe but living in Suffolk. If Gaz is going nowhere soon there is a modicum of sense to the rumour on an emotional, professional and geographical level.

  • The thought of Blooms going to Col U does make me feel a bit sick, but at the end of the day, getting a first job at a FL club near where he lives is a wonderful opportunity for him - and frankly, after everything he's done for and given to the club, I think he's earned the right to do whatever he likes. I hope he stays here, but I too have wondered how he makes the working away from home thing work (I've done it on a couple of occassions, once for 6 months and it's pretty crap) so if he does take the reins there, the very best of luck to him.

    Still reckon they're going down though.

  • He can take them down from within.

  • I think I’d have to temporarily stop disliking Col U. Very strange.

  • I was genuinely sad to see this on report this morning, a legend of the club who has been here for ages, has seen managers come and go, been through hell & back with injuries and has now been given the opportunity to coach and learn with the 1st team.

    However, I guess this is just a natural progression for any young-ish coach to develop and become a manager or "Head Coach" at a smaller club to show what you can do and continue the development. If you look at Paul Lambert, he went there before getting him bounce upto the Prem before then being lost in the ex-managers club.

    Just a question, where does our "rivalry" stand with Col U? Have things cooled down with them now they are no longer a club that we play that often and have been more successful than?

    I wish him all the best, he'll NEVER be forgotten and I hope this isn't the last time that we see him at Adams Park.

  • This would be the very definition of conflicted emotions.


    I guess for many of our younger fans it would mean little. At least he wouldn't be going to the Franchise.

  • Isn't the rivalry kind of generational? I have no strong feelings about them either way, whereas I can't stand Oxford.

  • edited September 2022

    Probably a good thing we didn't name a stand after him now, isn't it.

  • Well I started watching the Chairboys in 1990 and Col U were the big enemy then but over the last 10 years or so, Oxford are the target as the team we most dislike.

    Good luck to Matt if he gets the job. I am sure he will do well and be back as our No.1 sometime in the future.

  • The rivalry thing is interesting. Some might still see a rivalry with Slough but given the huge gaps between the two clubs for most surely that has now largely gone. If I had to name biggest rivals I probably would name Colchester but I suspect that goes back to a time when I was able to attend more games. Realistically that was a short term long distance rivalry as a result of a clash between two manager styles and probably is largely irrelevant now. Much the same surely applies to Plymouth. Cant say I have any feelings about Oxford, Reading, QPR or Brentford who I would have thought are the nearest league clubs (which is the nearest?) but I suppose one of those has longer term potential, except they already have rivals so unlikely to be really reciprocated.

    Anyway good luck to Matt if he gets the job.

  • No idea how I’m supposed to feel about this.

  • Not concerned about the rivalry nature of this at all. What I am concerned about is this would be another huge loss for the dressing room, coming after Stocko, Bayo, Stewart, Charles and others. Some huge influences lost in a relatively short space of time.

  • Maybe he’ll keep them up, but they’ll be relegated due to some financial irregularities which have nothing to do with him.

    Yes, that would work.

  • Best of luck to him if true !

    As for the rivalry thing, yes back in the day, but these days it's MK, I even like Oxford more than MK

  • At it’s peak you’d definitely have to watch yourself after games and I remember making a speedy exit at layer road after the apes charged the turnstiles. I seem to remember they caused the ref to end the match early through a pitch invasion when they had the chance of an equaliser.

    The headington Unite. sorry oxford thing is really strange they rarely get a mention here but we’re always worth a couple of threads a season on their forum.

    So best of luck to Matt, really get a good season under your belt and get picked up by a bigger and better club

  • Shame as it would be to lose him, especially to Col U, perhaps a good move for all parties in the long run.

    When GA eventually goes, Blooms would immediately be tipped to replace him. Better to have some experience under his belt than immediately have to prove himself here after being a club legend, in a completely new position.

    Maybe it'd be good for him to have more time to learn under Gaz and Dobbo, but he'll be chucked into it and we can see if he's up to much as a manager, rather than taking a punt on him in a few years and it not working out.

  • Were Blooms to prove himself at Col U (and I'd love to see him do well, even there should he get the job) then I'd have thought a move to Ipswich would be more natural than a return to Wycombe, given his family circumstances. That commute must be a killer, and I think I'm right in thinking he doesn't even have to do it full-time at the moment, which he would as manager.

  • Perhaps, if it became available and they were still in L1. He won't have the financial muscle to pull up many trees with Col U, and if we're looking for a manager in a few seasons, I'd imagine he'd make the commute as he's been making it for the last few years. As a manager you have to accept it's itinerant.

    I've no bother with the rivalry much any more, and only hope that the boo boys don't get too angry were he to come back.

  • Well, Col U fans aren't happy about this at all.

  • Also, would loyalty be returned? Gaz built up kudos in the bank before the Couhigs were here. If Blooms managed us, and it all went wrong quickly, would they give him enough time if it looked like relegation was a threat?

    Plus, I'd imagine a lot of loan experience in L2 now for our U23 squad.

  • Kevin Betsy at Crawley another Lg2 manager/ex player who could be a candidate if he does well and our job came up in a couple of years time.

  • edited September 2022

    I thought this too, I guess it all depends on the gaps that he sees in the squad when he arrives? Also, who do you reckon he'll bring in as his coaching staff? Would Bayo join him as a part-time coach?

    Who do you reckon would follow "on loan"? Leathers? Wakely? Jasper?

  • Can't see Bayo ever doing on-pitch stuff again. I bet Col U's finances are so bad that it'll be Blooms and one other.

  • edited September 2022

    I understand why people talk about Blooms as a potential Wycombe manager, but we don't know if he's any good yet - so I guess this could be helpful for us. I'd personally rather we don't keep things 'internal' when Gaz leaves, though. Clinging on to the past rarely goes well for football clubs.

  • I’ve seen quite a few who want Phil Brown. Can you imagine?

  • Col U fan in peace (or as much as can be expected).

    Been reading this after it was linked on our forum and wanted to say: Wow... fancy yourselves much? I realise this'll get all the usual "rent free"-style replies etc. but here goes.

    All this talk of what a "big club" you are and how much "bigger" than Col U WWFC is? Think you've been drinking your own KoolAid a bit too much folks.

    Six seasons, in your entire history, outside the bottom rung of the EFL - two of which ended in relegation - doesn't exactly make you Barcelona, does it?

    Not long ago (before you managed it) Col U spent two seasons in the Championship; we've spent longer than your entire spell in the Football League playing at levels above the bottom rung. But sure... Col U are just a test bed for your future managers and your U23s would walk into our side (actually, to be fair, at the moment, that last one is probably true!).

    Look - I have a (grudging) respect for Wycombe. I have friends that are Wycombe fans (I actually do - that's not even the standard "some of my best friends are..." get out). I grew up on our non-league rivalry and loved every minute (I still have nightmares every time I see a "Ryan" on the opponent's team-sheet, remembering Keith's nasty habit of scoring against us). What Ainsworth has achieved with your budget is terrific and great to see as a "not exactly Barca"-sized club ourselves.

    But make it a two-way street of respect eh?

  • "Col U fan in peace" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there

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