Welcome to the “Tour Of The 72” series, where I attempt to visit every EFL ground to find the greatest football experience there is to offer and rate each ground on five different factors: Pricing, Atmosphere & Quality of the game, Food, Facilities and the overall experience of the matchday. For this edition, I put bias aside, as I review my experience at the JobServe Community Stadium, home of Colchester United for their League Two home fixture against Harrogate Town on the 18th of October 2025. Now this is a ground I am rather familiar with, as Colchester United are the club I support, but I am writing through a neutral lens to avoid swaying the results too favourably one way.
Pricing 5.5/10
Well, I have to say the pricing at Colchester is rather confusing! Although I’ve got a season ticket, I’m using the prices for a ticket within the same block of the same stand for this factor, which varies depending on the time at which you purchase your tickets. Supposing you purchased it one month in advance, it would set you back £22 for an adult ticket, a fairly reasonable price, getting even cheaper in the stands behind the goal. This increases by £1.50 if you wait another week, rising by another £3 if you wait until one week in advance.
Buying a ticket on a matchday, causes some outrageous pricing, with a ticket costing a gobsmacking £30.60 in the block in which I was located, outpricing a majority of the clubs in the Championship’s standard ticket pricing, getting even worse in the more central blocks of the stadium, with an eye-watering £35 entrance ticket price! All I’m saying is if you intend on visiting the JobServe Community Stadium anytime soon, it would be a smart idea to book your tickets plenty of weeks ahead of matchday.
Another variable I’ve taken into account is the price of the car-parking at the stadium, which stands at an £8 fee, by no means cheap, but I’ve without a doubt ended up paying a lot higher during previous ground visits elsewhere!
Atmosphere 6/10
Prior to kick-off, there was quite a decent amount of noise in comparison to some other League Two grounds, with around fifty people surrounding the drum in the South Stand creating some atmosphere as the players were amid their warm-ups. Outside the ground, I sensed the mood was largely positive, as the U’s had won their three games prior to this, a much more upbeat outlook than prior years, which have been bleak for supporters of the Essex side.
A catalyst in this increase in matchday atmosphere has been the steep rise in attendances, with average home attendances seeing a 1,500 increase since Danny Cowley began his tenure as U’s boss, filling the stands with more families, which is always a positive sign for any lower league club, also a nice sight that they haven’t been pulled away by the appeal of any of the Big 6 London clubs, I could really feel the connection with the young fans as plenty of players came over to sign some autographs.
During the game itself, the atmosphere suffered a harsh dip after Harrogate opened the scoring in the second minute, but once the U’s pulled themselves back into the game, the noise was revitalised, with all three stands getting stuck in to motivate the players. Of course, it wasn’t quite at its best, given the lack of away supporters to bounce of off, as Harrogate took just eighty-two hardcore supporters down the A1 to Essex, making it a little bit flat, especially once the game was pretty much killed off.
Stadium Food 3/10
I’m sorry lads, but the food was an absolute shambles. Starting things off, how can a premade burger that has already been wrapped up and sat in a heater costs over £8 quid? I get clubs need to make matchday money somehow, but that is taking the p***!
In terms of the positives, well…, I couldn’t find many on this variable. There’s not a single outlet outside the ground nowadays, like you would expect from a football ground, with the popular burger van on United Way being removed in recent years. My kindest feedback was that my Chicken Balti Pie was alright, average at best, but that was just a standard Pukka Pie, not a local brand or anything, they probably just popped to the local supermarket to stock up the morning before the game and certainly wasn’t worth the £6!
For the first time, I opted to try a hotdog from the ground, which to summarise in one word, was “sad”! It simply was a pale frankfurter sausage crammed into a dry bun, with no sauces, no cheese, and absolutely no flavours whatsoever! I wish I made the short walk before the game to the complex next door, there’s plenty of solid options there, such as Greggs, Wendy’s and the newly opened Slim Chickens.
Facilities 6/10
For me, the Jobserve Community Stadium is a bog-standard League Two ground, albeit boring as there is by no means anything special about it (it’s pretty much a carbon copy of Shrewsbury and Chesterfield’s home stadiums), lacking the character of some more historic grounds in League Two possess. As it’s on the more modern side of stadiums, there’s no restricted view areas, giving all four stands a perfect view of the action thanks to their being no support pillars or an overhanging roof blocking the game.
Colchester definitely holds one of the more family friendly experiences I’ve seen, with the designated family East Stand having plenty to keep the youngsters occupied before the game, with the Community Foundation running some football-based activities outside the stadium and a zone inside the concourse where they have consoles and table football, a really nice touch. Additionally, with the away fans being located behind the goal without anyone surrounding to cause a bit of trouble, there’s a low chance of any animosity breaking out between sets of supporters.
On the contrary, the main issue visitors complain about is the distance the stadium is located from the Train Station, which is around an hour-long walk away, with the shuttle bus no longer running to the stadium as far as I’m aware. Arguably, this is a good aspect for supporters utilising the A12 running past the ground, not having to queue through Saturday traffic in the centre of the town, but stripping away that local community feel of grounds embedded in the centre of the local housing estates.
Surrounding the ground, there is a severe shortage of locations for supporters to purchase alcohol, aside from the bordering Hollywood Bowl, or the small fan zone in front of the West Stand, with a decently sized seating area and large TV screen displaying sky sports, but there is certainly no abundance of food outlets on the neighbouring retail complex! A wide range of cuisine is available just a minutes’ walk away from the ground, including Greggs, Wendy’s, Slim Chickens and the newly opened sushi and Mexican restaurants!
Overall Tour Experience 10/10
Finally, I’m letting my bias interfere with the results, because nothing beats a classic home win over your clubs “bogey team” (or biggest rivals according to the Harrogate Town admin). You can’t beat the usual Saturday routine of speaking to the people in the surrounding seats, getting the same view as every week, and picking up a well-earned three points.
In terms of the game itself, the first half was when most of the action occurred, with Harrogate taking just two minutes to break the deadlock thanks to Stephen Duke-McKenna’s strike, but were swiftly back on level terms, when Harry Anderson’s shot evaded James Belshaw in the Harrogate net. Anderson was the man of the match by a country mile, bagging a first-half hattrick (the first of his career) to seal the three points for the U’s.
Compared to some League Two games I’ve watched, there wasn’t particularly much timewasting, the ball spent most of the time on the pitch rather than out of play or in the referee’s arms, keeping it entertaining throughout.
Full Time Score:
Colchester 3-1 Harrogate
Goalscorers:
Anderson: 14’, 21’, 45+2’
Duke-McKenna: 2’
Lineups:
Colchester: Macey, Iandolo, Tucker, Araujo, Vincent Young (Hunt 29’), Bishop (Williams 78’), Read, Lisbie (Edwards 78’), Payne, Anderson (Kuffour Jr. 90+3’), Mbick (Tovide 88’)
Harrogate: Belshaw, Slater, Faulkner, O’Connor (Asare 46’), Burrell, Evans, Fox (Morris 59’), Smith, McAleny (Taylor 79’), Duke-McKenna, Muldoon
