When Danny Cowley arrived at Colchester United in January 2024, alongside with his assistant, brother Nicky, it was actually not a contented place to be.
The U’s had been twenty second in League Two, having misplaced eight of their earlier 9 video games, and proprietor Robbie Cowling was relying on the expertise of the brothers to remodel the membership’s fortunes.
Advertisement
The transformation has been sluggish and regular, not prompt, however Cowley’s Manager of the Month award for November is his second such prize of 2025 and testomony to the progress made up to now.
And it’s a well timed accolade as he’ll take cost of Colchester for the one centesimal time at Salford City on Saturday with his aspect inside touching distance of the play-off spots.
“We thought we’d had a good October and might win it then. It wasn’t to be, but we’ve been able to back it up in November with two good away wins at Walsall and Notts County, in particular,” Cowley told BBC Essex.
“I’d like 12 because you have one for every month then, don’t you, so we’re working towards that. But no, football’s a team game and it’s the boys that earn them.”
Advertisement
After taking cost in 2024, Cowley was unable to enhance their league place and so they ended the season twenty second, with 11 wins from their 46 video games.
But final season, they rose to tenth – their first top-half end because the Covid-affected 2019-20 season – and in addition to profitable 16 video games, they solely misplaced 11, 12 fewer than the earlier marketing campaign.
That is the place they presently occupy this season, with a 0-0 draw in opposition to Gillingham to begin December, following three successive victories.
“This division is so close, everybody can beat everybody. There’s such fine margins between the teams.
“We’ve been constant for fairly a time frame now, which has been good however we’re very respectful, we now have most likely our hardest sport of the season on Saturday and that is going to check the shape the boys are in,” said Cowley, who also won the divisional award in March.
Advertisement
Colchester – who on Thursday recalled defender Frankie Terry from a loan spell with Braintree Town – have kept clean sheets in three of the games in their four-match unbeaten run in the league.
He said: “It’s at all times a lot simpler to win soccer matches should you can hold the opponent to zero. It’s one thing we work actually arduous on – it is by no means simply the goalkeeper and again 4, it is at all times a collective subject.
“It’s always for us can we defend our half really well? If we can’t, can we defend our box really well? If you can do those two things you don’t have to defend your goal as much and what’s been pleasing is the GKs [goalkeepers] haven’t had so much to do.”
The newest month-to-month award is, in reality, Cowley’s seventh within the English Football League, his profession taking him from Lincoln City to Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth earlier than becoming a member of Colchester.
Advertisement
“From day one, it brought its challenges and I would put it up there with my biggest successes to navigate through that first half season and keep the club in the division where we found them,” he mentioned.
“Where they were at and what we had to do, they didn’t have more than a goal in them (per game) and we kind of drew our way to safety, didn’t we?”
This season they’re working in opposition to a background of the proprietor attempting to promote the membership, however there’s optimism amongst some followers {that a} push to attempt to return to League One for the primary time since 2016 is probably not out of the query.
“I love the connection we have with the supporters, they see a group of boys that are proud to play for Colchester United and have the club in their hearts and they trust the group to give their all, game in, game out,” mentioned Cowley.
Advertisement
It has been 17 years since he started his managerial profession, additionally in Essex with Concord Rangers, and he added: “It’s been 100 games (at Colchester) – it seems to fly by, my life. As I get older, it seems there’s a fast forward button on me, but I think we’re in the process of building a platform (for success).
“You’ve at all times obtained actual readability with Robbie and that means that you can do your job the very best you possibly can with the instruments you are offered with and that is what we have tried to do on daily basis. For Nicky and I, it has been a extremely pleasant a part of our profession.”