Colchester

Tony Adcock scored 149 goals across two spells at Colchester, and for a club that has spent most of its life outside the top two divisions, that tally still stands as the measure of everything since. United took shape in March 1937, filling the gap left when Colchester Town refused to turn professional and folded within the year. The name has never changed, and neither has the shirt: blue and white stripes, worn from the start.

The club won the Southern League in its first stretch of existence, then joined the Football League in 1950. The FA Cup run of 1971 brought a win over Leeds United that Colchester still gets asked about decades on. Relegation out of the League altogether followed in 1990, a low point answered within two years by the Conference title and an FA Trophy double that brought United straight back up.

Nothing in the club's history matches 2005–06. Colchester won the League One play-off final and reached the Championship for the first time, then went one better the following season, finishing 10th — still the club's highest league placing. Chris Iwelumo led the line with 19 goals that promotion year, and Jamie Cureton was the division's top scorer once United arrived there. The stay lasted only a few seasons before the drop back down, and by 2016 the club had fallen into League Two, where it has stayed since.

United left Layer Road, their home for 71 years, in 2008 for what is now known as the JobServe Community Stadium. Southend United remain the fixture that matters most, the Essex derby carrying a needle that the games against Ipswich Town and Norwich City don't quite reach.

The new ground holds 10,105.