Colchester United Chairman Robbie Cowling has issued the following statement regarding the Head Coach position.
Following a series of phone calls and email exchanges with one of the owners of Crawley Town, I have found myself in a position where I must request that Matty Etherington steps down from his Interim Head Coach role for tomorrow’s game against Accrington Stanley.
Crawley Town have alerted Colchester United to their concerns that Matty may be tempted to violate the contract he signed with Crawley when he initially accepted their managerial position in November 2022.
At 3.34pm today, (Friday 27th October), I received a call from Eben Smith, who informed me that Crawley believe Matty is still bound by their contract until May 2024. Consequently, if Matty manages any of Colchester's games, a buy-out fee would be owed to Crawley.
Personally I don’t agree with the Crawley position but given that we have less than twenty four hours before the game against Accrington, which is 250 miles away, I requested Crawley's permission for Matty to lead the team for this specific match while we seek legal counsel regarding the contract.
Unfortunately, this request was denied. As a result, Matty Etherington has been asked to step down, and Scott Marshall will now take charge of the game tomorrow.
Hopefully, we can seek the legal advice we need and sort the matter out with Crawley early next week.
Robbie Cowling