No timeline for Colchester sale, says owner Cowling

Colchester United owner Robbie Cowling says he cannot put a timescale on when the sale of the club might happen, but it will not take "way too long".

A proposed takeover by the US-based Lightwell Sports Group, headed by Tim Foley, fell through in June.

The sale process was reopened in September with Cowling confirming that he wanted to "find the right long-term steward" for the club, founded in 1934.

He told BBC Essex there was no chance he would change his mind and stay on as chairman in the long term.

"Under my ownership, I feel confident I could grow the club incrementally every year, we could get a little bit better every year, off the pitch," he said.

"On the pitch is always going to be difficult just because of the size of the finances that are now required - the game has changed a lot since I took it on.

"I think I could grow it incrementally, but fans aren't interested in that, all they're worried about is how it does in the league and whether it wins. The analogy I use is I understand fans, they want a moon shot and all I feel able to provide myself is a slightly longer ladder every year.

"Hopefully I'm going to be able to go out there and find somebody that perhaps can provide that rocket."

The U's were a Championship club when Cowling took over from previous owner Peter Heard in 2006, having climbed from non-league football, in which they spent a couple of seasons in the early 1990s.

They are currently in their 10th campaign in League Two following relegation from the third tier in 2016, with a best finish since then of sixth in 2020, with a reduced playing budget from last season.

And Cowling is determined not to sell up until he finds the right type of owner who can move the club forwards, one that will also see the value of the youth programme.

"We've got some interested parties. We're not interested in people unless they've got the wealth to take the club on much further than myself," he said.

"In some way Colchester's academy is its USP (unique selling point). The only club outside Leagues One and Two, based in the south of England with a category two academy, we're the only club like that.

"Otherwise, you're looking at Charlton and Ipswich, who are now category one, so if someone is passionate about academy, we're a unique proposition. That's what makes me think I can attract the sort of owner that perhaps other clubs can't."

Cowling rejected the idea that if the new owners were not capable of taking the club to another level, he "might as well stay" and it was time for him to do other things.

"There is no timescale, the line has to be that I hand it on to the right person - it's a bit like you looking for someone to adopt your child, you've got to vet them," he said.

"A mistake I made years ago when I made an appointment, we went through a long process and I didn't think any of them were right but I picked the best of a bad bunch and I'll never do that (again).

"I could make a mistake, it could be a disaster, I thought Sheffield Wednesday were really happy about their owner a few years ago and that didn't turn out well for them. I will do my best."

Cowling said he had every confidence that finding the right buyer was not going to take "way too long".

The U's are 12th in the table under head coach Danny Cowley, ahead of Saturday's home game against Newport County, but only four points away from the play-off places.

"It was a bit of a slow start in some ways but the performances were there. Early on we weren't always getting the results the performances deserved," the chairman said.

"That's sorted itself out and the team are doing well, I think we've got a good chance this season."