Colchester release four first-team players due to financial pressure | Colchester

Colchester United have become the first club in the EFL to release players due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with the chairman, Robbie Cowling, admitting he could not afford to offer them new deals.

A club statement on Monday confirmed that captain Luke Prosser, Frank Nouble, Ryan Jackson and Brandon Comley – who had all made more than 20 appearances for John McGreal’s side in League Two this season – will be released from their contracts at the end of June.

“The club has a proud record of always paying its players in full and on time. We achieve this because I will never sign a contract if I can’t commit to fulfilling it. I just won’t gamble with other people’s livelihoods or with the club,” said Cowling. “It is for that reason that I have had to take the very difficult decision of not re-signing a number of players that under normal circumstances I would have been determined to re-sign.

“I appreciate the decision will make the team less capable when the season does resume but it is very unlikely that we will be the only club to take such a step.”

The former Chelsea forward Nouble, who scored penalties in the Carabao Cup shootout victories over Crystal Palace and Tottenham, revealed he had been informed of the decision a fortnight ago. “We are in a very unfortunate time with corona[virus] so this is small news in terms of world news,” he wrote on Twitter. “But I’ve had an unreal time at club particularly this year with the historic cup run.”

Colchester were in a play-off spot before play was halted in March and have yet to discover how the season will be resolved. The majority of League One and Two clubs remain determined to complete the season and continue to work towards resuming training on 16 May with a return to matches, most likely behind closed doors, on 6 June, provisional dates put forward by the EFL.

“I wanted to make the decision as early as I could to give those players that are being released a head start in what will be a very difficult environment for out of contract players,” said Cowling. “They find themselves in this difficult situation through no fault of their own and I wish every one of them well.”