FORMER Colchester United favourite Aaron Skelton was amongst the crowd at Saturday's pre-season friendly at Dean Court.Skelton used to ply his trade with the U's in the late 1990s, during Steve Wignall's era, operating either in central midfield or at the back.

By Carl Marston

FORMER Colchester United favourite Aaron Skelton was amongst the crowd at Saturday's pre-season friendly at Dean Court.

Skelton used to ply his trade with the U's in the late 1990s, during Steve Wignall's era, operating either in central midfield or at the back.

Injury cut short Skelton's promising career but he is now enjoying life down on the south coast.

“A knee injury forced me to give up the game about six years ago. I tried to drop into non-league with Havant for a while and play part-time but my knee was still giving me problems,” explained Skelton.

“I decided to give up completely after that, because I didn't want to end up limping around while my kids were growing up. I didn't want it to affect my lifestyle.

“These days I'm a site manager in the construction trade, based around Bournemouth and Poole. I just play the occasional five-a-side with friends now.

“But I still make sure that I come and watch Colchester play whenever they are down in Bournemouth. I saw them down here towards the end of last season (2-1 win), though of course the two clubs are now in different leagues following Colchester's promotion.

“They did fantastically well to get promoted last season. Now they just need that new stadium, which they were talking about when I was playing for them!

“I remember having my picture taken, along with Tony Lock, at the proposed site in a field at Cuckoo Farm. It's frustrating that the club has still not moved to a new ground but, hopefully, little Layer Road will be worth a few points for the team this season.

“I can't see the likes of Sunderland and Leeds relishing their visits to Layer Road!”