[4] Colchester remained in the Third Division until they were relegated in 1961,[5] but made an immediate return to the third tier when they finished the 1961–62 season in second position, one point behind champions Millwall.
[14] Colchester struggled financially in the late 1980s and suffered a significant drop in form, resulting in the club finishing bottom of the entire Football League in 1990 and as such were relegated to the Conference.
[10][15] Colchester returned to the Football League at the second attempt, finishing second to Barnet in 1990–91,[16] before beating Wycombe Wanderers to the title in 1991–92.
Now in the recently renamed Division Three, Colchester earned a play-off spot in the 1995–96 season, but lost in the semi-finals to Plymouth Argyle.
The U's reached Wembley for the first time for the 1997 Football League Trophy Final, but were defeated on penalties by Carlisle United.
[17][18] Colchester did achieve Wembley success the following season as they beat Torquay United 1–0 in the 1998 Football League Third Division play-off final.
Initially the club fought for the play-off positions, but began to struggle in the lower reaches of the league by the 2012–13 season, narrowly avoiding relegation that year.
[1] Colchester were relegated from League One to the fourth tier of English football for the first time in 18 years at the end of the 2015–16 season.