Colchester United on the verge of appointing ex-Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley | OneFootball

Colchester United are looking for their third manager of the season after the disappointing reigns of Ben Garner and Matty Etherington - and it looks as though they have found someone experienced to replace the former West Ham winger.

Etherington was sacked by chairman Robbie Cowling on New Year's Day after just a month and a half in charge of the Essex outfit - he replaced Ben Garner in November after a miserable start to the campaign left United in the relegation zone in 23rd position in October, leading to his dismissal.

The appointment of Etherington, initially as interim boss, led to a dispute between Colchester and his former club Crawley Town over his contract situation, but that was resolved and he was named as Garner's permanent successor - since then though, they lost eight out of nine matches, with a 1-0 home defeat against Gillingham on New Year's Day being the final straw.

And with the U's staring over their shoulders at the League Two relegation zone in 22nd position, they have needed to find a replacement quickly - and they have seemingly done just that.

Cowley set to be appointed as Colchester boss

According to Alex Crook of talkSPORT, Cowling has found his man in the form of Danny Cowley, who looks set to be appointed as the new manager at the Colchester Community Stadium.

Cowley has been out of work since the start of 2023 when he was sacked by League One outfit Portsmouth, but he is ready to jump back into a job that is closer to his East London roots with Colchester.

The 45-year-old has a wealth of managerial experience, especially in Essex as he managed both Concord Rangers and Braintree Town in non-league earlier on in his career.

Cowley won three promotions with Canvey Island-based Concord before moving on to Braintree, who he took to their highest league finishing position of all time in the National League before moving on to Lincoln City in 2016, taking them back to the EFL in his first season in charge at Sincil Bank, as well as leading them to the FA Cup quarter-finals whilst still a non-league club.

Another promotion followed two seasons later to League One with the Imps, but he shortly jumped ship to Huddersfield Town of the Championship, where he lasted less than a year due to a misalignment with chairman Phil Hodgkinson.

Between March 2021 and January 2023, Cowley was the manager of Portsmouth, but he was unable to lead Pompey back to the Championship and was sacked at the beginning of last year - he has now found another opportunity though and it is much closer to home.

Cowley is significant coup for Colchester

Considering Cowley would probably still be a good fit for many League One clubs despite his disappointing time at Portsmouth, it is a real surprise to see him drop into a struggling fourth tier side.

Cowley was lined up for the Bradford City vacancy back in November in what again would have been another exciting appointment, but for family reasons he decided opt against taking charge at Valley Parade, as reporter Aaron Paul confirmed on the BBC's Football Daily podcast last year after speaking to him.

He has plenty of experience of winning promotions in his career, and even though Colchester's aim is to now steer clear of relegation, it will be something to build towards for next season.

Assuming the deal for Cowley goes through, then Colchester could be the envy of many of their League Two rivals.