Cureton Call Keeps Hurting U`s

Jamie Cureton, who today calls his transfer to Norwich City "a wake-up call" for Championship rivals Colchester United, continues to pour scorn on the side responsible for saving his previously flagging career.

Prior to first sealing a loan move to the U`s during 2005, the hit-man was languishing with Swindon Town, where he was falling to score gaols.

Along came one-time Reading team-mate and then U`s boss Phil Parkinson; seven goals and ten games later, the now Championship top scorer Cureton kick-started Colchester`s promotion rise of two seasons ago.

Cureton was then subject to a permanent move to United, released from his previous contract due to a get-out-clause, in summer 2006. During the next campaign, he went on to score 24 more goals, becoming the division`s record scorer last season and the club`s first player to net more than 20 goals since the early 1980s.

Speaking repeatedly since the end of the season, and following a denial in May on Anglia TV saying he would not quit his contract unless sold by Colchester, the 31-year old has sparked ferocious debate by questioning the club`s credentials and perfoming an unexpected U-turn; one that lead to him being sold on Friday.

He states in tonight`s Colchester Evening Gazette: "Maybe this is a bit of a wake-up call for them and some action will be taken."

"It's a real shame because we had a really good thing going at Colchester and it would have been good to have built on that.

"But with other players leaving, I didn't see it going like that," he added.

The latest comments come after Cureton, previously an authentic idol on the Layer Road terraces, charged the club with "a lack of ambition," before slamming their contracts policy.

He also appeared to try dictating the eventual transfer fee of his protracted move back to Norwich following a transfer request, because he claimed the amount, originally quoted at 750,000 was "too high."

Perhaps his most priceless quote came as he realised recently that he may have gone too far when making the point, angling heavily for a move back to City, first club.

Cureton in the EADT last month: "When I said that the club lacked ambition, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Colchester United is a great club and the people here are brilliant."