Tim Waddington admits Colchester United must provide greater entertainment on the pitch to help them attract more people to the JobServe Community Stadium.

The U’s suffered a drop in home attendances last season to an average of 3,321, their lowest for 20 years.

Colchester managed just nine goals in their final 11 home games of the 2017-18 season in finishing 13th in League Two but have already been busy in the transfer market reshaping their squad, ahead of the new campaign.

Forward duo Frank Nouble and Aaron Collins along with midfielder Harry Pell have all been snapped up ahead of the new season and U’s general manager Waddington is hoping that will mean more goals, as well as points.

Waddington told the Daily Gazette: “I think the signings we’ve made so far are definitely a statement of intent.

“We’re hopefully a team that will score goals next season and that’s ultimately the kind of entertainment the fans are looking for.

“We were all bitterly disappointed with the way that the season went last year and the fans were too.

“Attendances were down which was very disappointing but we have to provide entertainment on the pitch and we can’t expect the fans to miraculously appear if we’re not giving them something to cheer.

“Last year was an anti-climax and we had to address that.

“Things didn’t go according to plan – we lost players to injury and it was very disappointing but the good thing about football is that you can pick yourselves back up and go again.”

Waddington believes Colchester have the attacking players in their squad to get the fans off their seats, in the forthcoming campaign.

He added: “We’ll hopefully have Brennan Dickenson back and firing and when you add the likes of Sammie Szmodics, Mikael Mandron and Courtney Senior to those attacking options, it’s an exciting prospect.

“I think Courtney is one of the most exciting players I have seen in a blue and white shirt for some time.

“With Harry Pell and Frank Nouble coming in and Luke Prosser signing a new contract which is fantastic news, it’s a really strong spine of the team.

“I think Harry Pell in particular is a big signing for us.

“He’s a player who other clubs wanted and has a good character.

“We’re delighted to also bring in Frank Nouble, who is another player who knows this division.

“He will bring a big presence to the team and along with Mika, they will be players who I’m sure will be a real handful for opposition defences.

“Frank’s hungry to do well and he wants to go in there and do the job.

“He got ten goals for Newport last season but I gather he played in a wide position in a lot of games.”