There have been many low points and times of financial crisis. Prepare for a little painful reading . .

Robert Maxwell with Ian Greaves

— The death in a car crash of Peter Houseman and his wife and two friends was tragic.

— Extremely embarrassing but far from tragic were an FA Cup defeat at Marlow and a staggering five successive eliminations when playing non-league opposition in FA Cup ties in the 1960s and 1970s.

— Expulsion from the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player and a three-nil defeat at Aldershot while United were a top flight club were not easy to swallow.

— The club was in dire financial danger when Robert Maxwell took over in 1981 and have suffered massive pressure in recent seasons. Many staff could not be paid for a period and Taylor Woodrow's suspension of work on United's new stadium near Minchery Farm meant that many people, including new owner Firoz Kassam and FOUL (a very active supporters' group), spent many many hours attempting to salvage the club and its partly-built stadium.

Kassam leaves the stadium for the last time in 2006

— But the promise of Kassam - an extremely wealthy businessman - came to nothing as the club went through a succession of managers including Mark Wright, Graham Rix and Ian Atkins during his tenure.

— Kassam came under huge pressure to qit the club, eventually leaving in early 2006 to be replaced by a consortium led by Nick Merry but even the popular Jim Smith was unable to prevent the club falling out of the football league and into the Conference in 2006.

— The 06/07 season started superbly - with some saying that the league was won by Christmas. But a dismal run of results saw Dagenham overtake the U's who were beaten by Exeter City in the play-offs.

History compiled by Andy Howland