Colchester United midfielder David Fox has dismissed suggestions he would want to join up with the manager that signed him in the summer, Paul Lambert.

Colchester United midfielder David Fox has dismissed suggestions he would want to join up with the manager that signed him in the summer, Paul Lambert.

The 25-year-old became a Us player after leaving Blackpool on a free transfer and has already been a big hit with the home crowd during his four league appearances, having scored two goals - including the free-kick that beat Michael Theoklitos in Colchester's opening day rout at Carrow Road.

Lambert, Ian Culverhouse and Gary Karsa all left the Us to join Norwich earlier this month, while captain Dean Hammond joined League One rivals Southampton on the same day.

But former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Fox is not considering his own exit from Essex.

Fox said: "He was a big factor in me coming here and I'd be lying if I said he wasn't, but once you're at a new club, you want to do your best whatever happens.

"Yes, he signed me but I want to do the best I can for myself, the club and the fans now, not the old manager.

"If anything, it brings the players closer together and we all realise that we have to stick together and do all we can to help Joe. We have to make sure that the effects of the manager leaving aren't too big, even with any uncertainty about who is coming in to replace him."

With compensation still to be agreed between Colchester and City over the appointment of Lambert and his backroom team at Carrow Road, United chief executive Steve Bradshaw is looking for an agreement that no Us players will follow Lambert north - a similar clause agreed when Phil Parkinson left the Essex club to become manager at Hull.

But fellow midfielder David Perkins, who volleyed home Colchester's sixth on August 8, has already asked to leave the club after telling Bradshaw he was finding it difficult to settle down since moving from Rochdale in the summer.