Be Just - June 2014 by James Brennan

Be Just

JUNE 2014 LAUNCH ISSUE £3.50

THE BIG INTERVIEW WITH JON COLMAN

SEASON IN STATS TALK WITH THE TRUST ALL THE LATEST NEWS

GILLESPIE TALKS

RELEGATION PLUS: POTTS, SWINGLEHURST, GRAHAM ANTHONY, DOLLY & MORE

IN THIS // INTERVIEWS //

WELCOME TO 4 Club photographer Mark Fuller

Be Just

Hello and welcome to the very first issue of Be Just, a magazine that strives to bring you, the fans, all things Carlisle United. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been an awful season, but I hope this magazine can become an embodiment of our spirit; be that hopeful, critical or otherwise love-fuelled. Filled with exclusive interviews, opinion and features, Be Just brings together the best of the Blues. James Brennan, Editor

8 Futsal coach James Tose 12 Brad Potts 18 London Branch

14 The Trust 24 Mark Gillespie

36 Dolly 42 Jon Colman

ISSUE... // FEATURES //

6 What they think of us: Rotherham

10 Five of the best: matches 16 Loan watch: Beck and Gillies

22 Ex-Blue: Graham Anthony

30 Life after Carlisle: Steven Swinglehurst 40 Fans answer: when did the rot begin?

// OTHER //

20 Stats 32 Blues news 26 Puzzles 34 Pictures

28 Season in stats

With many thanks to: Steven Swinglehurst Alastair Woodcock Graham Anthony Richard Wilson Mark Gillespie Jack Cousin Mark Fuller James Tose Neil Dalton Ian Jardine Brad Potts Andy Hall

THE MAN WHO SHOT

JIMMY GLASS Club photographer Mark Fuller tells us about capturing a moment How and when did your interest in photography begin? I have always snapped pictures and started out using Kodak point and shoot film cameras to capture holidays and family events. Once my first son was on the way, I decided to get my first decent camera – a Nikon F301 film camera. I simply bought a ‘What Camera’ magazine and went for the one that was recommended, along with a couple of lenses. Using this kit for family snaps and pictures taken at work, I soon got the bug and the rest is history as they say. And when did you start supporting Carlisle? My parents were both born in Carlisle and my grandfather was headmaster of Upperby School so, during my own school holidays, I would come to stay with my grandparents and it would have been my grandfather that first brought me to a match. I have no idea which game

it was. When I was a young teenager, I do remember walking across Rickerby Park to hang around the Warwick Road end gate on match day. The guy on the gate used to open it at half-time and I used to get in for nothing. Then when a bit older, I would go in the Scratching Pen to watch the likes of Bobby Parker, Tot Winstanley and the rest of the early 70s team play. How did you get involved in photography professionally and become the club photographer? I would only class myself as semi-pro as I am a full-time teacher, but my job has allowed me to shoot lots of different sports, plays and occasions so that is how my skills have built up. Then one day the headmaster asked me if I would be the photographer at his daughter’s wedding – no pressure there then to get it right! Since then, I have photographed his second daughter’s wedding as well as several others and, most recently, my own son’s. As far as club photographer is concerned, I wrote to the club to ask if I could get pitch-side to take some photos of my

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brother, who had just been appointed to work for the club. My idea was to surprise him with some photos taken of him while a game was in progress. I also took some match action and the media department liked them, and asked if I would do it regularly. Was becoming a photographer an obvious choice or was it more complicated? Teaching is my career but I have been really lucky to have had the opportunity to get into photography as well. I once did some work for Darryn Lyons; he owns the paparazzi picture agency called Big Pictures and at the time they were the biggest pap agency in the world. He liked what I did and offered me a job that meant I would have had to move to London. I just couldn’t pluck up the courage to do it. It would have meant a big change for my family and my career. Do you still see photography as a hobby? Very much so. I enjoy all aspects from sport, landscape, wedding, drama and even paparazzi-style shooting. It’s a buzz trying to capture unique shots.

How does being the club photographer affect how you support the team? It can be really hard when a game is close and we score. The temptation to cheer and shout can and still does still get the better of me, but I try to keep capturing the moment. The referee once threatened to send me off when I was behind the goal during a penalty shootout and cheered when we scored. I said I was sorry and wouldn’t do it again. He let me stay but only if I went away from behind the goal. What has been the best experience for you as the club photographer? That match with Jimmy Glass, of course. I was shooting film at the time, and I loaded a new film as fast as I could as the final corner kick was about to be taken. My intention was to shoot on motor drive and capture what was possibly the last 10 seconds of league football at Brunton Park. Well, we all know what happened and I captured the corner, the header by Scott Dobie, the parry by the keeper, the right foot of Sir Jimmy belting the ball into the net, and of course what followed. Brilliant stuff. What’s the most difficult/challenging aspect of the job? I have provided match action pictures to the Sunday Sun for many years now. I used to drive an hour from the match to Newcastle and the Sunday Sun office to take the films in, develop them, choose the image, scan and caption it and then send it down to the print room. I would leave their offices at about 7.30pm. Now I wire the pictures after the game from the car and if the paper hasn’t got them by 5.15pm, they start to wonder what the holdup is, so pressure to get photos out to the press is the challenge. I then get

home, start sorting through the images to get them resized, and email them back to the media department ASAP on a Saturday night, so they can get them up on the website for fans to see. Of course on a Tuesday night, with a 9.30pm finish and an hour drive home, this can mean a late night. But I like to get the images back to the club so that they can be used quickly. Other than United, what are your favourite things to photograph and why? My family; capturing a moment in time that will last way beyond my time, so that those in the future can look back. I think photographs – still images – are so powerful. You can hold them and look at them over and over again. It is a connection with a past moment; be that a match image or a family member or a beautiful light falling upon a scene. If you don’t capture it now, it’s gone and you don’t get a second chance.

It would be an experience to shoot at a World Cup but there would be so many other snappers there that to get a unique shot would be quite a challenge. I would love to have been at Chelsea, though, as the Blues walked out to play their first match in Division One in 1974-75 – a unique moment in the history of the club. To have been there and have captured it forever would have been great. Finally, which player is the most photogenic and which player thinks they are? David Symington thinks he is. Any player that shows emotion, desire, passion and determination in their face is truly photogenic. After all, it is football and it is about winning. Winners need to look as though it means something when they step out in the blue shirt of Carlisle United. The Richie Foran and Peter Murphys of this world would fall into that category.

Photography can capture both delight and despair; is there a pressure on you to snap the right moment? Definitely. Miss the moment and you miss the picture – which is not good for the goal or the bride. What do you love about photography in general? The buzz of getting the image, the excitement of what could happen, the beauty of the moment, and when it all comes together I look on the back of the camera at the screen to see what I captured and say… “yes!” If you could have been the photographer at any match, Carlisle or other, which would it have been and why? I’ve been lucky enough with Carlisle to have photographed them at the Millennium Stadium and Wembley, so the big grounds of the UK have been done.

June 2014

WHAT THEY

THINK OF US: ROTHERHAM Richard Wilson tells us about his trip to the border

After many experiences following

Rotherham United, I’ve been to a wide variety of football grounds and have always preferred the ‘old-school’ stadiums due to their character and unique atmosphere. Since moving to Sunderland University in 2011, my travels with the Millers have become extremely limited, so I eagerly anticipated my trip to Cumbria, making a note of the date almost as soon as the fixtures were announced last summer. With my team doing so well in the league and a couple of friends making the longer journey from South Yorkshire, it wasn’t long before the weekend in February arrived.

The William Rufus Wetherspoons was the first port of call, just a short walk around the corner. They had the afternoon Premier League games on, reasonably priced lagers and a generally good atmosphere with fans from both sides allowed. I found the city centre to be one of the nicer I’ve come across, and the locals were very welcoming, one even offering me directions down a long, unrelenting road to Brunton Park. The ground had everything I wanted from the outside. It had character and nice local feel to it, the old school turnstiles, the smell of pies floating through the air and the noise levels cranking up made it feel like a proper lower-league encounter.

I took the simple journey to Newcastle and then caught the train to Carlisle, taking about an hour and a half, surprisingly meeting a fellow fan there! I arrived in Carlisle at around 1pm, and as soon as I stepped off the train I was in for very welcome surprise! The away team hotel was right outside the station. The opportunity to re-live my childhood years and ask a couple of players for a photo was too much, so I quickly loaded them on Instagram, wished them luck and made my way in search of alcohol and food.

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Perhaps my only complaint would be the view from the away end. You are situated right in the corner on one side and although you can see everything, it’s probably one of the less imaginative I’ve had on my travels. The other thing was the home atmosphere. Although Carlisle were struggling in the league and didn’t play particularly well, the noise levels from the 3,000 or so home fans didn’t exactly set the pulses racing. Regardless, it was still a nice ground to tick off and the fact that Rotherham won 2-1 thanks to a late Kieran Agard winner made it more than worthwhile. Overall, a very friendly, very smooth day and well worth a trip to the North West.

BRAZIL

JUST LIKE

WATCHING

Futsal coach James Tose tells us of the team’s success How and why did the Carlisle United futsal team come about? The Carlisle United Futsal team came about when the Football League Trust, TVS Education and @futsalUK came together to form a nationwide education programme. Run by the football clubs, it allows school leavers to gain a first-class education and train like a professional athlete at the same time. The scholarship has been running for five years at other clubs, and we at CUFC decided to get involved after seeing all the benefits that it will bring to the football club. What help was the Carlisle United Futsal Cup competition in April? We started our recruitment for the 2013/14 intake back in January 2013. We visited careers days with local schools and also put together the futsal cup tournament in April 2013 for all local U16 teams in the Longhorn league. We have just recently had the 2014 Futsal cup which was again a huge success. The Futsal cup has been a massive help in terms of recruitment as it has got potential scholars playing Futsal for the first time. This gave them a taste of what to expect from the futsal side of the scholarship, and gave them a real insight into the benefits of playing futsal and how it can be transferred into 11 a-side.

How were players selected and what makes a good futsal player? The first-year recruitment policy was simple. We had 15 places, and the first 15 school leavers who had the right academic qualifications, a football background and the right attitude to represent Carlisle United were offered places. The main aspect from our point of view was to get the programme up and running and try to improve each year. In 2013/14 we had a total of 17 applicants for the 15 places. For 2014/15 we’ve had 60 applicants for the 15 places. Due to the demand, we had futsal trials in February to select our scholars. Futsal is very fast paced and the attributes we look for in a player are speed, skills, technical ability and tactical knowledge. How important was the June trip to watch England v USA? The trip to watch England was very important as it gave all the selected scholars an opportunity to meet each other for the first time, and let them see futsal at international standard – giving them an idea of what they could aspire to. We currently have four scholars involved in the third round of trials for the England U19 development squad, so you never know, with a bit of luck we might have some players in the squad.

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What words of advice did former Carlisle keeper and England Futsal coach Tony Elliot give the lads? Myself and Tony speak often and he has been very supportive of what we are doing with the scholarship at Carlisle United. Anytime the lads have come into contact with Tony he has had very consistent approach to the advice he has given. You often hear words like “opportunities”, “working hard” and “self belief ”, but most of all he, like myself, speaks a lot about enjoying it! We feel that unless you enjoy what you’re doing, you’re not going to give it everything you’ve got. What are the main differences between futsal and normal football, regarding both style of play and equipment used? The main differences are that it’s indoor, it’s 5-a-side and it’s played with a heavy size-four ball. Futsal and football are very similar, especially in terms of how the modern game is played with a counter-attacking style. However, if teams can’t create a goalscoring opportunity after the transition, then patient possession play is implemented to find another way of creating one. How does representing a professional club and potentially having footage shown on TV affect the players? We have created a positive environment within all aspects of the scholarship. I think from the very first day of the course back in September, the responsibility of representing Carlisle United was enforced. Managing director John Nixon, club captain Paul Thirlwell, and head of media Andy Hall all took time out to have a chat with the scholars. From then on they all bought into having a professional attitude towards everything that faces them. When you took part in the Leeds Futsal festival in September, did you realise how good the team could be? The tournament was great – we played against loads of other clubs and that gave us insight into how competitive we were, and what to expect when the league programme started. After the festival, we had a feeling we would have a successful

season. However, we didn’t expect to be as dominant as we have been, which is a real credit to the players is and everyone associated with Carlisle United. Both the first and second teams are doing well in their respective leagues. Does this make the cup competition a more exciting challenge? Definitely! T he lads seem to up their motivation levels in the weeks leading up to the Soccer AM cup. I think it’s a mixture of playing a team they haven’t played yet, and maybe the chance to get on TV, which fuels them to give a bit extra. I’m not bothered where the scholars get their motivation from as it can only enhance our performance levels, but I must say every single player has given everything so far and I’m proud of all of them. Finally, what’s great about futsal? I think futsal is great for many reasons. I think at this moment in time it’s giving the less physical technical players a chance to pursue careers through a different route. It’s indoor, which is fantastic as you can play it all year round. But for me, the greatest thing about Futsal is youth development, especially within the foundation phase of football (5-12 years). It will set kids up to play futsal and football the way the modern game is played, and the way this country wants to evolve the national game.

What is futsal?

Futsal uses hockey-sized goals and a heavy size-four ball with 30% less bounce, and is the only officially recognised form of indoor football accepted by FIFA, UEFA and the FA. Set to become a future Olympic Sport, the free flowing five-a-side game was played by football stars as juniors, including Zidane, Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo. Futsal is globally recognised as one of the fastest growing indoor sports in the world and is extensively televised. International competitions such as the Futsal world cup and UEFA Futsal cup allow players to showcase their talents on a global scale. The two-year Futsal and Education Scholarship offers 16-18 year olds the chance to find passes on and off the pitch at Football League clubs across the country, as they learn, train, play and work. Over 50 Football League and Premier League clubs compete in regional divisions every Wednesday, between September and June, producing derby clashes every bit as passionate as their 11-aside counterparts. Fixtures are played in Futsal’s state-of-the-art arenas across the country, including Birmingham, Europe’s largest futsal venue, which plays host to the National Finals. Last season saw debutants Leeds United crowned League 1 National Champions, as they defeated 2012 winners Reading in the final. If you have four A-C GCSEs including English and Maths or a BTEC Level 2, then you are eligible for this pioneering educational experience. The scholarship includes a full-time education package, incorporating a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma – worth up to 3 A Levels. The Soccer AM Futsal Cup winners will be awarded with the prize of a playing tour of Barcelona, one of Europe’s futsal capitals.

June 2014

5MATCHES OF THE BEST: MK Dons 1-2 Carlisle 27 March 2012

Jordan Cook scored a late winner as Carlisle came from behind to secure a victory at MK Dons - three points that kept the Blues in the play-off spots. Lee Miller blazed a 72nd-minute penalty over the crossbar before Shaun Williams opened the scoring with a goal in the eight minutes later. Cookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neat finish levelled the scores before he doubled his tally with an injury-time penalty.

Carlisle 2-0 Millwall 2 May 2009

The Blues claimed an impressive victory over play-off side Millwall to retain their League One status on the last day of the season. Then-player-coach Graham Kavanaghfired Carlisle ahead with a right-footed thunderbolt, while Paul Thirlwell hammered in from the edge of box just after the second half began. The win saw Northampton relegated after they lost to Leeds at Elland Road.

Everton 3-1 Utd 2 January 2010 A battling United display saw them lose to Everton in the FA Cup third round. James Vaughan latched on to a poor Adam Clayton backpass to put the hosts ahead, before Carlisle levelled when the loaneeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shot deflected in off Kevan Hurst. A Danny Livesey shot smashed the crossbar, but a late Tim Cahill goal and a Leyton Baines penalty saw gave Everton the win.

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Leeds 1-2 Carlisle 12 May 2008 Dougie Freedman’s late first-leg strike gave Leeds hope in their League One play-off semi-final against Carlisle. The Cumbrians took the lead after Simon Hackney’s volley was deflected in off the back of Danny Graham, while Keiren Westwood made some superb saves to deny both Freedman and Jermaine Beckford. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson slotted home to extend Carlisle’s lead, but Freedman scrambled in on 95 minutes to pull one back ahead of the second leg. John Ward said: “We’ve come to Leeds with a 40,000 crowd baying for blood and have stood up to it exceptionally well. “Not only that but we have played some good football. Both teams have tried to attack, go forward and provide entertainment as well as try to win.”

Promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town suffered their first defeat in nine games when Lee Miller grabbed a dramatic winner in injury-time. Ex-Terriers midfielder James Berrett put Carlisle in front when he finished off a passing move by calmly slotting home from eight yards out. Lee Novak equalised and Alan Lee saw his shot rebound off of the post before Miller glanced in a header from six yards out The win put United four points ahead of 7th-placed Notts County after 39 games, and with a game in hand the Magpies. Greg Abbott said: “We are worn out. Everyone is on their knees in that dressing room with elation. “The amount of effort and energy I think everybody has put into the day - to send home a really big crowd happy. “They’ve worked so hard. You compare the two squads and we are up against it.

31 March 2012

UNITED 2

Huddersfield 1 June 2014

POTTS On youth football, his targets, and a fresh start next season... On playing in the youth team... I really enjoyed playing in the youth team. Obviously my first year wasn’t great – we didn’t have a great season – but the second year we had a good set of lads and a great team and I really enjoyed it. To break through and get into the first team together is obviously what we all wanted. Not all of us were going to get contracts but I think everyone will look back and say that they really enjoyed those two years in the youth team. That’s what football’s about. On breaking into the first team... I just wanted to play as many games as possible and the England spell was a dream come true and not something I expected. It was a great experience. On the poor season... I don’t think there’s a specific reason for the terrible start. In the first game of the season, Lee [Miller] got sent off; Lee’s obviously our big target man. We had a few injuries so the team couldn’t settle and we couldn’t play the same line-up every week. It was hard. Then Greg got the sack and Kav took over, and we obviously got relegated after a really bad run-in. The lads wanted Kav to get the job because he knows them. He was there for me when Greg was; the decisions were his too and he liked me too. On Kav and transfer rumours... It definitely helps me that he was a good midfielder himself. He’s played at the highest level and I learn something new every day that he’s coaching me. It’s good to have him there. Kav didn’t speak to me about the January transfer rumours. It didn’t affect me and I just got on with playing football. I was just doing what I had to do for Carlisle. On his aims... I just aim to play as many games as possible, and I’ve started a fair amount

of games now so I want to keep that going. I’ll be happy as long as the team’s doing well and I’m doing well. I always try to do my best for the team and for Carlisle, so I was over the moon to get those four awards. Hopefully I can take that into next season and we can bounce back up. On playing in midfield... I don’t mind where I’m playing, as long as I’m playing, so if Kav wants to play me at right-back or in midfield then I don’t mind. But I do feel like midfield is my strongest position. It’s good to have Thir – he gets everyone going and he’s a leader in the dressing room, so it’s even better to have him on the pitch.

On relegation... The lads were devastated when we went down, but it can sometimes be that best thing that happens to a team. We can regroup and have a fresh start and hopefully it will be the best thing for us. I need to keep myself as fit as possible and hopefully when we’re back and everyone is fit we’re raring to go. At times you do need fresh faces and to regroup. I’m sad about the lads that have left because we did have a great team spirit but, like I say, that’s football and it happens and you expect it.

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RUST TALK We chat to Trust secretary Alastair Woodcock about their role, their vision and the criticism they face...

Could you briefly sum up who the Trust are, what they do and why they were formed? The Trust is a democratic, non-profit supporters’ organisation formed with the intention of owning shares in Carlisle United and creating stronger bonds between the club, its supporters and the wider community. Since 2006 we’ve owned just over 25 per cent of the football club, thanks to a total injection of £800k. Longer-term we hope our stake in the club will protect it against misuse and mismanagement. How many members do you currently have and how are you persuading more people to join? We’ve recently passed 350 members and are heading towards 400. We hope to eventually attract 1,000 members – a total we briefly touched in our early days. In the past year, over 130 new members have been signed up. We offer membership at £5 per person per year. This is also available to families, who we’ve had a lot of success in signing up. We are aiming

to get out into the community to sign up more members. We had a stand at last year’s Family Fun Day and this year’s Good Friday event, and have a regular match-day presence near the entrance to the Sporting Inn. What are the perks of being a member for £5 per annum? For £5 you get a vote in the annual general meeting which elects all board members, a regular update via email and a de-facto stake in the club, and a say via our boardroom representative. We are hoping to negotiate some more benefits with the club. What is your vision for both the Trust and Carlisle United? We are currently working on a fiveyear plan for the Trust. We already see ourselves strengthening our role within the club and the community, and maintaining our shareholding. If the time comes when the Trust has the opportunity to own the club via a majority stake, we hope to attract support from local businesses to help us run the club. We also hope to improve relations with the local community and attract more young supporters who are the club’s future. Carlisle United as a community-owned football club is a very attractive vision for the future, but we need to work hard to convince people that it can be achieved.

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How much of a say do you have in club decisions, including sacking Abbott and appointing Kavanagh? We have a boardroom rep who attends all board meetings and has access to other executive-level and staff meetings. We have to sign confidentiality agreements with regard to commercially-sensitive information. We were involved in meetings pertaining to ‘Blue Yonder’ and were fully involved in the decision to replace our manager earlier this season. What links do you have with Away Supporters Travel, the London Branch, and so on? We have strong links with many of the other supporters’ groups, and have been working alongside the London Branch to build closer ties. This includes having a regular article in ‘Hit the Bar’ and working with Simon Clarkson, the Branch chairman, to work towards a closer association of CUFC supporter groups. Our boardroom rep Norman Steel holds responsibility for organising away travel and liaises with CUFC Away Travel. Could you please briefly explain the process of Trust elections? Elections for board members take place every year at the AGM. Since 2013, all board members need to be elected, with the exception of any ‘external’ directors and short-term co-opted members, who

can only serve until the next AGM. Each member is allowed one vote in our board elections. Candidates for places on the board need to be paid-up Trust members and require supporting signatures from two other Trust members. Votes can be cast on the day or via post. We have also started accepting proxy forms via email. What do the Trust do to help the club, both financially and otherwise? Alongside the £800k investment made between 2003 and 2006, we regularly sponsor a player and have recently joined the CUFC Business Club. The majority of our donations go towards repayment of a loan which allowed the share purchase, so we are looking to attract more members and do more events to increase the financial support we can offer. Once the loan is repaid, we can re-direct these donations towards projects that will benefit the club and the community. Our total fundraising for the past few seasons has exceeded £6,000 per annum. One of your aims must be to convey and represent fan opinion. How are you doing this? We have our boardroom representative to bring issues to both the boardroom other staff meetings. If fans want issues to be raised, they just need to contact us via our email address or get in touch with our boardroom rep Normal Steel. How do honorary members like Peter Murphy, Jimmy Glass and Hugh McIlmoyle help the Trust? We have a small number of honorary members who are awarded the accolade due to their work supporting the Trust, and/or the club, who also to help promote the Trust. We hope to sign more high-profile people in the future to continue this process. The support of ex-players was very important in raising

the profile of the trust in the early years and we hope to continue our relationship with them in this way.

and it remains our principal source of fundraising. There are no millionaires among our numbers!

You have alluded to the German model of football club ownership. Do you take ideas from such models and successful trusts such as Swansea’s? The ‘German model’ has proven to be a very effective way of football club governance over the years, giving fans a permanent controlling stake in their clubs and a say in how they are run. No top-level German club has gone into administration, compared to almost 100 clubs in England and Wales. Top German clubs have remained very competitive in European football despite the lack of a ‘benefactor’. We are always looking at better ways to run our trust and are in regular communication with Supporters Direct about how best to do this. We have also had contact and meetings with representatives of other trusts, including Exeter City who are owned by their supporters’ trust.

Other doubters see the Trust as an interference to potential takeover bids. While you could block a bid that could ruin the club, you could just as easily block a bid that would help the club. What are your thoughts on this and would the Trust ever sell their shares? The Trust has made it clear that should a large bid come in that is clearly in the club’s best interests, we would not deliberately ‘block’ it, and would instead support any move to invest in the club and move it forward. Bear in mind we don’t have any actual veto and can’t prevent the other shareholders selling their stakes. To date, we haven’t received any offers for our shareholding. We would aim to negotiate with any prospective investor so as to protect our members’ stakes and retain representation in any future ownership. The dangers in simply ‘stepping aside’ were seen at Notts County when their trust sold a 60 per cent stake to a ‘finance house’ who then departed within six months.

Many fans say that the Trust give little financially considering they own 25.3% of the club. What are your views on this? The Trust is more than just a fundraising body. We paid a long way over the commercial ‘rate’ for a minority stake and we continue to hold events and raise money that goes towards the club. Those that say we should just give cheques to the club should understand that the Trust exists to give supporters a say; it has the right to negotiate funds into the club for specific projects which are in line with achieving our aims and objectives. The Trust will aim to raise more money for CUFC, but we are not involved in a commercial way as other shareholders may be. Our existing membership are estimated to put over £100k into the club each season, by way of season ticket purchases, match tickets and club shop purchases. This significant annual contribution is what we represent,

The Trust have been accused of holding a secret agenda, pushing Fred Story out of the club, etc. What’s it like to hear such criticisms and what would you say to the cynics? We’re not aware of any specific claims of a ‘secret agenda’, and suffice to say nobody has been ‘pushed out of the club’ by the Trust since our inception. As an organisation who have ‘stuck our heads above the parapet’, we fully expect criticism and some of it is justified. However, it’s part and parcel that we occasionally get unwarranted attacks and abuse. It’s not something that is going to deflect or distort our efforts to improve our standing with supporters and achieve our longterm goals.

June 2014

Chris Vessey: He was good in glimpses but hasn’t been given a decent run in the side to show his worth. Was a shock selection at Wembley and had a good game. He seems to have upset our manager, being hauled off against Barnet after 35 minutes for ‘not listening to instructions’ (he had scored to put us 1-0 up and was playing well when subbed - we drew 1-1) and hasn’t had much of a lookin since save for Gateshead on Saturday when he was played out of position.

LOAN

Cambridge and Falkirk fans Falkirk manager Gary Holt on the Mark Beck signing: “We have watched Mark’s career develop and, at 6 feet 5 inches, he will add a new dimension to our attack. For his size, he is very mobile and a remarkably good footballer, and I’m sure the fans will take to him quickly.”

Denton: I think he’s a one trick pony easily readable by a decent defender, gets the ball cuts inside and then either shoots or loses it much like Andros Townsend. dylan: I don’t think Money’s forgiven him yet for conceding the free kick that led to Grimsby’s second in the league game at the Abbey. davestacey: It was an utterly ridiculous and unecessary challenge. But still, he should be playing. Psaw: The reason Gillies hasn’t played much is because Money plays elephants on the right side of midfield for their physical presence. Money is not playing proper football – he’s playing hoof-ball. Gillies can play and is talented, but he needs the right team and manager.

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Ranaldo Bairn: I think at first everyone was obviously keen to give him a chance, but the first couple of appearances were, shall we say, ‘unconvincing’. Fans were concerned about the apparent change in style made to accommodate Mark and Joe Chalmers, on loan from Celtic, into the team. However since he scored his first goal (in an abject 1-3 defeat at Hamilton) he’s improved leaps and bounds. He’s started winning pretty much every header, which he most certainly was not doing at first, and has struck up an excellent partnership with Rory Loy. He’s up to 3 goals now, with a vital winner at Dundee thrown in along with a nifty lob at QOS two games ago. He never truly threatens the goal enough for my liking, but he’s become a vital part of the team recently and deserves his place in it. Back Post Misses: His major influence in the team now is his hold up play allowing the rest of the side to get up around him. His touch is good and he is bringing people into play well. Add that to his power in the air he is now a vital cog in the wheel. Other sides have really struggled to cope with him in recent weeks. The Dundee coaching team raved about him apparently.

WATCH give us their opinions on Josh Gillies and Mark Beck Bridge of Allan Bairn: Having seen him for the first time at the FFC 2 Raith 1 game I was very impressed with him, he did a lot of unselfish work for the team, gave a physical presence up front which we have sometimes lacked. he could be a little bit more selfish sometimes in having a go at the goals but that would be nitpicking. A vast improvement on the petulant Roberts IMO and if we had swapped them earlier in the season would have been promoted by now. ellonbairn: Agree with all of the above. I had my doubts about him at first and after the Alloa debacle I was raging about the team’s performance (never mind Phil Roberts) and I felt that our style of play to try to accommodate Beck left a lot to be desired. I therefore came on here to suggest that Beck be ditched. However, just about everything has gone well since Roberts was kicked out, including Beck’s form. Let’s hope it continues for the remaining matches - wish it could only be 2 more matches but I feel that to overhaul one team might be possible but two teams highly unlikely. At worst, let’s win our league games and continue the form into the play-offs. Quidsin: Took a few games to settle in but now he’s an integral part of the team. Wins pretty much everything in the air and lays off good balls to those around him. Chipped in with a good few assists and discovering his scoring touch. He gives us something different.

Brian Scrimegour: Excellent first touch, wins everything in the air and uses his physique well to hold up the ball. Thought he was a total haddy at first but was very impressed by him over the last few games. Would like to see us make a play for his services if we go up this year.

Falkirk Till I Die: Looks like it’s just me who thinks he is completely average then.

Spud Murphy: He was atrocious for the first few games and comparisons were made with some of the worst strikers ever to have played for Falkirk. However, since the Hamilton defeat (where he scored a blinder) the big man has really come onto a game and is turning into a fans favourite with his no nonsense style. He wins everything in the air and has a superb first touch; i’d love to have him here next season if Carlisle don’t want him.

For me, there is better out there, but he is doing ok.

He is ok in the air, but not wonderful. He is ok on the deck, but not wonderful. He can hold the ball up ok, but not outstanding. He has no pace.

Compared to a young Lee Miller he is miles off, but I suppose this is the level we are at now with the type of players we can muster together. I wouldn’t be clambering over dead bodies to sign him. If he keeps improving I might think differently, but not yet.

He’s also a really nice chap. alba bairn: Only seen him 3 or 4 times, but he seems to have settled in after a really horrendous start. Saw him against Cowdenbeath and he seems to have formed a pretty decent partnership with Loy, our main striker. George Bailey: Took a while to settle as mentioned before but that was down to team adjusting to him as much as he had to adapt to us. Agree with what’s gone before but would add that he has stood up well to some physical treatment from a few teams. Didn’t hide or throw a strop when things weren’t going well for him either. Also useful in defending set pieces, certainly noticed more of that in the last couple of games I’ve seen.

June 2014

LONDON CALLING Ian Jardine of the London Branch updates us on their activity Another hectic season has come to an

end for the London Branch. It hardly seems a year since the members at the June meeting sat around the just-announced fixtures and made plans for the season ahead. The standout fixtures were identified as Bristol and Wolves, and the potential popular games for those in the south east as Orient and Brentford. It was also possible to identify problems caused by yet another Tuesday night in Milton Keynes. Branch members have been at every away game and Branch trips were organised to most. After that June meeting the Match Day Organiser set about arranging and publicising travel and meeting places for the season ahead. If the fixtures throw up a long gap, as they can do, the London Branch look to throw in a social event that brings members together. The home fixtures against Crewe and Shrewsbury were an excuse for a pool and darts evening whilst listening to the game via the magic of the internet. Christmas was celebrated with a meal and a “comedy night” in central London.

The annual awards dinner always sees a large number of London Branch members make the effort to attend, even if, as with this year, the last match is not at home. The Branch started when familiar faces at the away games thought they should get together to help one another. The game at QPR in the 1974/5 First Division season provided the opportunity. There were roughly 35 members by the end of that first season and numbers have steadily grown since then, with figures currently at about 300. It is no longer just for people in London as the Branch provides information, news and support for anyone living outside Cumbria. As well as having members from Cornwall to the Hebrides, there are now members all over the world. It is difficult to organise travel to games from one starting point as members meet from all points of the compass. London is the central location from which it is possible to organise group travel on

trains. Coaches have been used for the big events at Wembley and the Millennium Stadium, although many members simply like to share a lift in their cars. London is the central location for the regular monthly meetings and that is why the name London Branch has been retained. The original aims of the London Branch were deliberately kept brief and achievable; getting people to games and supporting the football club. Starting with a scattered membership of roughly 40 people, living not just in London but all over the south east of England, this was still a difficult couple of targets. With nearly 300 members these days, but still scattered, the London Branch’s list of activities may be greater, but they still follow the basic principles established in 1974. A big effort is put into making the whole match day an enjoyable event. This can depend upon the opposition and the location. The Orient game can allow a supporters’ football match in the morning, a fans forum in the afternoon and then a meal in the East End in the evening. A trip to Exeter may be linked to a weekend stay on the South Devon coast, a trip to Sheffield linked to a guided tour of a brewery, and a trip to Brighton linked to a wine-tasting session. Turning adversity into opportunity is vital for a Carlisle United fan. Starting as an A4 sheet in 1974, the London Branch newsletter has turned into a regular magazine. ‘Hit the Bar!’ celebrated its 250th issue, in style, a couple of years ago. As well as the now-familiar Hit the Bar! magazine, members are now kept up-to-date with news and information via Twitter and weekly emails. The London Branch website is used by all Carlisle United fans who know it as an excellent source, particularly for when travelling to away games.

18 @BeJustMagazine

The Branch now has a regular football squad who play games against other supporters in the south east. The team encourages all members to have a go as it is an opportunity for under-11s to run

out with over-60s. Some of the younger players in the Junior Blues section have become match-day mascots at many of the games in the south. From the beginning, the Branch handed over any surplus funds at the end of the season to Carlisle United. Given the number of members and that the annual membership costing 50p, this would be a few pounds and pennies – a token gesture. The amounts grew and so did the sponsorship, from match balls to kit, with players and matches now regularly sponsored. Over the seasons, thousands of pounds have been raised for many projects: the medical room, the press box, youth teams, etc. In 2012 the London Branch took on the task of trying to raise £5000 over two seasons to help with

the required upgrade of the floodlights. Thanks to tremendous support from fans in Carlisle, never mind the Exiles, and the efforts of the London Branch committee, it was completed in a single season. On top of this, another hectic twelve months lie ahead for the London Branch. Things do not stop with the end of the season. In mid-June, to coincide with the first games at the World Cup, roughly 30 London Branch members will be getting together at midnight to watch the game… in Budapest. And why not? A commentary in Hungarian can’t be any worse than anything broadcast in this country! This annual summer event started as a day trip

to the south coast and, like everything else with the London Branch, simply grew, and now visits locations in Europe over a weekend. Next season will be very special for the Branch as it will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. As well as marking the landmark with souvenirs, there will be a series of events during the season, both in Carlisle and in London. The anniversary is also 40 years since Carlisle United were in the 1st Division. A special t-shirt has already been produced for the final game of the season to recognise Carlisle United’s promotion to the top flight, on that day, 40 years ago.

June 2014

Number

Position

Player

Age

Starts

Substitutions

Attack

Adam Campbell

1 on

Defence/midfield

Danny Butterfield

Defence

Kevin Feely

Defence

Paul Black

1 on, 1 off

Defence

Reece James

1 off

Defence

Troy Archibald-Henville

Midfield/attack

Nathan Eccleston

2 on, 1 off

Midfield

Craig Roddan

1 on

Defence/midfield

Leon McSweeney

3 off

Defence/midfield

Josh Murris

5 on, 2 off

Goalkeeper

Ben Amos

Defence

Brandon Gwinnutt

Attack

Alex Salmon

1 on

Defence

Max Ehmer

1 off

Midfield

Josh Todd

Attack

Tom Lawrence

1 on, 4 off

Attack

Michael Drennan

3 on, 3 off

Midfield

Charni Ekangamene

2 off

Goalkeeper

Dean Bouzanis

Goalkeeper

Mark Gillespie

Defence

Conor Townsend

4 on

Defence/midfield

Matt Robson

3 on, 6 off

Defence/midfield

Chris Chantler

2 on, 2 off

Defence

Danny Livesey

1 on, 3 off

Midfield

Prince Buaben

2 on, 8 off

Midfield/attack

David Amoo

4 on, 8 off

Midfield

Liam Noble

3 on, 17 off

Attack

Lee Miller

7 on, 7 off

Attack

Gary Madine

Attack

Danny Cadamarteri

Defence/Midfield

Paul Thirlwell

6 off

Midfield/attack

Josh Gillies

6 on, 4 off

Defence

Mike Edwards

Defence/midfield

Brad Potts

6 on, 6 off

Attack

Mark Beck

8 on, 3 off

Goalkeeper

Jordan Pickford

Defence/midfield

David Symington

24 on, 2 off

Goalkeeper

Greg Fleming

Midfield

James Berrett

3 on, 4 off

Goalkeeper

Lewis Brass

Defence

Sean Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hanlon

Midfield

Danny Redmond

3 on, 10 off

Attack

Sam Byrne

12 on, 2 off

Midfield

Jack Lynch

2 on

Defence/midfield

Patrick Brough

3 on, 1 off

Defence

Reece Brown

3 on

Attack

Lewis Guy

12 on, 17 off

Defence

Courtney Meppen-Walter

4 on, 4 off

Defence

James Pearson

1 off

Midfield

Kyle Dempsey

3 on

Attack

Nacho Novo

4 on, 2 off

Midfield

Lucan Dawson

1 off

Defence

Pascal Chimbonda

1on, 4 off

Unused

Time on pitch

Goals

Assists

Yellow cards

Red cards

191

160

346

147

392

168

874

203

878

1,344

940

294

359

1,893

1,365

3,397

1,460

1,004

1,188

4,545

3,211

2,880

480

3,121

421

104

3,677

911

1,637

1,727

773

4,277

3,785

1,102

664

176

970

1,510

1,691

259

178

2,525

EX-BLUES:GRAHAM

ANTHONY I came through the academy as Sheffield United and I loved it. Dave Bassett was in charge and the club was run well so it was brilliant. I made my way up and was involved quite a lot with the first team – in the squads and things – but I rarely made it onto the pitch which was quite frustrating. But at the time I was only 18 or 19 and you always think you’re time will come and you’re always there waiting. I made a few appearances but was released come the end of the season. At Scarborough, I went into the third division and wasn’t really ready for it, to be honest. I was only 18 and, at the time, it was just kick and rush and quite physical. I went to Swindon who were struggling at the time and Plymouth were the same, really. It wasn’t until Carlisle came in that I found my feet and started playing regularly. It was a massive relief to come to Carlisle and play regular football – every footballer wants to be playing on a Saturday afternoon. So when I got the chance to be playing regularly it was brilliant as it’s just what you want to do. The build-up to the Jimmy Glass game was quite calm and it wasn’t until the day that you started looking at the situation. The run-up week was calm and the manager, Nigel Pearson, was keeping us calm and telling us that it was just another game. It wasn’t until the morning of the game that you thought ‘phew, it’s some game, this’. We’d been practising corners and free-kicks all week and we obviously knew that we needed to score because Scarborough had. We had to win and were getting messages from the side-line, so I just tried to put it in a good area like we’d been practising on all week and thankfully it came off. Even now, 15 years on, it’s still unbelievable and I still think ‘how did we do it?’ It took a few days for what had happened to actually sink in but, at the time, emotions went from relief to ecstasy. It was a great day. A few of my mates often rib me,

“WE NEEDED TO SCORE BECAUSE SCARBOROUGH HAD. I JUST TRIED TO PUT IT IN A GOOD AREA...”

saying it was the only decent corner I’ve ever put in. It could have been totally different, but thankfully it came off. I’d like to have stayed in football fulltime but, with family in Carlisle, I didn’t really want to go down the country. I dropped down to Barrow which was absolutely brilliant for me at the time. It was a fantastic non-league club, and I was quite settled in part-time football, with a job and with my family in Carlisle, so that worked out brilliantly for me. The transition from professional football was quite hard at first. We’d train on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and you’d obviously turn up on the Saturday and have a game, which was totally different to playing professionally. It took me a few games to adjust and get into the swing of things but I thankfully managed that and had a good few years there. It was a good few years at Barrow and we had a very good side, with a few ex-pros and good solid football. We were unlucky not to go up in a few years but we had some good cup runs and even took Oldham to a reply after we drew down there, which was a great result. Like I say, we had a great team at the time. There was then a decline, which was partly because of a change in manager and personal. And you know where Barrow is and, with travelling, when one leaves, another leaves. Four players were travelling from Doncaster and all it takes is for one of them to leave. To this day there’ll probably still have problems with people travelling there, so I think that was the main reason. In the end, it wasn’t that hard to leave. I had the chance to leave two years before that and declined because, like I say, we were doing well. There was the change of manager and I wasn’t too keen on the manager that came in, so I was in two minds until Workington came in with an offer and the two clubs agreed a fee. I thought it was time to move on.

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We had a good team at Workington and got into the play-offs. Like Barrow it was hard to attract players, but we were lucky at the time and had a good squad of players from Cumbria so it was a good move at the time, going to a good team. I had a good few years and it just got to the stage where I obviously wasn’t getting any younger and games were passing me by. Workington wanted me to stay but I was at that stage of my career where you want to feel involved in games. I feel that we were beginning to play less football and more long balls – it wasn’t my type and I wasn’t enjoying it as much so, again, it felt right to move on. When I went to Penrith it was a bit of a ‘come in and help us out’, but I was playing regularly – week in, week out – and enjoying my football again. We were holding our own in the Northern League which was a tough league and I enjoyed it. I became join-manager in 2011 after James Tose had enough. We were told to take over and see the season out, so I took it on and I enjoyed it. I applied for the job permanently and thought the time was right for another perspective on things. But Penrith obviously went in a different direction which is fair enough. I went to Celtic Nation for two seasons and did a bit of coaching down there. I’m out of football at the minute but it’s something I’ll always consider. I quite fancy the management side of things, but it’s just waiting for the right job. If something came up I’d be interested. My wife decided that she wanted a change of career so we’ve got a guest house with the apprentices in from Carlisle United. We look after them during the football season which is good and is going well.

June 2014

Mark G

The stopper reflects on his Carlisle career

How was it to leave Newcastle? I’d been at Newcastle for a long time – since I was eight – so it was difficult. Obviously nobody likes hearing that you’re not good enough and that you’re getting released. I came to Carlisle two weeks after and pretty much signed straight away. I trained in the morning and in the afternoon I was offered a YT contract, so it wasn’t long before I was back in football. That’s obviously what I wanted so it wasn’t too bad. I was involved with the first team when I was 17 when I travelled for the first time. That was a really good experience with the really big characters in the dressing. Then a year later I was on the bench and eventually came on at Norwich which was brilliant. I wasn’t expecting it so that was a good way to end the season.

Was it frustrating to play so few games? Next year I knew I’d have to go out on loan because there’s a big gap between youth and reserve team football and firstteam football. It’s too much, especially for a young goalkeeper, to go straight into the first team, so I went to Blyth and really enjoyed it. I’d have stayed there for longer if Carlisle had let me but it was probably the best thing to have done. I played 12 games, moved from third-choice keeper to second-choice keeper when I came back, and signed a new contract, so that was definitely a good move at that point. It was frustrating not to play much for Carlisle but, like I say, I went to Blyth and made the progression from third-choice to second-choice. There was basically one full season of sitting on the bench as a second-choice which I knew I’d have to do as I was only 19 or 20. There weren’t many young goalkeepers at that level so I learnt a lot and basically used the year to work on parts of my game and go to the gym – things you can’t do when you’re playing because you need to focus

on your game. I knew the next season I could properly push the first-choice goalkeeper.

How was the game against Spurs? The Tottenham game was unbelievable. I think it was my sixth game and my fourth at Brunton Park, and there was 10,500 there. The stadium was totally full – I remember warming up and the Warwick Road End was full. It was an amazing experience against some unbelievable players. I remember standing in the tunnel, and something I’ll never forget is the size and stature of some of the players. I made a few decent saves, obviously we lost 3-0, but I think I did okay in such a big game. I got Cudicini’s shirt and stuff like that so it’s something I’ll never forget. Do you feel pressure with Westwood having been here a few years ago? I trained with Keiren Westwood at the end of his last season – the year before I signed – and he was fantastic. He’s an awesome player, which he showed in the play-offs against Leeds, and he got voted the best ever player not long ago. Carlisle has a great history with goalkeepers – obviously Alan Ross played the most ever games and is seen as an absolute legend, and Westwood and Caig have made names for themselves. I don’t think that adds pressure. I think it’s something I strive towards. Players have moved from Carlisle to play in the Premier League and shown that it can be done, and I obviously want to play at the highest level. Keiren is someone to look up to, even now – he was fantastic for the club and an absolute legend to the fans. Where did this season go so wrong? It was a difficult start this season. We never really recovered from the first three games, but the coaches, the players and the fans gave us a lot of encouragement and that personally gave me a lot

24 @BeJustMagazine

of courage. That helped us get through the games and we’d just started to turn a corner when I got injured. We were five unbeaten, and then we lost at Oldham so that was disappointing. The changing defence affects me. At a place like Wolves you’d have a set back four and goalkeeper, but over 46 games that may not be possible, especially at League One. The most successful teams have more stability, but with injuries and loans at this level it can be difficult to get that. It’s good to get partnerships on the pitch – obviously the goalkeeper-centre back partnership is really important – so it does affect you and obviously wasn’t ideal.

I don’t think that Adam Collin leaving affect me. I managed to play 40 games in his last season here and I’ve picked up my own experience and become a League One goalkeeper in my own right so it hasn’t affected me too much. I think I can handle the pressure of being a number-one goalkeeper. It is important to play regularly. There aren’t many goalkeepers that play so often at this age so it is obviously something I appreciate the manager and club for. Now I just hope to play towards 100 games for the club. I think goalkeepers have to play as many games as possible, so my target for next season must be to play every game. What did you make of your man-of-thematch display at home to Notts County? In the first half their lad scored from about 25 yards and I was disappointed that went in, so that was on my mind going into the break. I made a decent save early in the second half, we were under the cosh a little bit and everything seemed to go my way that half. I made four or five saves and we managed to turn the game around and win which always helps. It was personally a game I enjoyed and probably the highlight of my season.

illespie and a dreadful season

How frustraing was it to be injured? I found out about the initial injury on the Monday night, after I’d done it on the Saturday. It was going to be a six-week lay-off and before that I’d thought I would be able to play on Wednesday [against Fleetwood]. So I thought I’d go home, get some tea and get my head around the fact that I was going to be out for a longer period. I made the injury worse in rehab, which meant that I had to have an operation, so that put me out for a further five weeks. The lowest period was probably that week over Christmas where I had the operation. The games were coming thick and fast and missing the Boxing Day game was really disappointing. I realised then that it was going to take me a long time to recover, which was really difficult up until about March when I was able to do different things to improve it. It was a really difficult six months. I definitely prefer to miss out when the team are playing well because you come back to the dressing room and everyone’s happy. It’s disappointing not to be part of it but, at the end of the day, they’re your mates and you want them to be doing well. But it can be really frustrating not being able to get involved and help the lads to turn it around. It was a tough place to be at times. Obviously when I’d done the second injury I realised I wouldn’t play in the Sunderland game, which was probably the lowest point of my career. I struggled to come to terms with it, to be honest, but when the game was over I could focus on my recovery. The whole situation is part and parcel of football and I realised how hard it can be to miss out. Dolly was brilliant in getting me through the rehab and keeping my head right. All I could do was work as hard as I possibly could, watch the home matches, and have a weekend off when we were away. There’s a lot of pressure and dedication involved when you’re playing so it’s important to use to off to recuperate and get back fit.

Just how disappointing is it to be relegated? Relegation is one of the worst feelings I’ve had in football. After the full-time whistle at Wolves you realise what it’s like to be relegated, and no one wants to go through that. But everyone wants to put it right next season and finish as high as possible. A lot of people let the club down this season and it’s incredibly disappointing but, at the same time, we have to go again next year.

It’s difficult to say why this season went so terribly. We didn’t have a great start, which was obviously disappointing. The manager went and, although we did bounce back pretty quickly, it was always going to disrupt the squad. Obviously a new manager came in and did his best in different games, but it never quite clicked. We’re just trying to get a squad together that can go again next year. It’s maybe a good thing that not many players here next season will be bogged down by what happened last year. It will be a fresh team and a fresh squad and hopefully that’s a positive. You can only do as much as you can. Coming back from an injury, I need to be able to do everything perfectly, get through pre-season and make sure I’m in the team come the first game. I’m sure that’s the same for all players at the club and all the players coming in.

June 2014

PUZZLES A G E

QUICK QUIZ...

1) What was the club originally called? 2) When were Carlisle United founded? 3) When did the club move to Brunton Park? 4) In what year were Carlisle promoted to the top tier? 5) What is the record attendance? 6) How many times have we reached the Football League Trophy final? 7) Which legenedary animal inhabits the club badge? 8) Who is the most capped international to have played for the club? 9) From which Shakespearian play is the clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motto taken? 10) Where was Jimmy Glass born?

NAME THE LINE-UP... ******** ******* ******* **** ******** ******* ***** ****** ****** ****** ******

SPOT THE FIVE DIFFERENCES...

Quick quiz: 1) Shaddongate United, 2) 1904, 3) 1909. 4) 1974, 5) 27,500, 6) Six, 7) Wyvern, 8) Ian Harte, 9) Henry VIII, 10) Epsom Missing men: Westwood, Arnison, Livesey, Gray, Aranalde, Lumsdon, Billy, Murray, Murphy, Holmes, Hawley Spot the difference: Amoo’s tooth, Thirlwell’s hair, lower badge on Thirlwell’s shirt, Sky Bet badge on Amoo’s shirt, missing ‘o’ in Stobart Spot the ball: B5 Name the player: James Berrett

NAME THE PLAYER...

BLUES, BRUNTON, CUMBRIANS, OLGA, KAVANAGH, MCILMOYLE, MILLER, STOBART, THIRLWELL, EKANGAMENE

SPOT THE BALL...

SEASON IN

CARLISLE UNITED FAN JACK COUSIN ROUNDS UP A SEASON OF DISAPP Just dreadful. A short sentence to describe the season just gone. United’s eight year stay in England’s third tier came to an abrupt end and many fans, including myself, can only see an equally long stay in League Two. This season made the headlines amongst United fans for all the wrong reasons. 48 players put on the United shirt this season, which is now the third highest figure in Football League history. That 48 doesn’t even include five contracted players who failed to make a single appearance (Bouzanis, Cadamarteri, Brass, Gwinnutt and Todd). Some members of that 48 will live long in the memory, while others have already been forgotten. The good... TOM LAWRENCE – The Man Utd youngster arrived on November 28 and soon got the crowd going with two fabulous goals against Tranmere in December – his first goals in professional football.

He added a free-kick at Crewe to his name before moving on to Yeovil and even making his first appearance for Man Utd in the Premier League against Hull. Tom, who terrified defenders with his pace and trickery while playing predominately on the left for Carlisle, will no doubt go on to big things. MAX EHMER – Max arrived at Brunton Park with Football League experience, and this showed. He helped Utd pick up points against Wolves, Crewe, Tranmere, Rotherham and Crawley, and grabbed a goal for us in the defeat against Colchester. QPR recalling the centre-back was, in my opinion, one of many reasons why we will be playing Dagenham and the like next season. The bad... NACHO NOVO – When the ex-Rangers frontman arrived at Carlisle, many were keen to see how he got on. Unfortunately, Nacho will not be remembered for

his goals but for being one of the worst players that I and many others will have seen at Brunton Park. Nacho made two starts and four sub appearances, and will probably leave the Blues for the nearest Burger King. Adios, amigo. PAUL BLACK – Mansfield’s finest arrived in Cumbria in August and played five times for CUFC. In those five appearances, United conceded 14 goals. After we decided not to renew Paul’s loan deal, he returned to Mansfield where he went on to notch one appearance – in an 8-1 FA Cup win against St Albans. Surprisingly, Black became a free agent last week. Sign him up, Kav! The forgotten... ADAM CAMPBELL – The highly rated Newcastle striker has probably forgotten himself that he joined Carlisle on loan back in August. He featured only once, off the bench, in a 4-0 home defeat against Coventry. His loan deal lasted a whopping 15 days before he returned to Newcastle by mutual consent. CRAIG RODDAN – Craig Roddan played 22 minutes for United after coming on in the 4-1 win against Tranmere. Slipping on his backside in front of the Paddock when attempting a 30-yard pass is as good as it gets for the Liverpool man. Of course, I could add many names to each sub-heading. Jordan Pickford and Ben Amos are two loan keepers who impressed during their time with Carlisle. Nathan Eccleston and Josh Morris are perhaps remembered, but not necessarily for their footballing ability. Reece James, Kevin Feely, Lucas Dawson and Danny Butterfield are just not remembered at all.

28 @BeJustMagazine

The lowdown… ASSISTS – James Berrett set up six of

STATS

WITH JACK COUSIN...

OINTMENT - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DOWNRIGHT DREADUL United’s league goals last year, more than any other Carlisle player. Matty Robson (4) and Lee Miller (3) complete Utd’s top 3. Bakary Sako of Wolves set up 14 of their goals in the league, a joint-highest figure in the Football League. Leyton Orient, meanwhile, had five players who have set up six or more goals last season. United obviously lacked a creative player. SHOOTING – With 155 shots on target, only Tranmere (140) had a worse record in League One. CUFC hit the woodwork 19 times between August and May – a Football League high. This follows the 12/13 season where CUFC hit the woodwork 23 times – a League One record that year. DISCIPLINE – For the third season in a row, Preston have committed more fouls than any other team in League One. This season they made 585(!), compared to

Carlisle’s 462. Lee Miller contributed more than any other CUFC player, committing 55 fouls. ATTENDANCE – An average attendance of 4,243 at Brunton Park this season is unsurprisingly Carlisle’s lowest average attendance in their League One history. Seven League Two teams had a higher average attendance that Carlisle last term. LEADING SCORERS – David Amoo scored seven goals for United in the league this season, followed by Robson with five. Sam Baldock of Bristol City scored 24 league goals, while United’s top five scorers have 24 between them. Looking at those stats, it’s not hard to work out why we got relegated. As we’ve seen a mass exodus of players, we can expect a very busy summer with lots of new faces expected to arrive at Brunton Park.

Things must get better...surely? 1. Carlisle had the second worst away record in the League last season, picking up 15 points. Notts County had the worst record after picking up just 12 points on their travels. 2. Carlisle United lost by four or more goals on five separate occasions in the league last year. No other team in the Football League had a worse record. 3. Carlisle United failed to score in 18 of their 46 League One games. Only Stevenage, who failed to score in 19 of their 46 games, had a worse record. UP THE BLUES Follow Jack on Twitter - @J4ck_ C0u51n/@Carlislestats1

June 2014

LIFE AFTER CARLISLE...

STEVEN

SWINGLEHURST What was it like to come through at Carlisle, as a fan, and get a pro deal? I was about 12 or 13 and playing for Pirelli when I was scouted, went for a trial and got given a contract at Carlisle. The youth years were good, sometimes hard work with long days, but I enjoyed it all. Me and Eric got on very well and he taught me a lot of what I do now. I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t expect to become captain, to be honest. The manager just thought that I was the right person to pick, but it was good; I can look back and say I’ve captained the Carlisle youth team.

Signing a pro contract was great, but not playing every week was hard because I was playing every week with the youth team. But I enjoyed it and I enjoyed my time. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out but I’m sure we’ll meet again someday. We were a close team when I was there so it was hard to see people coming and going without saying goodbye – just a simple handshake, ‘all the best’ and that’s it. But some have moved on to better things which is good to see. I had to choose between swimming and football. I was training two times a day and swimming on the night, and I could see in my own performances that I wasn’t do the best I could because I was tired. So I just made the decision that I wanted to give my everything to football and quit swimming. What was it like to be loaned out and not get a real chance at Carlisle? The spell at Workington was very important as there’s nothing better than getting games under your belt at a young age. Darren Edmondson, the manager at the time, gave me a lot of confidence and belief that I could go and make it… but it never really happened when I went back. I can see why I was loaned to Kendal as I wasn’t getting games and wasn’t around the first team. So it was good to get experience of first-team football

instead of playing reserve football that didn’t mean much at the time.

I could hear 40,000 people screaming at him.

It was very frustrating not to play for Carlisle. I mean, one chance – there’s no harm in giving people that. It’s something that I look back on and all I can do is try to prove them wrong at Annan. When I was loaned out I didn’t think I’d be leaving; I thought it would help me get into the Carlisle team. I gave it my all but it just wasn’t to be.

What are the reasons for such a good season and how were the play-offs? We had a better squad this year. The manager is the best in the league, and the assistant and everyone have been top-notch. I couldn’t ask for anything better. We’re just more of a team and stick together – if one man goes down, we all go down. There was a good atmosphere around the club all season.

Just what has it been like at Annan? It’s massively important for me to be playing regularly now – it’s one of the reasons that I came here. The manager gave me confidence and told me if I kept fit and gave good performances then I’d keep playing. I love it at Annan. Hopefully we can battle on next season and get promoted. There’s a big difference in competitive football. In the youth team, you’ve obviously got to do well because it’s a league and everything, but when I was a reserve player I wasn’t even in a league. The jump to first team was hard as the pace is so much quicker. They’re faster and stronger and it’s more cutthroat – one missed chance could lose you a game. But it’s good and I need the competitive games. It was unbelievable to play at the Ibrox. I’ve still got pictures on my phone and will remember it for the rest of my life. In the first game I played against Rangers, they got a guy sent off and I’ve never heard noise like it. All you could hear was noise. It’s so easy to understand after that how refs can bottle games.

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The play-off defeat was devastating. I didn’t play in the first game, which was the manager’s choice. He had a game plan so I can see why he didn’t play me, but it is hard. We got the three goals that we needed in the second leg… but we also conceded five, so it wasn’t good. We’ve had a good season so just need to keep our heads up and move on to the next one. I’m sure the manager’s working now on what players to bring in, so hopefully we can get automatic promotion and kick-on from there. Josh [Todd] coming in was an absolutely unbelievable signing for Annan. I’m surprised he couldn’t get into the Carlisle first team. He’s that good. He’s done amazingly and scored some important goals, but he’s not afraid to do the dirty work, track back and put his body on the line. He’s one of those players that just loves playing football. Kenny Mackay is an outlet and no one can handle his pace over the top. If the ball’s played through and he starts running, he’ll take some stopping.

June 2014

CLUB NEWS Fans invited to 40th anniversary dinner

Kavanagh hunts for dozen new players

Ticket exchange plan implemented

BBC Radio Cumbria and Carlisle United Football Club have invited fans to a 40th Anniversary Dinner, which celebrates our 1974/75 venture into the top flight.

Graham Kavanagh says he is likely to be looking for a minimum of 12 or 13 new signings before Carlisle start life in League Two this August.

The evening will feature a one-off screening of footage from four Carlisle United games over 1973/74 and 74/75 that were shown on Match of the Day. as welll as a question and answer session with the era’s squad and staff, hosted by by BBC 5 Live’s Peter Slater.

The Blues boss said: “I have already had a lot of calls and discussions with players who I think would benefit us.

Carlisle United have introduced a Ticket Exchange scheme which allows season ticket holders to swap their tickets, for any matches they cannot attend, for an additional ticket at any home league game of their choice*.

BBC Radio Cumbria Sports Editor Paul Newton said: “We saw this footage and immediately thought how fantastic it would be to show it to Carlisle fans to celebrate the anniversary of that season.

“The club are still finalising numbers in terms of the budget I can’t say for definite how many I will be looking to bring in.

“There really is some fantastic stuff in there, including clips that many people will not have seen before. It took a while to pull everything together but we’re delighted, in conjunction with the club, to be able to stage this event.” Carlisle United media officer Andy Hall said: “We have been looking for a number of ways to celebrate the anniversary of our Division One achievement and this fits the bill. “Everyone at the club is excited about the fact we will have some of the squad from that era here to watch and talk about it with us and we think it will be a really enjoyable evening and event.” Tickets cost £20 per person and include a two-course dinner as well as entry to the event. To book a place, or for more information, contact the Carlisle United commercial department on 01228 554 155. Proceeds from this event go to the BBC Radio Cumbria Jigsaw Children’s Hospice Appeal. Sunday 22 June, Shepherd’s Inn, Carlisle, seated for 7pm

“Some of them may be out of our league but I wanted to get in first to try and stake a claim.

“But clearly it will be around 12 to 13 players minimum.” Kavanagh is looking to further rebuild the squad after youngsters Kyle Dempsey and Patrick Brough recently signed pro deals. He has also offered James Berrett a new deal but does not expect an immediate answer, with the midfielder having been given time to weigh up the two-year offer. After releasing 12 players, the Blues manager confirmed that he wants a physically bigger and stronger team for next season’s campaign. That was, he said, among the reasons for releasing left-back Chris Chantler. Kavanagh said that the decision to offload Liam Noble was his most difficult. The boss would not, however, be drawn on the midfielder’s claims that players were getting picked despite turning up late for training. On the departures, Kavanagh added: “I wanted to have a good clear-out and our record at both ends of the pitch told me that needed to happen. There were some tough calls but they were done for the good of the club and I will live and die by them.”

Managing director John Nixon said: “A number of our existing season ticket holders have raised concerns over the fact they know they are due to miss a couple of games next season, for personal, and they’ve told us this is why they’ve chosen not to renew for the 2014/15 campaign. “We felt this was a valid concern so we looked at how other clubs and organisations deal with this situation, and we have adopted the Ticket Exchange scheme which has operated extremely successfully at rugby clubs in the region. “The scheme allows a season ticket holder to notify us they will be absent, and we will issue a like-for-like ticket for them to give to a family member or friend for a league game of their choice. This means they retain the full value of their season ticket even though they aren’t able to attend the full quota of league games.” *The Ticket Exchange scheme is valid for a maximum of three fixtures (league games only) per season ticket holder. The season ticket will be deactivated for the game(s) in question to allow the issue and use of the replacement match ticket. The season ticket Early Buy period is open now and runs through to Friday 13 June, offering new and existing fans a three-match saving on current match day prices. More than 1,000 fans have already pledged their support ahead of the new season. Season ticket holders will continue to be rewarded with significant savings and a range of exclusive benefits, including 25% off ALL travel on the Virgin Trains network throughout the coming campaign.

Jimmy Glass donates Jenkins apologises for awful season boots to Museum Carlisle United cult hero Jimmy Glass added last month added to a list of National Football Museum contributions, after donating his infamous boots that shot him into football history books. Jimmy famously scored the last-minute winner against Plymouth in 1998/99, keeping Carlisle United in the Football League - a feat that, even years after happening, is still truly special. His mammoth contribution to the team’s fortunes on that has since become a tale of tale of legend across the footballing world, despite how the goalkeeper made just three appearances for the club. Jimmy was at the National Football Museum in May 8 this year - 15 years to the day since his astonishing last-gasp goal. The former-stopper, whose goal prevented the Blues from falling out of the Football League, donated the boots he wore that day to the museum, and they took pride of place alongside an array of other important football memorabilia. Jimmy, now 40, joined Carlisle on loan after playing three seasons for Bournemouth between 1996 and 1998. The Cherries were the only Football League club for whom Glass was a regular member of the first team, and he eventually retired from football in 2001 aged 27. Kevin Moore, Director of the National Football Museum said: “Jimmy’s legendary moment of fame came on 8 May 1999, in the final match of the 1998–99 season against Plymouth Argyle, which Carlisle needed to win to avoid relegation. With the score 1–1 and with only ten seconds remaining, Carlisle won a corner and Jimmy came up from his own penalty area and promptly scored a last minute goal, volleying the ball in after the Plymouth goalkeeper had parried out Scott Dobie’s goal bound header. “Carlisle got the win they needed and Scarborough were relegated to the Football Conference instead after a 1–1 draw with Peterborough.” Jimmy’s Boots are now on display at the National Football Museum, with an exhibited explanation of just why they are so iconic.

I would like to offer sincere apologies to all of our supporters, on behalf of myself and the board, for the disastrous season we have all witnessed. I can assure you that the board of directors have felt the same level of frustration as yourselves as we are, first and foremost, supporters and we all want the best for the club. In an attempt to explain what has gone wrong, the difficulties started last summer when we had to submit our budget figures to the Football League. We had just experienced two seasons of heavy losses and we had to attempt, if at all possible, to break even this time round. Having confirmed our budgets we went into the season and, from the first match, suffered red cards and injuries to key players at key times. There are those who will say that we would use injuries as an excuse but I would argue that they are a genuine reason, and they do disrupt the team and the performances when they happen in this manner. With the exception of a period just before Christmas this problem continued for us, with senior and experienced players missing out, and this led to a need for the club to go into the loan market. The loan system is often criticised but, for clubs like ours, it is usually the only option we have to counteract the problem of losing players to medium or long term injuries. Some of the loan players we have seen this season have been successful, others less so, and some have returned to their parent clubs, leaving us with no option but to chop and change the team. As directors we acknowledge that we have, at times, been guilty of poor decision making, but every decision is made honestly and with the best intentions of the club in mind. We will now sit down and analyse the season, from our point of view, to assess where we have gone wrong. The directors at this club all give their time and services free of charge and occasionally provide funds to help the club move along. We are determined to see the club prosper and we will continue to work hard to make sure that will be the case.

We will now sit down with the manager, sooner rather than later, to finalise plans to get this club back to winning games and enjoying the success we all want to see next season. Once again I offer our sincere apologies and appeal to all supporters to stick with us and help us to get this club going again.

Brough and Dempsey commit to pro deals Carlisle United Football Club announced that Patrick Brough and Kyle Dempsey agreed the terms of their one-year contract offers and will stay at the club as first-year professionals for the 2014/15 season. Midfielder Dempsey and left-sided Brough, both born in Cumbria, came through the youth ranks and were subsequently offered professional terms at the end of the April when their two-year scholarship came to a close. Brough made a total of four appearances for the club last season, with his debut coming in the Capital One Cup penalty win over Blackburn Rovers in August. Kyle Dempsey, meanwhile, featured twice, making his first appearance in a 3-0 home win against MK Dons in January. “As I said when we made the contract offers, we’re absolutely delighted for these two lads,” manager Graham Kavanagh said. “It’s something we say to every young player, but the hard work starts now. “It’s up to me to get them the game time and pitch time to help them develop and, if they continue to do the work, they will get their chance. Both lads are local and they understand how much this club means to people. That’s a huge advantage in their favour. “I’ve already told them that this is the start of the rest of what I hope are very long careers. It’s up to them where they go with it from here. If they stay focused, grounded and as humble as they have been, and if they keep the level of desire to succeed they both have, then there is no doubt they will be real assets for us. I’m looking forward to working with both of them.”

THE BEST OF A

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BLUE SEASON

June 2014

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

NEIL DALTON “I am as much to blame as everyone else. It hurts me and affects everything”

What is a typical working day for you? I get in for about eight and catch up on a bit of paperwork or plan for the day ahead. The gaffer gets in at about nine and we have a chat about the injured lads. I work very closely with Kav, as do all the staff at the club. The players are in from half nine and are assessed before they set off with their individual training programmes. The pro players are in for 10 and may need rubs, strappings or other treatment, before training at half 10 to 11. So, depending on what I have on, I can be in the treatment room, gym, or out on the pitches doing rehab. After training there’s another treatment session which, like the morning one, can involve. I’ll have a quick lunch before the injured lads return for an afternoon session, which finishes between two and three. I’ll then have a cup of tea, do more paperwork and talk to the boss again. Could you talk us through injuries - the most common, the worst, and so on? We’re not blessed with a Premier League squad, so every game there will be two, three or four players that I worry about. I never enjoy games, to be honest, as I’m so busy thinking about those lads and heavy challenges. Most injuries occur in matches, due to their competitive nature, and the most common are to hamstrings and ankle ligaments.

All injuries are different and have their own good and bad aspects. Nothing is ever simple in the medical world, that’s for sure. The worst injury of recent times was Rory’s at Preston but there have been several others over the years. UEFA’s recent study suggests that for a squad of 25 you should expect 50 injuries per year. We’ve had 49 with two of those carried over from last season. We had a glut of injuries January and February which affected us badly as many were to senior players. It’s very hard for those with long-term injuries, and I have to be a friend, a mentor, a boss, a motivator, a psychologist and a shoulder to cry on all in one. I wouldn’t say there’s a pressure to rush players back, as everyone who works in life has pressure. It’s all about the risk, reward and doing no further harm. I will advise to the best of my knowledge and opinion, but it’s ultimately the player’s decision. I learn constantly and there is something wrong if you don’t. I will get things wrong and, in hindsight, I would do things differently most weeks. Medicine constantly changes so you have to keep as up to date as possible as research progresses. I talk all the time to physios about complex things or things we haven’t seen in a while. It’s quite a close community and advice is readily available if needed. How does the relegation affect you? Apart from having less finance available, the relegation does not really affect my job. But I feel responsible for it and take it personally. I’m from Carlisle and have been at the club for 22 years. I am as much to blame as everyone

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else. It hurts me and affects everything in my life and even at home. What does your physio role over the summer and pre-season consist of? All players are given specific programmes for the summer. I keep in touch with those that need attention, but I luckily have nobody in for rehab this year; I’ve only had five weeks off over the last two years. When the lads return for pre-season, their height, weight and body fat are checked, before they are put through some physical pitch tests that can be repeated throughout the season. The doctor will do the main part of medicals, checking health history, urine, blood pressure, and so on. We will then look at joints, ligaments and muscles to check for things like movement and laxity. We then screen them in certain tests, hoping to predict if they may incur certain injuries so we can try to reduce the risks.

YOUTH UPDATE Provisional friendlies Tue 8 July Sat 12 July Tue 15 July Sat 19 July Wed 23 July Thu 24 July Sat 26 July Tue 29 July Sat 2 August

H Westmoreland A tbc A Chesterfield H Man United H Sunderland A Preston H Bolton H Blackburn Season starts

Youth update with manager Alan Moore “We sat down with all of the second years and spoke to them about our decisions at the end of last week. The offers to Kyle [Dempsey] and Patrick [Brough] are a reward for the hard work they’ve put in and I don’t think it will be a surprise to anybody that it’s happened. They’ve been involved with the first team squad for the majority of the season and it’s great news for them. On the flip side of that we obviously had to deliver the news to Lewis [Brass] and Jake [Chisholm] that, in our opinion, their football career wouldn’t be able to carry on with Carlisle United. It’s a sad time, because they are good lads, and the whole group suffer. The first years watch it and it’s a learning curve for them because they get to see the disappointment of the lads who aren’t going to be taken on. They have to do everything they can to make sure they aren’t part of that process next year. It doesn’t have to be the end for the two who have been released, if they don’t want it to be,” he told us. “They’ve got the exit trials coming up and we’ll circulate their names. This decision is only our opinion and it doesn’t mean another

club won’t take them on. In our opinion they aren’t ready for Carlisle United, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t ready for someone else. It’s as high as 95% of the lads who get professional deals who don’t go on to get a second contract. The fall out number is massive. Kyle and Patrick can’t think they’ve made it. For them, the real hard work starts now. Of course it’s brilliant that they’ve got their contracts but it now gets tougher for them. They’ll want to play every week, but that won’t be the case, and it gets tougher mentally and physically. They’ll be playing for points and fighting for their lives like the first team are at the moment. They are two very good lads with the right type of attitude so I’m sure they will approach things in the right way. The good thing for all of these lads is that the League Football Education (LFE) put on a great programme which really looks after them. The club looks after them in terms of their football, but the LFE give them an education in life over the two years. They also give them a chance to go to exit trials at the end of the two years so they have the best chance of finding another club, if that’s what they want to do. They get opportunities to go over to America and we also went down to Warwick University to spend a day with the army. A lot of different opportunities are shown to them because as we all know it’s a tough world. We don’t allow the lads to waste any days when they’re here with us. They get 116 days of training with us and they have to make the most of every single one of them. It flies by very quickly and they have to understand that. Being with a professional club is a fantastic opportunity in life and there is a great carrot at the

end of it. If they don’t get a deal at the end of their time with us then, yes, they can blame other people but, if they haven’t put the work in, they only have to look in the mirror. Looking at other business, and the last two games of the season, he said: “We played Tranmere on a very blustery day but it was the same for both teams. We didn’t get any of the basics right, we weren’t brave enough on the ball and we weren’t strong enough in our defending. We want to play out from the back and put bodies on the line but we didn’t do any of that against Tranmere. We had a player sent off, which just added to the frustration, and it was a bad day all round. We changed the formation and took the pressure off the players ahead of the Morecambe game and we played with a back three. We won 7-1 and it was a result the group thoroughly deserved. They were brave with and without the ball and they did things properly from start to finish. We’ve been mirroring how the first team are playing in terms of formation and we’re going to do that again against Hartlepool in our friendly game on Saturday. Mirroring the first team means that when lads such as Kyle [Dempsey] and Patrick [Brough] step up they’re used to the way they play and they know what’s required of them in the different roles. We organised a series of friendly games because we’re preparing for next season already. Hartlepool is our second friendly with next year’s team. We had one last week, which we won 9-0, and it’s good to get minutes on the pitch for these boys. It gives us a chance to see what strengths and weaknesses the new first years bring with them and that means we can really start working with them day in day out. We’ve got some tough pre-season games lined up for them as well so they’ll all need to be ready to come back and work hard.”

June 2014

@BeJustMagazine

FANS ANSWER: WHEN DID THE

ROT BEGIN? CUFC3Roma3 Knighton has a lot to answer for, but he kept the club alive for a bit and he did get the support up to a core of 4,000-plus. Before Kinghton, crowds were down to 2,000 or less. Also, whatever the level of failure on the pitch during John Courtenay’s reign, he too kept the interest up. Then came Fred Story, another revival and the momentum of the rise up through two levels. It was always going to be a huge challenge for the club to manage the inevitable bursting of the bubble when we got as far up as we could. We got to the top end of League One far quicker than anyone could have predicted. The squad was pushed to the limit and in the end ran out of steam. We inevitably lost good players to bigger clubs and nearly went down the season after the play-offs.

FellowTraveler I really think it is still the legacy of Knighton’s ruining of the club’s fiscal status. We were left hobbled by him. Others have tried playing catch up; it has been just too much for them. Money-wise, the club has never been able to react to the changing world of League football. orfc The club was ruined when Knighton got hold of us back in 1992. We’d finished bottom of the Football League, and there were newspaper billboards in the town saying we were going out of business. The worst thing you can say about Knighton is that he gave us a 10-year stay of execution Fred is probably unique amongst our chairmen in not having left the club a total wreck for the next guy to take on. Although he was in charge for the choke a few years ago. salford_lad Summer 2006 for me. Although it didn’t seem it at the time, losing Simpson to

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North End was the start of it. There was a real buzz around the place and fantastic momentum gained in the previous two seasons. Him leaving – whether it was greed on his part or if was due to lack of ambition shown by the owner – almost certainly cost us a great chance of Championship football. Sad but probably true. grwnts In 2006 Story said we could not afford to play in the Championship and, as if by magic, we seemed to hit a bad run of form. 9donaldoblu Appointing Ward and then making Abbott manager. carlislekev69 Financially, when we employed Ward. I’d say we’re the best part of £800k worse off, taking into account compensation to Cheltenham and Ward’s wages and payoff. BelleVueBoy When Joe Garner got injured and we did not make a loan signing. dancingbear I think it was before the Millwall game, vs Forest. We played them off the park for 60 minutes and lost 2-0. I think that put doubt in the players’ minds, resulting in the hammering at the New Den. However, if we had gone up we could well be at the bottom of League Two now. BigFatDaveCUFC Game-wise, Millwall seemed the point that a lot of positivity died in the fanbase. But, for me, the turning point was when Holt was available for £100k and our board didn’t gamble on him.

Holt would have been a perfect replacement for Garner and would have suited Ward’s style. Instead, we signed Carlton – a cheap and poor replacement. Ward had to change his tactics and style which failed miserably. While I like trying to run at a budget and hate clubs who recklessly overspend, one mistake of this board is that they won’t at all take a small gamble when it could be good for us. Sometimes you do need to take a risk, and we probably lost 10 times as much as that £100k over the season. cufc_memorabilia A mixture of that night at Crewe when Garner got injured and wasn’t replaced, and that game at Millwall. I’m sure that game was the final straw for so many fans. As much as I agree that fans should stick with their club, you look back at both these instances and think we had both the team and the support from the fans, and it still wasn’t enough so what’s the point. CockneyCluedup The biggest balls-up was in April 2008 when we got hammered 3-0 at Millwall. Never have I left a game so disappointed. We’d been shaky leading up to that game, but the performance that day was incredibly poor. A win that day, or even a draw, and we’d have beaten Bournemouth on the last day and clinched promotion. From February to March, we played 12 games. We won nine and drew three, giving us 30 out of a possible 36 points. We won six on the bounce and were absolutely flying. Then we got beat off Forest, despite being the better team. In those

last seven games we picked up five out of 21 points. We blew it big time. Even with that run a point from that Millwall game would’ve done. Vulpes_Vulpes More than the Millwall game, I’d say the Southend one (just before). They were down to 10 men and we lost it by over-committing, losing all momentum. scamp1 The Trust must take most of the blame for hounding Fred Story out of the club. I think Fred was so desperate to get out and away from the Trust he just passed it over to the current owners. Then there was the mistake of appointing Abbott as manager. Since then we have just gone round and round in circles, heading further and further down each time. As much as I love my club, I do other things as well and I am struggling to commit to keep buying my season ticket. I feel that I am paying good money to a club that is run without any motivation, direction or pride. HedgehogsTeet I think giving an unexperienced manager (Abbott) loads of cash to learn his trade was madness. Then, when he didn’t learn from his mistakes, to give him a new contract just showed that the board lack any business nous.

when they scored a last-minute equaliser. With this, our play-off aspirations ground to a halt. Miller was injured in our next game and we of course had no replacement (which we should have had given how vital he was to our system). I think prior to this we were doing okay: play-offs in 2008, established League One club, Johnstone’s Paint Trophy winners in 2011. If we do okay we can get 7,000 through the gates, but 3,000 of these are ‘good time’ fans, not the sort of people who stick with a club in more inconsistent times. Summer 2012 was where the rot probably set in, losing the effort of Tom Tawio and the skill, strength and ability of Zoko. NewBlueDream When you look through this you see so many different occurrences that have contributed to where we are today. It is a truly ugly list of shambolic mismanagement. The common theme that runs through 95% of it is the presence of the current owners. Wukkie No money and no ambition.

goldsmithhadagoodgam Away at Wycombe on April 6, 2012,

June 2014

THE BIG INTERVIEW WITH JON COLMAN

Cumbrian journalist Jon Colman gives his thoughts on the shocking season, how we bounce back next year, and how being a supporter affects his job... Where did the season go wrong? The season went wrong before it started. They started off horrendously with a team that, from the first minute, didn’t look equipped for anything other than a real struggle. There was a bit of ill-feeling around with Abbott having been given a new contract and for how long that had been agreed. That had put people off straight away because it felt like a natural time to say ‘thanks for your services; let’s start afresh’. The summer recruiting – he brought in some attacking players but didn’t strengthen defensively. All these decisions that the club and manager made – albeit with a tight budget, but we were not the only club in the division with a tight budget – were questionable. Appointments, recruitments.There was some discontent among fans that didn’t take long to come to the surface again and it proved that some bad calls were made. It’s almost like there were heads in the sand when it was clear that it was going in one direction. It was going to be hard for anyone to turn around, but it looked like Kav had done that. He got some results but it steadily become a bit chaotic in terms of players coming in and going out. There was a deliberate move to get players out and bring players in, but we’ve been too reliant on young loan players that weren’t ready for the scrap. They were talented players but not battle hardened. When they needed results, they just didn’t have the quality to get them. As they started dropping points it became increasingly desperate, and the injuries didn’t help, although I know that’s pulled out as an excuse. It all adds up to a cocktail of injuries, poor decisions, bad strategy (if there was one at all), and a rookie manager who probably put his faith into the wrong players. In the end it just resembled something that was out of order and out of control. They

used far too many players which didn’t allow the team to settle and it all ended in tears. Short-term, medium-term and long-term decision just haven’t been good; I think you can sum it up as that. What did you make of the decisions to sack Abbott and appoint Kavanagh? They were very quick to make the decision when Abbott went. Although there was the case for saying the Abbott regime is over and that includes Kavanagh, I think he was always going to take the helm as caretaker. Short-term, it looked like he was sorting the team out, making them more competitive, stopping the goals going in and giving them some discipline. But they made the decision after just two games and gave him a contract beyond just the end of the season. It seemed like the actions of a board who was very keen for Kavanagh to show some signs of being a success so that they could take what was, let’s be honest, the most easy option financially. But I don’t think they’d have made him manager if he lost those two games – I think they’d have gone for someone else if he didn’t make an impact. But it was a very short time span to be convinced about him. John Nixon said that Kavanagh had skills and attributes that put him ahead of the field, but it seems like they’re trying to convince themselves by saying that he was the overwhelming candidate. They could have said ‘you’ve got the season to keep us up; if it’s going well we’ll review, and if it’s not, well there’s your incentive’. I can’t think for the life of me why they didn’t cover their own backs and do that. But it didn’t surprise me, knowing how the board work, that they took that route. The way we went about it with such haste was questionable to say the least. Why did it not take off after he won his first three games in charge?

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There’s obviously a honeymoon period for new managers and he made some changes. Having said that, the players were responding and had more confidence. I’m not sure where you trace the real unravelling. The increasing reliance on loan players became an issue and, while in the beginning he was being subtle, there became a more deliberate attempt to put a tactical stamp on it. He was maybe trying to turn water into wine a bit too quickly, it terms of the style of play and so on, which is understandable given that the Abbott way wasn’t working. Having got those first three results and a point at Shrewsbury, we started bringing in more players which was always going to be very hit and miss and volatile given where Carlisle were in the table. Shaking it up and creating a new team spirit became too changeable too quickly. In hindsight, I wonder whether he would have slowed down the pace of change a little bit and been more pragmatic in terms of grinding out results and relying on players you don’t fancy as footballers, like Livesey. He’s never going to be a world-beater but he played in those first couple of games and, if he had come back with a bit more confidence, you know he’ll grind you through some results. But, like all managers, Kavanagh lives and dies by decisions, and you have to say that they didn’t work. I think that, come spring, they were going into games with too raw and too unproven a team, and they finished where they deserved to be. So there was too much change and reliance on loan players. How do Abbot and Kavanagh differ? They are different animals. In terms of the media, Kavanagh is generally a much more open in terms of how he deals with questions. He fronts up to questions a lot more openly than Abbott did towards the end. Tactically, they obviously have different ideas which is pretty apparent with how Kavanagh has put his stamp on things. It’s difficult to say what they’re like as men and as motivators since I’m not really exposed to that side of it. Abbott

was very much an up-and-at-‘em motivator rather than a strategic manager, while I think Kav leans more towards the latter. He sometimes has a temper with players and is sometimes their best mate, which works for some but not others, and he has had stick for brining Meppen-Walter off and criticising him publicly. Some of us may say that will never work with a player, but it might do and Kav obviously thinks he needs it. Abbott was less likely to do, but they’re just different styles – it doesn’t mean that one’s right and one’s wrong. I think the key with Carlisle was just to get the best out of what was there and make little improvement. Abbott left behind a mess that was going to be difficult to rebuild for anyone, but Kav would have to admit that he pretty much failed. From February onwards he wasn’t getting enough out of the players and the lessons have unfortunately been learnt too late. How do you maintain a good relationship with the club while also writing critically for your readers? It’s sometimes easier than others to strike that balance. When the club is on a run of one win in 15 and are getting relegated, there are a lot of concerns that the fans want you to air and raise. By and large, access to the club is alright, access to the players is very good and Kavanagh will still speak. It doesn’t mean they’ll always be happy about what you write, and the board generally don’t like speaking. I can’t imagine they’re overjoyed with some of the things they read, but they haven’t gone down the route of banning us like some other clubs do with newspapers, and long may that continue. Andy Hall tries to keep things as open and as accessible as he can, even with the drawbacks of having a board that don’t like to talk publicly. It’s about treading a tightrope of putting your readers first – which is an

obligation – and being fair and straight, even if that means upsetting people at the club. You’ve got to be an outlet for the fans, and some people at the club understand that better than others. How did you find the recent interview with John Nixon? It was a long couple of hours. Then a long couple of hours again when I had to listen to it back and type it all up. Firstly, it was good to get the opportunity because, as I said, they generally don’t like speaking. Andy is always helpful in pressing on the need for them to answer questions on behalf of the fans. As for the content, well, supporters will make their own minds up. It seems like there was a certain reluctance to acknowledge failing and poor decision. It seems like it was just ‘circumstances’ and blame-avoidance which I didn’t find particularly encouraging, but that’s clearly how they run the show. There was some evasion on certain issues and also some interesting, and relatively positive, things such as their plans for the youth set-up which was genuinely encouraging. But he struck me as a guy who isn’t particularly in tune with the fan on the street, and that was probably exemplified with what he said about Greg Dyke’s B-team proposal, which goes against the grain of the majority of fans’ views. I wasn’t singing and dancing out of the office and there’s still a lot of scepticism around, and I don’t think this regime has grasped how to improve it. How much of a problem is it when fans become disillusioned with the club? There are obviously discussions going on regarding the new ground that he wasn’t willing to divulge for various

reasons. I imagine there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes, which is fair enough. The idea of playing in a new stadium in the Championship is perfectly credible, but fans want the gaps filled in for the meantime. The youth team idea is a 10-year vision as well so these are long-term ideas and there needs to be a lot more engagement and spelling out of the club’s hopes and drawbacks in the short term. Results in the last couple of years have taken a dive and the club doesn’t seem to have a catalyst, which is worrying, so a lot of bridges need to be built with the fans. Is there ever anything you get told off the record that you’d like write about? If you’re talking to someone, like Kav, for long enough, they will say things that are off the record and simply for my benefit or haven’t yet come to fruition. It’s perfectly fine if that’s the case. But I sometimes have to be careful not to go off on an absolute rant when writing and I’ve got to be constructive or analytical. It’s sometimes a frustration when you want to really go to town with it and spill out everything you know, but there are always limits. It’s just part of the package. How does being a Carlisle United fan yourself affect the job you do? It affects how you support them as you have to report on what you’re seeing and what you’re hearing as a journalist first and a fan second. You’re paid as the journalist and I think readers prefer the journalist rather than just a fan. You have to disconnect yourself a bit and not get caught up in the emotions of watching a game. You’ve got to be a bit more straight in your

June 2014

thinking than the fan that’s going purely to cheer on the team. But if you’re a fan of a team, you’re never not going to be a fan just because you’re covering them. I think, in an ideal world, you’ve got a bit of both when covering your local team – you’ve got a bit of knowledge and feeling as well as just wanting to do the job as well as you can. I’ve probably got carried away at times but you can’t switch off completely from being a fan. Having said that, there was an ex-Carlisle manager that asked off the cuff: “Who do you actually support, Jon?” He didn’t realise I was a Carlisle fan and I took that as a compliment because it meant I was doing my job as a journalist and not just being a cheerleader. I think the manager and club can expect you to bang the drum for them all the time but it’s just not like that anymore, and nor should it be. There’s a balance to strike but, as long as you don’t lose sight of either, you should be okay. How much does relegation affect us? In the short term, relegation will affect us financially – I think it could to set us back about £288,000 just for going down. Then you have to look at gates dropping off as well. If Carlisle have a decent summer and look like they’re starting next season well enough, they can stem some of the loss and get people talking positively about them. Were they to struggle again with recruitment, then I think we can expect the crowds to go down further. There’s pessimism now that I think will increase if we struggle in League Two. It’s a tough call because there are obviously a few people out there who would have wanted Kavanagh to be removed this summer, so not a great deal’s changed. It could potentially affect us very seriously, but they can help themselves by getting a few things right this summer and over August and September, which can change the tone quite a lot. It’s a critical time that we’re heading into. Do you think that the type of player Kavanagh wants to bring in is the key to League Two success? It’s one thing saying you want a certain type of player, but it’s another thing getting the right type of character. I don’t think there’s any particular style that you can say is completely invalid; I’ve spoken to people who cover League Two and say more times than ever before try to play football, so it doesn’t have to be up-andat-‘em rough-and-tumble sort of stuff.

But I’ve also spoken to lads that have played in League Two that say not to go into it with raw and unready players. We might need experienced players like those that Carlisle won League Two with – some flair players, but a with a spine of rugged and battle-hardened guys that weren’t going to be bullied, like Kevin Gray, Chris Billy and Derek Holmes. You can see what Kav’s driving at and the merit of what he’s said and I don’t think he wants a team of 11 bruisers like Stevenage or a Wimbledon of the 80s, but he maybe wants to add a bit of what’s been missing. It just depends on who he can get and whether there are a few surprises. Simmo

managed to pull some rabbits out of the hat a few years ago and I think Kav will have to do the same. We need a bit of nous or we’ll find it hard. What needs to be done to win the fans back? It’s down to Kav to turn it around. Until there’s some light at the end of the stadium-plan tunnel or some new investment, the onus is on the manager, which is probably a bit too much for one man to deal with. But that’s his job and he’s paid pretty well to do it so let’s not get the violins out for him. He’s got a

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chance now to put his stamp on things which he’s always wanted, and he’s got the budget from the off. Other than that, I think it’s going to be hard for the club to turn round people’s perceptions of them until the season’s underway, because the board don’t seem to be dramatically changing their approach. There are some good aspects, like the academy team that they seem to be putting their all into, the commercial things like with Virgin Trains, and the local players that fans can really attach themselves to. They’ve got certain strengths – like still the only club for miles – but they need to be accentuated. They need to be gutsy and accept that it will take a while to win people over, because it isn’t going to happen in a matter of weeks – it’s going to take a while. People can only go on what they see, and what they’ve seen in the past season and a bit hasn’t been good enough. Until they can put something better both on and off the field, it’s going to be a hard job. Anyone expecting a quick turnaround in the opinion of fans is in Cloud Cuckoo Land. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to take a while.