Well January was an eventful month, or not, depending on your view! Weather claimed many games, the most controversial of which was the Auto Nosewipe Beermat against Hull City. The match was called off at 17:15 on the day of the game and this resulted in the Hull City chairman allegedly claiming that Carlisle had deliberately misled the referee as to the condition of the pitch prior to his arrival. Michael Knighton refuted this stating that with the existing backlog of games, the last thing that Carlisle needed was another rearranged match.
There were reports in the newspapers and on TV in January that terracing was coming back into favour. My friends and I discussed this at the Sheffield match and, surprisingly, came to the conclusion that, for all it's problems, we would not wish to give up our seats. The main selling point of seating and being a season ticket holder is that, no matter how late you are, you will still have "your place". This contrasts quite well with the alternative of "terrace etiquette" where someone saves you a place. I had a problem with the "terrace etiquette" system for the Tranmere game, when I was saving two places for my friends who were late. Several times people came next to me and accepted that I was saving the places and moved on. Some even asked before standing there. However, then the old couple and there son in his 20s arrived. I explained the situation. They continued to stand there. I explained it again. They ignored me. I explained it again and again, very politely. Eventually they relented.
Well here was a game to gladden the heart - we took apart 1st Division opposition for the second time this season (excluding pre-season friendlies). However this time we won the game and had the added plus of seeing Tranmere descend into chaos in the second half.
OK, we didn't win, but look on the bright side - at least we can concentrate on the league now! To be serious though, I think the team did well and certainly cannot be ashamed of there performance. However, the crowd is another matter. 14000 Cumbrians were drowned out for most of the game by 2000 Sheffield fans. Now that is embarrassing! The Brunton Roar? More like The Brunton Whisper! Whilst we have had many games where the crowd have been vociferous, many times they have not. Is this merely an example of the subdued nature of we Cumbrians? I guess so.
Reflecting on the day overall, there is one word that springs to mind: queues! Queue to get into the East Stand, queue for 15 minutes to get a round of drinks, queue for 5 minutes to use the toilet and then queue for 10 minutes to get out from the back row. Ah, a taste of things to come when we get to the Premiereship......
Third time lucky for this fixture, as far as we were concerned anyway !-) It was also a case of an intermittent "spot the ball" competition in the second half , at least from where I was sat. The fog rolled in and consequently the only reason I knew we had scored in the second half was the cheers from The Warwick. Still, at least we put on over on them for that suggestion that we be disqualified for not having an earlier pitch inspection for the second attempt to play the match. Oh, and to cap it all off - a hat-trick for Paul Conway. Almost worth an entry into Project Bluesbook, that one.
And finally, new this month is the Squad section (now defunct which will be expanded in future months to provide full biographies of all the United players. The original idea came from Alastair Woodcock and Roald Osmundsen (our Norwegian Blue - hmm, I think there may be a joke there somewhere...). I have also added to the Project Bluesbook section.
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