My website has never seen so much activity as it has done since that fateful day of the Great Escape. The Bandwidth Records for May clearly show the level of interest that we all showed for any reminder of the relief and joy we all felt that day. And we didn't have to wait too long to get a match with similar feelings, as Jonathan Noble pointed out on the Carlisle United Mailing List:
Are you Carlisle in disguise...
Did anyone else notice how Carlisle-esque the Man Utd result was last night. Injury time winner, with a Glass-like attempt to score from a corner by a desperate keeper (okay, so he missed the ball, but the intent was there). The pictures of the Bayern fans reminded me a lot of some fans from a little Yorkshire fishing village we've seen lately, except there were a few more of the Germans. I wonder if Terry Venables would have called us a "bunch of lucky cunts" on live telly too if he'd been at Brunton Park the other week? Don't get me wrong, I'm not even close to being a supporter of the scum, but I thought that it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen when the Germans thought they'd got it won, and then got dropped from a great height. Man U, it's just like watching the Blues.
Jon
And I replied:
Too right ! I phoned my brother and it started ringing just before they scored the first and he picked it up just after and I said "It's just like the last few minutes at Brunton Park". We were still talking when they scored the second. I felt sorry for them - to lose like that was gut-wrenching, but they had plenty of opportunities to kill the game during the 90 minutes. That poor player who was just hammering the ground with his fists.......
David Atkinson
And Paul Watson said:
Yes, Man U vs a bunch of Germans, its close to call but the penalty shoot-out defeats made me plump for rooting for the Germans .... to lose
Also mentioned on the IML by a new member, Colin Mitchell, was the possibility that Plymouth didn't try too hard once the score from Scarborough came through:
Hail Cumbrians, I'm new to the list and thought I would introduce myself. I live in Whitehaven and have been an ardent supporter of the blues for 17 years, the last seven years as a season ticket holder. This season Michael Knighton's principles got the better of me and I returned my ticket on the transfer deadline day. I have since found it very hard to return to BP, because I now consider that I am giving my money to MK and not Carlisle Utd. Here's a few questions to get some topic's going:- Does anyone believe (like me) that Plymouth handed us football league status on a plate, after the Scarborough announcement? (my God what am I suggesting). From the managers that have been linked so far, who is everyone's favourite? I quite like the sound of John Rudge, he's got a proven track record with Port Vale. Do we really want Jimmy Glass as our goalkeeper? I know his goal saved the club and everything (to which I'm eternally grateful) but does that make him a good goalkeeper. If any of these topic's have already been around, I'm sorry but as I said, I'm new.
Colin Mitchell (Disgruntled fan).
As I said in reply to this, Plymouth were trying their hardest and in that desperate end-of-game situation, anything can happen - just look at the Manchester United match! I can't believe that our title of "Jammy Dodgers - 1999" was wrested from our grip so quickly !-)
Also on the IML, Rob Scott-Buccleuch made a worthwhile point about the vitriolic attitude of fans towards Michael Knighton's family:
MK was quoted in N&S that his wife is scared to go shopping, he's had to get his youngest out of school and his daughter has been threatened as well. It would seem that it is not only CUFC fans that are putting pressure on him to go but his family as well. That's not on! Shouting at him at the match is one thing but taking it out on his wife and kids is despicable - the people who do that are not CUFC fans - they're scum!
Absolutely, there is no need for that. The crowd got it right most of the time during the match. The "Knighton Out" chants were mostly saved for the end of the match.
Now that things have "calmed down", I will do my usual Devil's Advocate piece. OK, Mr. Knighton screwed up royally this season and there were many cries of "asset stripping". But, we are all human and we all make mistakes - the trick is to learn from them and this, Mr. Knighton has not done. We go up a division, the team isn't strengthened, we come down. We go up a division again, the team isn't strengthened again, we come down again. He didn't learn the lesson there. This season? Well the team fails to score goals all season, but the defence plays well and ironically we are saved at the death by our goalkeeper scoring. What is the lesson to be learned at the end of this season? I would suggest that it is to cut out the dead wood in midfield and attack and buy some good, hard players. The first step has been taken, in that several players have been released, but we now await the second step. In Valen's Name - buy some good players!!!! In this vein, there were several apologists for Ian Stevens this year, but I was not one of them. He was crap. Jimmy Glass showed more killer instinct in front of goal than Ian Stevens.
On the subject of departing and arriving players, things will sort themselves out over the next couple of months, but I will say this. Jimmy Glass saved our bacon and, for that, he will never have to buy a drink for the rest of his life, provided there is a Carlisle United fan in the room with him. But he is probably not the best keeper for us, and his family are quite happy down in London, apparently. Personally, I thought Richard Knight was a better keeper and, being younger, a better investment. "My God, Mr. Atkinson, you're starting to sound like Michael Knighton!" came the cry from Malcolm Fawcett following that comment on the IML :-)
And finally.......
A curious thing happened on 30 May in the chat room - Jimmy Glass dropped in !-) We had a good chat about various things, including a possible offer from Manchester United. So, if anyone wants to own up to this impersonation, I'm waiting.........
To bring an end to "one hell of a month" I went to Jackson's (nee The Front Page) on Bank Holiday Monday to watch The Wailers. You can't beat a good bit of Reggae !-)
Also, you might have noticed that I have changed the directory name for this section of my website. The old directory will remain for at least a month, but in real terms it will probably remain until I need the space. I would be grateful if anyone with links to my site could amend them to http://www.kynson.org.uk/RIOA and anyone who isn't listed on my CUFC resources page, please let me know.
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