United media officer and kit manager Andy Hall (AH) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this afternoon ahead of Carlisle's League One match away to Sheffield United, Hall first talking the Blues planning to move to a new ground at Kingmoor Park :
JP
The plastic pitch, do you fancy that one?
AH
He (Derek Mountfield) is just sort of slaying me, we have had a conversation there haven't we, yeah, I am seeing where he is coming from, so we might just have to go for that.
JP
You will certainly have some plastic 3G pitches around the ground in the proposal won't you for training facilities, and something I guess to be perhaps used and hired out as another revenue stream?
AH
We have got a long way to go to decide what it is that we want to go beside the stadium, and the plans that finally get drawn up. There are so many steps and pieces of the jigsaw to get together before we get that far. We have to appreciate that this is for us maybe the fourth or fifth step of what is a very long process, we have got to wait now, we have got to give respect to the officials of Carlisle as a city, Cumbria as a county, for them to sit down and make their decision to see whether they agree with us that this will be a viable project, not just for Carlisle United by for the city of Carlisle, for the citizens of Carlisle and for the people of Cumbria.
Because, we have got to get it right, I think a lot of the fans are right, if we do this wrong, if we go into it with all good intentions and come out of it at the other end with something that doesn't work and is just a box to play football in then what is the point. So, we have got to get it right and we need the help of the council, of the city and of the county so that they can help us with their thoughts and we can move forward together all as one, get the project done we hope and then get into this new stadium.
JP
How exciting has it been working in the background knowing that this is brewing and there is the potential for this in the background with Carlisle United?
AH
You have no idea, the number of times when I have done this little slot, wherever we have been, places like MK Dons and even Doncaster, some of the stadiums we haven't liked, and you have said to me wouldn't it be good to have something like this? It has been so tempting.
JP
Have you been biting your tongue?
AH
But, you can't, because like I say, there is a massive amount of respect that we owe to the officials of Carlisle, and the officials of Cumbria. Because, they have got to do their own processes and so far they have listened and that is what we want them to keep doing. But, we have got to listen to them, if they have got concerns then we have got to go with our planners and come back with the answers that will allay those concerns.
Because, we can't just take this as given, we can't just ride roughshod over the developers at Kingmoor Park or wherever we end up within the city. We can't just expect the council to say yes, we have got to do this properly, so everybody needs to sort of.................. There is a lot of excitement just now, yes it is exciting, just take a couple of steps back and realise that it is step five or six, we have got a lot of people who need to consider things on our behalf and with us, and then we can step forward again.
JP
All the right noises coming out of the club, and I think it will help your appeal even to those fans who are very traditional and perhaps do want to stay at their spiritual home, that there is somebody so traditional on the board as the chairman Andrew Jenkins has been with so much with the club, and even he is saying, look, the future of Carlisle United maybe isn't Brunton Park anymore?
AH
Well, before the AGM we were stood in the director's box funnily enough at Brunton Park and he was looking around, I won't go as far as to say there was a tear in his eye but when he was talking about the fact that we have been through this process, it is something we have just got to do. We have hopefully got to go in and speak to the shareholders and if they are on our side we have just got to accept that this isn't really working. It is fit for purpose, don't get me wrong, Brunton Park is a stadium that every year is fit for purpose.
However, you have got to look at it with your head rather than your heart and ask yourself if it is really going to take us forward the way we want to go forward. We have got to be honest again, the crowd levels that we would get even at Championship level won't break the bank, it won't be anything like what we will see here today with the Blades.
But, we will get decent ones if we give them somewhere to come to that is decent as well, and if we have got a stadium that has been funded, self-funded and erected and ready for us, we can then use the money that comes from being in the Championship or from trying to get into the Championship to improve the squad, because it is only the players, we could do what we want, we could play on a park but it comes down to the eleven players and the quality that they have got that will get us to where we want to be, or go the other way.
JP
And unless of course you guys pull a result out of the bag, a stellar result out of the bag here against Sheffield United today, much of the last hour of BBC Radio Cumbria Sport this evening is going to be based around debating the Carlisle United ground move, the potential for it, listening to what the fans have to say ahead of them coming to see the plans on Thursday at Brunton Park. Season ticket holders up until 4.30pm, am I right?
AH
That's right, and then 6.30pm for everybody else.
JP
And then up to 6.30pm for everyone else, but just looking around this press box, taking it as representative, everything is where it needs to be, it is right, it is well set out, it clearly involved a consultation between the press and Sheffield United to make this press box, and it is that sort of thing that is going to be very important for the ground, and as Derek Mountfield quite rightly said in the start of the show today, it is no use having a stadium that everything is right corporately if it is not right for the fans, everything needs to be done in consultation and I am sure these will be the steps that will follow now?
AH
Absolutely you know, you need subject matter experts more than anything, you need people who, not so much have got a footstep in Carlisle United but they have got a feeling for football, the facilities and what it is that each jigsaw piece at the club needs to make it fit together properly. So, yeah, that is what I mean, if we get to the other end of this process and it is a box where you can play football and sit bums on seats then what is the point of that.
It has got to be done properly, and I also have to be honest and say, and I think John Nixon in one of your questions yesterday, he hinted that if those pieces don't come together then we just don't do it, and we continue to work at Brunton Park the way we are. Because, Brunton Park, even though as a club we are now making noises that it is best for us to move, if we stay there believe me it is not a bad stadium, it is not the worst one that we go to, we know that me and you because we do them all. So, it is not a disaster if we don't move but it is certainly so much better for the club if we do.
JP
I will touch on the game, I will ask you one question about the game today in a minute but I just want to say that I hope this represents a lot of the views of the fans, but this is, including the trips to Wembley, the most excited I have been in my time covering Carlisle United, and I think it is a fantastic effort by everyone to get us to this sort of level, and there is a lot of excitement around this?
AH
Yeah, and sometimes you do cringe when you hear fans asking why haven't you done this? Why don't you do that with the Warwick Road End bogs? Why don't you do this with those crap seats at the left-hand side? I hope I am not using bad words with the BBC here by the way, but you get those things and you are sort of sitting there thinking, well we are not going to spend money on that because there is a process, and you can't tell people.
JP
Now you can?
AH
I do have to reiterate the fact that there is a lot of respect has got to be paid to the officials of Carlisle, we need them to tick all the boxes for us to say we can do this. We can't bully them into that so we need them to be comfortable that what is happening with our plans is what fits into their plans, hopefully that will be what happens to us as Carlisle United.