Carlisle United managing director John Nixon spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening as he talked about the recent postponement of the Nottingham Forest game and the lessons the club have learned from the Leeds United match last weekend :
" It's a big disappointment really because it effectively means we don't have a league game from the 3rd of November to the 4th of December and of course or it probably means that we are going to lose somewhere in the region of a six figure income. The television money usually means a little bit more than what we lose through the turnstiles.
" If you take it that it would have happened next week, first v second, so we'd have probably got a good gate through the turnstiles as well as the television income so it is a substantial loss of income at this point in time. It doesn't help the cash-flow in the club at all. Effectively we didn't cancel the game, the Football League cancelled the game because Nottingham Forest applied for the cancellation because they had three call-ups.
" The League have indicated to us that SKY are still interested in covering the game when we reschedule it so that is pretty good. We won't look at a rescheduled date until next week because, we don't expect it to happen, but it could be that both Nottingham Forest and Carlisle were knocked out in the cup this weekend. Then of course we'd have December 1st, the Saturday, free so we would be able to look at that and both play at that time. So we won't even look at it until about Monday or Tuesday next week.
" I think cutting prices tomorrow was a good thing to do for the fans that come and support us week by week. It's a difficult time of year going towards Christmas anyway so the prices are reduced tomorrow, the prices are reduced even further on Tuesday night and I think we would still have done that even if we hadn't had a game and we'd known about the postponement. Because it's just a reward for the fans.
" We looked on the Leeds game as a learning curve both from our point of view, the police point of view and the stewarding point of view. We were stewarded and policed to the level that we expected, which was a full house. We have looked at and analysed the game that took place, and what happened in and outside the ground. I've been able to address all of the issues and hopefully the next time it comes round we can make it an even better occasion and we'd block up some of the little holes that occurred.
" We would have preferred it obviously if both sets of fans hadn't come out at the same time but we have got to look at the evidence and I think that the police did exactly the right thing. The police had got to try to get those fans, the ones travelling on the train, to a 5.15pm or 5.20pm train. Therefore they let them out immediately so that they could make that train. "
" The result was if that they hadn't got to the 5.20pm train the next one to Leeds was 6.15pm and we would have had a lot of Leeds supporters marauding at the top of Botchergate. That would have caused even more chaos and trouble so I think the police took the right decision, they let them out, got as many as possible on the early train and literally got them out of town. That took away the flashpoint that could have occurred later.
" With the benefit of hindsight of course, and we've discussed it with the directors. We've decided for any games in future if we get a maximum attendance then we will move the families from block four, which is the offending area, into block six, we are then going to make block four an adults only area.
" Coupled with that of course we are going to reinforce the netting and the segregation area, and also put another form of netting up to stop any missiles going between the two. So yes we have learned something out of it, and that's what we expected. We've put in place some changes which will make it even more secure for fans to come to Carlisle in the future.
" I'm not sure these problems would be commonplace in the Championship, I think that a lot of our support, we'd like to see between 10,000 and 12,000 crowds if we were in the Championship. I think Leeds are an exception, unfortunately the Leeds fans come with not the best reputation in the world and I think that we learned something from that. In future, in any Championship games, I wouldn't expect us to have the sort of problems or the same sort of fanatical support coming for the opposition.
" We have to be aware of it and it's a bit unfortunate, but I think the police had over 100 people on the streets at Carlisle last week, and we had between 120 and 130 stewards. Effectively what we were stewarding and what they were policing were 200-300 fringe element who were intent on having a little bit of trouble. So generally of the 16,500 fans that came 16,300 of them were very, very good and enjoyed the match. We hope by taking account of what happened last week and putting it right that they will come in future and thoroughly enjoy themselves.
" A cup run is very important because it brings in income and the further we go the more income we get. If we can get through this round and get through the next round in early December then in the third round of course we've got the potential to face one of the Premier League sides and bring in big income. That big income obviously goes straight to the bottom line and helps us to support the club, so it is very important really to have a good cup run.
" It (Stockport) is a 7.15pm kick-off, what we are trying to do is to bring it forward half an hour so that families and youngsters can get in and get home half an hour earlier, which is better. Of course all those youngsters, 17-years old and under, if they are accompanied by an adult will get in free of charge. So we are trying to make it a family occasion and also to get them home a little bit earlier. "