United Trust chairman, and club director Norman Steel (NS) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this evening after Carlisle's dismal start to the League One season, Steel saying it is hardly the end of the world yet:
JP
What have you been making of it all then, the start to the season?
NS
Well, I mean obviously everyone at the club accepts that we are in a wee bit of bother, but it is hardly the end of the world just yet is it. That isn’t meant to sound complacent in any way but we are 72 hours from what Greg Abbott has described as a make or break fixture. So, let’s give him the benefit and let’s get behind them and see what happens on Friday night.
JP
Yeah, definitely everyone wants to do that, no doubt about it because that game is so close now. But, when you say it is not the end of the world what would constitute the end of the world as regards Carlisle United’s season after this start?
NS
Well, I mean we are three games into the season, we have been missing in no particular order of priority, senior players, Danny Cadamarteri, Chris Chantler, Mike Edwards, Lee Miller, Sean O’Hanlon, Matt Robson, Paul Thirlwell. Now there must be about over a thousand league games in terms of experience in there, now that has to count for something within the rigours of League One, which is essentially about strength and pace and power, in my opinion anyway.
Now if you had those players missing for all or most of the season then something has to give. Obviously, as well there has been a greater emphasis on youth this time round, so we have had to give these young lads a chance. I for one will be getting behind the team at every opportunity, and in particular behind the younger players in the squad.
JP
I know that when we were discussing at great lengths over the summer before the start of the season, we were all very excited about the youth policy at the club, seeing the young players in there. Infact I think I said on one of the previous shows that I was more personally, and I feel like I have become a fan of Carlisle United in my years covering them, but I said I was more concerned about seeing these young lads breaking in than Carlisle sort of threatening the play-offs or the top then this season because they wouldn’t do that with young lads.
But, still the results at the start of the season, I mean it has not just been blips has it, it has been quite catastrophic. As Chris Lumsdon has just said, a former player, someone with the club at his heart, a little bit embarrassing?
NS
Certainly the defensive side of the performances has been poor, that is something that the manager and his staff will need to get to grips with very quickly in order to try to turn this around. But, I am by no means giving up on anyone just yet, so let me say that straight away.
JP
What are the members of the Trust, your members saying to you and you I guess putting from them to the club at the moment?
NS
Well, very much on similar lines to what I have just outlined. There is a greater emphasis on youth and now it is a fact of life within the football industry that if you are going to deploy youth then they will need time. I will just contrast the doom and gloom with the fixture against Blackburn Rovers when we had eight teenagers in the squad and also Mark Gillespie, so one 20-year old and eight teenagers in the squad and yet we still managed to beat a team like Blackburn Rovers. So, I am trying to hang on to that as a shining light to see what options are on the horizon if we can give this squad just a little bit of time.
JP
Yeah, and I appreciate that, and it was a wonderful night that we all enjoyed but I also remember Wigan winning the FA Cup and getting relegated last year in the same season. This is an interesting one, Stephen on the text says how long will it take for the directors to realise that if you don’t give the manager sufficient funds to bring in better players then you will get relegated. What would you say to that as somebody who works with everyone in the hierarchy at Carlisle United, or would the board say that they have been backing the manager?
NS
I think they would say that they have been backing the manager, not one of the six directors takes a penny out of the club and they put all the hours God sends into trying to keep it afloat. They are all local businessmen, not like a Coventry situation or a Portsmouth situation as was when the owners are out of the country. They are each of them local businessmen trying to do their best for our football club, the only Football League club I might add in the county. That is what people in the county need to wise up to and start getting behind the team once and for all.
JP
Yeah, no doubt about that, certainly fans can’t help the club by staying away, they have got their own opportunity to say what they want on the terraces but I am sure every club needs the fans there if of course they can afford to do it. On many occasions the three gentlemen you are talking about there who make a lot of the decisions at the club have said that they are custodians……….
NS
There are six directors.
JP
Yeah, well alright, all of you, but those guys in particular have talked about being custodians. Roger in Carlisle wants to know why the club hasn’t been up for sale nationally. If they are always open to that it is something that they would look to do is actually put the club up for sale and try to get in the investors who maybe had the money that the club needed at the moment?
NS
It isn’t something that the board talk about on a regular basis, but I can only repeat what you have heard. You have mentioned three of the directors there, if the right offer came along they see themselves as custodians of the club.
JP
But, is it at a level where they would need to actually seek an offer rather than wait for that offer, are we at a level where if the gates are dwindling, money will get less because of that, it is a whole chicken and egg situation, do they not need to see that, do you all not need to see that rather than wait for it to happen?
NS
Well, you don’t exactly see people forming a queue to come in and take a third tier football club do you, that is the problem. Now perhaps there should be emphasis on trying to attract people, I don’t know, but it is not something that is discussed on a regular basis anyway.
JP
How quickly then do you think things do need to improve as far as all the board are concerned? Friday, next week, next month, is there any sort of timescale do you think?
NS
No, absolutely not, let’s just look at one game at a time, the game is 72 hours away as I indicated earlier, all eyes are on Colchester. Let’s see if we can get some sort of positive result and get the season rolling.
JP
And John Nixon told us on Friday that the club was currently looking at 15 sites for the new ground and they have carried out an evaluation of possible groundshare options as well, what does the Trust think about a move away and if so where might it be based or where do you think it perhaps should be based. Or should I perhaps frame it exactly right, where would your members like it to be based?
NS
The Trust stance on a move away has always been the same, that if for the matchday experience it is going to improve the lot of the supporter then it would be 100% behind such a move. But, as regards to site location I think you will find there is a lot of discussion to go on regarding pinpointing the exact site.
JP
And I just have to mention about the family fun day, there was a lot of interest around your table with people signing up for the Trust, how big was that day for the Trust and has that swollen your numbers?
NS
We signed up about 50-odd on the day, albeit at a reduced price. So, we are continuing to increase in size month by month, memberships are still coming in.