London Calling – December
A Happy Christmas to all our readers. Well last month was quite something. We started with a trip to Cheltenham where we lost 1 – 0 despite scoring a last minute equaliser. But who really cares?
Then a week later it was down to Torquay. This year, as ever, we travelled down for the weekend and enjoyed the nightlife that Torquay has to offer. We managed to ignore the rain on the Friday night and made up for it by drinking a cocktail named, rather ominously ‘Pharmaceutical Stimulant’ in a café-bar called ‘Elephant’ overlooking the harbour. Those still able to walk in the morning met at the ‘Hole in the Wall’, a sixteenth century smugglers inn, which serves good food and real ale. Then it was up to the Boots and Laces to meet up with London Branch members travelling from as diverse places as Cornwall and Essex.
The match, whilst never high quality, was certainly a thriller. Three fantastic goals from Karl Hawley (who quite rightly received the Player of the Month Award for League 2) and a scrambled goal from Kevin Gray were enough to get us the three points. As one Torquay fan put it, "If we had scored 20 they would have scored 21". It would have sent us home happy had we been going home, but we weren’t - we immediately regrouped in the Boots and Laces to watch the England game and see another famous victory. Then it was off to Al Beb for a touch of North African cuisine before finishing off the night with the Livermead Hotel’s karaoke entertainment.
Beating Oxford at home 2 – 1 was another great result and then being in London it meant that we could pop into the High Court to listen to the proceedings, ignoring Simon Cowell three courts along the corridor.
Being a Trust member I had only heard about the court case through the Evening News and Star (there was nothing in the Trust newsletter or on the website to give any indication, when or why it was happening or what it was trying to achieve) and found the court details on the Internet. I arrived about half-an-hour after the start, just in time to see the Court Usher fall asleep and thirty minutes before they wrapped up the morning’s proceedings to go to lunch. What a life!
Other London Branch members popped in on Wednesday and then I went along to listen to the ruling on the Thursday. The whole thing was a bit of an anti-climax and just showed how easy the legal profession can burn a lot of money achieving very little. After three days in court the judge decided that the injunction that is already in place should remain and gave no indication of who might win should the case ever get to trial.
The Wycombe game then, was just the brilliant end to a fantastic week. To lose to a goal a couple of minutes from the end was a sickener, but the lads should feel proud of the way in which they played, especially in the second half. After weathering the ten-minute storm immediately after half-time, it was United who took control and looked the most likely winners.
December will be a busy month for the London Branch with Rushden and Peterborough in quick succession. We’ve managed to arrange an 11-a-side game against Peterborough Supporters so there should be a good turn out at Ebenezers before the game.
The following Friday is the London Branch Christmas Dinner being held in the heart of the West End. We hold it early in December because most members want to travel up to Carlisle over Christmas and/or the New Year to take in the Darlington and Rochdale games, but there will still be enough left to make a reasonable crowd at Boston and quite a few will be travelling back via Grimsby on the 2nd Jan.
See you on our travels
Malcolm Fawcett
Information@carlislelondonbranch.org