London Calling : March

Wow, what a month February was for the London Branch! The month started with The Birkbeck Tavern being packed to the rafters as the London Branch meeting place was descended on by exiles from all over the country to pick up their tickets for the match. One of the London Branch Junior Blues took the opportunity to get her sponsorship form signed by a few people hoping to raise the bus fare to a school tournament in France. With so many happy Carlisle Fans there she is now contemplating flying Business Class via Hawaii! The 0 – 0 scoreline was acceptable, even if Holmes scored a perfectly good goal.

Quite a few of us then travelled up for the 5 – 0 thrashing of Rushden before travelling down to Liverpool for the taking of the Kop and then stayed up in Carlisle to make sure we took an advantage to the Second Leg of the Northern Final of the LDV. Whilst I was up in Carlisle I took the opportunity to interview Paul Simpson for Hit the Bar. You can read the interview in this month's edition, which has just hit the club shop. Great value at only a £1.

Then we had another ‘home' match at Barnet and another fantastic turnout from the London Branch members. I had the privilege of being invited into the Director's Box and met the Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous. I was surprised when he turned out to be a really nice guy, who apologised for all the nonsense at the end of last season and joked that the referee was going to play on until Barnet scored. He didn't laugh so much when I told him that one of his stewards had let the barrier blow down on this ref's car as he was arriving earlier in the afternoon. He showed me Barnet's plans for a new stadium and the £3M houses on the hill that were objecting to the plans (including Arsene Wenger's!) In the end I felt slightly sorry for the guy, obviously trying to do his best but being foiled by the Tory council who they are now trying to overturn as the only way of getting the new ground built.

At the match I sat next to freelance writer and London Branch Vice President Hunter Davies and we chatted throughout the game about Barnet's problems, kidnapped inflatable sheep etc, as you do, and most of this appeared in Hunter's article in the New Statesman on Monday 6^th March. You can find it online.

The 2 – 1 victory was never in doubt and consolidated our rightful position at the top of the table. On the Monday following the game I had lunch with Charlie Burgess the Managing Editor of the Independent, who is married to Anne Spackman, the Managing Editor of The Times. Both are avid Carlisle United supporters (so why don't we read more about Carlisle in their papers?) and my interview with him will appear in the April edition of Hit the Bar. A really interesting guy he has brought up his kids to support Carlisle (not easy in London) and his elder son even gave up his Arsenal v Bolton tickets to come and see United at Barnet.

The week finished of course with that fantastic 3 – 0 victory at Northampton. My girlfriend and I eventually arrived home in London at 1pm on Saturday after spending all night in Northampton celebrating and if you were out and about in the clubs that night, we probably met you at some point but I can't say I remember too much about it….

Plans are now underway to make Cardiff a special day out. We are hoping to run three coaches to the game, one from the Midlands, one from North of London and one from South of London, in addition to all those travelling by train and staying the weekend. We managed to sell our ticket allocation in less than 48 hours and have managed to secure an additional allocation of tickets. The package for London Branch members will include coach travel, quizzes, a raffle, specially designed bowler hats, a private bar in Cardiff with a buffet and much more. Can't wait!

See you on our travels