People have been wondering when was the last time United collected four straight victories. Well, I'll tell you it was in February 1997 when Mervyn Day's side, sitting at the top of Division Three won league games against Scarborough, Brighton & Cambridge sandwiched either side of an Auto Windscreens success at Shrewsbury Town. Since then, the best we'd managed in five complete seasons was a three-game winning flurry against Preston, Burnley and Millwall a year or so later which proved not enough to prevent relegation from the Second. It's maybe worthwhile pointing out that the two home games in that 1997 four-match sequence were watched by attendances of 4,936 and 5,542 respectively. Although higher than our current crowds, that is not a lot better than we managed on Saturday when 4,388 saw us defeat the Imps to earn a Second Round crack away to Scunthorpe. When we played Torquay a few weeks later and won 5-1 to go 4 points clear at the top, only 4,680 were in attendance. Now you might say that another dose of Third Division football for a public who at that stage were used to winning trophies, visiting Wembley and watching games played at a higher level may not have been much of a crowd-puller, but it does go to show that the people of Carlisle really do NEED a good reason to turn out and support their side. Good crowds have always been hard to build and crucially, maintain. Owner John Courtenay has been bemoaning the fact that a petition in the summer signed by 13,000 people appeared to show they would all turn out to watch United once he completed his takeover. While its true they were virtually all there for the season opener against Hartlepool, the last four or five gates have struggled to reach 4,000. John estimates we need between 4,500 and 5,000 to break even and compete in this division. The problem seems to be that the public will only turn up if there's either a) a strong campaign in the media urging them to show up or b) a run of good results and an improved league position for them to look at in the paper. Now it's true that up to now, the efforts of the club to seek out these missing supporters have not exactly set the world alight. Relying solely on the local press and/or supporter groups like CCUIST will not in itself be enough. However its been very tough for John to sort out the mess he inherited at Brunton Park and the playing side has had to be the priority - at all levels from youth upwards. People have been calling on Kids for a Quid schemes, particularly for midweek cup-ties and it will be interesting to see if John bows to the pressure and does a Kids for a Quid at the Wrexham LDV Trophy game next month. It might be a wise move. By then, we'll hopefully have extended our winning run to six games - that would be even better. The most significant signing of John's time at Carlisle may not turn out to be Roddy Collins at all, but a man by the name of Paul Kee who may not be a household name in Cumbria like Roddy is but who is being brought to the club to spark a revolution in the way young playing talent is coached. As Youth Development Officer, Kee brings with him a reputation for excellence during his time working in Northern Ireland. He brought over a group of young Irish kids the other week and the parents of the young Carlisle boys they were playing against got a glimpse of the sort of quality that this man Kee can produce. Almost all the boys from over the Irish Sea were well ahead of the local kids in terms of basic skills - trapping, passing, shooting and perhaps above all, appreciation of space. It will take time, but Kee's methods will bring dividends. He believes in the continental system of developing skills in youngsters without exposing them to bare competition too early. Develop the basic skills, and then when they get to 12-13, start them playing competitively. This approach has worked wonders in Holland and France. It may well do too in Cumbria. A glance at our recent results - one defeat in eight games - brings to mind a similar improvement in form last season. A 6-1 thrashing of Leyton Orient in January kick-started a run of good form that lifted United away from danger. Up to that point, things had been very difficult with only a 3-0 win over Scunthorpe, our forthcoming FA Cup opponents in early December lifting much of the gloom. But there does seem to be another factor in all this which is transfer activity, or more to the point, the lack of it. Our poor run of results both this season and last can be directly attributed to the high turnover in players. Roddy Collins brought an awful lot of players in at the start of last season, but he also got rid of a good few as well, something which happened again in the early weeks of the current campaign. Although this was partly driven by necessity, it was also a sign of a man who was finding his feet in English football and not always picking the right players to change things at the club. Strangely enough, once the club was put under a transfer embargo last season, we started to win games. Clearly, without the number of changes that constant new arrivals and sudden departures bring, a settled side soon develops, and results follow. It's happened again this year. It's been more than three weeks since Collins signed anyone - hey presto, we've begun winning games again! It's not a magic formula, it's not pulling rabbits out of hats, it's just plain old common sense. Not that I'm saying Roddy shouldn't sign any more players - far from it - but the wage bill has only so much elastic in it, as John Courtenay said this week and our squad is starting to really look the part. The only difficulty to overcome is how to keep hold of our talented loanees. But that's another problem for another day. Al |
