It's been a long and very draining four months and I think it's fair to say that the hard work is only just beginning. The end of administration means the start of some serious re-building work at Brunton Park. Not just in the physical sense with the plans to complete the East Stand and redevelop the Waterworks End but also in the arrival of new personnel and with them, hopefully a newly professional attitude in and around the club. For too long there have been complaints about unhelpful staff, phone calls going unanswered and email queries being ignored. We've been allowed to drift into becoming a very shoddy outfit in recent years. It already seems a million years since we had Martin Hudson running one of the best commercial operations in the lower leagues and had a thriving ticket office that was doing far more business than it has been recently but managing to get it done properly. Hopefully this week's appointment of former Sky Sports man Paul Bell, a man known very well to CUFC Online columnist Mick Mitchell, will signal the start of better things off the pitch. John Courtenay has promised to get the eagerly-awaited new home strips into a new-look club shop to be fitted out at the back entrance to the East Stand, owing to the renovation work needed at the existing club shop on Warwick Road. One thing's for sure - the first day's business is likely to be hectic. That, and the prospect of credit card facilities finally being restored to the business should ensure nobody goes without their prized new shirt. The switch to all-ticket home games has not been universally welcomed and speaking as someone who has helped sell the darned things on a couple of occasions now I can say without doubt things could have been done better. We had no light in the cabin for the first game and nobody from the club told us we weren't actually required to count the takings! This was a difficult enough task in fading light for Dave Nicholson (get well soon mate) and Dick Young, without the knowledge that it was totally unnecessary. Then for the game against Shrewsbury we ran out of £1 coins for change on a couple of occasions. In time, these things will get sorted. We'll probably see paid staff selling the tickets too because us CCUIST volunteers want to enjoy our pre-match build up again some day! It's just as well we've been around to help, as I don't know what would have happened otherwise - a thousand or more angry punters waiting to buy tickets at the club shop with only one person serving them? Things will get smoother - and they need to! On the pitch of course things have been far from rosy. Those who expected an instant rise to the top of this Third Division have been left unhappy and perhaps a little disappointed at the early form of our new-look and constantly evolving young team. Things have not been easy what with injuries, suspensions and strange refereeing decisions but overall, I think we can see the progress that is being made. We now have the most exciting individual players at the club in five years and given time and careful nurturing, the mistakes they have been making will be ironed out and results will follow. John Courtenay has spelled out the plan - it is a five year one and it aims to get us into Division One and keep us there. To do that, the focus will be on younger talented players although now that Mr Administrator has left the building, I expect a few more experienced faces will be added. The problem is that these players often earn twice what a younger kid will command and even at Division 3 prices, that's a lot of extra dosh for just one player who may only have a season or two left at league level. Once a few more mature legs are in the side, the difference could be quite marked. Our defending has been poor in recent weeks and has cost us a lot of soft goals. Meanwhile the attack, shorn of Richie Foran through injury and suspension, has not looked too likely to break any goalscoring records. However, the quality of play in the midfield has been going up nearly every week and we are learning to keep the ball and pass it better, getting the ball into good positions for our wingers like Baldacchino and McGill to get in crosses and link with the front men. The bare bones of a very useful side are there for all to see - but it will take time to get it all together and admittedly, Roddy Collins doesn't have much time. If we are still near the bottom at Christmas, it will take a lot of effort to see us out of trouble. Maybe I'm one of the few optimists who can still just about see us sneaking into the play-offs this season. The top teams are not exactly setting the world on fire and I for one didn't expect to see Torquay United up there after 13 games. Nobody looks like 'doing a Plymouth' and getting away from everyone else at the top, so it could b very tight and the gap between top and bottom may not grow that much. A run of four or five consecutive wins can transform a season - as we saw last year - and if Roddy can find that magic formula that can turn promise into points, it's still not too late for us to get back into contention. I know that sounds crazy after a run of nine defeats in 10 games but this division really is the most open of them all. It couldn't be done in the Premiership, or Division One even, but at this level, clubs who have a committed owner behind them who are prepared to invest in the squad can suddenly surge up the table given the right sort of momentum. I suppose the most disappoiting aspect of all may appear to be the size of the crowds, which have dropped back from that season opener of 11,000+ to just under 3,500 for the last game. However Carlisle folk have long been known for their fickle nature and this year has proved to be no different. The thing that stops United being on a level playing field with the likes of Preston, Burnley and Hull is the fickle nature of our support. Those three clubs can count on 6,000 even when they are down near the bottom of the league. United will get 8,000 if we are at the top, but our support is notorious for dropping away when times are hard. Even John Courtenay can't change the social habits of an entire city in a few months. But given a few good results strung together, the fairweathers will be back, no doubt claiming they were always planning to return regardless. A likely story. Nevertheless, since the takeover our average gates are well up and the regular attendance is at least 1,000 higher than last season which is something to smile about. 1,000 extra faces at home games means £10,000 extra in the coffers and that can only be good when the team are struggling to find their feet. Al |
