Newcastle andSunderland fans are a tad unhappy about this, and can you blame them. As for Ken Bates, lets just say any complaints seem to have fallen on deaf ears Apart from being in Las Vegas to see Lennox Lewis become the first unified heavyweight champion of the world my favourite non-football sporting moment must be the recent Ryder Cup event..Sadly I wasn't actually there for this one but thanks to the superb TV presentation - and you have to say Sky's coverage was outstanding (it's all very well saying it shouldnt be on satellite but even if BBC or ITV had the rights to show the Ryder Cup never in a million years would they have matched BSkyBs coverage. On-air well before the start of play and then staying live without breaks for any other programmes until play had ended for the day. No way would you have got that service from any other company.There was a massive row in London last week when ITV had the rights to show Arsenal's game in Auxerre but chose to show Coronation Street on the mainchannel and bunged the football on the ITV2 news channel. Now even by digital television standards this is one rare programme outlet and basically only a handful of people could see the game live. You could have perhaps understood it if it had been a non-London team, but what a cock-up yet again by ITV. The fact that Arsenal put in perhaps their best ever performance in an away European tie didn't exactly cool the situation.The Gunners fans wanted Bergkamp but what they got was Betty's hot pot. The Beeb are now trying to get back in on the boxing scene, they 'assumed' some years ago that it was sport that had lost its appeal and would not attract viewers. Its taken satellite TV again to prove them totally wrong. The BBC have even bought the rights for a couple of massive fights lately. No I don't mean Audley Harrison! They got Roy Jones' clash with Clinton Woods, but then didnt show it live so everyone knew the result by the time it was screened. And coupled with the awful presentation - the commentator insisted on several occasions that one of the fighters was Roy Wood, suppose we now know what he does when not wishing it to be Christmas everyday! Then there was Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas - a fight with worldwide appeal. After deciding not to screen it live again the Beeb promised to show a delayed time recording of the bout in full. They then promptly left out three rounds of thecontest. Time to bring back Harry Carpenter it would seem. He loved his boxing did Harry and was a superb professional. Without doubt one of the nicest men I've ever worked with in television. But my greatest memories involving sport will always be to do with Carlisle United. I would not want to change that even if I could but it would be impossible to do given the fact that they have been the love of my life (in a non-women type way) since the age of five. Aye as football goes I was destined to be with the Cumbrians- but you know what - even after everything they have put me through, I'd still not swap 'em for any club in the world. Anyway apart from being my team they also represent my home town. Isn't it great how most of us are real proud to be Cumbrians, do you know anyone who isn't? But why does that pride so often not also include our football league team. United are very much part of the community and while you can understand (sort of) why more than a few people choose to follow 'bigger' clubs, fair enough your chances of enjoying success are dramatically increased, but though you can enjoy winning the Premiership or FA Cup, you can't tell me that you feel it as much as a resident of say Manchester or North London. They support their team but they also live there too. They take their pride home with them, can it feel the same if you are a Man United 'fan' from Carlisle? Wouldn't be much of a game left if all of us decided to follow the big clubs would it? While I'm on the subject, bit of a sore point of mine as you've no doubt gathered let me refer to the Cumberland News of October 4. Now I always enjoy reading the paper, when working in London which is quite a lot. If you can't actually be in Gods own county then reading about the place is the next best thing. Wonder if the boss up at Dalston Road as ever thought about selling copies in London. Perhaps they have and felt it would not be practical in terms of cost. If so fair enough but if not it certainly might be worth sounding out the main railway stations in the capital. It's now possible to buy a local paper from many towns and cities from Devon to Glasgow. So many people from our neck of the words now live, work or travel to the big city on a regular basis - well is your Virgin train EVER half empty? I've yet to see that bloke off the advert who is so comfortable as he sits down with four seats to himself - his shoes turn into slippers! That Richard Branson has a real sense of humour eh! Anyone who uses the west coast line like me on a regular basis has my heartfelt sympathy. By the way if you are travelling home for Christmas the following might be of interest. Two years ago, even by Virgin standards, they pulled a stunt which to this day leaves me gobsmacked. It was Christmas Eve - the busiest day of the year on the railways I'd imagine. So what do Virgin do? Decide to carry out engineering work that's what! Everyone at Euston thought it was a yuletide joke until realising there were no trains to get on. So if you are coming north its worth checking out the internet for flights. I've got myself a Heathrow-Newcastle return with British Airways for two quid cheaper than the cost of a train ticket. The flight takes about 40 minutes and though you then have to get to Carlisle, believe me, its so much quicker and much less stressful. To return to that earlier point regarding that October edition of the C News. Now I don't know Hunter Davies personally, no doubt he's a nice man and certainly a better journalist than I'll ever be. The paper that day featured a nice picture of Mr Davies in the beautiful place which is Ullswater. Nothing wrong with that but the caption which went with the picture did rather make the hackles rise. Well mine anyhow. Some might agree and others will say I'm being over the top. This is what it said: "Hunter draws on his love and knowledge of all things Cumbrian" - Well with a lifetime of love and knowledge as a Carlisle United supporter the chapter on the Blues in Hunter's book should make interesting reading. Perhaps there is one and if so then an apology will be forthcoming - but somehow I doubt United will get much of a mention. Before those of you start composing your letters of complaint aimed my way to say the publication is 'just' about Lakeland - let me point out that the publicity for the book also says it looks at a host of Cumbrian attractions - from the landscape to literary, from tarns to towns, museums, etc. Don't try and tell me that the only professional football league team in this area could not be labelled an attraction - fair enough not by all - but by more than a few folks thats for sure . None of this would really matter - but what makes genuine CUFC supporters seeth - is on the rare occasion the Cumbrians enjoy a bit of success - without fail up pop Mr Davies and Mr Bragg to remind us of their total lifetime of evotion following Carlisle United. Perhaps they have also returned to Brunton for matches after Knighton's departure. Fair play if they have. Chaps, in many ways you cant be taken to task for preferring to watch Arsenal or Spurs rather than Carlisle, just be honest about it. Or if we've got you all wrong, because don't for one second think this is my opinion only, most Blues fans feel the same, but if we are mistaken, then why not show your support for the club when we're NOT winning promotion in 1974 or getting to the AutoShield final. The way things have been of late on the pitch at Brunton it would mean spending quite a lot more time here but by crikey you'd win some much-needed Blue Army respect. It needs to be pointed out in fairness that I think both guys did offer help in some way for CCUIST. Certainly Melvyn agreed to be interviewed and after having'checked me out' (did) they think I was Preston in disguise) cleared the way to go to Westminster and and record the said interview. His company have their own TV/Video production unit. Mr Bragg is either part owner, director or involved in some other way. CCUIST thought/hoped that it would be no problem to record what was just a five minute interview using their facilities. Even if there had been a fee I'm sure we'd have paid it because it just made sense and was so practical, not to mention quicker, to make use of the technical unit already setup. But we were told this was not possible. Again this may have had nothing to do with Wigton's finest and maybe the production crew was real busy so poor old Alan Steel had to ask if I could 'borrow' a Sky TV unit and record the interview with Melvyn. Incidentally I hope at a later date lot more comes out about Alan's and CCUIST's efforts were concerned. There will be a more detailed piece on the trust in my programme column in the not too distant future. So best hurry up and get me that bottle of red wine in eh Alan! But even Mr Steel can't really have expected my boss to allow us to simply borrow a Sky outside broadcast unit. I did mention it with tongue firmly in cheek and they say the production manager is still to this day often reduced to fits of manic laughter at the request. As the man responsible for the budget he would have had some task explaining to the head of Sky Sports where that £25,000 had gone.That's how much those outside broadcast units cost per hour! Mind it wants pointing out that Sky did shell out over £10,000 to send an outside broadcast unit all the way to Workington to record a feature on and about CCUIST. Did you see Border or the local BBC there? So we never did get to interview Melvyn but if we had one question I most certainly would have asked him, was why he, as a 'lifelong' Blues fan, appeared to 'forget' that fact when appearing on Fantasy Football. Even though the best commercial manager we've ever had, one Martin Hudson, allegedly supplied Melv with CUFC scarves and other Blues items. For some reason nothing relating to Carlisle United got a look in! But when it came to talk of the Arsenal.. Rant almost over but because there will be at least one person out there who will be in touch to blast out a verbal volley, I'll say this. They will point out that the book is about Lakeland and its attractions so why should a football club get much of a look in. But the blurb for the book as was mentioned earlier, also says it covers towns and their attractions too. Perhaps Tullie House will get a mention, certainly deserves one. Maybe Carlisle United will too. But if not what I would say is if Hunter Davies wrote a similar book based around north London - you can bet that the attraction of, and his knowledge and love for Arsenal football club would be included in that publication. The Gunners are probably the best club in the world at the moment. Wish I supported them too in a way but for all their success - I'd not swap United for anything. Yep and its still pretty tough for us isn't it at the moment. Alright we've got no money really to bring in a couple of players which would make a differnce. We have a committed owner and manager and some decent young talent. It's obvious we need some experience in the team but many footballers are still not living in the real world. United made enquiries about signing an experienced player a few weeks ago. Not a bad player but possibly with his best playing days now behind him. If he kept the right attitude by dropping down to Division Three then he could have been an effective part of our team. But the amount of money the bloke wanted for signing on, plus various bonus payments for this that and the other, was quite staggering.I'd love to name the guy so you could be aware of just what those financial demands were - but I better not, because err John Courtenay might not have a beer with us ever again - and oh yeah Roddy would probably chuffing 'slaughter' me. The player in question certainly got very short shrift from Brunton Park. And to those reading who reckon we should shell out whatever it costs to sign someone with the 'experience' of having played in the Premiership - two words boys - Eric Gates. Enough said! It appears that every penny still needs to be accounted for at the club but hopefully when the fellas involved on the financial adminside of things are happy then we can strengthen the side. A wee bit of good fortune would be nice too. How many players have suffered injuries as they were finding their best form again. Brian Wake is a hero the way he's battled on because that lad needed a knee operation long before now. And Richie was looking sharp, well he was till he got that whack in the face so that's him out of action for a fair while. Some of those trialists in the team against Newcastle looked promising, lets hope they prove it to be the case and can do a job for the Cumbrians. Incidentally those two friendlies with Celtic and Newcastle have both been smashing matches to watch. If you didn't go then get yourself down to Paradise Park if they arrange more. You won't be disappointed. So there is still a great deal of hard work to be done at Brunton.. But this is still the team for me because I'm 100% happy to be a Cumbrian. And as I wrote in my last book - if your reading this then you must feel the same. You know the late, great Alan Ross could not understand why ther would be coaches filled with Carlisle lads heading off to Manchester or Liverpool,etc, every week. It was obvious even weeks before his death that this was an issue that still bothered, angered and saddened him. "Carlisle is a smashing place, why not support the team where they live. Why do they do it Mick," asked the clearly frustrated Rossy. Sorry mate I didn't have the answer for you did I. But many, many of the Blues faithful share your sentiments fully on this issue. There's a fair few of us left though who love this place and still also take pride in the great Border City's footy team. But there's always room for more folks to make that full-on committment to the brilliant Blues - and you might like to consider this. Come the day when Carlisle United are successful again, the fact that we've paid our dues through thick and thin means we not only get to enjoy the achievement, we have the bonus of bringing those special feelings back with us to a part of the world we are also proud to call home. Respect Mick Mitchell Legends of Carlisle United, by Mick Mitchell, is available from WH Smith priced at £14.99 - and quite possibly the club shop, too! |
