David Allen - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 10 June 2009 By Thetashkentterror

David Allen
United chief executive David Allen spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Tuesday night about the run-up to the end of the early bird season ticket offers on Friday, Allen then later in the interview discussing the situations of Danny Graham and Cleveland Taylor :


" We would encourage all the fans who want to buy a season ticket that the deadline for the early bird discounts is 5pm on Friday. So anybody wanting to buy a season ticket, rush down this week and then you will get the discounts. The adult tickets for seated will go up from £360 to £390 so a £30 saving by coming along before Friday.

" It is a saving on what the fans pay and the money is going right into the club. It is a really good indicator of the support that we are getting. At the moment at 5pm tonight, when the ticket office closed, we have sold 1,423 season tickets for next season, which is absolutely fantastic and it is on par with our sales for last year, which were the highest in recent history.

" Of course you never know how it might tail off later but certainly there were 77 tickets sold this afternoon, so we are looking at it all the time and it is going really well. It is overwhelming is the support because we did have a difficult season last year, but it just shows how we have loyal fans in this area and they are getting behind the club and looking forward to next season.

" The fans are very, very important, it is the fans and the support that keeps the club going. No-one should underestimate that, the players are there to play for the fans so please get behind the club and come and support us. Everybody down there is doing their best, we had a very up and down season last season, we had some good games but some very, very disappointing games.

" We weren't very consistent at home but we had some great games against Leeds, MK Dons and Leicester. That final game of the season against Millwall, Jimmy Glass was there and the atmosphere was absolutely magical. So please think back to that last game, anybody who is in doubt then think back to the atmosphere in that last game and just come along and enjoy it. "



" None of us want to think about that Tuesday night when we played against Hereford, none of us want to think about that at all. So everybody is doing all they can to get things right and just looking forward. It is the holiday season now for the players but Greg (Abbott) is doing a lot of work. We want probably four players in to get it right and everybody is doing everything that they can.

" We have recruited Carol Milnes and Martin Hudson as Business Development Managers. Andy Hall is there now full-time as the Fans Liaison Officer or Media Officer, whatever you want to call him, to help our communication with the fans. There is a lot going on at the club and we just want to do everything that we can.

" Nothing is imminent on new players, nothing is going to happen tomorrow or anything. Of course it is a difficult time these couple of weeks now, when a lot of players are on holiday and agents are on holiday and that type of thing. Greg has got a list of players that he is looking at though, they are talking to these players, they are talking to agents.

" I said four players but it is actually four positions that he wants to fill, and he has talked to quite a few more players than that to fill those positions, and we are very optimistic that we are going to get the right people. It would be unfair of me to comment on any specifics because I should leave that to Greg to comment on but we are looking and talking to some good players, that are the right players that we want to bring to the club.

" Nobody has actually come forward for Danny Graham yet. What we have had though, we have had the letter from Danny confirming his position and obviously we have talked to him so we know exactly where we are at, at least now we know because that was an uncertainty before. "



" What we had done though, we had offered Danny Graham the best package that any player at Carlisle United has ever been offered. So we couldn't have done anything more than we did. No clubs have come forward yet, his agent has told us that there are some Championship clubs very interested and a couple of other clubs, but nothing specific at all.

" We would be in a difficult position if nobody came forward for him and so would he. I think that he wouldn't have put that letter in if he wasn't very confident that he was going to get a place somewhere. It is common knowledge that Huddersfield offered a half-reasonable sum for him back in January, so there are clubs out there that wanted him then. He will be confident that there will be clubs there now that want him and we just wait and see on that over the next week or so.

" Obviously Cleveland Taylor is a very, very disappointing one for the club. When we got that request the manager talked to him and spent a bit of time with him and obviously got to the bottom of the situation and made sure that we understood it fully. Cleveland was a very, very entertaining player, a great character as well off the pitch and a good friend of a lot of the players.

" He was very, very popular around the club, our initial concern was that there was something wrong at the club but we know now that that isn't the case, which is reassuring for us and it is very, very important for us to know that. What we must do now though is respect his wishes that the circumstances remain private and respect what he wants to do.

" It was a very up and down year last year, and some great performances which were fantastically exciting and some real disappointments. We have already mentioned Hereford on that cold Tuesday night, we were all heartbroken when we left the club that night. All that we want to do is get settled down with a good squad who want to fight for the club, play their best and just get up there. "



" It is a very, very difficult time and we have got to get every penny we can into the club. We have rallied the fans to get their season tickets and they are very, very important. Sponsorship is also very, very important, we have appointed Carol Milnes and Martin Hudson to develop the business side and they are busy. Jenny Anderson who has been there a long time is pushing as well with the sponsorship.

" Dick Young, our Commercial Director, who has been out of action for a little while with damaged hips after a car accident, he is back in action now and this last week he has been down at the club a lot. Everybody is pushing hard at that business side, rallying the businesses, getting the sponsorship and the commercial side up and running.

" We have got a licence to do weddings at the ground now so hopefully we will start pushing that a little bit more and getting the details about that out. We have got great facilities for parties and conferences which all put money into the club, and we are just pushing that business side very hard.

" We haven't been approached by anybody for the club yet, obviously everybody is welcome at the club. Anybody who is wanting to spend money down there is welcome, and it goes to a good cause that we all want to enjoy, we just want to welcome anybody.

" I'd say to people thinking about buying season tickets, remember those exciting games. We played some really, really good games last year, avoiding mentioning the disappointments but we played some really, really good games. I remember that atmosphere in the ground with the fans really behind the team, it was absolutely magical.

" Building up to that very, very last game when it was a very, very exciting finish. The team did it, we stayed up, hopefully can we just do something better next year. There is a great atmosphere there and lots of people do enjoy getting behind the club and being part of it, so just come along. Our season tickets are on sale now, come down, get them, we have got discounts until Friday so come along and get your season tickets and look forward to next year. "