To be honest, it’s been coming for a couple of weeks now. Regular announcements to the effect that it’s all tied up bar the final signatures, without any obvious signs of further progress. Regular assurances from the club that all is well but no explanation as to why when the initial scrutiny was undertaken at record speed it was taking quite so long to hammer out what we’re assured are the loose ends. I desperately hope I’m wrong, because I can’t see how the club is going to pick itself up if the Courtenay deal falls. I hate to be pessimistic, though maybe that’s what being a Carlisle fan makes you, but as a rule the old adage that there’s no smoke without fire generally proves correct, and I’m just not finding the reassuring sounds coming out of Brunton Park at the moment particularly reassuring. There seems to be little doubt that Collins threw in the towel prior to the Lincoln game, and was persuaded to stay. That doesn’t smack of a slight delay to me. We hear contrasting stories that either Knighton’s hanging on for slice of the Lee Andrew pie, or that John Courtenay got a nasty shock when the accounts finally surfaced and is getting cold feet. Whatever it is, and whatever happens next, guess who’ll be the last to know? This sale has to go through. If it doesn’t, all the progress made over the past season will have been for nothing, and we’ll be without a manager, several key players, and not, from what I can see, a lot of hope. Didn’t make the Lincoln game myself, but half a dozen or so of the London based lads made the trip up in a mini-bus. A long way to go for a 3-1 defeat, and if whoever said that the behind the scenes goings-on didn’t contribute to the lacklustre performance wants to believe that, then that’s fine, but I don’t think many people are convinced. I did get over to Kidderminster though, and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. After away trips to Orient (0-0) and Luton (1-1) I suppose a 2-2 draw was on the cards really, but it was the very least we deserved, and the it’s the progress we are making on the pitch, with the promise of decent players to come in the summer, that makes the threat of all it all coming crashing down that much more depressing. After years of watching Carlisle sides take the field away from home with the expectation that they would be beaten etched in their faces (you know what I’m talking about) it was great to see us take the game to the opposition. We looked a bit short of width, but with McGill out, perhaps that wasn’t surprising. After going behind against the run of play, we ran at the opposition and scored a couple of decent goals. It was a shame that we let them in for the equaliser, but we could hold our head up at the end. The signs were there. The darts and pool teams continue to ply their trade, though darts results to report are proving as difficult to obtain as Mr Knighton’s paw print at the bottom of the sales certificate. I’ll see what I can do for next time. The Pool team pulled off a good win against Hearts though, and it was particularly good of them to sink the black early on in the crucial doubles encounter at the end there. Even given the Lincoln result, Halifax’s run of form would suggest that we may be able to enjoy the final few weeks of the season without looking over our shoulders for the first time in what seems to be quite a long time. Their game against Orient at the weekend was a crunch one, and there’ll be a few people breathing a little easier in East London after that. Probably the best result for the rest of us. Let’s just keep that gap at 12 points while they run out of games. My next game’s looking like the Macc Lads over Easter though my luck with getting to games that are actually passed fit to play hasn’t been great this season, so I’m not counting on it yet. I don’t know if any of the players or officials of Carlisle Utd read this but, Billy Barr, I was chatting to goalkeeper Richard Wilmot in the St Albans City clubhouse, and he sends his best. As ever, we’re always looking for more members, so if you’re a Carlisle fan living away (or even at home) and would like to benefit from arranged travel as well as receive our Hit The Bar magazine, please just get in touch! Nick Crowther |
