thinking than the fan that’s going purely to cheer on the team. But if you’re a fan of a team, you’re never not going to be a fan just because you’re covering them. I think, in an ideal world, you’ve got a bit of both when covering your local team – you’ve got a bit of knowledge and feeling as well as just wanting to do the job as well as you can. I’ve probably got carried away at times but you can’t switch off completely from being a fan. Having said that, there was an ex-Carlisle manager that asked off the cuff: “Who do you actually support, Jon?” He didn’t realise I was a Carlisle fan and I took that as a compliment because it meant I was doing my job as a journalist and not just being a cheerleader. I think the manager and club can expect you to bang the drum for them all the time but it’s just not like that anymore, and nor should it be. There’s a balance to strike but, as long as you don’t lose sight of either, you should be okay. How much does relegation affect us? In the short term, relegation will affect us financially – I think it could to set us back about £288,000 just for going down. Then you have to look at gates dropping off as well. If Carlisle have a decent summer and look like they’re starting next season well enough, they can stem some of the loss and get people talking positively about them. Were they to struggle again with recruitment, then I think we can expect the crowds to go down further. There’s pessimism now that I think will increase if we struggle in League Two. It’s a tough call because there are obviously a few people out there who would have wanted Kavanagh to be removed this summer, so not a great deal’s changed. It could potentially affect us very seriously, but they can help themselves by getting a few things right this summer and over August and September, which can change the tone quite a lot. It’s a critical time that we’re heading into. Do you think that the type of player Kavanagh wants to bring in is the key to League Two success? It’s one thing saying you want a certain type of player, but it’s another thing getting the right type of character. I don’t think there’s any particular style that you can say is completely invalid; I’ve spoken to people who cover League Two and say more times than ever before try to play football, so it doesn’t have to be up-andat-‘em rough-and-tumble sort of stuff.
But I’ve also spoken to lads that have played in League Two that say not to go into it with raw and unready players. We might need experienced players like those that Carlisle won League Two with – some flair players, but a with a spine of rugged and battle-hardened guys that weren’t going to be bullied, like Kevin Gray, Chris Billy and Derek Holmes. You can see what Kav’s driving at and the merit of what he’s said and I don’t think he wants a team of 11 bruisers like Stevenage or a Wimbledon of the 80s, but he maybe wants to add a bit of what’s been missing. It just depends on who he can get and whether there are a few surprises. Simmo
managed to pull some rabbits out of the hat a few years ago and I think Kav will have to do the same. We need a bit of nous or we’ll find it hard. What needs to be done to win the fans back? It’s down to Kav to turn it around. Until there’s some light at the end of the stadium-plan tunnel or some new investment, the onus is on the manager, which is probably a bit too much for one man to deal with. But that’s his job and he’s paid pretty well to do it so let’s not get the violins out for him. He’s got a
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chance now to put his stamp on things which he’s always wanted, and he’s got the budget from the off. Other than that, I think it’s going to be hard for the club to turn round people’s perceptions of them until the season’s underway, because the board don’t seem to be dramatically changing their approach. There are some good aspects, like the academy team that they seem to be putting their all into, the commercial things like with Virgin Trains, and the local players that fans can really attach themselves to. They’ve got certain strengths – like still the only club for miles – but they need to be accentuated. They need to be gutsy and accept that it will take a while to win people over, because it isn’t going to happen in a matter of weeks – it’s going to take a while. People can only go on what they see, and what they’ve seen in the past season and a bit hasn’t been good enough. Until they can put something better both on and off the field, it’s going to be a hard job. Anyone expecting a quick turnaround in the opinion of fans is in Cloud Cuckoo Land. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to take a while.