Upgrade underway to dressing room area at Brunton Park
Manager Keith Curle spoke to us today about a move around behind the scenes designed to create a more professional environment at Brunton Park.
“We’re looking to do things differently in a number of key areas next season,” he said. “We’ve started work now which will create a football hub centred on the home dressing room area.
“The old boot and storage room area has been knocked through to create office space for the coaching staff to work in. This will bring everyone together and help us to create a sense of unity.”
“The dressing room itself is being redesigned to remove a recess, which blocked eye contact with everyone in the room, and to add seating and working space,” he continued. “This will create much more of a feeling of togetherness and, again, will give us the room to do the work we need to do on a day to day basis.
“It comes down to bringing a professional feel and approach to everything we do and we’re looking to create that approach and attitude in every player and member of staff from the moment they walk back through the door at the end of this month.”
Speaking about his pre-season programme, he said: “We’re very pleased with what we’ve got planned.
“The lads will feel the benefit of a programme which is structured and designed to prepare them for the season ahead. The sessions are varied and we think they’ll find it to be enjoyable and rewarding, as well as a challenge.
“The games we have lined up will get everyone pitch time and will build up match fitness to enhance and complement the other work we’ll be doing.
“I’ve split it into two periods of three games to make sure we maximise the time we have, with fixtures against league opposition following the games against local teams at the start of our pre-season programme.
“I’m looking forward to that because I’m keen to maintain the links we have with our local clubs. We talked closely with all of our opponents about how we wanted to do things this summer and the agreements we came to suited all parties.”
Penrith boss Matt Henney said: “We rely on the revenue we get from our game with Carlisle and the £500 figure was agreed by both clubs, as we didn't want to lose the fixture.
“The game puts money in the bank that potentially sees us through the first phase of the season. It’s also a good chance for a lot of Carlisle fans to see the new signings perform for the first time in a United shirt.
“The game is something I first managed to arrange through Greg Abbott and Graham Kavanagh, and I asked Keith if it was possible for it to continue almost as soon as he came into the job.
“I put him in the picture as to how much the revenue means to a small club like ours and he was very understanding of our situation. It’s a fixture he respects and we are looking forward to seeing Carlisle United at the beginning of July.
“It's also worth saying that Carlisle help us during the season with players who are looking for work experience, and the relationship between both clubs is very good. It’s one I’m keen to keep building on as much as possible.”
