The number of United fans at Grimsby on Tuesday night is yet to be officially confirmed, but educated guesstimates put it at around 250 – incredible when you take into account the conditions and distance.
And, immediately after the game was abandoned, chairman Andrew Jenkins and fellow owner-directors Steven Pattison and John Nixon confirmed that they’ll be funding the bus for the rearranged fixture for those supporters who went to the game in that way.
“That’s a fantastic gesture and I’m sure the fans will appreciate that,” Paul Simpson said. “I know it’s genuine from them as well because they know the fans have played their part in bringing the good feeling back.
“I’ve said this before, I know people have their issues with the directors, but I know them and I know they have the best interests of this club at heart. They want what’s best for Carlisle United.
“Not everybody agrees with them, or what they do, but they want this club to succeed. I sat with them last week and told them that I need help, because of the injuries, and they’ve found funds to allow me to bring someone in.
“It’s brilliant that they’ve done this for the fans and hopefully it means that those who came on the bus will be able to come to the rearranged game.”
Speaking more about the fans, he told us: “They’re absolutely brilliant, they really are outstanding the way they are. I don’t know what the numbers were but it’s brilliant of them to turn up.
“I really feel for them. I went back in the changing room because I honestly thought we were coming off to see if it settled, I took my coat off, dried myself down, then I heard on the tannoy the game had been abandoned, so I stuck my coat back on to come back out and thank them for coming.
“I hope they’re not too disappointed, I hope they realised it was a really sensible decision to do it, and they come back for the next one.
“It’s one of those nights where we just had to take it on the chin. Everybody is disappointed that we’ve not had a game, probably none more so than the hundreds of supporters of our own who have travelled over here, but I think they will also have seen that it wasn’t the right conditions for football.”
And as for how the rest of the week is now structured, he said: “We don’t change anything. The plan to prepare for the weekend was to play tonight, we’ve done all the preparation, we travelled this morning, stayed in a hotel this afternoon and the players have prepared right.
“They’ll get a rest day still because of all the travelling, and we’re back in on Thursday and we can actually do a proper training session with the full group, whereas I was thinking it would be half a group going up to the Everlast for a recovery session and the others doing some work on the grass.
“Everybody will be out on the grass now, we can get some proper work done to prepare for the weekend.”
“This August’s fixtures have been a proper testing time for us, with Colchester, this one, Stevenage, and that will be a really tough game for us,” he concluded. “But we’ve got an opportunity to really prepare properly, at least I don’t have to spend any time reviewing this game!
“I can go straight onto Stevenage on the coach and have a look and start preparing for that one.”
