Carlisle United to update on Warwick Road End disruption later in week

They suspended ticket sales for the stand on Monday.

Author: Joseph GartlyPublished 8th Aug 2023

On Monday Carlisle United confirmed that they suspending ticket sales in the Warwick Road End of Brunton Park for the next two home games following incidents at the game against Fleetwood last weekend.

Match referee Peter Wright had to suspend play after missiles were thrown from the stands onto the ground.

Chief executive Nigel Clibbens said: "Once again we find ourselves in a situation where instead of celebrating the fact that we had close to 10,000 home fans supporting their team in a fantastic manner, we have to react to the actions of a few individuals who are now going to spoil it for the many.

"It also has to be said that the pausing of the game by the referee, due to missiles being thrown, came at a time when we were pushing forward, with Fleetwood under defensive pressure and United in the ascendancy. In my view these actions broke our momentum.

"Therefore we are suspending sales for the Warwick Road End with immediate effect as we discuss and consider the options available to us to help us to deal with this unacceptable behaviour.

"The reputation of this wonderful football club is being dragged down due to actions which are repeated, despite constant warnings from the club and from the football authorities, who, I need to remind everybody, investigate the club in great depth every time a report like this is raised.

"Our manager Paul Simpson is now being drawn into commenting on this due to the affects it is having on the game.

"In addition, the police have already invited us to a meeting, as they also look at behaviour and ways they can assist us deal with it."

The club are looking at a range of measures in an attempt to avoid any further disruption, and will update more after Wednesday.

The clubs reaction to the incident has been met with mixed reactions though.

Liam Barton runs the Blue Army Podcast, he said: "I don't condone anybody throwing anything on the pitch, it's a ridiculous thing to do. If you want to do that kind of thing you shouldn't be coming to the football, you should just stay at home.

"I will say this though, it feels like a massive overreaction. I think the club are just heavily pointing the fingers towards the fans when I don't think they've necessarily done enough to discourage those fans in the first place. I don't think there were enough stewards in that side of the ground and we know it's going to be that side of the ground that is potentially going to be the one side that there are going to be objects thrown from.

"I don't understand why the club weren't doing more on the first game of the season.

"I think it's a huge over reaction from the club not only to penalise all those fans, but to also rectify their mistakes. A lot of the things they are talking about implementing like only over-18s in the Warwick, more bag searches and things like that should've already been in place.

"It's too late, now they are playing catch-up. It's a big ordeal."

((news))