Carlisle (A)

[Royal_jimmy]

I've been there once, for a random game, as a mate was driving up to watch Carlisle City play*.

It's an odd ground, but the strangest thing to me was that the home end wasn't very popular. Fans seemed to prefer the uncovered side terrace.

I liked it, but I can't imagine the view is great from the end block in the away section.

I really fancy going, but don't fancy the drive, the train price is horrific, and I don't want to go on the coach.

* the game he went to ended with the mad scoreline of 11-2

What about flying, Would that be cheaper than the train fare? But of course you would have to factor in the transport to the airport or the car parking there.

Nearest airport is Newcastle. With the 80 minutes journey between the 2 is it saving much time? Probably not.

[Brogue]

I've been there once, for a random game, as a mate was driving up to watch Carlisle City play*.

It's an odd ground, but the strangest thing to me was that the home end wasn't very popular. Fans seemed to prefer the uncovered side terrace.

I liked it, but I can't imagine the view is great from the end block in the away section.

I really fancy going, but don't fancy the drive, the train price is horrific, and I don't want to go on the coach.

* the game he went to ended with the mad scoreline of 11-2

It's far but definitely worth doing for the cheap beer alone.

£1.79 for a pint of ruddles best in the back of beyond. How much cheaper is a pint in Carlisle?

[Brogue]

Just seen pompey fans complaining on Facebook about the view from on of the blocks. Not sure which block though. Here are some pictures so I would chose your seats wisely. As they look horrendously bad



Assume it’s if you are down the front here



I mean wtf

[Sutekh]

All together now..

Its a long way to go to Carlisle, when we can't see a f***ing thing

Incidentally what are the current Reading player songs doing the rounds at the moment? Think we should have a thread to help get the "lyrics" around fans better for both away and home games.

[PieEater]

Just seen pompey fans complaining on Facebook about the view from on of the blocks. Not sure which block though. Here are some pictures so I would chose your seats wisely. As they look horrendously bad

As Sutekh posted the stand is misaligned to the pitch.

Frankly I think they are taking the piss putting away fans in a stand that has such poor views, and presumably charging the same as home fans sitting on the half way line.

I'm not sure where my seats are but I think I'll be complaining to the EFL if it's that bad.

[Mr Optimist]

The goal now has got to be to take more than the 1,800 Pumpey took up there.

[Green]

I've been there once, for a random game, as a mate was driving up to watch Carlisle City play*.

It's an odd ground, but the strangest thing to me was that the home end wasn't very popular. Fans seemed to prefer the uncovered side terrace.

I liked it, but I can't imagine the view is great from the end block in the away section.

I really fancy going, but don't fancy the drive, the train price is horrific, and I don't want to go on the coach.

* the game he went to ended with the mad scoreline of 11-2

What about flying, Would that be cheaper than the train fare? But of course you would have to factor in the transport to the airport or the car parking there.

Think Carlisle airport didn't get going again since the pandemic?

I flew back from there a couple of times, they had flights to Southend which was handy enough for onward connections to SE London.

It's a shame as (carbon emissions and global warming aside) it was brilliant. The smaller airports are always the best eh?

[Clyde1998]

I've been there once, for a random game, as a mate was driving up to watch Carlisle City play*.

It's an odd ground, but the strangest thing to me was that the home end wasn't very popular. Fans seemed to prefer the uncovered side terrace.

I liked it, but I can't imagine the view is great from the end block in the away section.

I really fancy going, but don't fancy the drive, the train price is horrific, and I don't want to go on the coach.

* the game he went to ended with the mad scoreline of 11-2

What about flying, Would that be cheaper than the train fare? But of course you would have to factor in the transport to the airport or the car parking there.

Nearest airport is Newcastle. With the 80 minutes journey between the 2 is it saving much time? Probably not.

In terms of rail time, Glasgow is quicker than Newcastle to get to Carlisle.

The fastest trains I could find to Carlisle station from cities with an airport 'nearby' that have flights to/from either Heathrow or Gatwick were:
Glasgow Central - 1 hr 7 mins
Newcastle - 1 hr 22 mins
Manchester Piccadilly - 1 hr 48 mins

Don't know what the impact on cost would be flying with a shorter rail journey relative to just getting a train from Reading. That said in terms of flights, Glasgow is the cheapest option of the three. I found £93 on Skyscanner for Gatwick to Glasgow Intl flying up on the morning of the game and flying back to morning after compared to £181 for Newcastle and £155 for Manchester (both from Heathrow). Of course, you'd probably also have to factor in a hotel as well for the Saturday night. Probably not much of a benefit flying unless you want to make a weekend of it with a day in the Glasgow or Newcastle area.

[Clyde1998]

Just seen pompey fans complaining on Facebook about the view from on of the blocks. Not sure which block though. Here are some pictures so I would chose your seats wisely. As they look horrendously bad

As Sutekh posted the stand is misaligned to the pitch.

Frankly I think they are taking the piss putting away fans in a stand that has such poor views, and presumably charging the same as home fans sitting on the half way line.

I'm not sure where my seats are but I think I'll be complaining to the EFL if it's that bad.

I'm fairly certain that's going to at the bottom of Block 1 - in which tickets aren't being sold. All the tickets in Block 2 appear to have been sold in the upper half of the stand so far. I imagine there'll be enough space to move if it's a problem.

I've been told that Carlisle were planning on moving the pitch north back in the 90s, when that stand was built, but ran out of money or will to redevelop the entire stadium, leading to the misalignment with the pitch. I think the reasoning was to move the south stand (behind the goal) away from the houses behind, as the access looks limited. I think had they completed the redevelopment, it would've ended up at around a 25,000 capacity.

[stealthpapes]

Booked my travel, deliberately taking the long way around.

Up to Leeds for 10am, 1049 Settle to Carlisle, arrives 1330.
Overnight stay.
Carlisle to Ravenglass along the coast , lunch overlooking the estuary , then Ravenglass to Preston along the coast past Barrow , before a relatively short hop back to the midlands.

That said, looking at where my seat is, I may spend Monday buying second hand agricultural machinery from yer man Rickerby there.

[stealthpapes]

What about flying, Would that be cheaper than the train fare? But of course you would have to factor in the transport to the airport or the car parking there.

Nearest airport is Newcastle. With the 80 minutes journey between the 2 is it saving much time? Probably not.

In terms of rail time, Glasgow is quicker than Newcastle to get to Carlisle.

The fastest trains I could find to Carlisle station from cities with an airport 'nearby' that have flights to/from either Heathrow or Gatwick were:
Glasgow Central - 1 hr 7 mins
Newcastle - 1 hr 22 mins
Manchester Piccadilly - 1 hr 48 mins

Don't know what the impact on cost would be flying with a shorter rail journey relative to just getting a train from Reading. That said in terms of flights, Glasgow is the cheapest option of the three. I found £93 on Skyscanner for Gatwick to Glasgow Intl flying up on the morning of the game and flying back to morning after compared to £181 for Newcastle and £155 for Manchester (both from Heathrow). Of course, you'd probably also have to factor in a hotel as well for the Saturday night. Probably not much of a benefit flying unless you want to make a weekend of it with a day in the Glasgow or Newcastle area.

On my way back from Blackpool, caught up with Derby fans coming back from Carlisle.

I think the coke had worn off.

They still had the Crewe-Derby line to go ... I feared for them.

[Clyde1998]

We appear to have sold just shy of 1,200 for this now.

[Clyde1998]

Around another ~100 seats have gone live on the ticketing website.

[Dirk Gently]

Brunton Park is a lovely old ground, maybe the best traditional ground left in England - I go there a fair bit.

In terms of pubs, there's a pub right next to the station where home fans go, and I have seen away fans in there - it all seems pretty good-natured, the Carlisle fans are a decent bunch.

For parking for anyone driving (*) I'd recommend Carlisle Rugby Club - 2 minutes walk away and they do football parking for a couple of quid or so (not been this season by car so not 100% sure. Think they also do drinks and food for both sets of fans.

(*) Approx. 6 hours from Reading, I do the trip regularly - always a pain going up the M6, but once you're past Preston the scenery is simply stunning and the M6 is pretty empty, plus Tebay Services is *the* best motorway services in the UK.

[Dirk Gently]

I've been told that Carlisle were planning on moving the pitch north back in the 90s, when that stand was built, but ran out of money or will to redevelop the entire stadium, leading to the misalignment with the pitch. I think the reasoning was to move the south stand (behind the goal) away from the houses behind, as the access looks limited. I think had they completed the redevelopment, it would've ended up at around a 25,000 capacity.

Yep - one of the ideas of Michael Knighton, who tried to buy Man Utd after ball-juggling on the Old Trafford pitch, and ended up buying Carlisle.

[Blue Label]

Around another ~100 seats have gone live on the ticketing website.

Yes. Official site now has initial allocation up to 1540 from 1298.

[Royal_jimmy]

Approximately 1,500 sold now. Terrific backing for a game that distance, even if we've not played Carlisle away for so long.

[Clyde1998]

My estimates seem to line up with the club's - around 1,300 sold: https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2024/f ... h-26Feb24/

Amazing effort.

[Zammo]

Now IN!

[Dirk Gently]

Plus one more, but I'll be in the home area. Not going to miss a chance to watch from the last proper standing paddock at an English League ground.