Carlisle pitch perfect and preparing for emotional return home after floods

The Cumbrians will return to Brunton Park on Saturday for the first time since the floods and will be celebrating a plum FA Cup tie if they can beat Yeovil.

Amid all the anguish, anger, frustration and fear inflicted on Cumbria by Storm Desmond there have been some unexpectedly light-hearted moments. One of the most notable concerned three koi carp found floating above the Brunton Park pitch when the floods hit  Carlisle United, with water levels reaching crossbar height. The fish were rescued from the ground’s appropriately named Waterworks End and the club’s press officers used social media to try to reunite them with their owner.
When a man swiftly came forward it seemed a happy ending but Dave Mitchell takes up the story. “Apparently the next day someone else arrived to claim them,” says Carlisle’s multi award-winning head groundsman-cum-stadium manager. “So let’s hope they ended up at the right home.”

The pitch is being replaced at a cost of £150,000 to the League Two side

Contractors work to replace the playing surface at Carlisle United's ground

On Saturday it will be 49 days since Desmond did its worst and, with Mitchell having overseen the complex task of laying a brand new pitch in mid-winter, Brunton Park will welcome York City for a League Two fixture – its first game since the floods. If staff are disappointed that one of the club’s two prized goldfish is still missing, no one will care that the ground’s temporary catering and toilet facilities are not quite up to their usual high standards.

After weeks devoted to a massive clean-up operation, there promises to be quite a party atmosphere. This mood would be heightened appreciably should Keith Curle’s side win Tuesday Night's FA Cup Replay at Yeovil and be looking forward to entertaining Everton in a fourth- round tie preceded by the rumble of broadcast trucks trundling down Warwick Road.
A main artery leading into the city centre, the road on which Carlisle United is situated, was particularly badly affected by December’s floods. Today many local homeowners still face months of upheaval and wrangling with insurance companies after being forced to vacate badly damaged properties.

The scene at Brunton Park after the flooding. Photograph: ITN

 The past few, vexing weeks have seen the bond between club and locals strengthen appreciably with Curle leading teams of players on missions to help homeowners shift sodden carpets and ruined furniture. Despite Carlisle being forced to play recent home fixtures more than 90 miles down the road in Lancashire, fans have travelled south in force to watch them compete on borrowed grounds at Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool.
“Saturday will be quite emotional,” says Suzanne Kidd, the club’s finance director. “You get a bit choked up just thinking about it. The floods are something that you hope never, ever, happens again but being part of it all has created something special around here. We’ve all come out of it a bit closer to each other. The players all wanted to get out and help people in the local community.”

As the striker Charlie Wyke puts it: “The club was right in the heart of the floods. We couldn’t just stand by. You couldn’t just train or play and forget about it.” Curle hopes the whole salutary experience can aid his side’s play-off ambitions. “Being close to people experiencing that degree of hardship has given my players an increased sense of responsibility and pride,” says the former Manchester City captain. “They feel a responsibility to produce performances this community can be proud of.”
Not that the squad escaped unscathed. Dan Hanford, a goalkeeper, found his BMW submerged by water and filled with slurry in Brunton Park’s car park. Meanwhile Mark Gillespie, another keeper, had to be rescued through an upstairs window and rowed to safety after the water level inside his house climbed half way up the stairs.
“In a funny kind of way the floods connected everyone,” says Mitchell who, once the waters finally receded, was horrified to see his precious pitch covered by dark sludge resembling “a horrible thick layer of chocolate icing”. After consultations with agronomists it quickly became apparent that it needed ploughing up and replacing at the worst possible time of year.

“Essentially we’re growing a crop,” says Mitchell, pointing out that not only is January a far from ideal time for planting but that modern football pitches are based on sand rather than nutritious soil. Essentially he and his assistants, Matt Henry and Paul “Nobby” Butler, have been asked to create a beautiful oasis in the middle of a harsh desert winter.

“Pitch management’s a science and Dave’s brilliant at it,” says Kidd. “The new surface looks very good. Seeing it being relaid was another emotional moment; it’s exciting to see him start painting the lines on it.”
While its £150,000 costs have been covered by insurance, Carlisle could still do with the £144,000 live television broadcast fee a fourth-round tie with Everton would guarantee. At League Two level money is always tight and the generosity of those anxious to assist in getting them up and running again has eased the potential financial pain of recent weeks.
The local haulage firm Eddie Stobart dispatched a fleet of 22 trucks to transport the new playing surface from north Lincolnshire to Carlisle without charge. “The key to achieving our target of being ready for the York game was being able to move a significant amount of turf across the country, from Scunthorpe, within a very tight timescale and Eddie Stobart have been magnificent,” says Phil King, Carlisle’s marketing director. “It’s been another example of the generosity and desire to help which has come out of the adversity so many flooded people have faced.”
Now all that remains is for Mitchell to nurture that new pitch and protect it from Cumbria’s current arctic weather. “It always takes time to acclimatise after transplantation,” frets a man whose 19-year-old daughter has suggested he talk to the grass like a friend. “If it was talking to me, I know what it would say,” he says. It would tell me: ‘I was quite happy in Scunthorpe but I’m not feeling it here, Dave, so you’d better get your finger out’ … I think it would like having Everton play on it, though.”

(c) The Guardian