The letting off of a firework during the first half of the Orient game last weekend caused shock and distress for those near to the incident, and manager Paul Simpson shared his dismay as he once again highlighted the damage things like this causes to the otherwise good work being done by so many around the supporter match day experience.
“I’m just disappointed,” he told us. “We’ve got a lot of people who spend hard earned money, and also put their own hours in that Warwick Road End, and the rest of the ground, tidying things up.
“One of the things I noticed when I was doing my media at the end of the game, somebody had ripped the flag down.
“I don’t know whether that’s somebody who’s got something now against me, whether it was a personal thing against me. If that’s how fans feel it’s really disappointing.
“I just think it’s really sad we’ve got people who are supposedly turning up as Carlisle United supporters with a firework, firecracker, whatever it was.
“It’s not only costing the club money, it’s putting people at danger as well. I’m disappointed for all those people who chipped in to buy the flag, yes it’s my name on it, maybe it’s somebody who’s got something against me now because of results.
“I just think that’s really disappointing we’ve got that going on when we’ve got so many really positive things. It’s such a shame you get one person or some people who are going to cost the club money in the long run.”
“I’m quite sure we were being watched last weekend as well, because of what happened in the Orient game the season before,” he continued. “I was really conscious of that.
“There was banter between the fans and the dugout, I thought our fans behaved really well, because although it was banter it didn’t go too far. Then you get somebody in the Warwick, I don’t know what it was.
“I’d heard it was a firework that went off in somebody’s pocket – that is so dangerous it’s frightening if that’s the case. Or even if it’s a firecracker, you’re endangering other people’s lives, and your own.
“I don’t think anybody else deserves that. I certainly don’t think the football club deserve to have that going against them. That’s a real shame.
“But again, there’s not a lot we can do if somebody wants to make those daft decisions.”