Those faithful hundreds gathered in the old blue wooden main stand at Carlisle United's Brunton Park last Saturday found a new definition of stress: watching Graham Kavanagh.
Kavanagh was into his third game as Carlisle’s caretaker manager and, having won the first two, was effectively undergoing a third audition for the job on a permanent basis.
This one was about sealing the deal. The assumption was it would be straightforward. Carlisle’s two wins under the 39-year-old Dubliner had lifted the club away from the League One relegation zone. They had fresh confidence, momentum, all that kind of stuff. And their opponents, Notts County, did not, or so we thought.
County arrived second-bottom having taken one point from their previous four away games. But as they proceeded to outplay Carlisle, retaining the ball like Barcelona, weaving a spider’s web of possession, Kavanagh began to pace his technical area. He was like a prisoner in a cell. You could not take your eyes off him.
After 27 minutes of observing this picture of anxiety, it got worse. Notts County scored. The previous day Kavanagh had been 1 to 3 on to get the job but if Notts grabbed another, which they deserved, what would Kavanagh's superiors have thought then? Would they have written off the two previous results? Would they have overlooked that Kavanagh lost his captain and a centre-half in the week?
Rising tension
The rising tension was uncomfortable. But there was no outcry from the stands, more an uneasy shuffling. Kavanagh paced some more, County kept the ball.
Half-time approached. The caretaker was thinking about what he would say, what he could say. Then Carlisle won a free-kick 25 yards out. Matty Robson took it and drilled the ball in off a post. From nowhere it was 1-1, there were home cheers, and an air of disbelief. Kavanagh’s dressingroom words could be different now.
But whatever he said, Notts County weren't listening. They restarted the game in the same manner. Then Carlisle broke away and David Amoo, a former Liverpool player, stabbed the ball in. If Carlisle's equaliser was undeserved, what was this?
Yet 2-1 to Carlisle United was how it finished. Kavanagh hugged his opposite number Chris Kiwomya and blew out his cheeks. He later called Kiwomya "a good football man", and Kavanagh showed he may be the same by recognising that his team were outplayed but somehow won. County left having had 19 shots, 60 per cent possession and a corner count of 6-1.
But they lost. Carlisle had won three games in a row for the first time in five years. And Kavanagh was about to be briefed that he’d be getting a full-time job on Monday.
But, boy, was it stressful.
“Exhausted,” was Kavanagh’s response to the afternoon. There was no triumphalism because there was no sense of triumph. “Relief,” he said to the local radio microphone.
It had been different the previous Saturday. At Stevenage, Kavanagh explained, it was Carlisle who’d been “smooth” and he was able to relax – as much as is possible.
Carlisle won 3-1.
This was different. We moved into a corner under that wooden stand and discussed the rival merits of enjoyment and fulfilment.
'Half-decent'
"Last week was pure enjoyment," Kavanagh said. "We passed the ball well, caught them on the counter and everything we prepared for came to fruition. You think: 'We're actually half-decent at our jobs here.'
“Today I’m thinking: ‘Are we lucky? Is it the luck of the Irish? Is it just meant to be?’ All these things go through your head and you’re thinking: ‘Be calm, look calm, all this.’
“Inside you’re going a million miles an hour.”
He joked that he’d been thinking about management “since I was 12” but all that consideration, the badges – he’s close to completing his Pro Licence – do not prepare a man for the reality of seeing your team outmanoeuvred at home when you’re trying desperately to impress.
“I think it’s great to see a manager who is part of the game,” Kavanagh added. “Some managers are extremely cool. I might have that intention at five to three, but once the game comes I’m all over the place. It’s throw the kitchen-sink in.
“It’s who I am, it’s what I am. Maybe with experience you’d calm down but for the moment we want it so badly, I want it so badly for the people around us. I do feel a little bit of pressure.
“But it’s not a show for me, I wear my heart on my sleeve, I kick every ball. I’m not going to make an excuse for that, it’s what drives me. I hope people see how hard we’re working and how much we want it. I hope it doesn’t come across to the players as panic. We’re not panicking.”
The afternoon was not Kavanagh’s creation, he was not playing up to any perception of touchline management. These were the circumstances. Judging by the players’ reaction on the final whistle, and in the previous two games, they do not see Kavanagh as a flapper.
The situation had not been easy: those players had not won any of their six league games under Kavanagh's predecessor Greg Abbott. But Kavanagh was Abbott's assistant and had been for four years since joining as a player-coach from Sunderland.
Abbott and Kavanagh were friends as well as colleagues but when Abbott was sacked after those six games, Kavanagh was asked to stand in. Given the directors saw him as connected to Abbott, and his methods, Carlisle were looking elsewhere. Then Kavanagh started to change things – the atmosphere, training and, of course, results.
Unity
From afar, Kavanagh always came across as a proper bloke. He does not speak of himself alone. He talked of the coaching staff as a unit: "From day one we knew the consequences if we didn't win. But we also knew there was an opportunity."
There was genuine guilt at Abbott’s departure providing that opportunity; but there was also anticipation.
And on Monday it was confirmed: Graham Kavanagh is Carlisle United’s new full-time manager.
Officially his new career begins today at the home of Shrewsbury Town. It’s 15th v 14th in League One.
Last season Carlisle finished 17th, a year after finishing eighth. Attendances fell 18 per cent to 4,302; last Saturday there were 4,315 at Brunton Park.
It has not hosted Championship-standard football since 1986 and Kavanagh is the 18th manager since then. “We’re realistic,” he added. He has been given a two-year contract and knows the failure rate.
And while you could feel the angst in the old wooden stand last week, you could also feel something else that Graham Kavanagh has generated in three games: goodwill. It can take you places.