Last updated at 12:19, Monday, 12 July 2010

Now that the Word Cup is over, the focus of football fans can switch to the agony of following their own teams rather than the agony of following England.

But Cumbria managed an unexpected mention during the global feast of football.

In an interview on BBC Radio 1, former Liverpool defender turned pundit Mark Lawrenson referred to staging matches in the South African outposts of Bloemfontein and Rustenburg.

He said: “It’s like holding the World Cup in Carlisle without the M6 to get there.”

Reiver recalls Lawrenson aiming a verbal shot at former Carlisle United owner Michael Knighton.

It was 1999, after Knighton had dismissed manager Mervyn Day and appointed himself instead.

BBC1’s Football Focus showed an interview with Knighton the chairman interviewing Knighton the manager.

Lawrenson was asked what he thought.

“The ego has landed,” he replied.

There were reports a couple of years earlier that Lawrenson was upset by the lack of hospitality he received when reporting on a match from Brunton Park.

Some News & Star journalists were delighted to find that the frosty reception enjoyed by the media during the Knighton era was not just reserved for them.

First published at 11:25, Monday, 12 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk