As Sky TV wanted to cover next Thursday's FA Cup replay at Brunton Park, our visit to Hartlepool had to be moved back to it's original Saturday date.
Hartlepool insisted on compensation, and would not settle for less than £50K. That is £25K from SUFC and £25K from CUFC.
John Courtney, CUFC chairman, labelled Hartlepool United's actions as extortionate.
Steve Wharton, our chairman, labelled Hartlepool United's actions as holding us to ransom.
Ken Hodcroft, Hartlepool chairman, claimed that they were merely asking for the amount of money they would lose from corporate sponsorship.
If they lose out on £50K by moving a game back by one day, then they must be making a hell of a lot of money.
Carlisle United's General Manager Paul Bell has added his comments this evening, below we have repeated them in full:
"With reference to the difficult position that the Hartlepool chairman says he has found himself in it appears that the most difficult thing they had to decide was how best to extort money from both Carlisle and Scunthorpe.
"As for the amount of money Carlisle may or may not receive, the Chairman of Hartlepool is well aware of the situation here at Brunton Park. We have been out of administration a matter of weeks and are bound by a CVA agreement which leaves us hamstrung financially.
"If this is a way of showing unity amongst Division Three clubs, who are all financially challenged, then it is a very strange way of showing it.
"Hartlepool would do well to remember that both Scunthorpe and Carlisle have agreed to their requests in the past.
"It was Scunthorpe who allowed Hartlepool to schedule their League game for the Friday evening in the first place, never mind the fact that Carlisle United allowed the kick off time for the New Year's Day game to change to 1PM.
"It is unfortunate that this is the manner in which we have been repaid"