The Carlisle goalkeeper Mark Gillespie had to be rescued by the police after being trapped by floods that left Brunton Park under eight feet of water.
Gillespie will join his team-mates on Tuesday as the Carlisle squad offer assistance to those affected by the worst floods to hit the area in 40 years. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, the former Newcastle trainee has described his dramatic rescue from the first-floor window of the club digs he was staying in next to the ground after being ruled out of Sunday’s FA Cup victory over Welling because of illness.
“The team travelled on Saturday morning at around 8 o’clock and I woke up and wasn’t feeling too well so I decided I wasn’t well enough to travel,” the 23-year-old said.
“I was staying in bed all day and that’s when the bad weather started to hit. The water was literally at the door and I thought: ‘Something serious is going to happen here’.
“I phoned the police and there were more priority cases than me so from 9am until 6pm I was upstairs watching it unfold. Eventually they came for me and I was lifted out of the upstairs window.”
While club officials await permission to return to Brunton Park, the squad hope to be able to train as normal at their weekday practice base which appears to have escaped the worst of the weather.
