Once again another football season is almost upon us. And, after several years in the soccer doldrums not that long ago, Carlisle United can look to the new campaign with both excitement plus confidence. The same for our superb fans who have been outstanding supporting the team over the past two years. Back-to-back promotions have given CUFC a major boost and put smiles back on the faces of those who care about the club. No doubt this will be a tougher Division but I feel The Cumbrians are capable of holding their own.
Sorry to see Paul Simpson go, thought with him being a Carlisle lad, we may have got another season from him. Never forget the amazing job he did when he was here. Here's a little known story about how it started. The players were sat there in total silence after hearing that Roddy Collins had been sacked. Paul Simpson knew something had to be done as the team were playing Cambridge next day. Qualified coach Simpson made an effort to be positive and (nobody else was going to) said: "Does anyone mind if I take a training, session, we've a game tomorrow, so it's got to be better than sitting here doing nothing and no-one even talking." You should know that the players were both pleased and relieved by his suggestion. A very humble start then, but was very much built on to revive the fortunes of CUFC.
Thought that worth pointing out. Most fans knew he was ambitious, felt in their hearts that Simmo would move on eventually, what angered many of you wasn't so much he left Carlisle, it was the club he joined which felt like a kick in the teeth. Being honest I also wish it hadn't been Preston he opted to become manager of. It's fair to say there's never been any love lost between United and North End, and despite a fair few clubs who could be described as their local rivals, and certainly are a lot nearer to Deepdale than Carlisle, it's not just a one way thing because I can assure you that Preston and their fans really don't like the Cumbrians one little bit. So a word of warning for Paul Simpson.
I recall meeting up with my old pal David Reeves last year and enjoyed a real good crack with the former CUFC striker. Now Reevsey (foolishly) left us after his form at the time had alerted North End and they shelled out to add Dave to their forward line. He maintains he did a good job playing for Preston, but because he wasn't banging in the goals during every match some of their fans didn't waste much time in getting on his back and giving him a fair amount of stick. And you know why Reeves reckons that was. Yep, because he'd been a Carlisle United player before signing for Preston North End and a fair amount of their supporters never came to terms with that fact! Makes you wonder how they'll feel then about now having our former boss as their new manager. What I would say is it's probably important for Simmo to get off to a good, if not flying start this season. Otherwise those natives could quickly become restless. Interesting point, but it's not our problem now though is it!
Neil McDonald is the main man at Brunton now. Don't know him too well, don't know all that much about him. However the early signs shown by our new manager have looked promising and one thing Neil has done - and done soon after taking over at the helm which was important - is moved quickly to surround himself with a decent coaching team. Indeed they could well turn out to be more than decent! Such a move is vital to a club like Carlisle United if they are to continue to build on the success of recent seasons.
On the playing front we may possibly need one or two more new signings but those who have joined us since the end of last season appear to have the ability and be more than capable of doing a sound job for Carlisle. Add to that the fact you won't see many better, if any, goalkeepers in this division than Keiren Westwood or many more impressive forward lines than that which features Karl Hawley and Michael Bridges. It also seems to be the case that The Border City boys will be doing their stuff on the best playing surface in our League and with United's outstanding suport, especially away from home, sure to make themselves a telling force once again, the footballing future does not appear to be looking at all bad for our local team. I'm not going to get carried away and predict a third promotion on the trot for The Cumbrians, but I certainly feel the side might prove more than capable of securing a top six finish in the toughest division we have had the chance to compete in for many a year. Good luck to Neil McDonald and yeah: ''Come On You Blues!"