To say negotiations have been tricky (and you all know why) is the understatement of understatements but thanks to some last ditch input from John Courtenay and the club's general manager Paul Bell it's been rescued from oblivion in the nick of time and the fans will get to see it. Me old Sky mate Bello played an absolute blinder over this and you might like to thank the bloke if you see him - you certainly will want to when you've watched it. But the cynics out there, (hello cynics - how are you doing) will be thinking and saying to anyone who will listen "well it's only a video of a club who happen to be bottom of the football league". But the beauty of the thing is even if we were top of the Premiership the subject material available for Blues fans to view from the comfort of their own armchair wouldn't be any more special. The video starts, quite literally, with the story of the first football in history ever known to be kicked in the Border City. Something to do with Mary Queen of Scots apparrently.! As you can imagine we had a bit of trouble getting video footage of that incident but what follows looks at how Carlisle United came into being and goes from that moment in time right up to the present day. Some of the footage featured is so rare it still amazes me it survived. Of course it wasn't possible to go back as far as Queen Mary's day but the first video clip you see is one of the clubs former directors talking to camera way back in 1928!. No crack n' deeks about on air in them days folks. United supporters who have been followed the club for 'a while' now will love the nostalgia on offer and hopefully even younger Blues who have only ever known a team struggling at the wrong end of the League will enjoy the chance to see CUFC and some of the super players we've had over the years who have made us older fans proud to be Cumbrians. What follows is a list of whats on the video as seems a bit daft going to go into loads of detail on here about it all. That means hopefully you'll enjoy it all the more when it comes to watching. Tell you what though if you can get through the whole thing without shedding a tear (of pride and joy - ok cynics) then your a harder man than me. Thanks to all of yas who sent e-mails of support and those who wrote expressing interest and asking for more information. Apologies for not being so forthcoming at times but one wrong word and the eggshell the people involved in making this happen were standing on would have crumbled. There's still a bit of work and editing needed to finish the video off but all being well (and God willing) it will be on general sale in time for Christmas. Thanks again to those of you who made your feelings known - either to the club, the chairman or on the message board. This is our football team and we're proud of that - so enjoy the video - you've earned it, you deserve it! Video Includes: Fascinating early b/w stills - not only of CUFC teams/players but of the City of Carlisle itself. Video footage dating back to 1928 - showing directors/chairmen of United Pathe news footage of CUFC v Arsenal at Brunton Park in 1935 Detailed highlights of United v Mansfield in 1965 - inlcuding an appearance by Twinkletoes plus fox, player and crowd celebrations after final whistle and interview with manager Alan Ashman. Mick |
