History of Carlisle United F.C.

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Carlisle United F.C. is an English football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria. It was formed in 1904. They have played at Brunton Park since 1909

Carlisle United is born

The club was formed on 17 May 1000 at Shaddongate United's

Annual General Meeting[1] when the club's members voted to change the club's name to Carlisle United. The newly formed club initially played at Milhome Bank and later at Devonshire Park, finally settling at their current home Brunton Park
situated on Warwick Road.

There is a myth that still persists to this day that the club was formed from the amalgamation of Shaddongate United and Carlisle Red Rose, but this was disproven as it was seen that Carlisle United actually defeated Carlisle Red Rose 3–0 in the 1905–06 FA Cup.[2]

Early years

Carlisle was elected to the

Durham City. They won their first game in the league, the side of Prout, Coulthard, Cook, Harrison, Ross, Pigg, Agar, Hutchison, McConnell, Ward and Watson beating Accrington Stanley
3–2.

In 1949, the club had the distinction of being the first club to appoint

Workington and then Grimsby Town before being appointed manager of Liverpool in 1959; over the next 15 years he would guide the club to numerous trophy successes and became one of the most iconic figures in Liverpool's history.[3]

Second World War
making him the youngest league club manager in history. Broadis then had the distinction of becoming the first manager to transfer himself when he moved to Sunderland. Broadis returned as an 18 times capped ex England international in mid-1950s to add to his playing career at Brunton Park.

Carlisle were members of the Third Division North until 1958, and Fourth Division until they won their first promotion.

Golden era

Carlisle were promoted from the fourth division in 1962. They then won consecutive promotions in 1964 and 1965, and established themselves as a Second Division side.

They were promoted to the First Division for the

Bobby Parker who both made at least 375 league appearances for Carlisle. However the success was short-lived, and they finished the season in bottom place and were relegated. Highlight victories include doing a double over Everton, and home victories over eventual champions Derby, and former titlists Chelsea, Ipswich, Arsenal, Burnley, Tottenham and Wolves. Carlisle also beat former champions Chelsea in the opening game of the season at Stamford Bridge.[4] Chelsea's new East Stand was opened for the first time and the game featured on Match of the Day.[5]

Late 20th century

Another relegation followed in 1977 before returning to the Second Division in 1982 under Bob Stokoe. With players like Malcolm Poskett and Tommy Craig, they mounted a promotion challenge in the 1983–84 season but finished 7th after a late slump, and consecutive relegations followed in 1986 and 1987.

The

Football Conference
took part that year.

In the 1992 close season, Michael Knighton took Carlisle and within weeks had sacked manager Aidan McCaffrey following a terrible start to the new Division Three campaign. David McCreery, 35, was appointed player-manager and steered Carlisle to safety as they finished 18th in the final table.

1993–94 began with much promise with Michael Knighton announced his intention to deliver Premier League football to Carlisle by 2004. He re-organised the management team to appoint Mick Wadsworth as Director of Coaching, while David McCreery was given the role of Head Coach and 38-year-old goalkeeper Mervyn Day was named as Assistant Coach. This season was Carlisle's best in years, as the £121,000 record signing of striker Dave Reeves in October saw them acquire a much-needed prolific goalscorer. They won 10 of their final 14 league games to secure the final playoff place in Division Three, though their promotion dream was ended by Wycombe Wanderers in the semi-finals.

In

Autoglass Windscreens Trophy Final but missed out on the trophy after conceding a sudden death extra time goal against Birmingham City
.

Brighton and Hove Albion
which had been abandoned due to crowd trouble. But a 3–1 victory for York sent Carlisle down, just one season after they had won promotion to Division Two. In 1996–97, young players like Rory Delap, Matt Jansen and Lee Peacock were crucial as Carlisle bounced back from relegation to achieve promotion back to Division Two at the first time of asking. The promotion joy was accompanied by a penalty shoot-out triumph over Colchester United in the Auto Windscreens Trophy Final, in which Tony Caig pulled off some impressive goalkeeping heroics.

Mervyn Day was sacked just six games into the 1997–98, and chairman Michael Knighton promptly installed himself as manager. They were still in the relegation zone come Christmas, they did manage to climb clear. But nine defeats from their final 10 games condemned Carlisle to relegation in 23rd place, with 17 goals from striker Ian Stevens not being quite enough to attain survival.

Carlisle entered the final game of the 1998–99 season needing to beat Plymouth Argyle at Brunton Park to avoid relegation and possibly extinction, and the score was still 1–1 at full-time. The referee allowed four minutes of stoppage time and during the final minute Carlisle were awarded a corner. Goalkeeper Jimmy Glass, signed in an emergency loan deal after the transfer deadline, drove home a last-gasp winner which preserved Carlisle's Football League status and sent down Scarborough.

21st century

Once again, Carlisle narrowly avoided relegation in

Peterborough United
.

2000–01 saw Ian Atkins appointed at the Carlisle helm and there was much hope that he could be the man to achieve promotion. But things didn't work out, and they finished 22nd. Atkins quit at the end of the season and was succeeded by Roddy Collins. In 2001–02 Carlisle attained a safe final position of 17th – which saw them finish 16 points clear of the relegation zone.

For the fourth time in five seasons, Carlisle narrowly avoided relegation in 2002–03. This time, 22nd place was just one place above the drop zone, as this was the first season in which two clubs were relegated to the Conference instead of just one.

Carlisle lost 18 of their first 21 Division Three games of the 2003–04 season. Paul Simpson's side picked up 40 points from a possible 75 but were still relegated; had they performed as well during the first half of the campaign as they did during the second, then they would have featured in the promotion push. Carlisle United thus became the first club to compete in all top five tiers of the English football league system (Oxford United, Luton Town, Grimsby Town and Leyton Orient have since followed).

In

Conference National promotion playoffs
.

Carlisle's excellent form under Paul Simpson continued into the

Preston North End, and was succeeded by Neil McDonald
.

In

Doncaster Rovers
, after a 2–1 win on 3 February 2007. The win was part of a sequence of games in which the club staged a late run for a play-off place; they finished the season in 8th place, their highest league finish for 22 years. Average league crowds were the highest for 30 years.

Neil McDonald was sacked one game into the 2007–08 season.[6] Greg Abbott took over as caretaker manager[6] with Cheltenham Town manager John Ward taking over on a permanent basis in October 2007. Ward's contract will run for four years.[7]

Ward took Carlisle to the top of League One on 28 October, and they still looked likely for automatic promotion at the beginning of April, but could only finish fourth. On 12 May 2007, Carlisle United played

Leeds United in the League One Playoff first leg at Elland Road. Carlisle won that match 2–1 with Graham and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson scoring the goals. Dougie Freedman
scored a controversial injury time goal in the 96th minute for Leeds to set up a second leg.

In the corresponding fixture at Brunton Park, Leeds took an early first-half lead through a Jonny Howson goal, and Howson then scored a second with only seconds to spare to put the match at 3–2 on aggregate to Leeds, meaning Carlisle would spend another season in the third tier of English football.

The 2008–09 season began with the sale of two key players for a combined total of £1.5 million. On 18 June 2008, Keiren Westwood left for Coventry City, for an initial £500,000,[8] while Joe Garner left for Nottingham Forest for £1.14 million, triggering a clause that made Carlisle sell him.[9] On 3 July, a consortium of local businessmen, led by director and accountant David Allen completed a takeover of the club from Fred Story.[10] Carlisle's start to the season was one of their best, maintaining an unbeaten run in the league throughout August. However, this was followed by one of the poorest runs in form of recent Carlisle United history. On 3 November, Carlisle announced that they had parted with John Ward "by mutual consent", and Greg Abbott became the caretaker manager of the club.[11] Greg Abbott was announced as the permanent manager of Carlisle, after his performance in a 6-game stint as temporary manager and his low wage demands impressed the board enough to appoint him.[12] Carlisle secured their place in League One after beating Millwall 2–0 on 2 May and Northampton Town were relegated to League Two.

In November 2009, the Blues reached the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in nine years, after a 3–1 win over Norwich City in a foggy evening fixture at Brunton Park, before losing 3–1 to Everton on 3 January 2010 in the third round at Goodison Park.

On 9 February 2010, Carlisle defeated

Brentford
.

The following season started successfully for the Cumbrians with

season. Having occupied 6th place (final play-off position) for a period of the season, a dip in form towards the end of the seasons saw The Cumbrians miss out by just two points to Stevenage
, meaning a successful seasons for the Cumbrians couldn't be rounded off with an appearance in the League One play-offs.

The following season began in disappointing manner. Following a number of heavy defeats the club found themselves drafted into a relegation battle, occupying the final relegation spot for a period of the season. However, a resurgence of form in the New Year following the return of target man Lee Miller, and fellow front-man Rory Loy saw Carlisle string together a number of good results to claw themselves clear of the relegation zone, eventually finishing the season in 17th position. The club retained Greg Abbott as manager, offering a 1-year extension to his current deal, whilst also extending assistant Graham Kavanagh's contract for another season.

The

Bradford City followed, before another 4–0 defeat at the hands of Coventry at home, before scraping points against Colchester and Brentford. Another heavy defeat in the League Cup followed as Championship side Leicester City secured a 5–2 victory at Brunton Park, before a narrow 1–0 home defeat to Port Vale
spelled the end of Abbott's 5-year reign as United manager, just 2 points from 6 games had been the final straw for the club's Board.

Following Abbott's sacking, assistant manager Graham Kavanagh was installed as caretaker manager,[15] appointed on a permanent basis on 30 September 2013, signing a two-year contract.[16] Following three-straight League Wins under Kavanagh and some much improved performances, Kavanagh was installed as permanent boss on a two-year deal. In May 2014, Carlisle were relegated, ending an 8-year spell in the third tier having finished 22nd following a disastrous run of results under Kavanagh, meaning the club would compete in League Two for the

2014–15 league season.[17] Kavanagh removed assistant manager Davie Irons from his post as assistant manager early in pre-season as work to overhaul the playing, and backroom staff was underway in Kavanagh's project to turn Carlisle into a top footballing side.[18]

Graham Kavanagh was sacked in September 2014, following a winless start to the season, a 5–0 away defeat to newly promoted Cambridge United[19] proved to be the final straw; alongside a record run of 15 league matches without a win for the club, ultimately culminating in Kavanagh being removed from his role as manager.[20] He left the club having one of the worst records of any manager in the club's history, with a win ratio of only 25% and a relegation under his name. In September 2014, Keith Curle was appointed as Carlisle United manager, along with his former assistant Colin West.[21] They signed a deal until the end of the 2015–16 season.

Curle got off to a flying start, winning his first full-match as manager 1–0 against fellow strugglers

League Cup and a famous 1–1 draw against giants Liverpool, but lost 3–2 on penalties.[27]

The first half of the

Newport County[29] combined with favourable results elsewhere were enough to put them back into the play-off positions. Then, another comeback at play-off bound Exeter City in the last game proved enough for a final position of 6th, and a play-off semi-final showdown with the same opponent.[30] However, Exeter beat them 6–5 on aggregate to condemn Carlisle to another season in League Two.[31]

Keith Curle left Carlisle United at the end of the

2018–19 season in 11th place.[36]

In November 2019, Pressley was sacked with the Cumbrians in 19th place.

2019–20 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Cumbrians in a disappointing 18th place.[39] Chris Beech then set about the task of re-building the squad following the disappointing 18th-placed finish, bringing in a raft of new signings and developing a new football system.[40] The 2020–21 season started in positive fashion for the blues with the club sitting top of the table at Christmas, resulting in Beech signing a new contract extension.[41] However, a poor run of form saw the side slip from top to 14th in the table, nevertheless, results picked up towards the end of the season seeing the Cumbrians finish in 10th place.[42]

The 2020–21 close season saw a number of first team regulars depart the blues including club captain Nick Anderton,[43] goalkeeper Paul Farman[44] and winger Omari Patrick.[45] Beech set about again rebuilding his squad for the 2021–22 season to try and mount a further promotion push.[46] In October 2021, manager Chris Beech was sacked due to a poor run of form for Carlisle and replaced by Keith Millen.[47] However, Millen could not turn the blues' season around and after a 3–0 defeat at home by Swindon Town and a run of bad results Keith Millen was sacked in February 2022. Paul Simpson was announced as the new manager the same day.[48] "Simmo" led the blues to 8 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats which was enough to pull the club from the relegation zone and keep Carlisle in the football league finishing 20th place.[49]

After securing survival in the 2021–22 season, Simpson agreed terms on a new three-year contract as manager. In the 2022–23 season, Carlisle finished 5th, securing a play-off spot.[50] In the play-off semi-final, Carlisle defeated Bradford City to win the tie 3–2 on aggregate.[51] In the play-off final, the Cumbrians defeated Stockport County on penalties after a 1–1 draw to earn promotion back to League One after nine years in League Two.[52]

References

  1. ^ THE CARLISLE UNITED STORY Archived 27 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine Carlisle United FC
  2. ^ "TheFA.com". Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Beginning a football revolution". BBC News. 30 November 2009.
  4. ^ "Stadium History | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club". www.chelseafc.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020.
  5. ^ "1974-75 - MOTDlistings".
  6. ^ a b "Carlisle dismiss manager McDonald". BBC Sport. 13 August 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  7. ^ "Ward handed Carlisle manager post". BBC Sport. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  8. ^ "Coventry complete Westwood deal". BBC Sport. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  9. ^ "Forest sign Garner from Carlisle". BBC Sport. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  10. ^ "Carlisle United sold..." News and Star. 3 July 2008. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  11. ^ "Carlisle part company with Ward". BBC Sport. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
  12. ^ "Abbott appointed Carlisle manager". BBC Sport. 5 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  13. ^ "Carlisle 2–3 Leeds United (agg 4–4)". BBC Sport. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  14. ^ Shemilt, Stephan (28 March 2010). "Carlisle 1–4 Southampton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  15. ^ "Carlisle United: Graham Kavanagh wants to be manager". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  16. ^ "Carlisle United: Graham Kavanagh named as Greg Abbott successor". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  17. ^ "Carlisle were relegated as League One champions Wolves set a new all-time third-tier points record of 103". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Carlisle United: Graham Kavanagh 'sad' to release Davie Irons". BBC Sport. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Cambridge United 5-0 Carlisle United". BBC Sport. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Carlisle United dismiss manager Graham Kavanagh". BBC Sport. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  21. ^ "Keith Curle: Carlisle name ex-England defender as manager". BBC Sport. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Carlisle United 1-0 Tranmere Rovers". BBC Sport. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Hartlepool United 0-3 Carlisle United". BBC Sport. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  24. ^ "Carlisle United 3-0 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  25. ^ "Carlisle United 2-0 Plymouth Argyle". BBC Sport. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  26. ^ "Burton Albion 1-1 Carlisle United". BBC Sport. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  27. ^ "Liverpool 1-1 Carlisle United (3-2)". BBC Sport. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  28. ^ "Newport County 2–0 Carlisle United". BBC Sport. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  29. ^ "Carlisle United 2–1 Newport County". BBC Sport. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  30. ^ "Exeter City 2–3 Carlisle United". BBC Sport. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  31. ^ "Exeter City 3–2 Carlisle United (6–5)". BBC Sport. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  32. ^ "Keith Curle: Carlisle United boss to leave at the end of the season". BBC Sport. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  33. ^ "John Sheridan: Carlisle United appoint new manager". BBC Sport. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  34. ^ "Chesterfield set toappoint John Sheridan after Carlisle United resignation". BBC Sport. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  35. ^ "Steven Pressley: Carlisle United name ex-Scotland defender as manager". BBC Sport. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  36. ^ "League Two 2018/2019 Table & Standings - Football Rankings". Eurosport. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  37. ^ "Steven Pressley: Carlisle United sack manager after 10 months in charge". BBC Sport. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  38. ^ "Chris Beech: Carlisle United appoint former Rochdale coach as boss". BBC Sport. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  39. ^ "League Two clubs vote to end season, but League One teams fail to decide". BBC Sport. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  40. ^ "How is Carlisle United's squad shaping up for the new campaign?". News and Star. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  41. ^ "CLUB: Chris Beech extends stay until 2022". www.carlisleunited.co.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  42. ^ "League Two 2020/2021 Table & Standings - Football Rankings". Eurosport. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  43. ^ "Carlisle United captain Anderton leaves Blues - and joins League Two rivals". News and Star. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  44. ^ "Goalkeeper Paul Farman: Why I left Carlisle United for Barrow". News and Star. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  45. ^ "Winger Patrick agrees Burton deal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  46. ^ "Carlisle United head coach on his hopes of keeping squad intact for next season". News and Star. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  47. ^ "Keith Millen: Carlisle United appoint former Bristol City boss as new manager". BBC Sport. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  48. ^ "Paul Simpson: Carlisle United reappoint former boss after Keith Millen exit". BBC Sport. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  49. ^ "League Two 2021/2022 Table & Standings - Football Rankings". Eurosport. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  50. ^ "Carlisle limp into league two playoffs". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  51. ^ "Carlisle United 3–1 Bradford City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  52. ^ "Carlisle United 1–1 Stockport County". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Carlisle_United_F.C.&oldid=1187077228"