The BELEAGUERED Carlisle Utd Thread

[Soup Ladle]

Anyway I'm still backing Carlisle to stay up.

I don't get many wrong at all as the forum knows so I imagine this will give their fans a lift going into the weekends fixtures.

Agreed I think they will as well, somehow.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Absolutely. That's why I said they shouldn't with the means at their disposal. But they shouldn't be bottom of league two either. York nearly went down last season whilst simultaneously being the richest club in the division- you can have all the money on the world but if you waste it then it doesn't matter.

I just wouldn't be massively surprised if they struggled next year in the NL- unless they sort themselves out.

Also, I've said it before but just in case it sounds like I'd be happy for them to go down, I wouldn't. Or Tranmere. I don't want to see any club with a decent fan base in Non-League.

I mean yeah they should be up there with their budget and support but history tells us that if you're a mess off the pitch you won't challenge despite who you've got in your squad or what your budget is. They just keep making bad decisions by the looks of it and they'll have to go to an unfamiliar and really competitive level where more streetwise teams and better run clubs will beat you and finish higher up the league.

It could take a while to sort out but if they're really lucky, pretty much rip it all up, and recruit the right people managing the on pitch stuff and off it in decision making positions then it could go quite well for them but that's a less likely scenario

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Carlisle next season need a ‘stability’ season whether that be in league two or conference…….so if we go down I don’t expect a bounce back because it needs the basic steps sorted before we can progress.

 

[hellogregory]

Carlisle next season need a ‘stability’ season whether that be in league two or conference…….so if we go down I don’t expect a bounce back because it needs the basic steps sorted before we can progress.

No no, we need to be challenging at the top end of the national league next season. Not necessarily have to bounce straight back but we have to be up there in and around the top 7.

Forest Green went up to league 1 and then suffered back to back relegations just like us. But they’ve got their acts together and are challenging at the top. They may not get promoted but at least they are in the mix. We have to do the same as a minimum. A mid table season in the national league would be another unacceptable season. We can’t have another one of them, otherwise a large portion of the fanbase will completely give up.

 

[kieran_vale]

No no, we need to be challenging at the top end of the national league next season. Not necessarily have to bounce straight back but we have to be up there in and around the top 7.

Forest Green went up to league 1 and then suffered back to back relegations just like us. But they’ve got their acts together and are challenging at the top. They may not get promoted but at least they are in the mix. We have to do the same as a minimum. A mid table season in the national league would be another unacceptable season. We can’t have another one of them, otherwise a large portion of the fanbase will completely give up.

Guess the question will be whether Hughes is a long term answer beyond this season? Last couple of teams I can think of who made an immediate return had managers who knew about managing non-league such as Hurst at Grimsby or Clarke at Bristol R.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

We have to be careful HG to not do the exact same as this season and end up in national north.

They need some common sense next season, building the right area, take some pressure away, don’t go on mass spending sprees……..F*CKING SCOUT the actual targets

 

[spireite]

We have to be careful HG to not do the exact same as this season and end up in national north.

They need some common sense next season, building the right area, take some pressure away, don’t go on mass spending sprees……..F*CKING SCOUT the actual targets

You have to be an absolute abysmal mess both on and off the pitch to go straight through with not a pot to piss in, or just completely misjudge the league because it's not as easy as it seems. We had/did both those things when we went down and nearly went down to regional. I think you'll have too many resources for that to be a real issue, I'd expect you to be challenging from the start. Maybe just a rocky start.

 

[hellogregory]

We have to be careful HG to not do the exact same as this season and end up in national north.

They need some common sense next season, building the right area, take some pressure away, don’t go on mass spending sprees……..F*CKING SCOUT the actual targets

Oh yeah we have to do things differently, no doubt. But we need to be at the very least challenging in and around the top 7 to change the mentality of this club. That process starts in the remainder of this season by gradually improving the form to at least take something into next season’s national league campaign.

 

[hellogregory]

Guess the question will be whether Hughes is a long term answer beyond this season? Last couple of teams I can think of who made an immediate return had managers who knew about managing non-league such as Hurst at Grimsby or Clarke at Bristol R.

These 16 games are his audition.

No realistic person is expecting him to keep us up, but if he can turn around the form and performances by the end of the season (I don’t expect it anytime soon) then he’ll maybe get the chance next season.

 

[Carver]

Usually when teams do what we did on Tuesday night where we dominate possession and chances but don't win, it would result in someone getting a proper hiding off us very soon.
However with us it ends up the other way around and it's us who get the hiding next game as is what happened against Swindon.

Play shit, we lose.
Play well, yet still we lose.
No hope.

 

[hellogregory]

Usually when teams do what we did on Tuesday night where we dominate possession and chances but don't win, it would result in someone getting a proper hiding off us very soon.
However with us it ends up the other way around and it's us who get the hiding next game as is what happened against Swindon.

Play shit, we lose.
Play well, yet still we lose.
No hope.

Yeah that’s exactly it. It’s hard to take positives from a decent performance when you know what’s round the corner. It’s been the same all season and it’s why we haven’t turned the corner and why this team is 100% going down.

 

[Carver]

Yeah that’s exactly it. It’s hard to take positives from a decent performance when you know what’s round the corner. It’s been the same all season and it’s why we haven’t turned the corner and why this team is 100% going down.

You know mate I think you're just a bit too positive and quite deluded to always think we're only 100% down, when really we're 110% down.

Fans like you are what part of the problem is. Getting your hopes up is just a waste of time.

 

[GTFCfish]

Oh yeah we have to do things differently, no doubt. But we need to be at the very least challenging in and around the top 7 to change the mentality of this club. That process starts in the remainder of this season by gradually improving the form to at least take something into next season’s national league campaign.

Given your financial clout you will easily be minimum top 7 if you end up in the National League.
The difference between there and here is that money absolutely will buy you success down there whereas in League 2 it usually will too but as Carlisle and MK Dons have also shown this season it's not guaranteed

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Financial clout means absolutely nothing if you waste it I can think of grays and histon who never got up, fylde cannot get near, Salford, fleetwood even Wrexham didn’t have instant success.

You need a stable base then use your resources to add that bit of quality in certain areas

It’s why we need a stabilise season not saying we wouldn’t push for top 7 but we need to really lower the expectations to reduce the bad atmosphere around the place.

Hughes may be the right manager for that, his history proves he won’t take us up but he usuallly develops a stable club.

But my god we really need to improve our scouting network and stop finding mates of the boss or backhanded handshake players as our targets

 

[Tallow]

There's 16 games left.
Save all this NL craic until it's mathematically impossible for us to stay up. Until then, let's keep battling away and try to get out of the bottom two.

 

[Carver]

Financial clout means absolutely nothing if you waste it I can think of grays and histon who never got up, fylde cannot get near, Salford, fleetwood even Wrexham didn’t have instant success.

You need a stable base then use your resources to add that bit of quality in certain areas

It’s why we need a stabilise season not saying we wouldn’t push for top 7 but we need to really lower the expectations to reduce the bad atmosphere around the place.

Hughes may be the right manager for that, his history proves he won’t take us up but he usuallly develops a stable club.

But my god we really need to improve our scouting network and stop finding mates of the boss or backhanded handshake players as our targets

We signed better players when we were on a survival budget than the over priced, over paid, unfit, not arsed crock wage stealers who we signed on big contracts since last January.

 

[EnglishRed]

Financial clout means absolutely nothing if you waste it I can think of grays and histon who never got up, fylde cannot get near, Salford, fleetwood even Wrexham didn’t have instant success.

You need a stable base then use your resources to add that bit of quality in certain areas

It’s why we need a stabilise season not saying we wouldn’t push for top 7 but we need to really lower the expectations to reduce the bad atmosphere around the place.

Hughes may be the right manager for that, his history proves he won’t take us up but he usuallly develops a stable club.

But my god we really need to improve our scouting network and stop finding mates of the boss or backhanded handshake players as our targets

The bottleneck with only one automatic promotion place does mean it's harder to be certain- our first season with Parky we were decent but still didn't go up despite spending a lot of money and finishing second. Stockport had also failed in the play offs the season before

That said the NL looks weaker than it was a few years ago. But teams like Oldham, Rochdale (Hartlepool and Southend too if either of them sort themselves out) etc definitely complicate matters for a quick return.

 

[Carver]

We MUST stay up

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

 

[hellogregory]

It’s easy to say wait till we’re mathematically down before talking about next season when the gap is getting bigger, our form is getting worse and we don’t look capable of winning a game. It’s all pointing to relegation. Today would be a decent point in isolation, but teams continue to pull away from us. Even Morecambe have started to open up a gap.
We are down. Sorry if that hurts but it’s the truth.

Given the circumstances I think it’s perfectly fine to look ahead to next season as this season is a complete write off.

 

[hellogregory]

There's 16 games left.
Save all this NL craic until it's mathematically impossible for us to stay up. Until then, let's keep battling away and try to get out of the bottom two.

I’m sure we’ll try. But the team is just not good enough. That’s the harsh reality. It was a dire January window which is shown by the results.

 

[Carver]

It’s easy to say wait till we’re mathematically down before talking about next season when the gap is getting bigger, our form is getting worse and we don’t look capable of winning a game. It’s all pointing to relegation. Today would be a decent point in isolation, but teams continue to pull away from us. Even Morecambe have started to open up a gap.
We are down. Sorry if that hurts but it’s the truth.

Given the circumstances I think it’s perfectly fine to look ahead to next season as this season is a complete write off.

15 games still sounds like a few to have left, but we pretty much have to hit promotion form to win enough of them to realistically stay up which is a big ask as we're a team who rarely ever win and can't string two wins together.

I hope by some miracle we manage to pull it off, but really I'm expecting us to go down because even if we do begin to pick up some form it's just going to be too late and shows that Williamson should have never been appointed and should have been sacked after the Morecambe defeat before January which would have given a new manager more time.

Other than the obvious, the next best thing we can hope for is that we don't go down with a whimper like last season and we really try to stay up because if we go down with some wins and good form it will give us some confidence and hope going into next season at least.
And have a proper clear out and rebuild which we were supposed to have after last season but didn't for whatever stupid reason as when a club gets relegated certain people need to be held accountable and not kept on again. I remember people saying the likes of Barclay, McGeouch and Vela etc would be good players to have in L2.

It would not be the fault of Mark Hughes as he's just arrived, but other people at the club need to go such as Clibbens and Abbott and every player out of contract can go too unless they really impress towards the end.

 

[EnglishRed]

How was it yesterday? And good signs from Hughes and how he had you set up?

A decent point but you really need wins.

 

[GTFCfish]

Financial clout means absolutely nothing if you waste it I can think of grays and histon who never got up, fylde cannot get near, Salford, fleetwood even Wrexham didn’t have instant success.

You need a stable base then use your resources to add that bit of quality in certain areas

It’s why we need a stabilise season not saying we wouldn’t push for top 7 but we need to really lower the expectations to reduce the bad atmosphere around the place.

Hughes may be the right manager for that, his history proves he won’t take us up but he usuallly develops a stable club.

But my god we really need to improve our scouting network and stop finding mates of the boss or backhanded handshake players as our targets

Yeah but with the exception of Wrexham those teams you listed are all tinpotters with small fan bases whereas Carlisle already have the fans in place.
And it was only the one season Wrexham stayed down before romping it the next.
With Carlisle's budget you will piss the National League although that's once you've got rid of Hughes I might add as I can't see him doing the business for you down there.

 

[hellogregory]

10 points from our last 15 games.
4 points from our last 9 games.
Bottom of the form table.
Utterly pathetic. We’ve actually somehow got worse in 2025.

The idea that suddenly we’re going to pluck 24-28 points out of our remaining 15 games is absolute fantasy.

There’s no chance this team stays up. Absolutely no chance.

 

[GTFCfish]

10 points from our last 15 games.
4 points from our last 9 games.
Bottom of the form table.
Utterly pathetic. We’ve actually somehow got worse in 2025.

The idea that suddenly we’re going to pluck 24-28 points out of our remaining 15 games is absolute fantasy.

There’s no chance this team stays up. Absolutely no chance.

Out of curiosity what made you predict a Carlisle win yesterday?

 

[hellogregory]

Out of curiosity what made you predict a Carlisle win yesterday?

I didn’t.

 

[GTFCfish]

I didn’t.

I thought you predicted a 2-0 win?

 

[hellogregory]

I thought you predicted a 2-0 win?

Yeah for Colchester.

 

[GTFCfish]

Yeah for Colchester.

Aha I've just realised what you did there, went right over my head that, well played Sir.

 

[Moonie]

How was it yesterday? And good signs from Hughes and how he had you set up?

A decent point but you really need wins.

Poor first half, completely changed the system second half and we were unlucky not to get more than a point in the end. A lot more fight about the side, but it's going to take some effort to turn it around.