Carlisle United F.C.
Carlisle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system.
They have played their home games at Brunton Park since 1909. The club's traditional kit is blue with white and red detail, whilst the badge takes elements from the city's coat of arms by including two Wyverns. They are nicknamed the "Blues", due to their kit, as well as the "Cumbrians". The club is the closest English professional football club to Scotland.
Formed in 1904, the club entered the Lancashire Combination the following year and were crowned Division Two champions in 1906–07. They entered the North Eastern League in 1910 and went on to win the league title in 1921–22, before being elected into the Football League in 1928. They spent the next 30 years in the Third Division North, at which point they were assigned a place in the newly formed Fourth Division, from where they won promotion in 1961–62. Relegated the following season, they then won two consecutive promotions, finishing the 1964–65 season as champions of the Third Division under the stewardship of Alan Ashman. They secured promotion out of the Second Division in 1973–74, but stayed only one season in the First Division and were relegated back to the Third Division at the end of the 1976–77 campaign. Promoted again under Bob Stokoe in 1981–82, they suffered successive relegations to return to the fourth tier by 1987.
Carlisle won promotion as champions of the fourth tier in 1994–95, but were relegated the next season, before winning promotion again in 1996–97, only to be relegated again the following year. Their 76-year stay in the Football League came to an end with relegation in 2003–04, though player-manager Paul Simpson secured an immediate return after leading United to victory in the 2005 Conference National play-off final. They then won the League Two title in 2005–06 and they remained in League One until their relegation at the end of the 2013–14 season, being promoted back to the third tier nine years later after beating Stockport County in the 2023 play-off final. The club has reached the final of the Football League Trophy six times, more than any other team, winning it in 1997 and 2011, and finishing as runners-up in 1995, 2003, 2006 and 2010.
History
1896–1904: Shaddongate United
Shaddongate United F.C. are first reported in 1896 as the winners of the Carlisle Association Charity Shield and are recorded as playing at Willow Holme in the Shaddongate area of the city, now an industrial estate, and wearing blue and gold stripes. At the time Carlisle Red Rose and Carlisle AFC were the pre-eminent clubs in Carlisle but the new club quickly gained a following and by the time Carlisle AFC folded in 1899 they were considered a force to be reckoned with. By 1903 they had overtaken Red Rose and were further cemented as the city's biggest club when Red Rose's entire team were banned for four months by the Cumberland Football Association for taking part in a Scottish amateur tournament in contravention of league rules.A myth has persisted that Shaddongate and Red Rose had merged to form Carlisle United and this likely led the club to adopt 1904 as their official date of foundation, though Red Rose continued until 1906 at which point they folded. Only in 2017 did more information about the early part of their history come to light.
1904–1928: Carlisle United
On 17 May 1904 at Shaddongate United's annual general meeting the club's members voted to change the team's name to Carlisle United at a heated meeting in Caldewgate, and it wasn't without its detractors. In fact, a breakaway group decided that Shaddongate United should live on and they continued to play under that name. However, they didn't have much of a local impact and their exploits have also been lost in the fullness of time. The initial idea having been proposed by Newcastle United officials who felt it would aid them when applying to regional football leagues if they represented the entire city. At the time they played at Milhome Bank and later at Devonshire Park, finally settling at their current home Brunton Park in 1909. The first ever recorded fixture that United played was on 1 September 1904 when they entertained Victoria Wanderers, another Carlisle based side, in a friendly. Wanderers would go on to win the game, played at Millholme Bank, 2–1 and, unfortunately, the scorer of that historic goal has been lost to history with his name never having been recorded.The first ever Saturday match for Carlisle United was on 3 September 1904, and it ended in victory with a 3–1 win over Hexham. Seven days later it was Maxwelltown, just across the border, who played host in a thrilling 3–3 draw that saw both sides take and lose the lead. A final nail in the coffin for Shaddongate came when the new Carlisle United entered the Cumberland Senior League. The division had just the six teams and it was to be the Roses who would inflict a first league defeat on United when they beat them 2–0 at Boundary Road. Revenge would be gained a month later when United went to the Roses ground at Maryport Cottages and beat them 2–1 in another nip and tuck match.
It was in this 1904–05 season that Carlisle United entered the FA Cup for the first time. They were drawn to play against Workington who were, at that time, the top side in Cumberland. In fact, so good were they that they comfortably held their own in the Lancashire Combination League. The cup game ended in a 2–2 draw with the West Cumbrians running out as 3–1 winners in the replay. In the Cumberland Cup United started by knocking out Frizington White Star, followed by Workington and then Keswick in the semi-final. The final, played on the Warwick Road ground, brought United and Red Rose together again, and it was the newer of the two sides who would come out on top. The 2–0 win not only handed them the Cumberland Cup, but also confirmed them as the first side to ever achieve the League and Cup double.
The remainder of the season for United was a series of friendly matches against the likes of Accrington, Darlington and Newcastle United. On Good Friday 1905 club officials pulled off a real coup when they managed to persuade Glasgow Rangers to come to the city for a game. The match was played at Warwick Road in front of a healthy crowd of 3,000, but the Gers won 2–1. Having won both the Cumberland Senior League and the Cumberland Cup in their inaugural season and been very impressed with what they had seen and heard of the Lancashire Combination League, United went in search of approval for admittance on 3 May 1905. After a two-week wait the request was rubber stamped and, along with Burnley, Bolton and Lancaster, United stepped up to a higher level of football, successfully applying to be admitted to the Second Division of the Lancashire Combination but were only admitted after agreeing to pay all visiting teams’ travel expenses for two years, due to Carlisle not being located in Lancashire. It was though a bold step for the Carlisle club who had to agree to pay the train fares for the visiting team for two seasons as well as providing them with a tea. The success of 1904–05 had resulted in the club's bank balance increasing from £24 to £90 despite the outlay of £52 on player's wages, an early sign of professionalism in the ranks. Yet this balance and more was needed to develop a new and better ground at Devonshire Park, situated off Lismore Place and Catholic Lane. A new stand seating 800 was erected and banking erected all around the playing area. The aim, as it was reported to the club's AGM, was to improve the game in the Border City. The Lancashire Combination had begun life back in 1891 with the Second Division being established in 1903. Though almost entirely composed of clubs in Lancashire, Workington had been admitted in 1904 so United were guaranteed at least one local derby fixture.
The new season's preparations also included moves to strengthen the playing staff. Several players were recruited from other local sides, not least Carlisle Red Rose, which had severe financial difficulties. Other players came from further afield including Tom Smith who arrived as both player and trainer from Preston North End, had also played for Tottenham with whom he had won an FA Cup winners medal in 1901. The Lancashire Combination era began on 2 September 1905 at home to St Helens Town. Despite two goals from Smith, the visitors won 3–2. The next game at home to Blackpool Reserves was lost 5–1 and despite a first win at Burnley, Carlisle then crashed 8–1 at Clitheroe in what proved to be almost the worst defeat of the season. Soon afterwards a new goalkeeper, James Scott, was signed from Barnsley and immediately results began to improve. Carlisle were able to sustain a mid table position for most of the season. A rare lapse came on 2 January 1906 when the trip to Brynn Central ended in an 8–0 rout, the biggest defeat of the campaign. The most convincing victory had come a week earlier on Christmas Day 1905 when Hyde St George's were thrashed 10–2. Not surprisingly Hyde were to finish bottom of the table although it was reported rather unsurprisingly that they were 'somewhat short of their strongest side' when they arrived in Carlisle. Despite this fact, a total crowd of 11,310 watched the two home games on Christmas Day and Boxing Day while a further 1,000 were said to have been admitted without paying after forcing their way into the ground.
Carlisle finished the season in 13th place among the 19 teams in the Combination. The campaign ended with four successive home matches, the last of these being the local derby with Workington. Though Carlisle were safely placed in mid table, Workington were near the top and in with a real chance of promotion to Division One. The teams had met a month earlier in Carlisle's last away match of the season which saw the Reds win 3–1. The return match at Devonshire Park attracted a gate in excess of 10,000 with receipts of no less than £208 thanks to increased admission prices. The match ended 1–1 and Workington eventually missed promotion by a single point. Financial troubles had caused Carlisle Red Rose to resign from the Cumberland Senior League the previous summer. Fortunately they were later readmitted, playing their home games at the Milholme Bank ground that had just been vacated by United. The two sides were then drawn together in the FA Cup First Preliminary Round. Carlisle United won 3–0 at Devonshire Park before losing at Barrow in the next round. It was not until the end of the season that the city's two leading sides met again. By that time Red Rose had won the Cumberland Cup Final, beating Frizington White Star who had just pipped them for the Cumberland League title. On 30 April 1906 United and Red Rose met in a friendly match in aid of the Red Rose club. The result was a 1–1 draw.
After the league reorganised four years later the board at United decided it did not suit the club's best interests to be there any longer and the club entered the North Eastern League in place of their reserve team who had previously played in the league and been a founding member. When the Carlisle United first team left to join the Football League the reserve team resumed its place in the competition. Carlisle United were crowned champions of the North Eastern League in 1922.
The 1927–28 season was Carlisle's last in the North Eastern League. An excellent home record helped them to second in the table finishing a full 10 points behind champions Sunderland Reserves. The close season meant the usual round of applications to join the Football League. Carlisle went up against Chester, Durham City, Nelson and York City. On 4 June 1928 a delegation of representatives from Carlisle United took their seats at the Football League meeting in London to hear the results of the vote. Carlisle received the second-most votes with 33, and replaced Durham City, who had received just 11 votes, as members of the Football League.