Trouble at Carlisle: Three bosses, 42 players, one hell of a mess

Paul Newton, BBC Radio Cumbria sports editor

On Saturday 26 April 1975, Carlisle United were saying goodbye to their one and only season in the top flight of English football with a 0-0 draw at champions Derby County.

Fast forward exactly 50 years to Saturday, 26 April 2025 and the Cumbrians are facing the possibility of another relegation – however, this one would see them saying goodbye to their EFL status.

The last and, so far, only time that fate was to befall Carlisle, their opponents were Cheltenham Town in 2004. Carlisle’s opponents this Saturday? You guessed it, Cheltenham.

Carlisle fans don’t need history to frame what has been another disastrous campaign. The prospect of back-to-back relegations under the club’s American owners, the Piataks, is all too real, and serious questions will be asked about just what has gone so badly wrong.

Fans will point to some highly questionable decision-making – from the timing of Paul Simpson and Mike Williamson’s sackings to four successive disastrous transfer windows despite substantial investment in the playing squad.

Even if Carlisle do somehow pull off an escape arguably more miraculous than the famous Jimmy Glass one in these remaining two games, Carlisle, on the field, are in a mess.

When the Piataks took over the club in October 2023, their promise was for Carlisle to “Own The North”. Right now, that reality couldn’t feel any further away.