Carlisle facing tough challenge

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Optimism is the order of the day

Another season is upon us and a mediocre level of optimism fills the air at Brunton Park as we enter another high octane season of League One football.

First up this weekend is the arrival of Russell Slade’s London side Leyton Orient who will surely provide us with a stern test of our early season credentials.

However, what has changed from last season, what’s the big news from the country’s most northerly Football League club?

Well, to be frank, it has been a pretty quiet summer at Carlisle United with little in the way of exciting transfer action apart from the captures of David Amoo from Tranmere Rovers, Josh Gillies from Gatshead and Lewis Guy from St Mirren.

Exited

After last season’s poor campaign, Gregg Abbott, our manager, decided to have a clear out which was clearly needed.

Long serving club stalwart Peter Murphy exited the club for pastures new and so did the former USA international Frank Simek who failed to live up to his attractive billing.

With a couple of attacking players added to the ranks, the main concern on everyone’s mind has to be the scars of last season’s many massacres on home turf.

It is fair to say, we were given a good few embarrassing hammerings last term and also conceded the most goals in League One with the Carlisle faithful clearly not appreciating what they witnessed.

The big question now is – has Abbott learned from his mistakes? I am not so sure he has. Firstly, even though he did offload two slow defenders, we still have another three defensive players who lack any genuine pace.

Vulnerable

This will ultimately be a problem once again for us as it seems obvious we will be vulnerable at the back. I feel the manager should have at least signed one new central defender to play alongside Sean O’Hanlon who will hopefully be fit soon.

Moving away from the defence and onto a more stimulating note is the future of some of our rising stars. The likes of Dave Symington, Mark Beck, Brad Potts and Mark Gillespie will all thrive on a full season in the third tier of English football.

Pretenders

Many of the loyal supporters are looking forward to what these young pretenders can achieve this season and a couple of them certainly bring a bit of excitement to the terraces.

I feel our hope for the near future lies with this current crop of youngsters who are currently providing the Brunton Park faithful with a ray of hope for the season ahead.

If Lee Miller can stay fit, he will almost certainly score a hatful of goals. The young guns may shine and if our rearguard stays strong, this campaign could ultimately be more fruitful than possibly predicted.

Time will tell, but if we can start the season positively, anything is possible in football, just ask Yeovil Town supporters.