Right then - we're past the Summer Solstice now, so the days are getting shorter, the squad has returned to Brunton Park for pre-season training and the first friendlies are just around the corner! I've bought a season ticket for The Paddock, and moved into a new house today! Busy, busy times! (and a lot of exclamation marks)
We've had players come in and go out, with the most predicted move being the departure of Mr Hawley. Anyone surprised? No? I didn't think so. Best of luck to him, but other than a few truly disgusting moves, I've never been too fussed by players leaving. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards for CUFC, that is my only concern.
Of the fixtures in the coming season, there are naturally a couple which the "occasional" fans will look out for - the main one being Leeds United. Now, many Leeds United fans feel their club to be in a position that they do not deserve. There is a simple answer to that one. You are where you should be. I say that with no malice intended. It is a simple fact that over the course of the season, Leeds United were not good enough to avoid relegation. This was the case when CUFC went down to Tier 5 (the Conference), and it was the case when CUFC were in Tier 1 in the 1970s. If Leeds are good enough, they will get promoted back to Tier 2, but they must not begin this season assuming that they will coast their way back into Tier 2 - for that way lies disaster. This brings me back to another thought....
I play competitive Soccer-6 and for various reasons left the team I had played for a year with, and was then asked to set up a new team for my work colleagues. Naturally, there was a sense of disappointment from my old team and they looked forward to beating us when we played each other, which they did. A couple of their players overly focussed their attention on the game against us, and assumed that I would feel the same way. I did not. My opinion was (and always is) that every game is important and must be approached as such. I am sure that this is how all the staff and players at Carlisle United approach the season, as do all the real fans. Yes, of course, there will be the odd game that we get more satisfaction from if we win, but this does not affect our thoughts going into any of the games.
So, prediction time. Last season I thought that we would finish tenth and we finished eighth. This season I think we will do even better, and I have the gut feeling that we will secure the last play-off place - sixth.
One amusing item from last month has been the "Olympic Logo debacle". This was followed up with a swarm of suggested alternative logos, which were mostly submitted to the 2012 - Can you do better? web site. I had a clear favourite, but felt it could look better so came up with:
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