Weekly Briefing

June 5, 2022

CUOSC Chatter 


A big thank-you and congratulations to United’s London Branch supporters’ who this week commemorated one of the Blues finest hours.

They produced a special edition of their ‘Hit The Bar’ fanzine to mark the 50th anniversary of United’s exploits in the Anglo-Italian Cup – and in particular, their 3-2 win over AS Roma in the Stadio Olimpico.

It includes contributions from both Carlisle and Roma players and is a great read for all Blues fans, whatever their age. It is available for anyone to access on their website at: www.carlislelondonbranch.org

United’s team included legends like Chris Balderstone and Allan Ross plus the great Stan Bowles. And it is a reminder that as a club we are capable of competing at a higher level than League Two.

Sadly, only a handful of Blues fans witnessed the victory in Rome - yet what a tale they had to tell!

They could claim with some justification it was our greatest ever win. But was it really?

I’m sure we all have our personal memories of great ‘away days’. For me it is hard to look past the 2-0 win at Chelsea in August 1974. It was our debut in the old First Division with the Chelsea players forming a guard of honour to welcome the Blues on to the pitch.

Like Roma, they probably thought that ‘little’ Carlisle would give them few problems. But how wrong they were. Everyone was proud to be a Cumbrian that night.

More recently was the Conference play-off final victory over Stevenage at Stoke in May 2005. Peter Murphy’s goal gave us a 1-0 win and the relief was immeasurable because we were making a quick return to the Football league.

The wins at Wembley against Brentford and Colchester in the Football League Trophy finals must also rank highly.

But what about our first visit to Wembley in the Trophy final in 1995? There were more than 27,000 Carlisle fans among a near 80,000 crowd for the clash with Birmingham. We may have lost 1-0 in extra time but what a feeling it was to enter Wembley and see so many Blues fans. A day never to be forgotten.

Let us know some of your best Blues’ ‘away day’ memories and we will give them a mention. Email info@cuosc.org.uk

Malcolm Nugent



AGM 2022

The date of this year's AGM has been provisionally arranged for Sunday July 24 in Foxy's. We hope to confirm the date this week. Members who wish to stand for election to the board should contact us and get the support of two current CUOSC members who can email in their support to our usual email address of info@cuosc.org.uk

The board is currently short of a quorum so we will be co-opting another member until the date of the AGM. Anyone who wishes to volunteer to fill this role, please reply to this email. We are ideally looking for someone with financial/accounting skills.



Mark Middling

The board of CUOSC would like to put on record their thanks for Mark's efforts during his stint as a board member. The work he has done on football club financial accountability and transparency is important and it has the potential to help CUFC in the long run as well as other clubs. He has also made a valuable contribution to Fair Game, which he continues to be a part of.

We hope to welcome Mark back to the board in future when he feels able to return.

 

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