You Can't Take Carlisle From the Boy

Well, at least it hasn't been a desperately dull pre-season. Unless - that is - you count 90 minutes of moribund messing about at Partick Thistle. Less entertaining than anything seen from the Blues since the pre-season canter at Queen of the South a year ago. Though in Dumfries we did have the highlight of both sides missing a penalty, and Queens managing to land their attempt in the street.

I could bang on about the new board, the departure of our best goalie in years and the on-again off-again moves of others in and out of the club. But I couldn't add much to the raging speculation already posted on the message boards and whatever I did add would look desperately out of date long before this column was replaced. But a new way of staying in touch and having your own say will be available to all of us this season.

At long last Carlisle United will have its own podcast, a downloadable digest of news, views, gossip and anything else the contributors can find. I was interviewed for the pilot show, which gave me a chance to meet Claire Burgess, the mastermind of the whole project. She'll be looking for fans with opinions, on a regular basis. She'll be gathering some first hand interviews close to home in Carlisle, and can also record material over the phone, handy for us exiles. What I'd like to say about it at this early stage is that Claire has the dedication to produce something we should have had ages ago. Come on, Leyton Orient beat us to a podcast and that can't be a good sign!

As a rule I've not noticed the Blue Army being stuck for opinions and talking into her recorder in a pub, or down a phone line is probably easier than baiting the usual suspects on a message board. So I'd encourage anyone who wants to get in touch and help out a deserving venture. Even if you just want to send an e-mail saying you'd like to know more I'm sure Claire would welcome your interest.

Claire's e-mail: burclaire@gmail.com

There's no sign of the podcast yet but when it appears it will be via Fancast, here: http://www.fancast.com/home

Thanks to those of you who showed up for my gig in Waterstones on July 16^th and those who have already contributed to the Blue Army book. A reminder to others, if you want to share a story or two about your time supporting CUFC to appear in a book which will benefit the Football in the Community scheme click this link: http://www.neilnixon.com/books.htm

www.neilnixon.com