As a United fan of 30 years and host of the Brunton Bugle podcast (kindly sponsored for the last two seasons by the Supporters' Trust), I’ve seen a fair few ups and downs following the Blues across the country.
There’s been lows, highs and very occasionally, the mediocrity that lies somewhere in between.
But with a two-thirds of this season now completed, where does the current campaign rank? A quick browse of Blues fans views on social media, message boards and even in WhatsApp group chats, suggests that opinions on the matter are wide and varied.
A quick listen to the post-match show on Radio Cumbria after the Hartlepool defeat gave you a range of comments on the team, barely a single player avoided criticism. There was talk of seasons fizzling out, the word “disgrace” was used regularly and calls for squad overhauls returned.
But just a few days earlier, fans were raving about the team after the comfortable 3-0 win over Yeovil Town, praising the quality of the football that had been played as some of the best all season and even allowing slim hopes of a top-spot finish to return into the consciousness.
So, what is the actual reality? On the bare face of the stats, we’re actually on for one of our best ever seasons points wise – beating the 91 we managed in the 94/95 title season (albeit, with four games less). Goals-wise, we’re heading for 84, with three players (Linney, Kelly and Armstrong) set to finish on double-figures for league goals – something I can’t remember happening in my own lifetime.
I’d argue that the best way to view it is we’re having a very good season, but not an exceptional one. Why then, does this seem like a failure to so many fans? There seemed to be an expectation that we would steamroller this division by a good section of the fanbase at the start of the season, but reality has very much bitten.
The name may have changed since the last time we were at this level, but no longer being known as the Conference isn’t the only thing different. Back then, there was more than half-a-dozen sides who were part-time, and it showed as we battered the likes of Farnborough and Leigh RMI.
The current National League meanwhile, has just one fully part-time side and a couple more hybrid. The rest are full-time, packed with ex-EFL players and many with budgets that would make them competitive at League Two level.
York and Rochdale have been exceptional and are rightly battling for top-spot – but they’re coming off the back of two seasons of development to reach where they are. We are coming off the back of two seasons of what can only be described as “utter clart”. Fixing that doesn’t happen overnight, it’s going to take a lot more than one summer and a few signings.
Being best of the rest has to be the aim and as it stands, we’re doing that, but we need to make sure we hit our stride in these final weeks of the campaign and be ready to peak in the play-offs.
That can only happen with a United front and that means the club and fans in harmony. We’ve seen what a horrible place we can make Brunton Park be (Hello Mr Savage) and how it affects the opposition – we’re going to need that for all the remaining games, starting with another big game against Southend next weekend. Getting back into the EFL is the only aim, whatever way it happens.
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