Under manager Alan Ashman they had secured the third automatic promotion spot the previous year. “Our first game against Chelsea was billed as the country bumpkins against the city boys. Everyone expected us to get hammered, but we beat them 2-0,” recalls captain Bill Green. A double strike from Les O’Neill dispatched Middlesbrough in midweek and a 1-0 victory over Spurs put Carlisle top on goal difference. Inevitably, though, it didn’t last, and they were relegated. [The numbers refer to a photograph, which is not carried on the website.]
1 Mike McCartney The reserve full-back for the First Division season went on to make almost 200 appearances for Carlisle. He also played for Southampton and Plymouth and was player/manager at Gretna. He returned to Carlisle in 2001 and works as a builder
2 Frank Clarke Signed from Ipswich in 1973, the target man scored 30 times in 126 games for Carlisle. He has managed leisure centres in Shrewsbury since his retirement in 1978
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3 Peter McLaughlan A local boy, the youth team keeper never broke into the first team. He played for Morecambe and for several non-League sides after leaving in 1975. He lives in Carlisle and manufactures safety systems
4 Alan Ross Brought to Carlisle as a makeweight in the signing of Jack Lornie from Luton in 1963, Ross went on to make a club record 466 League appearances. He retired in 1979 and worked at Carlisle United in the commercial department until his death in 1999
5 Tom Clarke The reserve keeper made 23 appearances between 1971 and 1975, when he left for Preston. He now works on oil rigs
6 Bobby Owen The centre-forward was known for scoring great goals and missing sitters. He signed from Manchester City in 1970 and scored 51 times in 204 games. He drives fork-lift trucks in Bury
7 Mike Barry Barry scored 10 times in 81 midfield appearances after arriving from Huddersfield Town in 1973. He moved to America in 1979 and played in the indoor professional league. He is now director of coaching at the Thunder Soccer Club in Ohio
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8 Herbert Nicholson (physio) Nicholson was involved with the club for more than 30 years, initially as a handyman. He died before a home game in 1982
9 Dick Young (coach) First team coach from 1956 to 1975, Young managed the team briefly in November 1975 after Ashman’s resignation. He retired in 1982 and died in 1989
10 Eddie Spearritt The full-back played 31 games for Carlisle before moving to Gillingham in 1976. In 1977 he emigrated to play for the Brisbane Lions in Australia. He now has his own business in Brisbane
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11 Dennis Martin Martin was the last Carlisle player to score in the top division, with the winning goal against Wolves on April 19, 1975. In 1978 the winger moved to Newcastle and subsequently had spells playing for Mansfield and in Denmark, before ending his career with Kettering, where he still lives
12 Chris Balderstone The midfielder played 376 times in his 10-year career at Brunton Park, scoring 68 goals. Balderstone also played cricket for Leicestershire and England, and is the only person to have played first-class cricket and League football on the same day. He became a first-class umpire in 1988 and officiated in Test matches between 1993 and 1996. He died in March 2000, at 59
13 Alan Ashman (manager) Ashman was the club’s most successful manager. He resigned after Carlisle’s relegation from the First Division and went on to manage Walsall. He died in 2002 and was recently voted Carlisle’s Man of the Century
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14 Joe Laidlaw The club’s top scorer in the First Division with 12 goals, Laidlaw transferred to Doncaster Rovers in 1976. He now manages Sidlesham FC in Sussex
15 Graham Winstanley The defender played one game for Carlisle in the First Division before joining Brighton, but returned to Carlisle for the 1979-80 season. He now works for a wholesale electrical company
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16 Hugh McIlmoyle Voted Carlisle’s best ever player by supporters, the forward had three spells at the club. He is retired and still lives in Carlisle
17 Hugh Neil A full-back in the 1960s for Carlisle, Neil was the club’s chief scout. He was killed in a car crash in 1978
18 Ray Train A midfielder, he moved to Sunderland for £90,000 and won the Division Two title in 1976 and again with Bolton in 1978. He ended his career at his first club, Walsall, in 1987 and has since coached at Walsall and Middlesbrough. Since 2003 he has had a driving job at a garage in Middlesbrough
19 John Gorman Carlisle’s player of the season in their promotion-winning campaign, the left-back moved to Spurs for £80,000 in 1976 and spent seven years playing in America for Tampa Bay Rowdies before returning to coach at Gillingham. He has since been Glenn Hoddle’s right-hand man at Swindon, England, Southampton and Spurs. He was caretaker manager at Wycombe until this summer and is now looking for work
20 Les O’Neill The midfielder retired in 1977 and spent 12 years as a milkman until Gorman invited him to join him as a coach at Swindon in 1991. Now chief scout at Blackpool
21 Bill Green Central defender and captain in 1974. He was sold to West Ham in 1976 and moved to Peterborough and Chesterfield before ending his playing career at Doncaster in 1984. Green took Scunthorpe to a playoff final as manager and was then chief scout at Sheffield Wednesday. He lives in Birmingham, where he sells car transmissions
22 Peter Carr The full-back played for Carlisle until 1978, when he moved to Motherwell. He owns a hotel and restaurant on Cape Cod
23 Bobby Parker Parker was Carlisle’s record signing at the start of the 1974 season, when he arrived from Coventry City for £52,000. He still lives in Carlisle, where he worked as a health and safety manager in a food processing factory