There are rattles and scarves. There are balls, boots, replica shirts and rosettes. Programmes and fanzines, pin badges and photos. Hats, pennants, trophies and medals.
Paintings. Directors’ seats. Flags. Calendars. Letters. Video footage. Audio classics. A turnstile. A Subbuteo team. A mascot’s head. A chunk of turf.
There is also, in one corner of the room, a lovingly assembled pile of lever arch files; five across, four down and about six deep. This large and seemingly anonymous exhibit catches the eye in a different way to everything else.
It is, it turns out, the collection of the Carlisle United supporter Colin Cowx, and represents 80 years of recording every Blues game in that time: newspaper cuttings, team sheets and all manner of other memorabilia connected to each individual occasion his beloved club played a game of association football.
It is, by itself, a remarkable record; a trove of love and obsession. An example of how following Carlisle United can be the cornerstone of someone’s life.
Backing The Blues: 120 Years of Carlisle United seeks to capture this feeling, this idea, in the form of artefacts, lovingly and proudly presented. The exhibition in Tullie, which opens this weekend and runs until November, succeeds emphatically.
It is the result of a collaboration between United, Tullie, the University of Cumbria, Cumberland Council, a number of other partners and an army of diligent, dedicated supporters. It is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and, all in all, it gives the history of the Brunton Park club an unprecedented prominence.
From 1904, when Shaddongate United became Carlisle United (and that landmark change is the subject of an exhibit in itself) to 2024’s dramatic new era with American owners, the Blues’ story has offered success, struggle, all manner of idiosyncrasies and a range of memories that are now preserved.
There is truly something for fans of all eras, and students of the decades of United history. A blue jersey, worn by the great Chris Balderstone, takes pride of place. A gallon of whisky, awarded to the club’s finest leader Alan Ashman as a manager of the month award, reflects the glories of a certain time (and we can see that he didn’t touch a drop of the liquor).
Jimmy Glass’s Puma boots, one of which delivered a football miracle, are on show. There is a season-ticket receipt from 1909/10, nearly two decades before United were even in the Football League. From even further back, a Cumberland Cup winner’s medal, earned by Bob Smith in 1903, brings back long-vanished times.
It’s impossible to list everything on show. But let's mention a few more anyway. There's a model of Brunton Park, assembled in the early 1990s. There is the football fired three times into Cardiff City’s net by Billy Rafferty in 1976; the ground’s most famous hat-trick. A Warwick Road End turnstile, which had rotated since the 1950s.
There's the head of a previous incarnation of Olga the Fox, United’s mascot. There are rare photographs of the 1995/96 construction of the East Stand where the Scratching Pen used to be. There is a recreation of a child’s bedroom, replete with old CUFC duvet set.
Other features add poignancy, and illuminate personal stories. There is the iconic hat worn by well-known United fan Dave Nicholson. Then, magnificently, there is the wedding dress bearing the colours of United’s 1995-98 away kit – green, gold, red, white. It was worn by Lisa Abbott on the day she became Lisa Holmes. Lisa died last year; this colourful memory proudly shows off something special, something unique. Someone unique.
As does a commentary box, recreated as a likeness of the booth from which Derek Lacey poured his warmth and humour into so many lives. As you see the microphone, wires and BBC Radio Cumbria coat placed on the back of chair - that sight in particular tugged hard at this writer's emotions - you see ‘Degsy’ and his beaming smile on a large screen. You hear recordings of his voice. That voice. Those gaffes. That charm. That laugh. How it lives on.
As does the memory of Andrew Jenkins, United’s long-serving, remarkably devoted former chairman who passed away this month. He is photographed here painting the barriers on the Scratching Pen – one of a great many News & Star archive photos in the exhibition. He is also remembered, aptly, with the seat on which he sat in the directors’ box for all those many years.
Some of the many who’ve added to the soul of the Blues feature in films. Mick Wadsworth, defining manager of the 1990s, gives an interview of engrossing reflection. Barbara Abbott – fan, photographer, Lisa’s mum – talks on another video, with depth, with feeling. Archive footage from the 1960s to 1980s can also be watched: another window into this United world.
Alongside these precious, delicate memories, a giant blue banner bearing the word ‘PEEVE’ looks down from a wall. Another big flag, ‘OWN THE NORTH’, also reflects modern Brunton Park sentiments.
The 1970s – the club’s heyday, the decade of its greatest rise – is naturally celebrated. One of the stars of that period, Les O’Neill, officially opened the exhibition with the flick of a Subbuteo player.
“Missed again,” Les joked as he left the green baize. Unlike against Chelsea, Les. Unlike against Middlesbrough. Unlike against all the others.
Other great figures from United’s past were there, among the guests invited to Tullie on Thursday to see the exhibition. There was George McVitie, Billy Rafferty, Mick Wadsworth, John Halpin, Allan Ross’s wife and daughters. The current club was represented by numerous directors and staff, as well as its Community Sports Trust.
They entered Tullie to the strains of So What’s 1995 cup final track, ‘Blue Army’, complete with Michael Knighton’s rap. They heard, in introductory speeches and interviews, several figures central to this project talk about its origins, from the collection of more memorabilia than United could display or even confidently store, to the collaborative idea for this exhibition, to the Lottery funding application that unlocked the door.
It was, said Simon Clarkson, United’s supporter liaison officer, about putting all this on show, but also protecting United’s heritage. “We’d lost so much in the floods,” he said. “We also had some items we couldn’t physically display at the club – and we didn't have any process at all for archiving and recording the programmes, the photographs, the shirts, everything.
“So we needed some professional input and some creativity, and that's how it all started.”
Once the funding was granted, things “snowballed”, and a group of people known as the ‘Carlisle United Collective’ set to work on collecting, processing, filing and deciding on items for show. Nigel Clibbens, the club’s chief executive, talked about how United’s new owners, Tom and Patty Piatak, had felt a “wow” factor when seeing the exhibits recently, realising how much of United’s history was still to be learned.
Each item, Clibbens added, each memory it tapped, reflected “a little mark” someone may have made on the club. “And it lasts forever. That’s what makes football clubs different.”
Colin Glover, a Tullie trustee, agreed. He talked about being hooked on the Blues in the 1970s, making a scrapbook of News & Star cuttings, remembering Stamford Bridge in August 1974, remembering the friend who left that Cardiff game early in '76 and missed all three of Rafferty’s goals.
The meaning and mechanics of Backing The Blues was explained by Tim Mills, the curator. He is a Swindon Town fan, but was quick to mention the bloke Carlisle had on loan from the Robins in 1999 (red jersey, decent finisher, you might remember him).
“This exhibition reflects what is important about football, which is people, community and place,” he said.
“It's not a definitive history, because that's impossible. But it [shows] how football is a conduit by which we can explore life and the human experience.
“Those of you that go to football regularly will know that it's a quasi-religious experience, I think. You’ve got your congregation, you're heading to your place of worship, there's this rhythm and ritual and routine to it. But there's also this deep devotion, which I found profoundly moving.”
There was much more, guests were told, than there was room to display, but those pieces and more could still see the light of day later, such as when United establish their own museum in the East Stand.
Until then, the care and pride evident in the Tullie exhibition deserves to be experienced, time after time. It opens on Saturday, and runs until November 10. Adult exhibition day tickets are £7, with unlimited exhibition entry and access to some associated activities £15. Children and under-18s go free.
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