Carlisle United's Owen Moxon on awards, promotion dreams...and songs

‘Moxon With a Fox On’, by the Watterwucks, is a distinctive musical tribute to the Denton Holme star, in Carlisle lingo. “I hope he doesn’t gan, ‘cos that would be pure shan,” is one way of putting everyone’s hope that he sticks around in the blue shirt for a while yet.

It is another sign of his status at this club, in this city. “It’s brilliant,” Moxon smiles when the tune is mentioned. “It’s definitely different. The lads [in the band] gave me a message on Twitter as well, and they seem like great lads.

“My mates sent me it loads. It got a lot of engagement. It’s brilliant.”

Has Moxon ever caught himself singing or humming the tune himself? “No, but my girlfriend’s mum started playing it on the speaker when I walked in the house. She was dancing about with the dog to it.

“It’s another thing that’s a bit surreal…it’s very nice.”

The more orthodox accolade now in Moxon’s hands is a trophy recognising his place in the League Two team of the season. This was presented to him at last Sunday’s EFL Awards, capping what has, so far, been an outstanding campaign.

The 25-year-old is clear that he would trade it, and any other individual gong, for the collective joys of promotion with United this spring. He does, though, appreciate the meaning of being named one of the division’s best, less than 12 months after he was driving a van for a living alongside his part-time progress with Annan Athletic.

“It was nice to get a suit on for a change and go down to London – it was a good night,” he says.

“I would happily swap it if we could go and achieve something as a team. But you’ve got to take things like this when they come. Football’s full of ups and downs, and when there’s ups there you’ve got to celebrate them and enjoy them.

“It’s something I’m really proud of. I think when I take a step back I’ll realise it is such a big thing. It’s not often you get to do something like that. It might never happen again in my career. You have to enjoy it whilst it’s there.

Moxon's team of the season trophy (Image: News & Star)

“I’d like to thank all the boys in the changing room and the players and staff. It’s an individual award but without them I wouldn’t have received it.”

Moxon has risen to the forefront with Carlisle after they brought him back home last summer, the midfielder having been released by the Blues at 16 before building his early career with Queen of the South and then Annan.

With six goals, 14 assists and a starting role in all but one of United’s 44 league games so far, Moxon has shone. Has it gone better than he dared expect?

“I did back myself to do it, and I was hoping I was going to get the opportunity,” he says. “I want to thank the club, and the gaffer [Paul Simpson] especially for giving me the opportunity.

“If you take a step back and look at the season we’ve had, and me personally, it maybe has gone a bit better than I could have imagined. It’s definitely something I’m really proud of.”

Delighted to be included, achievement im really proud of. I want to say thanks to all the boys as it wouldn’t of happen without them. Now to finish the season off strong in the last 2 games 👏 @officialcufc https://t.co/wZVvOMkwl8

— owen moxon (@owenmoxonn) April 24, 2023

Moxon says he never lost faith in his ability to forge a professional career, even after the blow of being let go by his home-city club in his teens. “Ever since I was young I’ve just loved playing football. It’s something I’d never stop doing whether I was getting paid for it or not.

“Thankfully I’ve always been at a good enough standard where that happened. I would never give it up. It’s something I always wanted to do and believed I could do. I was never going to give it up. I knew I could get back to being full-time after it didn’t work out the first time.”

Moxon says he was treated no differently to any other signing when he joined Carlisle for pre-season, and it is another compliment to his quick adaptation that a fellow midfielder, Callum Guy, told him early on that he did not even realise he’d been playing part-time.

“As soon as we started training I enjoyed it – it was a good standard, the tempo was quicker, and I just felt I fit right in perfectly," he adds. "I’ve enjoyed it ever since.”

Moxon says he has learned aspects of the professional game which have helped him along the way. “I released the extra work I could have put in [before] – not that I didn’t do it when I was younger, but the fact I could do more of it now, just to not let opportunities pass you by.

“The transition...it’s been hard at times but the manager has been brilliant with me, both physios, Ross [Goodwin] and now Chris [Brunskill], if I’ve ever got any niggles or anything, we’ll speak about it and maybe adjust training, but that’s the same for everybody.

“Luckily I’m quite naturally fit so I’ve managed to be fine that way with it. It’s just about recovering properly, taking everything seriously in training, out of training, to give your body the best chance to recover.”

Moxon has starred in United's midfield all season after his move from Annan (Image: Richard Parkes)

Moxon says he is learning other aspects, such as refining the moments when the time is right for a brave pass that runs the risk of failure, and when it’s a moment to keep the ball in different areas. His range and quality on the ball is of a high level, and his willingness to take a chance is also part of his game, and so these are subtle adjustments rather than matters of overhaul.

“There are always areas you can improve,” he adds. “I don’t think there’s ever the finished article. In general, I want to improve everything.”

Last week Moxon paid a visit to his old primary school, Robert Ferguson, to meet the pupils, and it was another occasion when his profile, thanks to his impact for the Blues, went before him. “Seeing the kids’ faces when I was walking in, it makes you really proud.

“It is hard to explain sometimes how things can change that quickly. One of the little girls was crying when I walked into the school…not because she was crying, but it was so lovely to see you can have an impact on other people and hopefully the future generation at Carlisle as well.”

The immediate impact comes on the pitch where Moxon, as well as creating goals, has scored some memorable ones. Until last Tuesday, all of them had come away from home, the highlight of those coming at Hartlepool, when he drove home a sweet low equaliser during a 3-1 comeback win, and ran to the embrace of a surging away end, full of his friends.

Last week then came a moment he’ll always treasure: a first strike at Brunton Park, in the 2-2 draw with Stockport County. For a lad who grew up nearby, and always fantasised about scoring for the Blues, how did that feel?

“It was unbelievable. There’s no better feeling than scoring a goal. To do it here in front of loads of people I know and that I know of, and my family…my mum hadn’t actually seen me score for Carlisle live.

Moxon says a dream came true when he scored at Brunton Park last week (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“All the way through the academy, that’s what you would love to do. It’s the only place you think about doing it. It’s a bit of a blur if I’m trying to think about it now. I must have watched it a hundred times…at the time it was a blur too. I was just buzzing.

“As weird as it sounds, I had a dream a few weeks ago that I scored my first goal in the last two home games, and it was going to be an important one. You can imagine what went through my head straight away when I thought it was going to be the winner [Stockport equalised a couple of minutes later].

“Hopefully that was wrong and the dream is going to come this weekend, and it’s going to be a big goal.”

Moxon is quick to refer to the support not just of his team-mates, but his nearest and dearest. “My mam, my dad, my brother, my nana who’s sadly not here any more, my grandad, he’s over in Spain, my grandma…they’ve all supported my career since I was nine years old when I first came to Carlisle.

“My girlfriend’s at every game, my brother is, my dad’s over in Russia, working there and he watches it, so does my grandad. They’re incredibly proud of me and with me every step of the way.”

Moxon is not entertaining the rumour mill at this crucial point in United’s season. Inevitably there has been talk of where his performances could take him next year, but in terms of dealing with the noise of speculation, he says: “I find it pretty easy – I just block it all out.

“All I want to do is play my football, and I’m fully concentrated on the next game. I love Carlisle, so there’s no reason for me to be talking or thinking about anything else.

“People do ask you questions and there’s rumours and stuff, but nothing in my mind is on that, it’s just on the games and focusing on trying to get this club promoted.”

That focus leads to Saturday, and a huge game against top-seven rivals Salford City when victory would seal a play-off place at the very least. Football’s way of throwing these things up meant that, at the EFL Awards, he was on the same table as two Salford players, fellow team-of-the-season players Elliot Watt and Ibou Touray. “I had a little bit of crack with them, obviously told them they’re getting battered on the weekend…” he smiles.

On a more serious note, Moxon feels Carlisle’s ground-out 1-0 win at Barrow was both timely, and a platform. United head towards the last 180 minutes still with a real opportunity to add collective glory to the individual laurels already going to their star midfielder.

“I think everyone’s taken a lot of confidence from Saturday,” Moxon says. “It might sound a bit bad, but personally I thought it was a terrible game of football, a bit scrappy.

Moxon celebrates the win at Barrow which sets up a huge game against Salford this weekend (Image: Richard Parkes)

“But over recent weeks…we haven’t had a dip in form all year, and I think we sort of hit that, and we’re now coming out of it.

“At Barrow I made a block at the back post, I thought the lad was gonna score, I blocked it, looked up, it fell straight to their player, I thought. ‘He’s gonna tap it in’ because Tomas [Holy, United’s keeper] was on the floor, but we get another block and we get that little bit of luck that it falls into Tomas’s path.

“You take great confidence from grinding a result out. Sometimes it’s not the greatest performance but all that matters is three points at the minute. For us to get over the line, and they put us under a lot of pressure in the second half, I never actually felt we were gonna concede…we take a lot of confidence from that.

“Now we get back to Brunton Park on the nice big pitch, and it’s set up for us. We all want the same thing.”