The wait for Carlisle United to reveal their 2024/25 kits will be over on Wednesday...so, ahead of the launch, we've taken a look at some of their classic home strips over the years.
Here's a countdown of our ten favourites. If you disagree, let us know your picks in the comments...
10 - 1952-3
The solid blue shirt. No-nonsense white shorts. A big city badge slapped on the left breast, demanding you look at it. An extremely prominent collar too. Icons like Whitehouse, Ashman and Waters wearing it. You know these lads mean business.
9 - 1897-88
Not a look (or, given the yellow) set of colours you'd expect to see Carlisle sporting at home today. But the threads worn by their forefathers, Shaddongate United, are an iconic feature of Blues history.
8 - 1992-3
Fondly recalled by fans as resembling the result of a million avian bowel movements, this lighter blue number with white and black flashes marked the start of the Knighton era...and a move towards more lurid 90s kits for United.
7 - 1991-2
The pick of United's early-90s offerings, this tidy Ribero collared number was at odds with the performance of the team, who finished bottom of the Football League.
6 - 2023-4
Another season where the quality of the strip...outstripped that of the team wearing it. Carlisle nosedived to League One relegation in 23/24, but with this 90s retro design - sometimes compared to a London Underground seat - they nailed their look.
5 - 2007-9
A creative play on a classic, the "toothpaste" swirl accompanied United's agonising push for League One promotion then their tortuous battle to stay in the division.
4 - 1993-5
Siri, show me the archetypal 1990s football home strip...this busy blue number, with two shades of the main colour plus splotches of red and white, somehow worked - and will forever be associated with Mick Wadsworth's iconic champions.
3 - 1984-6
That silky shirt, those lovely pinstripes, that brewery sponsor (McEwans Younger), that confident collar...this very classy number shone in the gritty mid-1980s at Brunton Park.
2 - 1970-3
Clean, effective, and oozing class. United's burgeoning rise in the early 70s came clad in this home kit of beautiful simplicity: blue, white and a running fox. The skills of men like Chris Balderstone and Stan Bowles needed no further decoration from this round-collar, long-sleeved beauty.
1 - 1973-76
It had to be, didn't it? And it's possible to argue that this isn't technically United's smartest kit: too much white for some, red socks, not enough blue...yet is there a more iconic Brunton Park strip? Definitely not. It was worn by Alan Ashman's heroes to the top-flight, and a mere glimpse of it captures all that incredible rise in matchless 70s style. Carlisle have nodded towards it since that decade, with reprise versions in 2014 and 2021. The coming season, meanwhile, is that First Division side's 50th anniversary.
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