Carlisle United’s poor start to the League Two season has left them with a big task ahead to improve their form and fortunes.

They have taken just three points from their first six league games, leaving them 22nd in the table. This is one of the 12 worst starts to a campaign in the Blues’ league history.

To see what hope (or otherwise) might be out there, here we take a look at previous seasons Carlisle have started badly – and how they ended up.

2003/04

First six games: 1 point.

How it started: The worst start to a campaign in United’s history by this point, the Blues taking just one point from their first six Division Three games. By the four-game mark Roddy Collins had been sacked, and a certain Paul Simpson was tasked with the recovery as caretaker.

How it finished: Carlisle’s woes initially went on, and after 21 games they had just five points. A resurgence under Simpson then made survival an unlikely possibility – and indeed set the stage for dramatic improvement thereafter – but United ultimately went down to non-league in 23rd place.

1985/86

First six games: 2 points.

How it started: Another season to make you look away whilst searching for false-start hope. Bob Stokoe’s side mustered just two points from their first six Division Two games and crowds were dipping below the 3,000 mark.

How it finished: Er…not great. Carlisle floundered in the first half of the season and, after a brief, unsuccessful stint in the manager’s chair by Pop Robson, Stokoe returned and, after a late flurry of wins, an infamous Jim Tolmie own-goal in a defeat to Charlton Athletic pointed the Blues towards the drop. They finished third bottom and went down.

1980/81

First six games: 2 points.

How it started: Martin Harvey, handed the reins after a positive caretaker spell, did not get far into the new season, a six-game start yielding just two points helping to bring about the end of his reign, as Carlisle began a season of Third Division struggle.

How it finished: With a late resurgence that avoided the worst-case scenario. Bob Stokoe, back for his second spell in charge, made the Blues more competitive yet it needed the late-season signing of veteran Pop Robson to score the goals to avert relegation, as United finished 19th.

1962/63

First six games: 2 points.

How it started: Badly. Ivor Powell’s Blues, having been promoted for the first time in the club’s history, floundered on their third-tier debut, earning two points from their first six games and establishing United as strugglers for the duration.

How it finished: There was hope in the air in the closing months of the season, United having appointed Alan Ashman to replace Powell in February and signed a young Scottish striker named Hugh McIlmoyle. Survival, though, was beyond Carlisle and their soon-to-be-legends, as they went back down in 23rd position.

1960/61

First six games: 2 points.

How it started: Another return of two points from their first six games proved a meagre opening to the new Division Four season, and there seemed little hope of United making a more positive mark on the campaign.

How it finished: With enough improvement to avoid a more damning reckoning, at least. Powell guided the Blues to a cluster of late-season wins and this saw them finish 19th and avoiding the re-election process that was the fate of those lower down.

2013/14

First six games: 2 points.

How it started: The most recent of the two-points-from-six games cluster in United’s history, and this was a particularly hollow start, as Greg Abbott’s side suffered consecutive thrashings in League One. The manager ultimately lost his job and Carlisle were left in a battle for survival.

How it finished: With a fairly emphatic relegation. Graham Kavanagh, Abbott’s successor, initially kept the side on a more even keel and by February they were in lower mid-table. Chaotic player turnover, though, eventually did for the Blues and a wretched finish saw them go down in 22nd.

2001/02

First six games: 3 points.

How it started: With a new era of sorts, but the same old problems. Carlisle, in the teeth of the late-Knighton era distress, had appointed Roddy Collins as manager but the Irishman oversaw just three points – all from draws – from a winless six-game start.

How it finished: In 17th – which, in that particular period, was unusually comfortable for United. Collins found some positive results from a side including players such as Ian Stevens, Richie Foran and Steve Soley to make the Blues safe by Easter. He then talked himself out of the job as takeover wranglings went on.

1991/92

First six games: 3 points.

How it started: With a hearty opening-day win…then defeat after defeat after defeat. By the six game mark, Aiden McCaffery had overseen one win and five losses and this three-point return only set United up for more struggle in the basement division.

How it finished: By propping up the entire Football League. Carlisle, with a struggling side and financial difficulties, ended up 22nd out of 22 in Division Four after one of the most hollow campaigns in their history. Only the problems of others kept them out of non-league’s jaws.

1968/69

First six games: 3 points.

How it started: With a side totally out of the winning habit. Tim Ward’s Blues mustered three points from their first six games and goal-shy United limped on until September in Division Two before the manager paid for the struggles with his job.

How it finished: With the best recovery, overall, from this collection of bad six-game starts. Ward’s exit heralded the arrival of Bob Stokoe and he soon got United into more competitive shape. From late September to mid December, Carlisle didn’t lose a league game and a finishing position of 12th reflected their clear improvement under Stokoe.

1957/58

First six games: 2 points (3 points in today’s points system).

How it started: On the back foot. Fred Emery’s Division Three North boys lost their first five and won the sixth, as a side featuring the attacking class of such players as Alf Ackerman and Ivor Broadis took time to come to the boil.

How it finished: More respectably. United, after their bad start, hit a spate of winning form and although a generally inconsistent season played out, the Blues were good enough to avoid a lowly position. They finished 16th out of 24, comfortably above the bowels of the table.

2014/15

First six games: 3 points.

How it started: After the club kept faith in a manager after relegation, a summer squad revamp produced poor initial results. Sound familiar? Three points from the first six games did not keep Graham Kavanagh in a job, and Carlisle, having just come down from League One, were suddenly on the back foot at the lower level.

How it finished: With United in a grim scramble for survival all the way to the latter stages, as Keith Curle – Kavanagh’s replacement – managed to tease enough points out of the squad to keep them alive in 20th position.