It's been a tough few weeks to be a Carlisle fan particularly for those that only see us a Brunton Park. I wonder if there is a logical reason why our defence at home seems to be as shaky as an Ikea bookcase ? At the time of writing just before the first of my three home games in December, I'm at a loss to explain it as away from home where I've seen quite a few games we on the whole have been ok and notched up 4 wins. Does the home crowd pressure affect the players or is it a formation thing ? Answers on a postcard to Greg. There's no doubt that a positive vibe from the fans particularly on matchdays, rubs off onto the players. I know the argument is that fans are paying customers and entitled to their opinions but how can vocal criticism during the game, help a player. I personally found that the ' Abbott ' out campaign that gathered a bit of momentum recently, quite disturbing. What on earth do fans expect ? Yes, we all want success, but a club on our budget and crowds, needs a sense of reality. I'm content that we are on a very even keel particularly when you consider the injuries we've had. The future looks bright with our 3 youngsters now all starting to impress.

Carlisle United are becoming more creative in the commercial sphere, starting to speculate to accumulate, more creative with initiatives and not being afraid to get something wrong. I hope that the club continue to respond to fans views and applaud the setting up of the fans forum due to take place on 7th Dec. It would be easy for Greg and the owners to hide at the current time, so credit to them for fronting up and making themselves available. I'll be tuned in and the questions will no doubt be the topic of debate on the 7.30am train from Euston the following day, as a bunch of us take a day trip to Brunton Park.

The recent Brentford game won't be a day I'll forget in a hurry. After years of trying, we managed to get on soccer AM and the experience was fantastic. It was great that we got to wear the 1st team home kit from last season that was kindly donated by the club to be used by our supporters football team. We followed this up after the Brentford game with an evening in the presence of ex United player Steve Soley. The guy is a legend. He chatted away to fans all evening and was brutally honest about his experiences as a player. We had fascinating tales of the Knighton era and as a player for Roddy Collins. I was chuffed that from a whip round we donated £150 to Steve's charity set up to provide support to a terminally ill boy http://www.helpkyle.co.uk/ . The evening was made even more special when we were joined by some of the CUOSC regulars who were staying over for the weekend. Steve stayed until late, enjoying the banter and the beer flowed. You'd never been able to tell that the following weekend he was doing the Tough Mudder ( a 12 mile run with 25 tough obstacles en route ) !

I'd like to wish you a happy festive period. For most Blues fans that means one thing - six points from the two home games over the festive period. Now that would be extra special.

Simon Clarkson

Abuse of club officials in any form is not acceptable but seems to be coming more prevelant on social media. It's not just fans that don't think before they publish comments that all can see, as we've seen footballers themselves falling foul of inappropriate actions. I personally could not imagine following a matchday without twitter now and find the official comments from the club really helpful. Keep up the good work and don't let the minority put you off.

The commercial side of the club is still in need of energising. Why they are still not using volunteers to assist confuses me. How many fans would be prepared to give up a couple of hours a week to do some telesales on match tickets? How many of the occasional fans just need a little nudge over the phone with an incentive attached ? Although it is not the be all and end, it would significantly improve turnover if you get more people into Brunton Park. Once in they buy a pie, a beer, programme, etc and they might come back. I've said this before I know but something needs to be done.

I love watching Jeff Stelling on a saturday afternoon if I can't make the Carlisle game. He has such a mind full of information that he handles the flow of updates with such ease. I'm finding I'm at home on more saturdays than I used to be following the switch away from the southern bias of league 1. I would have normally have gone to Walsall but this years match clashed with a wedding. I'd sneak a quick look on twitter and noted that it was still level going into injury time. A few minutes later, looking for an excuse to check for the final score, my phone rang " Hi it's Tom from BBC Radio Cumbria. Were you at the match today ? " I explained my whereabouts and asked if the game had finished level, only to be given the news of the Noble injury time winner. Cue the double fistpump that we'd seen from Greg at Coventry followed by that knowing look from my wife !

We have a new venue for socials - the Doric Arch pub outside Euston station. I hope you can join us for our next one on 6th November for the the game against Preston. I'd like to sign off by wishing a happy 18th birthday to my son and matchday companion Sam. His first away game was a 6-0 reverse at Rochdale but like all the exiles we keep going back for that regular fix of Carlisle United.

A warm welcome to season 12-13 to United exiles all around the world. Such is the appeal of ' Hit the Bar ! ' the Branch fanzine, that I know without doubt it is read all over the world ( more so as a pdf given recent ridiculous postage increases ). We want to see more varied content included, particularly alternative views, as some fans think we are too pro Club. We only print what we receive, so over to you. There must be plenty of views out there including the proposed move to Kingmoor, so let's have them to editor@carlislelondonbranch.org .

Looking at team matters and comparing like for like against last season my view is that we have strengthened at left back and in the centre of defence with the signings of Bugno and Edwards. We have cover in all defensive positions with Potts coming in.There's no question that our midfield is strong despite the loss of Taiwo. As I write this after the Stevenage game, the fans are craving a striker after the departure of Zoko, even more so with the injury to Miller. It's a tough one for Greg as fans have repeatedly asked for him to give the youngsters a chance. Surely Beck is to raw and with Loy & Madden injured, a loan may be the best option. I was impressed with my first viewing of Cadamateri.

Given there are for home game in a fortnight, I find no shame in repeating an earlier plea " I hope that fans can be attracted to home games with a little bit of creativity around matchday offers as we adapt to the economic pressures. The Club need to speculate to accumulate, be more creative with initiatives and not be afraid to get something wrong. Finding the balance between effective decision making and fans consultation is crucial. This is why it is such a shame that there does not appear to be a visible engagement between an official supporters group and the club ".

Social interaction on matchdays is the main reason people join the London Branch. We are having a season off from any targetted fundraising ( we will still be donating around £5000 this season ) to concentrate on socialising. We want fans to have not only a great matchday with group travel and social gathering but other opportunities to make new friendships, that we last for life. Fans who we have seen for years at games join up and everyone wishes they had done it sooner. I have set targets to increase membership which longer term provides more funds to the club as a positive aside. Judging by the turnout at Stevenage and the brilliant day in the sunshine, it is without doubt the most enjoyable aspect of supporting CUFC. The major train disruptions after the match in some ways made the day out even more enjoyable as we just stayed outside in the sun with cold beer !

I hope those Members who are still yet to renew do so soon and anyone yet to join is enthused to do so. We are always keen to get feedback - without it we will not know how we can improve. Let's keep positive, get behind Greg and the team, so to make us all truly United.

Simon Clarkson

At the beginning of this season the Branch responded to an appeal from the club to raise funds to support an upgrade the floodlights at Brunton Park. We had barely started to formulate plans as to how to raise money for the appeal aptly named ' Shine The Light ' when the club announced the potential move to Kingmoor. Throughout the season we've had a very mixed reaction from fans when promoting the appeal. Most have been supportive but I have been disappointed by the fans who don't see any point in improving the floodlights on the basis that we are moving. Let's be clear here. There is no agreement to move as yet, only plans that rely on a lot of things out of our hands. So we cracked on regardless and made our £5000 target in the space of one season.

I think it's appropriate when reviewing the season I express my personal thanks to the key members within the Branch. Al Millington handles the logistics of Match Day Organiser and the popularity of the revamped travel pages on the website, demonstrate Al's hard work. We know that many Blues fans now trust his judgement to identify cracking pre match pubs that provide a safe and friendly environment for fans. The groupsave train travel is more popular than ever with the friendships that are forged over the season make the defeats easier to take and the victories all the more sweet when you celebrate together. My personal highlight was the victory at MK when we were duly compensated with free tickets after the earlier debarcle. The 600+ Blues fans celebrated the late Cook double that duly saw him win our Champagne Moment award for the season.

I'm sure you will echo my appreciation of our Information team lead by Dave Brown who has taken the popular weekly e mail circulation vhtb onto the next level. He is competently supported by HTB Editor Geoff Graham and Webmaster Paul Parke. There is a constant thirst for fans for information. We can't and should not compete with official news but via the newsletter, website and the ever more popular twitter we have a strong communication theme within the Branch that looks to service the requirements of exiled fans. Jon McLoughlin has been tireless with his enthusiasm for all things commercial in particular the sale of our merchandise and Mike Carruthers has put together a great selection of social activities including stepping into the breach again with the logistics of this years summer trip to Lisbon. There are other unsung heroes who do a lot of work behind the scenes - Richard Wood our steadfast treasurer and Bob Brookes our reliable membership secretary. Ken Hullock never complains at having to carry and sell HTB on matchdays. Ian Jardine who always provides valuable input at meetings. I could go on. I'm proud to work with such a strong and committed team.

Our Branch football team had a difficult season. A big thanks goes to the tireless work of captain and organiser Chris Tembey. We have enough members keen for a game but we still can't find a top quality keeper that would make such a difference. I've really enjoyed stepping away from playing and barking out instructions from the touchline !

There are positive signs from the club around commercial activity. Some initiatives have worked this season such as the real ale at the club but it always seems to run out whenever I try to get a pint. We need a mechanism for fans to make other suggestions. It's some time since a fans forum and there does not appear any clear opportunity or structure for suggestions to be put to the club. We can't just believe that financial backing of Greg to produce results on the pitch is all that is needed to bring the fans back. I hope that there is a positive response from fans in relation to the new season ticket offers.

You won't be surprised to learn that we will be looking to fine tune procedures for next season particularly around phasing out the use of cheques and minimising postage costs. For those of you who can I would please ask that you set up a standing Order for your membership renewal. Our AGM on 6th July will provide both an excellent social evening and the opportunity to re-align our army of volunteers. I hope to see you there.

Simon Clarkson

I've not seen as many Carlisle games as normal this season as often work and sometimes social activities have clashed. Don't get me wrong I've still had many frustrating away days this season and amazingly am still waiting on seeing my first win ! Do I consider staying away for the rest of the season ? Most of us are superstitious but I'm probably just be paranoid as surely this awful run of away performances must end soon. Despite all my years of watching, I still can't work out why home and away games often through up completely different performances. No longer is the travelling to be used as an excuse as we prepare well by breaking the journey up with a training session and plan the trip well based on plenty of experience. Having witnessed the defeat at Notts County, I started to think that some of the explanation could be the inferior pitches we play on. This just further demonstrates what an excellent job our groundsman David Mitchell does.

The ' Shine The Light ' appeal is now in full flow and funds are ticking in through Jon McLoughlin's grafting selling the polo shirts. Carlisle fans are about to be exposed to the best raffle ever. I don't use this phrase lightly. This raffle is going to be spectacular as the prizes are absolutely top drawer. We embark on a major selling phase this month and I do hope that members who have had a few included in this issue, can spare a little time to sell some. I'd encourage you to sell them to non Carlisle fans and offer to buy any unwanted prizes off them. Can you imagine how good it would be to be registered as a player or take a seat in the dug out for a game ? That's got to be worth a £1 for a ticket. Our challenge is how to maximise sales in Carlisle. I hope the Supporters Club will get on board and supplement the outlets that have already agreed to sell. We need an army of sellers in Carlisle as the London Branch members can only do a limited amount at away games, etc

We have 13 cup finals left in the season at the time of writing this after our victory against Rochdale and in all probability will need to win 7. So with Huddersfield and Charlton still to visit BP and 6 of our 7 away games against teams in the top half, it's going to be tough. I loved the rallying call from Greg asking fans to get down to BP. Our members might not be able to do that ( although there will be a good turn out for our sponsored game on Easter Monday ) but we will certainly be there for the southern away games, which for many will include Oldham if we are still living the dream at the end of the season.

As Carlisle fans we expect nothing less.