This year saw an end to an unmatched era of loyalty at Carlisle United. The passing of Andrew Jenkins made one immediately conclude that we are unlikely to see such long-standing devotion at Brunton Park, and even beyond, ever again.

Jenkins had been a director since 1959 and had supported the club financially for much of the period since, until 2023’s takeover by the Piatak family. At a time in the game's history when longevity is made to feel old-fashioned, here was a man who gave all of himself, and the great majority of his life, to the Blues.

The funeral in July of someone who, to many, will forever be known as “the chairman” was an occasion both of solemnity and celebration. Brunton Park has not for some time known a more poignant happening than the morning Jenkins’ coffin and funeral cortege did a slow lap of the stadium – one last visit, one last time.

At the service in Wetheral, former players, managers, owners, colleagues and supporters then gathered. No figure at the Blues before or since has connected so many people, so many generations.

Andrew Jenkins makes his final journey to Brunton Park in July (Image: News & Star)

All the while, you thought: there must be so many more comfortable ways for a person to have spent his days and his wealth. Jenkins occupied his by backing and worrying about Carlisle United. Whatever the undulations of his tenure, whatever the ups and the downs of a life in football, the Blues were fortunate to have his unquestioning faith for so long.

He departed, first and foremost – and as it very much should be, given his extraordinary contribution – with respect.

Carlisle also this year lost one of its most idiosyncratic and brilliant players, up there with the most gifted of all. Stan Bowles, who died in February, was from different cloth to Andrew Jenkins: a fleeting star, a maverick in all ways, someone never likely to occupy the place for long.

Yet at the core of Bowles, who would have turned 76 today, were the traits sometimes easily forgotten amid the myths: his rich footballing ability, and the determination to enhance it.

Stan Bowles, left, in action for Carlisle United against Tottenham Hotspur (Image: News & Star)

There are tales aplenty of Bowles being unable to pass a bookmakers, of him cowering in bed rather than face a snowy Carlisle morning, of other ducks and dives along the way. Those and the many other yarns are shot through with anecdotal truth.

Yet those who knew him at Brunton Park will also tell you how good he was, and that this did not come by chance. Bowles’ gift was to make his game look so instinctive. But he was, according to Les O’Neill and others who shared a pitch with him, a good trainer, a proper player.

Fans of that early-1970s era do not forget the days he bewitched them. A hat-trick against table-topping Norwich City was a sensational calling card, while his flourishing in general under the flamboyant manager Ian MacFarlane brought glamour and wit to an already progressive Carlisle United era before Bowles, inevitably, danced towards higher things with QPR.

Football, as much as some try to flip this, must remain about memories more than numbers. So let it also be celebrated for all time that, when Carlisle played in Roma’s Stadio Olimpico in 1972 - and even won there, for heaven’s sake - who else would be on the halfway line in the eternal city, enraging the Italians by juggling the ball with his feet, but Bowles...

Just the thought of that impudence is iconic. A player has to be good to pull that sort of cheek off. And Bowles, people will tell you without exception, was good, very good indeed.

Carlisle United’s golden age might be the mid-1970s when the team played in the top-flight as well as on those historic European stages, but it was the mid-1960s that laid the foundations for a new and admired era of progress at Brunton Park.

Willie Carlin was at the heart of that time. The midfielder, who died in June, joined the club from Halifax Town in 1964 and a few months later was a winner: a player at the core of United’s first champion team, the Third Division table-toppers of 1964/65.

From his debut that October, Carlin barely missed a game, hardly missed a minute, as Alan Ashman’s team unfurled a period of glory which culminated in that title-clinching 3-0 win over Mansfield Town on April 20, 1965.

Willie Carlin pictured with members of Carlisle United Ladies' team (Image: News & Star)

He contributed five vital goals on that journey to the trophy. United’s growth into a second-tier team for the first time retained a consistent place for Carlin and he was also there for most of 1966/67: one of the club’s best-ever seasons, a third-placed effort in Division Two which would, in other years, have taken them to the top.

Carlin was small in stature but the Liverpudlian was known for his ferocious work ethic and elusive skill. After leaving the Blues in 1967 he starred for clubs such as Sheffield United, Derby County, Leicester City and Notts County, helping Derby win the Second Division in 1969 under Brian Clough.

A player of substance, who contributed to substantial times at Brunton Park.