INSIDE THE EFL: How Carlisle’s American dream turned into a battle against the abyss – a string of mistakes, a car crash, 49 players and three managers in one season and on the brink of non-League… yet they’re still targeting the Championship!

Carlisle United’s American owners arrived in November 2023 to much fanfare and with a glittering promise: they were here to ‘own the north’.

Sixteen months on, staring down the barrel at a second successive relegation and into the jaws of the National League, those words ring hollow.

Carlisle are second-bottom of the Football League, when the pre-season aim was promotion. Some fans say it’s the worst season they can remember.

The Cumbrians had the worst record of any team in the EFL in 2024. They are on their third permanent manager of the season, Mark Hughes. You could easily call this a reverse Wrexham, the American dream gone wrong.

This shouldn’t be happening, not on paper anyway. The Piatak family from Florida are true ‘soccer’ lovers who studied English clubs in detail before buying a 90 per cent stake in Carlisle.

They are regularly present at Brunton Park, mingling with supporters in the fan zone. They have cleared the club’s debts, revamped facilities, and invested heavily in the squad. Mail Sport’s sources speak positively of their impact. But fundamental mistakes have been made which leave fans fearing a collapse into the fifth tier – an Alcatraz for fallen EFL stalwarts.

Mark Hughes has limited time to turn things around as their third manager of the season

The Cumbrians had the worst record of any team in the EFL in 2024 and risk falling into the fifth tier for the first time in 20 years

Recruitment, that’s a big gripe. Carlisle have signed 26 players this season and offloaded 23. Paul Simpson, the club legend who took them up to League One in 2022-23 and then back down, was sacked a day after the August transfer window ended.

His replacement, Mike Williamson, was brought in to implement a passing style but was dismissed on deadline day in February after 12 players had just been recruited for him. Now Hughes is trying to lead a great escape with a disjointed squad on well-paid, long-term deals.

‘I’d give this season a 1/10,’ Liam Denwood, host of fan channel Blue Army TV, tells Mail Sport.

‘The matchday experience is ruined because you know every week you’re going to see a team that’s going to lose. I think fans have been very patient. But it has really started to change now.

‘There’s a lot of bad blood in the fanbase towards the players. There are boos at half-time and full time. There’s a lot of animosity.

‘You get the impression that the players are there for the money and that they don’t care about the club. It’s a difficult job to come in when you’re already in the relegation zone. The players don’t seem to care and they’re shot for confidence.’

Such a severe scolding, particularly about work ethic, is not supported by all fans. In any case, none of the suffering has deterred the Piataks from their grandiose prophecy. ‘Carlisle is poised for greatness,’ boasted chairman Tom in November. A day later, they drew 0-0 with Doncaster.

The Piataks are enchanted by the club’s isolated location, which draws fans from across the Lake District and southern Scotland and offers potential to be a ‘regional powerhouse’. Rivals Barrow are almost two hours away by car.

Club legend Paul Simpson started the season as manager but was sacked on August 31 

Mike Williamson was brought in to implement a passing style, but sacked on deadline day in Februry after making 12 signings

The Piataks want Carlisle to ‘own the north’ and have invested heavily into the club 

The family have even bought a house in Carlisle and often at least one of the six members will be present at a home game.

Owning a club has been a long-held ambition and they have taken the job to heart, pouring a reported £7million into the club – including settling the ‘millstone’ of £2.45m in debt. There are plans for a 99-year lease on a local site called the Sheepmount to develop a ‘state-of-the-art training facility’.

The long-term goal of establishing the club in the Championship lives on, but survival is the imminent priority.

Hughes is doing his best to turn around the tank. The Manchester United legend has shored up the defence and picked up 10 points in as many games, winning two. Beating Bromley and drawing with MK Dons in their last two has given them hope, but they’re still six points off safety with eight games to go.

One source inside the club claims the salary estimates have been inflated, but Carlisle have attracted players from a higher level by some sort of magic.

Eight have joined permanently from League One or above, including big names in Paul Dummett and Charlie Wyke from Wigan Athletic. Others have joined from foreign top divisions. 

Chris Lumsdon, a former Carlisle player who now co-commentates on the club for BBC Radio Cumbria, thinks a long-term losing mindset has infected the dressing room. Over the past four seasons, even counting their playoff-winning campaign in 2022-23, the Blues have lost almost half of their league games.

‘There’s some culture in there. There are a lot of players who have suffered a lot of losses over the last few years. That mentality has been hard to shift,’ says Lumsdon.

Hughes has made Carlisle more solid, but this team has been used to losing for a long time

The Piataks are hoping to develop a ‘state of the art’ training facility at a site in Carlisle 

Players have been recruited on long-term deals and higher wages than in Carlisle’s past

‘As a player, if someone is going to offer you a big wage, you’re going to take it. I don’t think anyone doesn’t care (about working hard). There are a lot who aren’t fit enough.

‘I said when Mike Williamson came in that it would take him 15 to 18 months to implement his style. He was going to need a few transfer windows.

‘He tried to implement it very quickly and the players weren’t comfortable. It was too early when the players weren’t there.

‘The crowd got impatient. I’ve never seen a Carlisle crowd chant “you’re getting sacked in the morning” but it happened at multiple games and that was a big red flag. The writing was on the wall and the players knew it as well.’

Williamson’s final game was an abject 5-1 stuffing by Swindon at Brunton Park in February – the club’s joint-biggest home defeat for almost five decades.

He arrived with a strong reputation after his work at Gateshead and MK Dons but won only five of his 25 games at the helm.

In some cases, Carlisle have had rotten luck. Dummett’s debut was delayed by a car crash and then, when it finally happened, he was taken off injured after five minutes. Wyke, meanwhile, is out for the season after an ankle injury in October.

Their bad fortune means they have turned to a whopping 49 players in all competitions, and 42 in League Two alone – more than anyone else in the EFL.

Former Newcastle man Paul Dummett was brought in, but injured within five minutes 

Carlisle got promoted to League One in 2023, but lost 30 league games in a miserable 2023-24

In a bid for continuity, Carlisle introduced sporting director Rob Clarkson in October with the goal of developing a clear philosophy. But merging players from different regimes has been tough.

Just ask Hughes. He still hasn’t used some players who were parachuted in under Williamson and was reportedly called into a two-hour meeting to explain his selections last week.

‘There is yearning for the owners to learn some sharp lessons and not repeat some disasters. There are questions whether they have had the right advice,’ says local reporter Jon Colman.

‘One of their biggest mistakes was prizing this change to a style of play over becoming a bit more hardened and getting this losing way out of them – even if that meant a gritty season to watch.

‘There was a clamour for Williamson to go but they doubled down on him and made signings in the January window to better equip his style of play.

‘But there has to be a groundswell of respect for what the Piataks have done. Clearing the debt was huge. That was a millstone. They’ve redone the ground. With the wherewithal and finances you feel there’s so much potential, but it’s got to be deployed with more critical thinking.’

In the case of relegation, the target will of course be an immediate return. But that’s easier said than done. Of the nine clubs relegated in the last five seasons (Bury were expulsed in 2019-20), only Grimsby Town have returned.

That threat hasn’t stopped fans from buying into the Piatak plan. Average attendances in the last two seasons are some of the highest since the 1970s.

The Piataks have worked to redevelop Brunton Park, including a popular fan zone

‘I feel really sorry for them,’ says Dan Maclennan, chair of the Supporters’ Trust, who have a seat on both of the club’s boards.

‘They’ve cleared legacy debts, they’ve spent money improving the ground, we’ve got a brilliant fan zone, our East Stand has new boxes, they’ve bought houses for the players. Everything off the field has been A1, 10/10. They’ve been let down on the pitch by the players, unfortunately.

‘No offence to Bournemouth, but we’re a bigger club in my eyes.

‘Maybe not so much now because they’re in the Premier League, but I can remember them getting relegated out of League One at Brunton Park. It shows it can be done.

‘The aspiration is there. The vision is the same. Why not the Championship?’

Few people around Carlisle doubt the Piataks’ intentions or commitment. But the question is this: can the sweet-tongued Americans find a way to deliver on their vision, or is it all hot air?

Reading target promotion amid expulsion fears 

Reading face potential expulsion from the Football League but, against the odds, they have blitzed the last two months on the pitch to inject fresh hope into their play-off challenge.

The Royals are up to eighth in League One – just two points off the top six – after 10 games unbeaten under Noel Hunt.

That’s their best unbeaten run since 2012, when they were promoted to the Premier League, and only Liverpool and Burnley have been undefeated for longer in the top four divisions.

The run of four wins and six draws has included the 2-0 scalping of Championship hopefuls Wrexham, despite Michael Strickland’s controversial red card for time-wasting.

Away from a joyous run on the grass, Reading fans are anxious after much-maligned absentee owner Dai Yongge was ordered to sell the club before April 5.

Yongge has failed the EFL’s Owners and Directors’ Test due to debts in China and if he does not sell up, the club could be put into administration or suspended from the EFL.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said that suspension is the ‘least likely’ option but still a possibility.

Noel Hunt has Reading on a 10-game unbeaten run despite their turmoil away from the pitch

Owner Dai Yongge has been given until April 5 to sell up, or the club could be expelled

Gareth Ainsworth has walked out on Shrewsbury to join Gillingham – despite recently declaring his long-term intentions with Salop

Gareth Ainsworth’s Shrewsbury ‘shock’ 

Gareth Ainsworth left Shrewsbury dumbfounded this week when he walked out on the League One basement boys to join Gillingham, who are 19th in League Two.

Salop chairman Roland Wycherley said Ainsworth’s decision caused ‘shock and dismay’ after four months in the job.

Only in January, Ainsworth described how he ‘loved’ living in Shrewsbury and asked for time to build a long-term project, like he did over 11 years at Wycombe.

Shrewsbury recently offered him a two-year extension and they looked ready to stick by him going down into League Two – even though they had the longest winless run in the EFL, at eight games.

Gillingham paid a termination fee for Ainsworth and his assistant Richard Dobson and, with the clubs likely to be in the same division next season, it could make for an awkward reunion.