Should Brunton Park move with the times?

Last updated 13:34, Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Ask any Carlisle United supporter what they think of Brunton Park and you are sure to get an interesting response.

I would expect the answer of most to be: the venue of countless memories, the stadium where numerous Blues legends plied their trade and the place where our city's football club has been resident for almost all of their illustrious history.

It is a stark reality that when you travel around the country visiting other grounds that Brunton Park now looks dated, even by comparison to the homes of many of their divisional rivals. It is an astonishing statistic that United are one of only two clubs in League One who have not either moved to a new stadium or redeveloped their present home in recent years.

There has not been major construction work undertaken on Brunton Park since the magnificent East Stand was built in the mid-Nineties when Michael Knighton was at the helm.

If Carlisle United are serious about reaching and then establishing themselves in The Championship, the stadium issue will need to be addressed. It won't simply go away.

Should we stay or should we go? Knowing folk from The Great Border City and a large number of other United supporters as I do, my guess is that many would vehemently oppose a move away from Brunton Park, primarily for reasons of location and sentimentality.

If United decide to stay on Warwick Road for the foreseeable future, they must begin to properly upgrade the stadium. Fair enough, it takes time and a considerable amount of money, however other clubs, many smaller than ours, have done it successfully, and their projects have been largely funded with grants.

With The Cumbrians being one of an increasingly diminishing band of clubs who actually own the ground where they play, the smart money is on them staying put. I would favour a move to a 20,000 plus capacity all-seater stadium with modern facilities.