Carlisle United supporters should be in dreamland after Piataks’ fresh announcement: View | OneFootball

The Blues look set for a State-side trip at some point in the next two years.

Carlisle United could be set for a major pre-season change after the latest statement from the club's owners.

For better and for worse, but mostly for the better, these past few seasons have not gone how Carlisle supporters maybe would have expected.

Since Paul Simpson's return to Brunton Park in February 2022, the club have been on one hell of a rollercoaster ride.

It's been an up and down journey that nobody could have predicted, and the club's American owners, the Piatak family, have just added another sharp twist to the ride, with the announcement of a possible pre-season tour in the US.

Carlisle United pre-season tour of Jacksonville, Florida in the works

The Blues are only a few games removed from their most recent round of campaign preparations, in which the furthest afield they got was to St Andrew's University in Scotland, around 100 miles from United's base.

There's now talk, directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak, that Carlisle's next pre-season will also be at least partially played outside of England, but this time it'll involve a flight rather than a bus journey.

Club chairman Tom Piatak revealed, at the latest Carlisle United Supporters' Trust meeting, that a pre-season tour of his family's home city of Jacksonville, Florida is in the works.

He said, via the News & Star: "Fortunately, Tom II [Tom Piatak’s son] has connections with [tourism organisation] Visit Jacksonville. We’ve met several times and are discussing pre-season next summer at the earliest or another summer away at the latest.

"We have, I believe, seven dignitaries from Jacksonville that are coming to the AFC Wimbledon away match [on Saturday, October 12]. I think, right now, we have six that will be hopefully coming up here to the Harrogate match on the 19th.

"We’re trying to establish a sister city type relationship there. It is certainly our desire to have Carlisle United Football Club over in Jacksonville, over in Florida, for pre-season friendlies.

"The timing of that hasn’t been specified yet but we are working to do that and it’s something we want to do. It is on the project list."

Carlisle supporters will be in dreamland after potential US pre-season tour revelation

Nobody who supports the Blues could have foreseen something like this being in the pipeline when Simpson first returned to office. At that time, Carlisle were on the verge of relegation, which, given their finances at the time, could have been the knocked over card that brought the whole house down.

Thankfully that was avoided. Without that happening, there would have been no American takeover at Brunton Park.

Abroad pre-season tours have become more commonplace in lower league football over the years, as the required finances to compete at this level have gone up and up.

It's no longer a shock to see teams like Stockport County or Bradford City go over to the continent for some friendlies before they start their season, but it's only really Wrexham that are crossing the pond at the moment; Carlisle look set to double the number of travelling parties.

If it comes to be, and with the Piataks' record of getting things done, you certainly wouldn't put it past them, it will provide such an amazing opportunity for Blues fans to watch their team play abroad, in the sunshine state.

Hopefully, in a year's time, Carlisle will have made their official return to League One after a large Cumbrian contingent holidayed together, watching their side play in Florida. What a summer that would be.