links @ cufconline

carlisle united sites

Carlisle United official site A big improvement on this site since its relaunch at the start of the season. New webmaster Phil Holmes from Penrith has improved it 100 per cent from its earliest incarnation and the tie-up with PTV and NTL appears to have done the trick at last. The site now offers live commentary feeds from CUFC matches. 7/10 RIOA Dave Atkinson's monthly-updated fanzine for CUFC supporters. First appeared on the web in September 1996. Popular site, getting close to 1,000 hits per month. Visit it to read Dave's views on football and the state of play at BP. Also full of old interviews, press cuttings, chat room transcripts and strange competitions and features! I give it 8/10 CUFC Multimedia Beaconsfield-based fan Chris McFarlane has set up this unique service for CUFC supporters. Download videos of Jimmy Glass's dramatic injury time goal from May 1999, re-live the wonders of Scott Dobie's late strike at Chester or go back in time and watch again as Darren Edmondson earns the Cumbrians a replay at Roker Park in front of 5,000 travelling members of the Blue Army. All you need is a basic multimedia PC that can play MPEG video and Real Audio files. An essential visit for the overseas supporter. Excellent. 7/10 Carlisle Exiles A site giving general information about the CUFC Supporters Club, London Branch. In this case, "London" means virtually anywhere outside Cumbria! Thanks to this elastic definition, the club can claim well over 300 members. Find out how to join on this site. 7/10 Glass 90 I haven't got the time or space to explain this one, just click on the link if you want a laugh. Paul Watson, a slightly mad fan living in Gloucestershire with too much time on his hands, I think. 7/10 for the elephant alone. The 94th minute This site was recently re-launched as part of the Rivals network. It now boasts a whole host of new features, with message boards, online voting and a series of new articles. Rivals cover all the teams in the League, so coverage is comprehensive. This site could have joined them, but I chose to stay independent and remain loyal to the good old TFN. 8/10 Cumbrian Blues Another new site is this one, hoping to cover even more angles on the mighty Blues, with statistics and graphics galore. Mark Mandale, who was the "brains" behind the fans' SOS 2000 campaign last season, is the webmaster of this site. 7/10 Olga Online A new site for Blues fans has just appeared courtesy of Alastair Tyrrell (yep, he even spells his name the same way). Olga Online includes detailed match reports and is a very worthy addition to my links page. Too many CUFC sites, do I hear you cry? There can never be too many, surely? 6.5/10 Juicer's Bluuz Roger Porthouse, who in the past has provided valuable service as a chat room commentator, has launched this new site dedicated to the dissemination and analysis of United's results. Every possible statistical angle is promised as the season gets under way. Go to Rog's site and you might even be able to tell if CUFC are going to be relegated before Ian Atkins does. Time will tell how useful and popular this site turns out to be. 6.5/10 The Glass Pyramid Mike Revill, Anthony Donnelly and co have made a big effort to improve this site recently and when you read their 'Pint with Proudy' article, you'll realise the lengths they are prepared to go to get that BIG interview. They also intend to keep United in the league with the help of an army of kazoo volunteers. Read all about the wacky world of being a CUFC fan on this crazy site. 7/10 Mike Corry's CUFC Match Reports Part-time journalist Mike Corry reports on Carlisle United for the Newcastle Journal. He is also a big United fan and can sometimes be heard on Radio Cumbria helping Derek Lacey to make sense of his commentaries. Get Mike's excellent reports here.7/10 3 Games in Hand Andy Hall from Ripon joins the web revolution with a site which features as its centrepiece a series of articles entitled 'Wembley Dream' which has contributions from fans, players (yes, real players) and managers (yes etc) about those two great Wembley trips of the 1990s. Ah, the memories.8/10 Who let the Heggs out? Who indeed? The Cult of Carl Heggs reaches new heights with this site which is the first ever to be devoted to a single United player. Read the latest reports of Carl's all-too-brief substitute appearances and errrr not much else - yet. At the moment, the site is rather incomplete. Some might say that also sums up Heggs' ability as a professional footballer.6/10 Carlisle Till I Die An excellent new site from Adam Sheridan. The Newcastle-based supporter and CCUIST committee member dispenses news, results and articles by Ross Brewster (another CCUIST man). Well designed and easy to navigate. Good stuff.8/10

other football sites

Soccernet This is backed by the Daily Mail and as such, it is probably the best footy site on the net. More statistics than you can shake a stick at. Enough news and match reports to keep you up until well past your bedtime. Crucial. 10/10 Sky Sports Football Typically comprehensive coverage from the channel that always puts football first. You get news from each league, international news, Opta stats and even an article from Jimmy Hill - what more could you want? 9/10 Football 365 Part of the ever-growing 365 Corporation, Football 365 is a giant site that eschews pictures (there aren't any as far as I can see) for top columnists like David Icke (Ok - so he's unconventional but at least he's not Ron Atkinson). It also attempts to cover all of the league with features and articles on the smaller clubs as well as the big boys. A good effort and always worth dropping by to see what's in it. 9/10 Sporting Emails Do you fancy an email address of joebloggs@brunton-park.co.uk ? Then this is the place to go. They're giving out email addresses tied to British football grounds, so you can get your own addy that shows off your True Blue allegiances. Get yours before it's too late... 7/10 Prediction League Mick Sheppard's excellent site is also part of the TFN. On his pages you can predict the results of any team's matches in the English league. Up against you will be fans of your favourite team. A great effort for a non-commercial site, but you'll find an amazing standard amongst TFN sites. 9/10 Soccerbase A massive site backed by the Mirror Group containing everything a soccer statto could ever want. Career records of all the current players, managers records, head-to-head results, ground details, season-by-season champions, it's all there. 9/10 Soccer-sites.com I like this but then again, I'm biased as they gave my site a premium entry because they liked it so much! A database of over 4,000 sites dedicated to "soccer" and ranked according to popularity. You can search the site by first letter or keyword and view the constantly-updated Top 100. Doesn't include the biggest sites but a lot of very good unofficial and some official ones are in it. 8/10 Football Transfers This excellent site, put together by Stephen Tansley, is one of the best non-commercial efforts I've ever seen. Amazingly comprehensive round-up of virtually every piece of transfer gossip, speculation and rumour anywhere in the world. All transfers are categorized according to status, so you can be sure you're only getting the genuine rumours! Terrific site for the close season transfer market. 9/10 footballpages.com The last word in footy directories. Virtually every club site of note in the British game is listed here plus discussion forums and quizzes. The downside is you have to register to become a "member" if you want to see anything beyond the home page. If you have your own site this is the directory to get listed on as you can even see how many people clicked on to your site from their page. 8/10 Fan Base A very good new directory of football club sites, listed by club with good details and comprehensive coverage of the English game. Fan Base gives links to the best message boards, to news agency sites pages for each club and includes links to maps and stadium guides. Very handy indeed. 8/10 Zoo Football Whatever happened to Stan Bowles? Well he turned up at Zoo Football, which is over-flowing with pundits, one of whom is Stan. Bowlesey still seems to like a bet or three, judging by his articles. A good site that is very colourful and full of pics but a bit slow. Also features the revolutionary idea (for a commercial site) of links to unofficial fan sites (this one included). Not bad at all. 8/10 Football Ground Guide A great site for those of you who are obsessed with football grounds of all shapes and sizes. Extensive details and pics of all British grounds including details of how to get to them as well as away from them if you are in a hurry! An essential visit for the travelling supporter. 8/10 Paul Crankshaw's Pyramid No - this is not a new puzzle to rival Rubik's cube, but a site that details everything of note in non-league football. Results and tables for nine levels of the pyramid, starting with the Premiership and working down to the Essex Senior League and beyond. Well, somebody had to do it. 7.5/10 The Football Squads Page Russ Kelsall's comprehensive site is the best I've seen yet for checking on squad details for all UK clubs. And if he's missed something out, just email him and tell him. Very handy. 7/10 Football Unlimited Run by the Guardian, that bastion of quality writing and left-of-centre debate. Carlisle United Online failed to land the prize of top Division Three site, the award going to the marvellous ExeWeb (see TFN link, above) but some of the other of Unlimited's so called "sites of the season" were rather strange selections. Who voted for them, exactly ? 7/10 Away Fans.co.uk A new site aimed fairly and squarely at away supporters. Information on all British grounds and a very colourful and illuminating site for the travelling supporter. Definitely one to check out. 7/10 The Program Store Despite an inability to spell the word 'programme' correctly, this site promises to be a mecca for collectors of programmes and other memorabilia. I'll admit I've got a collection of over 500 CUFC programmes in my spare room at home. If you are similarly endowed, check this site out to see if your hoard is worth a bob or three. 7/10 Nationwide League The official sponsor's site which is more than just a big banner ad for a certain Building Society. News, results and statistics for each club, including CUFC. Worth a visit. 7/10 The Football League Official site of the oldest, most revered league in the world. However, although this has recently been revamped and now includes the "Official Football League newsletter" available for viewing online, it is still desperately short of real cutting-edge content. 4/10

cumbrian sites

Cumbria Online Only fours year late, Cumbrian Newspapers arrives on the Internet. This site was officially launched recently and provides a wealth of information about all things Cumbrian. A gateway to the official sites for the News & Star and the Cumberland News, as well as home to over 1,000 pages and links to over 300 related sites, including this one of course. 9/10 Carlisle Student Weekly This new site was launched recently and is run by two students from Carlisle who decided to set up a virtual meeting place for other students from Carlisle. It looks very professional, and has news, a message board and even a "I Saw You" section where you can post details of a member of the opposite sex (or same sex, if that's the way you prefer it) that you saw around the town and fancied. They're still working on the site at the moment, but it looks great and could certainly go places. Not one to miss if you're a student. 8/10 Puff of Smoke 16-year-old Nicky Jennings and her company, Web Site Design 2000 are the creators of this health site, aimed at young people who have taken up smoking and are looking to stop. The site was specially commissioned by the NHS and is hoping to talk to teenagers in a language they'll understand. The site has facts on smoking, a discussion forum and a page that allows you to send a virtual postcard to someone who may also be trying to quit the habit. 8/10 Carlisle College Read all about courses, fees, opportunities and general news about the goings on at Carlisle's leading centre of full time further education. Recommended to you by an old boy. 7/10 Knowhere Guide to Carlisle I think this is a brilliant idea. A visitor's guide (not a tourist's, note) put together by web users who are passing through and who live in the area. Despite the potential for bullshitting, most of the info seems to be accurate enough. Quite a few locals have posted their views and opinions on this page and it is well worth a look. 7/10 for imagination. Carlisle Campus of the University of Northumbria The official home of the campus based in Carlisle and full of information for would be students with the lowdown on courses and resources etc. They plan to build a big new learning centre virtually opposite my house, so I'll have to learn to live with them, I expect. 7/10 with a bullet. Trinity School, Carlisle Trinity with it's own website? Yes, and it's pleasingly well put together. Read about Roger Lytollis's old school and also the former scholarly retreat of a certain Mr Woodcock and chums. Where are they all now, I wonder ? 6/10 Trinity School Ex-Pupils Network Well here's the answer - possibly. Who of a certain age could fail to remember such names as 'Ratlugs' Whitworth, 'Chalky' Robinson and Eric 'Von' Haugh? If you want to see what ex-Trinity pupils are up to nowadays and catch up with old photos and stories, this is the place to go. Ex-pupil Nick Williamson runs this site, which is growing all the time. 7/10 Mitchell Dryers Ltd, Carlisle Well, I work for this lot and I managed to knock together this site for them. Previously, it was designed and hosted by Yellow Pages New Media. The less said about them the better. This is the slightly cheaper version, which will no doubt tickle your fancy. 10/10 but then, I'm biased.