by Chris Ayers

Last updated 10:42, Thursday, 12 June 2008

Now that the dust has settled and the sheer emotion is no longer as raw, perhaps the time is ripe to reflect on what was a magnificent season for Carlisle United.

Raven: One of the finest right backs in the division

True, it would be fair to say that The Blues squandered two golden opportunities to clinch a long- awaited return to the second tier of English football. However, in the final analysis, to finish fourth and come within a whisker of Wembley was a tremendous achievement.

Despite its dreadful denouement, the campaign produced remarkable victories at the home of the former European champions and in the intense cauldron of Elland Road in front of an intimidating, near capacity crowd, both before the Sky TV cameras.

There were some wonderful individual performances too – step forward ‘Ireland’s Number One’ Kieren Westwood, the outstanding Danny Livesey, the sorely-missed Joe Garner and ‘Mr Consistent’ David Raven.

The stock of flying winger Simon Hackney, diminutive playmaker Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and ‘deadly’ Danny Graham has also risen considerably. It is no great surprise that such leading lights are now coveted by bigger fish. The return of midfield destroyer Paul Thirlwell provides a further boost.

Thanks, too, should also go to those two fantastic servants, Paul Arnison and Zigor Aranalde. They both contributed greatly to the success of the last few years and we are all sorry to see them leave, but things move on and the club must advance forward.

With three or four additions in key areas - and this does not necessarily mean having to spend big on transfer fees and salaries - we CAN challenge again in 2008-09.

While it looks increasingly inevitable that there will be a couple of departures (it would be tragic if Westwood’s last act in a United shirt was to retrieve Jonny Howson’s last gasp drive out of the Warwick Road End net) which will hopefully result in sizeable transfer fees and the longer-term future of the club being secured, the nucleus of a very good side with an excellent team spirit is already there and with the careful acquisition of the right players to bolster the squad, they can bounce back even stronger.

• I expect the biggest threats to our promotion dream next season to be Leeds, who will be starting on zero points this time round; Leicester, who have been relegated to this level for the first time, and megabucks Peterborough, who can boast Fergie Junior and England goalkeeper Joe Lewis within their ranks.

It is very early to make any predictions, but I feel that the likes of Huddersfield, Millwall, Milton Keynes Dons, Oldham and Tranmere could also come into contention.

Dark horses may include Brighton, Bristol Rovers and Stockport, while Colchester, Scunthorpe and Southend, who have all enjoyed recent brief sojourns in The Championship, cannot be discounted either.

It won’t be easy, but if we all stick together, I am confident that we will reach the promised land one day.

Let’s just hope 2008/9 will be our year.