One of the more persistent rumours which stuck around through the final weeks of the summer transfer window was that midfielder and club captain Callum Guy had drawn interest from a number of clubs, some of which are at a higher level.
“Callum, first and foremost, is an unbelievable bloke,” manager Chris Beech said. “He’s a great person, a good footballer, that’s obviously important, and that’s why he’s our captain.
“That’s why I chose him to be our captain in the summer, because he’s committed. Mrs Guy gets on a train every Saturday from Preston with two kids and a pram to come and watch her potential husband play football at Carlisle. Talk about commitment. It’s superb.
“Of course you’re worried about players like that because as a manager unfortunately that’s the position you get put in, unless, it depends where you sit in the food chain of life.
“I have to be wary that it may happen, and then try and have an answer to a question that might not be asked.
“Ultimately I’m so pleased Callum’s here. He represents everything I believe in and what we’ve been doing since I came into the building.”
“I have a great relationship with all the players,” he told us. “This time last year George Tanner’s agent was trying to get him to sign for Hull under-23s and I had to talk him round to signing for Carlisle.
“What a great move that was for him. I’ve done this many times with a lot of players. People forget, Jack Armer’s younger than Josh Dixon, and I think he’s only six months older than Taylor Charters.
“He’s a magnificent person, a great player, and he came here not on a good wage, but he came here for opportunity and made sure he earned that right, which we did reward with a better contract.
“Jack is becoming a very good player, both defensively and when attacking. It’s also his composure and emotional state in game. He’s a very reliable player.
“He actually got stitches the day before we played Hartlepool in a training ground thing. He missed training, had to go to hospital, and the first thing he says, because of course we were going to make changes in the team – I still want to play tomorrow gaffer because I know you had me down for playing.
“I said as long as you don’t look like Frank Bruno that’ll be fine, I don’t want it opening up again. It was right on his eyeline, Ross told me he’d be fine heading balls, and in the end he should have scored two goals.”
