After arriving at Brunton Park, we spoke to first-team coach Frankie McAvoy.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: "I'm absolutely delighted to be honest and can't wait to get started.
"Obviously we've got a big pre-season ahead of us but I am extremely excited for the season ahead."
We then asked Frankie to talk us through his career so far: "I started coaching at Dunfermline. It was my first professional team as a youth coach.
"Then I moved to Hamilton Accies as a youth coach, became academy director and then first team coach for a small stint with Billy Reid and then obviously with Alex Neil. Alex and myself have had a good number of years together with one another. We went from Hamilton Accies to Norwich City and we both won promotions at Hamilton and Norwich which was magnificent.
"Getting to the Premier League in Scotland and the Premier League in England was a fantastic experience, and then we moved from Norwich to Preston North End. When Alex moved on I stayed for the last eight games of the 2021 season and we managed to stay up. Then I was given the job. I was only in it until December 2021 and then I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to go to Hearts, which is a fantastic club as well.
"Joe Savage was the sporting director there and it was Joe that enticed me to go to Hearts. My first thoughts were that I'm settled in Preston and I didn't want to go back up to Scotland, but I'm absolutely delighted that I did. It's a fantastic club as I said, and it was a fantastic opportunity. working with Steven Naismith and Gordon Forrest in the first team environment was fantastic. We experienced European football as well which was brilliant.
"Once we left there, I went into AFC Fylde for probably eight weeks. I worked with David Longwell who was the head coach at the time and we tried to see if we could save them to stay in the National League but unfortunately we weren't able to do so. That means I've got a wee bit of experience being in there, so hopefully that can stand us in good stead going forward."
On what he has learned throughout his coaching career so far, he said: "I think life's a journey. I think the most important thing is taking the positives that you can from every job that you've been in.
"Trying to make yourself become a better person every day and that's the same thing I say to the players. You should try and become the best version of you that you can be and that's the same in training as it is in match days because at the end of the day the most important thing is we're here to win games. The most important thing in football is winning games.
"Creating a good environment for everybody to enjoy coming to the workplace is important. I've learned lots along the road. There's no better feeling than winning games and being able to send fans home happy.
"I think that's the most important thing going forward and I think that's a thing that we'll try and do and try and instil within the squad."
After experiencing the National League last season, we asked Frankie how that experience will help going forward: "I was impressed with it if I'm being quite honest.
"I didn't know much about it until I went in with Fylde. When I went there I think they had to play six of the top eight teams in their last ten games, but it was great to see them. Obviously Barnet, they won the league and we also played a lot of the play-off contenders too.
"We had Rochdale, Southend, and Oldham who eventually went up, York City, Forest Green and Halifax. I got a good feeling for the types of teams that you're playing against. The other big thing is knowing the surroundings, where you're going and the pitches that you're going to be playing on, which I think is valuable going forward.
"I'm just looking at Brunton Park here, it looks as though it can be a daunting experience for a lot of the teams coming here and that's what we've got to try and do, make sure it's a fortress for us as best as we can.
"I haven't actually been here before. My sister's been to Carlisle lots of times and she always speaks highly of it and my first impressions are it's a beautiful city, it's lovely to be quite honest and I've enjoyed my time here so far. Stadium looks great, I can't wait until the fans are in and I just think that gives you that good football feeling. You get the sense when we were standing yesterday pitch side that this could be a special place when the supporters are here and they're in their thousands supporting you."
We then asked Frankie what kind of coach he is: "I think what I try and do is get the best out of the players and I think that's the most important thing.
"I think the sessions need to be as enjoyable and as engaging as possible and trying to get the message across that the gaffer wants to put forward in terms of our style and what we want to do when we go into matches.
"I would think I've learned quite a lot as I've moved along in life and in coaching as well, and I think the most important thing is that you manage to get the players engaged and that they're really focused on what the tasks are, hopefully I've managed to do that in the short space of time I've been here. I think it's so important that you work with the players and give them the right information that you hope that they can carry out in the field of play."
Frankie has been involved in some pre-season training sessions already, so we asked for his thoughts on the group overall: "I've been impressed, I think not knowing too much about them as well has been a good thing. It means you don't have a different opinion or that you've formed an opinion before you come in.
"But I've really been impressed with the group in terms of their training, their attitude, their application has been fantastic. Their effort, endeavour, desire, their hunger to do well and impress has been brilliant and that's great for a coach because straight away you know that they're desperate to do well.
"I think the way the gaffer conducts himself plays a lot into that, they feel relaxed within the environment that they're in and that's crucial. So no, I'm absolutely delighted and I'm buzzing I'm here."
We then asked Frankie about how excited he was to be working with Mark Hughes: "Delighted, absolutely buzzing and obviously when I got the opportunity and the chance to go and meet him I was thoroughly, thoroughly excited about it to be honest.
"Obviously his record speaks for himself as a player and as a manager. His record's fantastic. I was fortunate enough when we were at Norwich City in the Premier League to come up against his Stoke City team, so our paths have crossed. He's a top manager and he's a top coach, and most importantly he's a top person in the short time I've known him.
"When I first met him the conversation flowed well. Fortunately for me I'd worked with Jack Cudworth before at Preston and Jack's obviously here as a goalkeeping coach. I think he's done a really good job since he's come in and obviously when the gaffer's been looking for somebody else to come in then I think my name came to the fore, thankfully he asked to meet me and when we had the chat it was just effortless. It was great and I'm so delighted that he managed to see me as being part of the team going forward. So I'm truly grateful for that and hopefully I can stand up and be counted when the action starts.
Gav Sketon returned to Brunton Park, and he is someone Frankie knows from his time at Hamilton: "I know Gav, I had a short spell at Hamilton Accies with him and we've known one another for a long time, he's a great guy and I associate Carlisle with Gavin because he's spent a lot of time here.
"Hopefully we can put a good bond together between us all and I'm pretty sure in the few days we've had together that we're able to do that, and for me it looks as though it's good dynamics which I think is crucial going forward. As I say I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm really excited for the matches to start and see how we do."
After a tough couple of seasons with the club, we asked Frankie how important it is to start looking in the right direction: "100%, and I would say to anybody that's involved in Carlisle, you can't dwell too much in the past.
"I think what's happened has happened, you know if we could go back and change it, it would be great, but unfortunately we can't so we've got to look forward, be fully focused and what our task is then is to try and get this wonderful club back into the league.
"It'll be a tough campaign, you know we'll give everybody the respect that they're due but ultimately we know that we need to try and go and perform to the best of our ability week in week out and hopefully make everybody here at Brunton Park happy.
"Before you know it you're straight back into it, next week we're away to Motherwell which is probably a good pre-season game to get yourself started, it's always good across the border, Scotland and England, so I always look forward to these games.
"I'm looking forward to pre-season starting, it'll be good to see them play, see how well they gel together and hopefully what we've done here in pre-season we can continue to take that forward onto the pitch when the real games start."
Finally, we asked Frankie how much he is looking forward to the season starting: "It's going to be brilliant. There's some travelling involved in the National League may I tell you, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. What you're able to do is create great camaraderie as well, whether you're travelling on the bus or whether it's train at times. We'll be travelling quite a bit to most games apart from Morecambe which is just along the road there so no I'm really looking forward to it, fingers crossed we can get off to a good start and then kick on from there."
