Part two of our 25th anniversary mini-series counting down to the incredible events of May 8, 1999...

Another quiet day in the life of late-millennium Carlisle United. Their senior goalkeeper was gone, his loan replacement had been suddenly recalled, the club were scrambling for an emergency solution with three games left to save their Football League skins…

Oh, and there were talks about the Blues playing in the Scottish League.

It felt, in 1999 and much of the surrounding period, that if there was a crisis engulfing the Blues, there would be something else along soon to make it even worse and more lurid.

So it was in April. The Blues were second bottom of Division Three, looking anxiously at bottom club Scarborough’s two games in hand, and if this wasn’t enough, headlines about United ditching the English league and skipping across the border had supporters perplexed.

A proposal to merge United with Clydebank was, it transpired, being discussed. The News & Star devoted its front page to the revelation that the Glasgow club had even raised the idea with the Scottish Football League.

News and Star: Our headline about a proposal to merge Carlisle United with Clydebank in 1999...Our headline about a proposal to merge Carlisle United with Clydebank in 1999... (Image: News & Star)

“Both clubs have seen commercial benefits from the link,” it was claimed.

Clydebank, the report added, would look to claim ownership of Brunton Park and aspire to play in the Scottish Premier Division.

“Carlisle’s turnover would make the new club the ninth biggest in Scotland; the merger would slash travel costs and offer the prospect of a shortcut to top-level soccer in Cumbria,” added the story written by Vic Gibson and Anthony Ferguson.

There had been a meeting involving Scottish League secretary Peter Donald and Clydebank management consultant David Low and former Bankies chairman Sandy Moffat, it was said. Clydebank did not have their own stadium at the time and Low said: “That is why the directors want to relocate to Carlisle.

“At present they have no stadium or fanbase. Moving to Brunton Park would solve both those problems.”

And create…new ones? Those behind the idea were not giving so much airtime to those. “The industry, outside the Scottish Premier League, is in depression with no prospect of change,” added Low. “Clydebank will die unless they are allowed to move.”

Predictably, this scheme was not embraced by the Blues’ own fanbase. Those canvassed by the News & Star were emphatic in their dismissal of it.

“There will be loads of opposition to it,” said Clare Mawson, publicity officer for United’s supporters’ club London Branch. “I am sure supporters will protest. I don’t know anyone who wants it to go ahead. Carlisle is in England. We don’t want to be playing in Scotland.”

Quite. In the meantime, there were 17 days left to save United’s skins in that English league. And they still didn’t have a keeper…