Why those who work hard to make Carlisle United a "family club" deserve a nod of appreciation

Thankfully, there are some assets they have kept. And while they won't necessarily gain the club any points, or improve their promotion position, certain people at Brunton Park still deserve a night in the sun.

That may come tomorrow, at the EFL Awards. The Blues are up for Family Club of the Year and in light of their nomination it is fair to leave some of the less joyful stuff on other pages.

What United do in respect of their community deserves recognition in its own right. That is on a fundamental, family level, not in how investment mysteries, for instance, get under people's skin.

Nigel Clibbens, the chief executive, recently bemoaned the fact that good news at the club has often come with a "caveat" when reported: Yes, that's all very well, but what about the billionaire?

That sort of thing. It was an expression of frustration rather than an argument that could win the day. Send an extremely unclear and not particularly solid idea about the future financing of United into the public domain and don't be surprised when folk want to know more, relentlessly.

There is no reason why we should not; no reason why the questions should not mount, no reason why the growing speculation about Yahya Kirdi should have been tempered, no reason why it should be a surprise that certain sources are talking a little more freely than before about the man who kept us all waiting for the best part of two years.

It is hard simply to park something that could be fundamental to the club's well-being. Negligent, even. The same goes for the new Edinburgh Woollen Mill loan arrangement, which could do with some reassuring comment from that firm soon if supporters are not to find themselves in another void of speculation and doubt.

Where Clibbens had a point in general, though, was in his request for other matters to breathe. A football club is a thing of many parts and it is not unreasonable to ask us to throw a little more light on the sunnier side now and again, even if a shadow falls elsewhere.

United's chance of a trophy tomorrow reflects that better side of Brunton Park's affairs. It is a side that some at the club have been careful to nurture and expand. A side that is best represented by the family fun days and community ticket schemes and the way, when sorely tested, the Blues rallied to help those in need.

The flood of December 2015 was a foul, miserable thing whose mark can still be seen. United's response to it was exemplary. There have been times down the years when it has felt Brunton Park has existed in a bubble, and been content to remain so, but Storm Desmond saw it turn its face fully outwards.

The way Danny Grainger and his team-mates instinctively recognised what they meant to people gave Carlisle's professional footballers a good name. They helped clear houses, offered themselves to any desperate situation, helped serve meals to struggling people. On a particularly busy day one or two even manned the ticket office.

The way the club's many staff set aside their own personal hardships to get games on, to make football happen, to ensure Brunton Park operated as well as possible for the people who pay to be there: also United at its best.

The priority given to the club's family zone, newly-fitted but then cruelly washed out, the same. With a donation from SkyBet, that ruined part of the ground was back in action before many others. It is one of United's true assets. It helps them make connections that count.

Whilst driving through Carlisle the other day there was a hail of car horns close to Brunton Park. The reason was soon clear. Drivers had spotted John Halpin and were greeting perhaps the most positive person the club has.

One era of fans will remember Halpin as a jinking winger capable of magic moments. A great many more now look up to him as the kind of ambassador every club needs. Halpin heads United's community sports trust with unstoppable enthusiasm and a profound commitment to its principles.

The work he and his staff carry out is far-reaching and covers incredible numbers, people of all ages and backgrounds. Halpin is exactly the sort of person that makes United a "family club". Exactly the kind of man who deserves the glow of recognition not to be tarnished by higher matters.

The fun days and the open days have swelled from an idea to a fixture. Those in and around United's ticket office who make these happen also deserve to walk forward, if the Blues' name comes out of the envelope tomorrow.

United's commitment, financially and morally, to disability football is worthy of comment too. As last year's Carlisle Living Awards there was no worthier winner than Ray McBride, who runs the Carlisle Wheelchair Sports Club with matchless dedication.

United's decision to lend their name, their energy and their clout to Ray's precious club showed them in excellent light. Again - it recognised the power of the badge, the meaning of a club in its wider world.

The chanting kids in the A Stand. The Olga's Army club for junior fans. The way practically everyone at Brunton Park has recognised the plight of Tony Hopper and added their efforts both to Motor Neurone Disease fundraising and making a former player feel as appreciated as he ought to be.

This is what Carlisle United has to be. These are the people, them and us, that make it vital. The people who, on some level, are most put at risk when someone with designs on this community's club commits us all to 650 days of secrecy, withholds his plans from most of us, vanishes without sharing them widely, and leaves everyone scrambling to understand what on earth was going on.

When that "family" goes unembraced, too right that people should take offence. Too right they should nag and nag, chip and chip, until the wall starts to crumble.

Too right they should object to a saga that is the dismal opposite of what United do that is good and bright and fair.

It has been said, from time to time, that it is a club of different tiers of transparency and engagement.

Recent events consolidate that view. Yet the most open and the most outreaching of those will be represented in London tomorrow night. They deserve any nod of appreciation that comes their way.