LONGEVITY

Yesterday saw Curle reach three years in charge at Brunton Park, a feat that tends to go down as longevity in this hectic football era.

Indeed, United's manager is the 10th longest-serving current boss in the EFL, and the 15th in all four divisions.

In League Two, only Paul Tisdale (Exeter), Jim Bentley (Morecambe), Gareth Ainsworth (Wycombe) and John Coleman (Accrington) have reigned for longer.

At Carlisle specifically, Curle has held the hot-seat for a longer time than certain significant names from United's past.

His three years, for instance, takes him past the tenures of such as Paul Simpson, Mick Wadsworth, Ian MacFarlane, Ivor Powell and Bill Shankly.

In United's list of post-ward bosses, Curle's is the eighth-longest reign.

The longest, by Fred Emery, lasted six years and nine months between 1951 and 1958.

Next comes Greg Abbott, who held on for four years and 10 months.

Curle is also still to pass Alan Ashman's two reigns and one of Bob Stokoe's.

If, though, the Bristolian is still in post by February, he will have overtaken his former mentor Clive Middlemass as well as Bob Moncur and Ashman's second period in charge.

That would take Curle up to fifth on the post-war list.

It would be pushing it, though, to expect United's boss to trouble the all-time record, since former general secretary George Bristowe presided over the Blues for 17 years, from 1913-30.

RECORD

In league games - excluding play-offs - Curle has taken charge of 138 Carlisle United games, starting with a 3-2 defeat at Mansfield in September 2014 and, most recently, Saturday's 1-1 draw with Barnet.

That period has yielded 51 victories, 40 draws and 47 defeats - a win ratio of 37 per cent.

Carlisle have scored 195 goals in that time, and conceded a round 200.

Points-wise, they have accumulated 193 under Curle - averaging 1.4 per game.

Compared with some recent predecessors, Curle's statistics are mixed.

His win ratio is superior to those of Graham Kavanagh (19 per cent) and Greg Abbott (31.7 per cent), not including caretaker spells, although it should be noted that a majority of their games were in League One.

Curle's points per game average also exceeds those of Kavanagh (0.85) and Abbott (1.25).

Those in charge slightly earlier boast stronger records in this department, though, with John Ward enjoying a 44.2 per cent win ratio and 1.52 points per game.

Neil McDonald's one-season-and-one-game tenure produced a 40.4 per cent win ratio and 1.47 points per game.

Paul Simpson, meanwhile, delivered a 46 per cent win ratio and 1.63 points per game - impressive figures considering the state of United when he took charge in 2003.

PLAYERS

In his three years to date, Curle has used 83 different players in first-team games for United.

Of these, 56 have been players Curle has brought into the club. Of those professionals he inherited in 2014, only Danny Grainger remains.

Across his 36-month tenure, Carlisle's manager has done 22 different incoming loan deals, including two for the same player (Macaulay Gillesphey).

In four of those cases, United have eventually signed the player permanently - David Atkinson, Jason Kennedy, Mark Ellis and - with a season's gap in between - Hallam Hope.

His first dabble in the loan market brought Bolton striker Georg Iliev to Brunton Park in 2014, while his most recent addition has been Millwall right-back James Brown.

Curle's number of signings overall increases if you also include one who was brought in but never played - Joe Ward - five youth players who have graduated to professional contracts during his reign, and another (Carl Taylor) who got one first-team outing whilst still a YTS player.

He has also gone back for two players twice on permanent contracts - Derek Asamoah and Alex McQueen.

Captain Grainger, now United's longest-serving player, has featured in comfortably the most games under Curle. He has been involved in 131 out of the manager's 162 matches in all competitions.

That means the Cumbrian left-back has figured in 81 per cent of Curle's games. Every single one of his Carlisle appearances have been starts.

The full list of players fielded by Curle in first-team games is as follows: Adams, Amoo, Anderson, Archibald-Henville, Asamoah, Atkinson, Bailey, Balanta, Beck, Bennett, Bonham, Brisley, Brough, C Brown, J Brown, Buddle, Comley, Corry, Cosgrove, Crocombe, Dempsey, Devitt, Dicker, Elliott, Ellis, Etuhu, George, Gillesphey, Gillespie, Gilliead, Gillies, Grainger, Griffith, Hammell, Hanford, Hery, Holt, Hooper, Hope, Ibehre, Iliev, Joachim, Jones, Joyce, Kearns, Kennedy, Lambe, Liddle, Marrow, McKee, McQueen, Meppen-Walter, S Miller, T Miller, Monakana, Nabi, O'Hanlon, Osei, O'Sullivan, Parkes, Paynter, Pedro, Penn, Potts, Proctor, Raynes, Rigg, Robson, Salkeld, Smith, Spiegel, Stacey, Sweeney, Symington, Taylor, Thirlwell, Thompson, Tomlinson, Waring, White, Wright, Wyke, Young.

SEQUENCES

There have been a number of eye-catching sequences both positive and negative where United's form under Curle has been concerned.

Who could forget, for instance, their club record unbeaten start to last season as they rose into the automatic promotion positions?

In total - and including the final game of the previous campaign - Carlisle went 16 league games unbeaten under Curle. That lasted from a 5-0 win at Notts County in May 2016 to a 3-1 win against Crawley in October, before Graham Westley's Newport eventually ended the run.

In all competitions - and factoring in a cup defeat on penalties at Derby after a 1-1 draw - United were not beaten over 90 minutes for 22 games in that spell.

Their best winning run under Curle also came in that period. Eight games in all competitions, five in the league.

The five league wins on the trot - against Colchester, Morecambe, Hartlepool, Stevenage and Crawley - was the best winning sequence at Carlisle since John Ward presided over six in a row in 2008.

Where goals are concerned, Curle's team have also enjoyed some decent runs, finding the net in 16 consecutive league games on two separate occasions.

Their worst losing run in the league under Curle, meanwhile, is four games. This has occurred twice: in his first season, and this February/March.

Seven games is the longest they have gone in the league without a win. That same run, from February to April last season, also delivered the longest period without a goal.

Indeed, the 701 minutes that passed before they got back on the scoresheet was a club record. Last season also saw United set a 28-game club record without a clean-sheet.

If Saturday's 1-1 draw with Barnet felt a little familiar, meanwhile, there was good reason.

That scoreline is the most commonly-occurring in Curle's league tenure.

It was, in all, the 21st 1-1 draw of his reign. The second most frequent scorelines are 1-0 and 2-1 wins, both happening 13 times. The most common losing scoreline is 2-0 - 11 times.

It is notable, when studying all the scores, how United's victories are often tight, seldom with breathing space.

Of their 51 league wins under Curle, 35 have been by a single-goal margin.

In this respect, it may say something about Carlisle's leaning towards drama that they have had more 3-2 victories under Curle (eight) than 2-0 wins (five).