A POPULAR Carlisle United football podcast celebrated its 100th episode by featuring a current Carlisle player.
Liam Barton, 32, is a chef at Carlisle United.
The podcast, called The Blue Army Podcast, came about as a result of discussions with his dad about football midway through the Covid lockdown.
Now Liam has two co-hosts, Wills and Liam Denwood, who also has a Youtube channel called Blue Army TV.
It reached the UK top 50 podcasts about football in the UK on the official Apple podcast charts in 2021.
"We still pop into the top 50, but there are a lot more podcasts than there used to be. There's four just for Carlisle now, imagine how many there would be for Manchester United."
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Liam admitted he thought reaching the top 50 was a hoax at first until he looked online to verify it.
The Blue Army Podcast's 100th episode, which came out on Wednesday, March 15, featured surprise guest Gabriel Breeze, who is currently under contract with the club at Carlisle.
Liam said the podcast is light-hearted, entertaining and opinion-based, rather than featuring too many statistics.
The co-hosts play games, such as Guess the Player and Joke of the Week.
"I feel like it's been on a journey with us, I've got married and we've all settled down."
He added the name came from when his uncle used to chant on the way to football matches, "Who are we? Blue Army!"
Liam's dad still listens to the podcast although he doesn't get directly involved.
"He works for Royal Mail, he's got his mates involved and sparked conversations at work with people who listen to it.
"I think he's quite proud," Liam said.
Some ex-players they have featured include Paul Arnison, Matty Robson and Jason Price.
"I've learnt a lot and there's been some great banter. Jason Price was such a laugh," he said.
Liam said he hopes to start performing live shows and sell tickets to fundraise for charity.
There will be a live performance in the Carlisle United Fan Zone on Good Friday at around 2.15pm, for which Liam has written Carlisle-themed songs.
The podcast is available on streaming services and on social media.
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