“I really can’t wait for it,” says Jamie Devitt as he contemplates his first game back in Cumbria with Barrow AFC. The former Carlisle United midfielder is making a fresh start in the south of the county after an 18-month period he will be glad, to say the least, to leave behind.

Devitt last week signed an 18-month deal at Holker Street after a spell at Blackpool which brought no appearances, one injury-hit loan move and another where he was starved of starts. One of League Two’s most creative players of recent years is 30 now but talks with the enthusiasm of a much younger man as a new challenge presents itself.

“I can’t wait to get back on the pitch and to try and contribute,” says the Irishman, and this comes with feeling after Devitt’s post-Carlisle career has so far brought misfortune and frustration. Two excellent campaigns with United earned him a step up to League One in the summer of 2019. From that point it has been a harder road.

“It’s been really tough,” Devitt says. “You don’t expect everything that could go wrong to go wrong. I signed [for Blackpool] and then within five days, the manager [Terry McPhillips] had left. I missed the first day of the pre-season trip because my little baby was born, and then when I went up, I don’t think the new manager [Simon Grayson] really knew who I was. 

“After a day or two I thought, ‘He doesn’t want me at the club and I’ve just signed. What happens now?’ Then I went to Bradford with Gary Bowyer. He was brilliant, but then I got the bad [hamstring] injury which put me out for a long while. I came back, played a couple of games behind closed doors, the manager left and a new manager came in…and then all of a sudden it was Covid.” 

The pandemic curtailed the 2019/20 season, and also intruded on Devitt’s attempt to kickstart his career at Newport County this term. “I signed on loan and went to the hotel to do a Covid test, which you had to do before they let you into the club...and it turned out positive. It summed up my luck. 

“That evening I ordered some food and couldn’t smell or taste it. That was that. The first few days after coming back I got fatigued a bit quicker, but luckily I wasn’t too affected with it. You see with some lads it's hit them really hard. It’s horrible, to be honest with you.” 

Devitt’s bid for regular action in south Wales was also impeded by the form of loanee Scott Twine, and he made one league start for Newport. If 2021 could not some soon enough, Devitt says it is important to look back on these various obstacles with perspective. 

“You’re gonna get setbacks in the game – it’s how you deal with them," he says. "It was blow after blow but I’ve got a good family behind me and my wife was there all the way. 

“She had to come down to London when I had my [hamstring] operation. The baby was only a couple months born; she was going around London with the baby and my little boy who was seven, looking after us, staying in a hotel around the corner from where I was having the operation. 

“I can only say thanks to her, and my little lad’s been brilliant. He’s looked after me when I couldn’t get off the sofa in some dark days. You work for your kids at the end of the day, and that’s what I’m doing. When you’re putting them to bed at night and looking at them, you think, ‘Everything I’m doing is for you.’ 

“We all have to take this step back at times, and think how privileged we are to be doing what we do, not thinking of things that go wrong. Look at what’s going on in the world at the minute, with people losing their jobs. I’ve just signed an 18-month contract. I’m blessed. I don’t look at it any other way, and I’m really looking forward to this challenge at Barrow.” 

Devitt’s move to Holker Street comes a few months after a different Cumbrian return had been mooted. There was a stage in the summer when many supporters were convinced a second Carlisle spell was on the cards – while some were openly perplexed when the Blues did not re-sign him. 

Those questions faded in light of United’s promotion-chasing form, but what was the reality of the close-season situation from Devitt’s perspective? 

“There wasn’t really any sit-downs,” he says. “I spoke to Carlisle once or twice but it was never, ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna come back,’ or, ‘Oh yes, we want you to come back’. It was just a normal chat. 

“You’ll know as well as I do how many players Carlisle have been linked with in past years when there isn't any truth in it. I was at Blackpool just working hard; the manager there, Neil Critchley, really looked after me, and I just got my head down over the summer to get as fit as I could for when I did go to a club. 

“In the end that was Newport – I know Mike Flynn really well and he asked if I’d come down and play some games. I didn’t see Scott Twine doing as well as he has, but these things happen – you go down and someone in your position is scoring goals from 40 yards every week. But I’m older now and I was there to help Scott as well.” 

Devitt’s imprint on Carlisle was considerable, with two double-figure goal returns, many assists and, at his best in the latter two of his three seasons, high levels of invention and creativity. He has moved on now but says he still holds his old club in high regard, with no ill feeling from 2019’s departure, which was accompanied by debate over the length of deal he had been offered by the Blues.

News and Star: Devitt was outstanding in his latter two campaigns with Carlisle from 2017-19 (photo: David Hollins)Devitt was outstanding in his latter two campaigns with Carlisle from 2017-19 (photo: David Hollins) (Image: David Hollins)

“I get on really well with [David] Holdsworth [Carlisle’s director of football], I’ve had chats with Chris Beech as well, and the work they’ve done behind the scenes is brilliant," says Devitt, who scored a consolation goal for Newport at Brunton Park in November. "I look out for them every week and really want them to get promoted this year. 

“I love that club and they’ll always have a special place for me. I still speak to some of the lads there now. In the summer and before, Gav [Skelton] would give me a call, and the likes of Omari Patrick, who was with me at Bradford, called me to ask what I thought when Carlisle were going to sign him. The same with Nick Anderton and a couple of others.

“I still speak to Holdsworth every now and again - I throw him a text, and vice versa, to see how things are. Sometimes people see or hear things and they’re not true. There’s always things being said, but I loved being at Carlisle. But I’m now a Barrow player and trying to do my best for them.” 

Devitt also starred for Morecambe before he joined Carlisle, and will now try to revive the best of those days under Michael Jolley. The Barrow boss had been interested in Devitt in 2019 whilst at Grimsby, and Devitt is one of six recent signings made by the 43-year-old as the Bluebirds, currently 21st, bid to extend their time back in the Football League. 

“Everything he said was what I want, in terms of ambition,” says Devitt, who also consulted his former Chesterfield team-mate, Bolton’s ex-Barrow boss Ian Evatt. “It was a no-brainer, really, once we had a good chat. He [Jolley] named three or four of the lads he wanted to bring in, and they’re in the building already. I hope we can repay him by getting the results and moving up the table quickly. 

“When you look at the players they are signing [including Ollie Banks, Tom Davies and Neal Eardley], they’re not thinking of being in the bottom two come the end of the season. They have ambitions of fighting at the other end of the table next season, but we have to see how this one goes first. 

“I want to play continuous games. If I can get back to what I did at Carlisle in those last two seasons, who knows? I feel I’m at a good age where I'm ready to kick on again. But I don’t want to look too far into the future. Anything can happen in football, as I saw when I signed for Blackpool.” 

Devitt says he is glad professional football is continuing despite the Covid-19 lockdown, but cannot pretend things are normal as he takes this latest step in his career. “It’s weird. Everything’s a bit strange. You don’t know if you’re going to be playing on a Saturday because some teams might have Covid. You’re being tested a couple of times a week. If someone a year ago said that all this would be happening – having to wear a mask in the supermarket and so on – everyone would have started laughing. 

“I’m sure most players are happy to keep going, and I’m sure fans like us to keep playing, but everyone misses them being in the ground. If I’m honest, I miss having somebody calling you names from the sideline. I know they can go on Facebook and Twitter and give players a little bit of abuse, but it’s not the same as giving you abuse at the ground…”