“I’m a Denton Holme lad,” says Owen Moxon with a smile. Carlisle United’s first summer signing is indeed rooted in this city and, as he explains what it means to join the Blues, it’s clear it all comes from the heart.
Moxon was on United’s books from nine to 16 before being released. After building a career in Scotland, with Queen of the South and Annan Athletic, he is back at Brunton Park, describing it as “surreal” to be able to call himself a United first-team player at last.
There are many reasons why pulling on the blue shirt will matter to the 24-year-old. One, evidently, is family. “I had a lot of interest, and a lot of offers, and I’m thankful for that. But as soon as Carlisle came in, that was the one for me," he says.
“It was just once I spoke to me family. You could see the excitement. Especially with my little brother. He doesn’t really show too much emotion towards me or give me too much credit, but he was absolutely buzzing, you could tell. As soon as I saw his face, I just knew that was exactly the right decision.”
Moxon smiles again at his story of sibling approval. “He’s 19. We do get on very well…but he’s always quite hard on me. Like my dad, he won’t give me too much credit, always wants to keep my feet on the ground. But you can tell he’s been very proud of me and chuffed with how I’ve done this year.
“When I said to him about Carlisle, you could see the excitement in him – he couldn’t hold it back. I just knew I was definitely making the right decision.”
Moxon has spent the last five years working his way to prominence with Annan, under the United legend Peter Murphy. As a boy of Carlisle, though, his link with the Blues has always been strong. Now he gets to play for them.
“You’ve got a connection with the fans straight away,” he says. “You see every year what they go through and you hear about it all the time, because you’re local.
“You play for the badge. It’s very…close to home, really. You take pride in it. It’s not as if you’re going to another club which you don’t care about in a sense. You’ve already got that connection before you’re even in the club.”
There is another special reason why playing for United will mean a huge amount to Moxon, and we will come to that later. We first talk about the way he has battled his way back into the professional game and earned this exciting chance.
“When I was younger, I just played football all the time, and I played a couple of age groups higher than me,” he says. “When I reached my own age group, under-nines, I played for Morton Manor, and then got asked to go on trial at Carlisle.
“From then that’s all you want to do – you want to be a full-time footballer at Carlisle United.”
Moxon was in the academy with other bright young players like Matty Douglas – a close friend who ended up alongside him at Annan – Arran Bradbury, Ellis Pearson and Cuan Hurley. “I used to go and watch the first team as well, with a family friend and his mum,” he adds. “I’d be ballboy with Barrie [Mossop], and get my Mars bar and can of juice at half-time!”
The midfielder did not make the step up to United’s under-18 team and says being released felt like “my world was crashing down”. He joined Queen of the South and tried to revive his ambitions there.
“When I first went there, because it was going into a new environment and I didn’t know a lot of people, it took me a while to get settled. I didn't even play in the under-20s squad to start with, because the way they worked it was that first team boys who weren’t playing could come and play in that team.
“I actually thought about quitting, because I knew I wasn’t playing the way I normally play, plus I wasn’t playing games on the weekend, just training. I thought about quitting, but then I had a chat with my dad - and then I just went back in with a different mentality, that I am a good player, I just need to show everybody.
“Within the next couple of weeks I was playing every week for the under-20s. I went up with the first team after four months of playing, and was with them ever since.
“You just keep growing in confidence when you start to realise, ‘I am good enough to be here’.”
Did he also go into this next phase with a desire to prove Carlisle wrong? He says yes. “It’s not so much in a bad way that you want to prove people wrong – it’s just for your own pride.
“I remember we played four friendlies with Carlisle and I actually scored in three of them - and the winner in two of them. You do feel like you’ve got something to prove. But in reality it’s just about progressing and doing well yourself.”
Moxon’s time in Dumfries included a spell working under Gavin Skelton, who is now United’s assistant manager. He says the Cumbrian coach was an important influence on him – as, from 2017, was Murphy at Annan.
He was the former United favourite's first signing upon taking charge, and Moxon combined football at Galabank with work. He took a mechanic’s apprenticeship – “I’m not gonna lie, I hated it, but stuck it out and got a qualification” – and later became a delivery driver.
This gave Moxon a heightened respect for those who make the most of part-time football, working nine to five and then training twice a week and giving of their best on Saturdays. On the pitch at Annan, he grew into a powerful, skilful midfield player, mentored by Murphy.
“Five years is a long time and I’ve been with the same manager every year,” he says. “That has helped. It’s not as if I’ve been changing managers and they want you to do something different. He knows exactly what I need to improve each year.
“Even this year, he [Murphy] wouldn’t give me too much credit, even though I was doing well and I knew myself I was doing well. He’d always be telling me ways I could improve.
"I loved that – it means you know what you need to work on and then you can go and do it. And when you do do it, he’ll give you the praise.
“You keep taking that in, week-in, week-out and keep getting better. It’s shown this season, because all that came together.”
Moxon was Annan’s star player in 2021/22, named in the PFA League Two team of the season and cleaning up at the club’s own awards presentation. He says he would have handed those accolades back if it meant Annan could have got promoted, instead of missing out in the play-offs. “I would love for the club and manager to get Annan up,” he says. “I think it’s fully deserved, and I think he [Murphy] will definitely be able to manage at a higher level.”
Paul Simpson had let Moxon know of Carlisle United’s interest late in the season. “He texted me while I was at the PFA awards. I thought I’d best not reply ‘til the next day…
“He said he was very interested and wanted to touch base with me, and that he was going to be at one of the play-off games and would have a chat with me after them. He didn't want to interfere with the play-offs, and let me concentrate on that, which I really appreciated.
“He came to the first play-off semi-final game against Forfar at home, and then he phoned me the next morning. He apologised for doing it but just wanted to let me know they were definitely interested and wanted me to be a Carlisle player, which gave me loads of confidence going into the final games.”
Skelton and Greg Abbott, the head of recruitment, watched Moxon give a strong performance as Annan fell agonisingly short against Edinburgh City in the play-off final second leg. Soon afterwards a two-year deal was on the table.
“I spoke to Peter Murphy about it a while ago, and he did say to me, ‘I know you will be leaving at the end of the season because you deserve to go back full-time’, which was really nice to hear,” he adds.
“He told me everything about Simmo as a manager – and to work with someone like Paul Simpson is amazing. He’s done a lot in his career and done very well at Carlisle. He [Simpson] said he feels like I can come in and help the team, and improve myself. I’m wanting to learn new things every day and go and improve. I feel like he’s the perfect person for me to go and do that.”
Moxon says he is a midfielder who likes to “take risks”, and will be able to focus fully on this stage of his career from next Wednesday, when he leaves his delivery job with UPS. “I do like it. It’s a very good place to work, all the lads are good. But it’s not gonna compare to doing what you love every day," he says.
“Because I’ve done the part-time side, working nine to five every day and then training and playing, it makes me even more hungry. I know…not so much what I didn’t do when I was younger, but what I could have done more of. It makes you hungrier to go and do well and do extra, to give yourself the best possible chance.”
Moxon says that, when his signing was announced, he was preparing to fly to Benidorm for a holiday and his mobile phone went haywire. “I had to leave it in the day, and tried to answer all the messages at night. I think I was up until 2am. It just kept going off.”
He says he is appreciative of every message he has received – while it means a huge amount to know that one family in particular will be cheering him on as a Carlisle player. One of Moxon’s best friends was Grant Taylor, the lifelong Blues supporter who tragically died in France earlier this year, aged just 22.
His passing touched many in the city and community, and affected Moxon. “I’ve known him since our last years from school, and been friends with him quite a lot of years,” he says. “I get on really well with his mum and dad, Tracey and Kev, and his sister Katie.
“It was obviously horrible when the news came out, but now all my friends go to all the games – you’ve maybe seen ‘GT22’ on the back of their tops.
“I know he would be very, very proud of me. It is going to be quite emotional from that sense as well, when I do make my debut. It’s just something extra on top that you know you’re going to be making one of your best mates proud, by doing something that you love and something that you’re proud of yourself.”
Moxon admits it is a special thought that, when he does pull on that beloved blue shirt, he will also be playing for Grant. “As well as playing for the badge, and the fans, that’s an extra added incentive – just to go and do really well for him. It will be so nice for his family.
“They have messaged me and said they’re really proud of me, they’re excited and they can’t wait to watch me play. For me to be able to put a smile on their faces as well, after everything that they’ve been through…hopefully I can continue to do that by doing well at Carlisle.”
Moxon, a proud Carlisle lad, does not pretend that he has not already imagined how his first opportunity in Simpson’s side – and his first goal – might feel. “I was talking to my mate, Matty Douglas, the other day – I actually work with him – and he was just saying, ‘Imagine if you score on your debut, that’ll just be crazy, won’t it?’
“You do start thinking about it. It’s a bit surreal at the moment but whenever it happens, it will be special. It’s a dream I’ve had for a long time. I can’t wait for it to happen.”
READ MORE: Annan Athletic's Peter Murphy: Why new Carlisle United signing Owen Moxon is ready for the step up
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