Carlisle United and the Piataks will be happy Brunton Park plans fell through | OneFootball

The Blues' current home on Warwick Road almost wasn't after plans emerged in 2011 to move away from Brunton Park.

Thanks to the Piatak family, Brunton Park is in a much better state than it used to be.

Carlisle United's home undertook a huge renovation project over the summer. The stadium was brought out of the 20th century - arguably the 19th in some areas - and updated so that it fits with modern standards.

Electric advertising boards were put in place, more food and drinks stalls for fans were added, new premium boxes were fitted and, of course, a modernisation of the infamous Warwick Road End toilets, as much as some people were sad to see the artefact go.

The millions that have been spent on doing the place up means that the Blues are very unlikely to move away from their current home. In fact, one of the reasons why the American family landed on Carlisle as their next spending venture was because of the Blues' ownership of their ground, as opposed to leasing it from someone else.

It's looking much better now, but Brunton Park was, at one point, planned to not be the home of the Cumbrians.

Carlisle United's Project Blue Yonder

In November 2011, at the club's Annual General Meeting, plans for a move away from their Warwick Road base to a new location were unveiled. It was called Project Blue Yonder, and the purpose was to build a new stadium north of the city at Kingmoor Park.

The reason for it: well Brunton Park wasn't offering the same revenue streams as could be achieved with a new ground, and it was described as being "outdated and in dire need of redevelopment." Carlisle determined that £20 million would be needed to redo the place.

The plans started back in 2008 when club officials went to look at Preston North End's Deepdale. They also visited Chesterfield's stadium in September 2011.

Ultimately, the plans were nixed. Former club director John Nixon admitted to getting cold feet about the project on 4th August 2011, way before the details of the project were presented at the AGM in November, and the local council ended up not endorsing the proposed location.

There were many stumbling blocks with the project, and Carlisle, and its American owners, will be happy now that it fell through.

Carlisle United will be very happy with Project Blue Yonder outcome

The club's chairman, Tom Piatak, has openly spoken about his fondness for the location of the stadium. Yes, it's liable to flood because of the nearby river, but it is also very accessible for most people in Carlisle, both by foot or by vehicle. A ground out at Kingmoor Park certainly wouldn't have been.

One of the extra surprises that the Americans got when they first took control of the place was the shells of rooms that were in the East Stand which were just waiting to be filled by new hospitality areas.

The 2011 review of why a move away from Brunton Park was needed cited the lack of feasibility of being able to build anything of that nature in the East Stand. The Piataks have done it, and they have done it well.

It's now a modernised stadium with classic touches. The terraces are a lovely throwback in comparison to the all-seated, lifeless bowl-shaped grounds which are in the middle of nowhere that you see nowadays - AKA, the type of place Carlisle would've probably ended up in had the Kingmoor Park project come to fruition.

There are definitely still some issues with Brunton Park. The pitch isn't fully in line with the East Stand and the Warwick roof needs some work done on it to improve the sound quality coming from it, but it's the characterful, historic home of the club.

Even with the minor drawbacks, it's home, and, thankfully, there haven't even any thoughts about leaving Brunton Park since the Piataks came in last year.