There's a flag at Brunton Park with a cartoon of manager Paul Simpson balancing the League Two trophy on his head, which reads ‘Simmo is our king’.
Sixteen years on from winning promotion to League One as player-manager, Simpson is one game away from completing a remarkable repeat, after Carlisle overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Bradford and book their place at Wembley next Sunday.
The drama of the play-offs has been simply unrivalled this season. Brad Halliday’s early own goal levelled the tie here and, despite a relatively dry 90 minutes, both sides scored in a ding-dong extra-time period before Ben Barclay’s 112th-minute winner.
Barclay, on loan from Stockport, won’t be able to play against parent club County in the final - but will go down as a hero at Carlisle for guiding them to a fifth appearance at Wembley in their 118-year history.
No one deserves that legendary status more than Simpson, though. Born in Carlisle, the manager led his boyhood club from the abyss with back-to-back promotions from the Conference in his first stint and, 17 years after leaving, is one game from League One again.
The 56-year-old, who also played for Manchester City and Derby as a player, dropped into non-League himself after leaving Carlisle in 2006, including stints with Northwich Victoria and Sunday’s opponents Stockport.
His team outplayed Mark Hughes’ Bradford here. The Welshman also dropped down the levels - it’s only 15 years since he was City boss signing Robinho for a British record fee - and is enjoying life at the Bantams. But his team never turned up in the away leg.
Bradford keeper Harry Lewis did well to keep out Carlisle early on before John Kymani-Gordon claimed a goal to level the tie, though it was adjudged as a Halliday own goal.
Carlisle were the better team and buoyed by a strong crowd of 15,401 - more than double their average gate this season.
Bradford, on the other hand, barely threatened Tomas Holy’s goal, with just one shot on target in regulation time. It felt like both teams were scared to risk throwing too many men forward.
But if the 90 minutes were slightly underwhelming, extra-time produced the sort of must-watch drama that has been a theme of these play-offs. Callum Guy, who spent time on loan at Bradford, scored in the 98th-minute but then the Bantams equalised on 106 minutes.
The goal came from 37-year-old Matt Derbyshire just six minutes after Hughes introduced him from the bench and, for the first time in this leg, the Welshman’s side looked dangerous.
But Carlisle refused to let this game fizzle towards a penalty shoot-out and Barclay’s header sealed a trip to Wembley in the 112th minute.