In what could be a growing trend, Carlisle United have added a young Scotsman to their staff.
Goalkeeper Jude Smith, 21, who came through the youth ranks at Celtic before joining East Fife, has agreed a two-year deal at Brunton Park.
In recent weeks Carlisle have been linked with other players north of the border, repeating a trend of the 1950s and 1960s when United had a number of Scotsman on their books.
Smith made 28 competitive appearances for East Fife during the 2021/22 season before making the move to Premier League side Newcastle United in the summer of 2022 after impressing on trial.
He featured for the Magpies in the EFL Trophy and Premier League 2 during his time at St James’ Park and has also featured for Scotland U21s.
Manager Paul Simpson told the United official website said: “Jude is a goalkeeper we’ve had our eye on for a while. He was sought after when he left Scotland as a young lad but Newcastle won the race for him.
“We’ve followed his progress since then so we’re really pleased to get him in the building now. He’s a good addition to the goalkeeping department and I’m quite sure he’ll add good competition for Gabe and Harry.
“We’ll have a look at all three of them in pre-season, nobody is guaranteed to play. I’m sure people will look at squad numbers when they come out and make conclusions from those but they’ve all got to compete in pre-season.
“They all need to show they deserve to be involved. If it’s a case of the two younger ones who aren’t playing, there’s no point in them both sitting around, they need games to develop so we’ll look at that and assess it as we’re going along.
“They’re all coming in to show us they want to work hard and do everything they can to be involved in the group.”
