Joe Garner: Carlisle United striker wants to help push return to League One
- Published
Joe Garner was signed for £140,000 and sold for almost 10-times that figure
Striker Joe Garner believes Carlisle United have the potential to be challenging at the top end of League One, and wants to help them return.
Garner, 34, is now in his fourth spell with the Cumbrians, having previously enjoyed two loan stints and a permanent stay during his 539-game career.
He was part of a side that reached the third-tier play-offs in 2007-08.
"We should have gone up to the Championship [that season]," Garner told BBC Radio Cumbria.
"We had the squad to do it but had a few injuries. We were unfortunate not to go up that year and ended up losing in the play-offs.
"I left the club at the top end of League One, in and around the top six, and that's where I think the club should be and I'll be doing all I can to help the lads in there get back to that."
The Lancastrian forward, who joined Nottingham Forest for a fee of £1.14m on the back of that 14-goal campaign back in July 2008, had other offers to consider when pondering his future.
Boss Paul Simpson and head of recruitment Greg Abbott were major factors in influencing the decision to head back to Cumbria.
Abbott was assistant to John Ward when the 2007-08 cohort were in their pomp, and Garner has seen similarities between that era and the current group.
"That team I came into first time round was a special side, we all still speak to each other now," Garner added.
"To say there was some characters in it, we were a really strong team and it was a tough place to come.
"I think it is like that now. No-one likes coming here. It's a really tough place to come and get points, especially when the fans come out.
"They make the place a fortress which is what it needs to be between now and the end of the season."