We spoke to Chairman Tom Piatak this afternoon following Saturday’s news that Paul Simpson had left the club.
“It’s very difficult whenever you need to make a change, but the club has to move forward,” he said. “It is about the club and as tough as it was, we had the discussions, and it led to the inevitable conclusion.
“I have been very supportive of Paul and I wanted to see a different result, but the results were what they were. We did have some internal metrics, and we were not achieving them, so it was a matter of timing. I think it's best for all parties that this happened as quickly as possible.
“We've only won game and we’re 20th in the table and that's not where we should be. The talent we have on this team is better than that and sometimes a reset and a change is necessary to get things moving.”
“We had a very difficult conversation with Paul, but it was respectful,” he continued. “I think it's going to take time to sink in. It's not what either of us wanted, it was definitely a challenge and difficult, but very respectful and understanding.
“He's done so much for the club during both of his spells here, and I think that's what made the discussion so difficult for me, he's such an icon here.
“He bleeds blue. I mean, he's Carlisle, he's from Carlisle. It's a phenomenal family and his legacy is and will be a great one.
“That's what made it so difficult, but again, we have to be thinking about the club and moving forward and that's what made that decision necessary and we needed to have it.
“I’m aware some people have spoken about making the decision just after the transfer window, but it’s important that people know we've all been very active in the recruitment of the personnel and we all know the style of play we want to play. We made sure we recruited the talent for that.
“I'm very comfortable and confident with the talent that we have in the squad, and that's one of the reasons why I don't think we should be 20th in the table with the talent that we have. I'm very comfortable that we have the right personnel in the squad, we just now need to bring in the right management to take them to the next level.”
Gavin Skelton, Billy Barr and Jake Simpson also left the club on Saturday, and we asked Tom about the reasons for that decision: “It was kind of a reset of the coaching management. I think it's unfair to bring somebody in and then basically say they have to work with coaches we already have.
“When we looked at it, we had to look at it from the perspective of the coaching management and those four were truly what we deemed at that level. We needed an entire reset, rethink, get a new vision, get a new strategy and move forward.
“So, that's why all four needed to have the change. We’re not planning any other changes, but Geoff Haugh left on his own terms this morning. I think that's understandable, he was brought in by Paul, he's very loyal to Paul and I completely understand that.
“There's no other changes planned. We're focusing right now on the process of identifying the next management team.
“Mark Birch, Steven Rudd and Jamie Devitt have the necessary experience and leadership to keep things going for as long as we need them to. I’ve just come out of a meeting with them and we've challenged them to continue to move the club forward. They know exactly what we're looking for in terms of the management and I think they're the right trio to take the team forward in these next matches.”
The Chairman has also spoken to the players, we asked how those meetings had gone: “The meetings with the players were very upfront and honest, first of all. We spoke about the change because it was probably a little bit of a shock to them all.
“I think they embraced it.They understand it. They understand the football business. They understand the responsibility that you need to be winning so they understand that change.
“They expressed some things to me that it was interesting to hear and have given us some things to think about as we start looking for the new management team. They handled it very well and the training session today was very upbeat, very positive. They're preparing for the next match and I'm very confident we'll be ready.”
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