The Blues will soon announce the replacement for departing player Simon Friel.
The hire will play a significant role in United’s plan to enhance Brunton Park’s junior setup.
Paul Simpson, the manager of Carlisle, has participated in various phases of the hiring process and reports that some outstanding applicants have expressed interest.
Simpson stated today, “I believe a decision has been made.” And ideally, that announcement will come soon.
“There were some excellent applicants among the six we interviewed during the first round of interviews, which I participated in.
And those six were chosen from a pool of perhaps forty or fifty. And compared to the last time the position was open, I’m told there was a far stronger pool of applicants for this one.
So, a choice has been made. After that, a one-on-one interview with the proprietors was the last step.
Friel is moving on from United to join Shamrock Rovers of the League of Ireland in a comparable capacity.
Since 2021, he has served as the head of the Blues’ Category Three academy.
Simpson expressed his belief that it is critical for United to have the best youth team possible.
“With it being the EFL’s Youth Development Week this week, I believe having a strong academy system is crucial for teams like Carlisle United.”
“You can look throughout the Football League system, but right now, we have players who have played minutes for us this season: Gabe Breeze, Taylor Charters, and Jack Ellis in our immediate squad.
While everyone seems to be talking about the Premier League’s Category One academies, I believe that Football League academies are also undervalued.
“You only need to consider how many minutes and debuts alumni of the EFL academy have made.” Additionally, a sizable portion of the senior England national team’s roster has experience playing minutes [at EFL levels].
“And I am aware that the EFL is crucial to the development of young football players based on my personal experience working with [the England] development teams.
“So we have to make this academy better. we are really fortunate that we’ve got a really big catchment area to get players.
“Now, I’m not saying we’re going to get them all, but we have to know about them all. And if they get taken off to bigger clubs than us, we have to hold our hands up.
“You also look at the history of Carlisle with that group of players [in the 1990s] with Paul Murray, Rory Delap, Matt Jansen – these lads who all came through at that time – and then you look at Dean Henderson and James Trafford who’ve gone on at an early age, and Jarrad Branthwaite who played minutes for us, who’s now being touted to be going for lots of money this summer.
“Carlisle United’s played a part in these larger journeys. And we’ve got to hope that we’re out there to be able to produce the next ones who can go on and have a successful career.”
Simpson also said United’s proposed new training facilities could enable the club to expand its academy in the future and aspire to be a Category Two facility.
“The biggest thing to go from a Cat Three to a Cat Two is that you have to have facilities,” said the United manager.
“So that’s where the big step has to be with a training facility, so that the plans are in place to try and do that – it involves getting an indoor dome [and things like that].
“So that’s part of the plans. Hopefully they’ll all come to fruition and we’ll be able to be looking somewhere further down the line of being able to progress from Cat Three.”
