Carlisle United close to confirming new academy manager

The Blues are set to confirm the person who will replace the outgoing Simon Friel.

The appointment will be a major part of United’s aim to improve their youth set-up at Brunton Park.

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson has had some input into stages of the recruitment process and says some impressive candidates have come forward.

“I think a decision has been made,” said Simpson today. “And hopefully that will be announced very shortly.

“I was part of the first stage of interview where we interviewed six, and there were some good candidates out there.

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“And that six was selected from probably 40-something. And this, I'm led to believe, was a much stronger group of people who applied for the job than the previous time it was available.

“So there's been a selection. And then the final stage went to a one-to-one interview with the owners.”

Friel is leaving United to take up a similar role with League of Ireland club Shamrock Rovers.

He has been at the helm of the Blues’ Category Three academy since 2021.

Simon Friel (Image: Carlisle United)

Simpson said he feels it is vital that United’s youth set-up is as strong as possible.

“This week being the EFL’s Youth Development Week, I think it is important for clubs like Carlisle United to have a good academy system.

“At the moment we've got Jack Ellis, Taylor Charters and Gabe Breeze in our immediate squad who have played minutes for us this season, and you can look throughout the Football League system.

“Everybody wants to talk about Category One Premier League academies, [but] I think they underestimate the value of Football League academies as well.

“You just have to think of the amount of minutes and debuts that EFL academy graduates have made. And there's a huge chunk of players in the senior England national team who have played minutes [at EFL levels].

“And I know from my own experience of working with [the England] development teams that the EFL plays a massive part in developing young footballers.

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“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.

Jarrad Branthwaite is a shining light for United's academy (Image: PA)

“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.”