Paul Simpson says he is very close to decisions on players’ futures at Carlisle United.

The Blues have five games remaining this season, starting at Northampton Town tomorrow.

And while Simpson says players nearing the end of deals still have “a chance” to affect his thinking, he will be basing his judgement on a much longer period.

“As a manager you’ve got your eye on that all through the season, not just the last five,” he said.

“It’s about how they’ve gone about their business from day one of pre-season, not just in games but how they’ve gone about their business as a professional footballer.

“They have a chance [to affect my thinking] but, being brutally honest, I’m a long way down the line to deciding what’s going to happen come the end of the season.

“We have a major recruitment job ahead to make this club better.”

Carlisle have nine professionals whose deals are up this summer – senior pros Tomas Holy, Paul Huntington, Josh Emmanuel, Jordan Gibson, Sean Maguire, Corey Whelan and the younger trio of Max Kilsby, Kai Nugent and Anton Dudik.

Several loan players will also depart come the end of the campaign.

Simpson said a lot of work is “going on in the background” with a view to a major summer of recruitment at Brunton Park.

He said he will be looking to bring in “the right footballers and personalities to take the club forward.”

Asked how far advanced some of that work currently was, Simpson said: “We’ve got a lot of ground work done but there’s no guarantees.

“At this moment in time, players are not confirmed that they are going to be leaving clubs. We’ve got ideas of who we want and what areas we need to strengthen, but we can’t do anything until clubs make the decisions of what they’re going to do and we’ll see from there.”

Simpson said an increased focus on data will play a part in United’s attempts to recruit well in the summer.

Asked if United’s recruitment strategy would see any changes, he said: “We’re looking into data, that’s the thing – we’re trying to get facilities running where it’s easier to manage in terms of updating information and loading information when we’ve got live or video viewings of players, so we’ve got a clear plan where we’re going.

“It might be we’ve got a pecking order of first, second, third, fourth and fifth choices – chances are we won’t get all our first choices but we have to have a clear plan in place and that’s what we’re working to try and do. Hopefully that will help us recruit the right players.”

One area where Carlisle have failed to enhance their squad this campaign is in the loan market.

“It paid off better last season, this season it hasn’t for all sorts of different reasons,” said Simpson.

“If I’m honest my ideal picture in my head is that I want players who are totally committed to Carlisle United, so that means permanent signings.

“That said, I think the loan market is good to supplement what you can get on permanents, and you can get good value on young players coming in, but with young players it’s a gamble, especially if it’s a first loan, you don’t know how they’re going to react to it.

“Some players who’ve come from London have found it difficult, that sometimes is an issue – I find that strange because it’s a lovely place to live, but it’s different here.

“But we need to make sure we do our due diligence as much as we possibly can to make sure we get the right people in.”