Carlisle United boss Paul Simpson believes his summer recruitment so far has brought in more “strong personalities” than the Blues had last season.

Simpson said adding some characters of good stature to the squad was a priority after last term’s relegation.

He is satisfied that his business so far has plugged that gap.

And he feels that aspect of the recruitment work is seeing existing players rise to the challenge too.

“I think the bigger challenge we had this summer was trying to get some real strong personalities into the group,” said Simpson.

“I certainly think we've done that. And even some of the players who were already here before the summer, they're starting to step up as well.

“So, that's a real pleasing thing.”

United’s summer signings have included the Saint Lucia international captain Terell Thomas.

Fellow defender Aaron Hayden has also said he intends to bring leadership qualities to the Blues dressing room.

Aaron Hayden has said he wants to be a leader at United this seasonAaron Hayden has said he wants to be a leader at United this season (Image: Ben Holmes)

Both centre-backs featured as substitutes in Carlisle’s most recent friendly – the 0-0 draw at Workington Reds on Saturday.

United are now at the University of St Andrews on a training camp as Simpson looks to step up their training work.

“We're seeing things and we're learning stuff about each other,” added the manager after the Workington draw.

“I'm not only looking at what's going on in the final third, I'm looking at the security behind the ball as well, and making sure that we get that right.

“There are things there that we need to work on and there are lots of areas that come into it, but I'm certainly not going to get screwed up about a 0-0 draw in a pre-season friendly.

“We’ve got quite a number of weeks left to go to be ready for the start of the season, and hopefully we will be.”