Carlisle United owner: We want to bring 'fun football' back

The Blues owner has set out the club’s wishes for a new head coach, who will work with a new sporting director at the club.

United are starting the recruitment processes after the departure of Paul Simpson at the weekend.

The club are already sifting through applications while also “reaching out” to identify potential candidates.

Piatak has stressed that a certain “style of play” will need to be promoted by those appointed.

Asked who will set that demand at the club, he told the News & Star: “That obviously comes from the top, and I think it should.

“And when I say style of play, I'm talking about [being] aggressive, dominating, imposing your will, front foot forward, playing without fear.

“If we're going to lose, I want to lose dying trying to win that match. I want to be pressing forward, but I don't want to be pressing forward 60 minutes into the match. I want to come out and hit the ground running.

• LISTEN: Tom Piatak on Simmo's departure and plans for new sporting director and head coach

“When it comes to the tactics, the shape, and all that, that's not my area. That's for the coach to figure that out.

“But I do want to see that – I don't want to wait and see what the other team does, and then react. I want to impose our will, and make them react.

“And then from that point on, the coach is going to have to adapt and be flexible on how you manage the game.

“But that's what I want to come out strong. I want to play fun football. I want to be here at Brunton Park, and I want fans to enjoy what they see.

“I want them to say, ‘that was fun’ – hopefully we're winning, but that was a fun match, and we dominated. And if we didn't, I want them to say, the lads sure tried, there's no doubt about it.”

Tom Piatak, third from right, has spoken more about United's aim to recruit a sporting director and head coach (Image: Ben Holmes)

Piatak said, that, ideally, United would make appointments in the next one to two weeks but he said he would not stick rigidly to that if the process needed to take longer in order to secure the right person.

And he said results under the club’s caretaker regime, good or bad, would not affect the pace of the process.

“I think that'd be short-term reaction,” he said. “I won't let that drive our decision process. We want to make sure we get the right person in here, regardless of the results that happen in the next two, three weeks.

“I mean, I'm hoping we're winning. But [either way] I won't let that determine [things], because what we're doing right now is planning for the future, and we can't let the short-term two or three matches dictate that decision.”

Asked if the need for a certain style of play was a more important criterion than experience or contacts in the head coach role, Piatak said: “That’s a tough one.

“And that's why, when we discuss the recruiting of these positions, it's a team, because everybody has different visions of what they want. And I'm a big believer of that in all of our businesses.

“I rarely make one decision on hiring on my own. I make sure we have a team together, because everybody sees something different.

“So we need someone with experience, and we're not going to be taking somebody that's unproven, that has absolutely no experience at all, and throw them into the EFL and say, ‘Let's go, let's hit the ground running’.

“So it's a combination. But I think by having a panel that is going to be working on this as a group, and everybody looking at it from different [angles], we're going to come up with the best solution for this club.”

Piatak says it is the right time to create a new role of sporting director who will oversee the club’s footballing vision, to work with a head coach, rather than the more traditional manager set-up.

“I feel with the modernisation of football right now, the data elements, it's huge,” the owner said.

“It's absolutely huge, and we're way behind the eight ball on that.

“It's just too much when [the head coach] is involved in too many things. And so we need them focused and say, ‘These are the players you have. This is the squad. Do the player selection, get ready, do the tactics, and handle that’.

“And then on the other side, the data, the budget, the vision, the recruiting, the networking, that's just a whole other role that I feel is a more strategic role, that we want to have more consistency, more processes developed.

Manager Paul Simpson, assistants Gavin Skelton and Billy Barr (pictured) and head of performance Jake Simpson all left after the defeat to Tranmere (Image: Ben Holmes)

“So separating the two there I think makes tremendous sense for where we're going. If we were just thinking of this season, maybe not. But we're not thinking of just this season. We're thinking about the next five seasons.

“And when I do that, I think we need someone on that strategic side, and then someone on the tactical side.”

Piatak stressed that the head coach would remain centrally involved in final player recruitment decisions.

As well as applications coming in, the News & Star asked Piatak if data would play a part in the selection process, and whether they could headhunt candidates rather than simply invite applications.

“We've all identified several [people] that we would like to see and put them on the list,” he said.

“They may not be interested [but we will see].

“We're also reaching out to our networks. Everybody in the club is reaching our to the the networks of others to see who might be interested, or have recommendations, especially for the sporting director role, because it's a new role for us.

“So we're certainly reaching out to other clubs and other folks in the industry to seek recommendations and get that list. So it's a combination of both.

“Resumes are flowing in, we're reaching out, and then we're going to have criteria that we're going to evaluate each one by, and hopefully eliminate some, maintain some, and then start the interview process.”

Piatak said Zoom calls to whittle down the candidate list could start before the end of the week.

Asked if United had a preferred individual in mind, he added: “I would say it's a very broad process. I can honestly say I have nobody identified for either of those two positions.”

On the advice United are taking on the situation outside the club, Piatak said: “One thing that I think is so unique that I've learned about English football is all the clubs help each other.

“When you come together on match day, okay, we want to dominate, we want to win. But off the pitch, all the clubs help.

“So I make the point that every time we go visit a club, or they come up here, I'm dealing with their owners, I'm dealing with their sporting directors, their CEO, and getting to know them.

“So that’s about developing a strong network, Nigel [Clibbens, chief executive] has an extremely strong network, so do [directors] Tom [II] Nick [DeMasi], and others within the club.

“So we're all reaching out to get the right guidance. And that's why, when you put the whole group together, I think we're going to come out with a very good candidate for us, for both positions.”

Piatak said he has great faith in the caretaker trio of Mark Birch, Steven Rudd and Jamie Devitt to oversee things until appointments are made.

And the American businessman stressed that Carlisle’s pre-season goal of promotion had not been revised in light of United’s poor start in League Two.

“It does not change the goal at all,” he said.

“And that's one of the reasons why the decision [on Simpson] had to be made so quickly, because if we waited eight matches, and we didn't see improvements in the result, then it could have affected it.

“But right now, the goal is promotion, and we can turn this around, and we will turn this around.”

TOMORROW: More from Tom Piatak on the departure of Paul Simpson and his staff, recruitment and more.