New CEO says results must improve for Carlisle

Carlisle United chief executive Tom Lawrence says there needs to be a "significant upturn" in results after a disappointing start to the season.

They are 14th in the National League, having won only four of their 13 games under new head coach Rob Elliot.

It leaves them 18 points behind leaders Boreham Wood and hopes of winning the division almost completely over before the clocks have gone back, with aims now focusing on climbing into the top seven.

Lawrence, who took on his role this summer having held a previous one with Southend United, sat down for an extended interview with BBC Radio Cumbria, to talk about the playing side of things and the commitment of the owners, the Piatak family, to success at Carlisle.

This is Carlisle's second season in the National League after successive relegations from the EFL led to this point, and it is now the longest spell in the club's history outside the EFL.

They finished third last season with 95 points, although a significant distance behind York City and Rochdale, before losing at home to Boreham Wood in the play-off semi-final and it was decided to part company with Manchester United and Wales legend Mark Hughes.

Elliot replaced him and while changing the team's playing style, results have not yet followed, leaving the Blues below halfway and six points outside the play-offs with just over a quarter of the season gone.

Lawrence arrived at Brunton Park after the change of head coach and recognises that the current position is not good enough.

To achieve last season's points tally, Carlisle would need 78 points from their remaining 33 matches at an average of 2.37 points per game, which would be the sort of form that last season's top two produced over the whole campaign.

"The performances have been a reasonable level, but we need to start winning more games because it's a results business," said Lawrence.

"Our strategy is to have fast-flowing attacking football and Rob's style fits in with that, and with some uplifts in the playing squad, we should soon get back on track."

Carlisle have only won two of their past eight games and none of their past four at home, a spell which included a humiliating 5-2 loss to Woking at Brunton Park.

It is a run that has put serious pressure on the head coach very early into his tenure in Cumbria.

"We had a points target at the start of the season," said Lawrence. "We had a number which we were aiming for and we knew what that was on a points-per-game basis.

"I know what it is now and it would take a significant upturn in results to achieve that target."

Lawrence replaced Nigel Clibbins as chief executive and is tasked with running the club on behalf of the Piataks.

The Americans have been at Carlisle for almost three years which has coincided with those back-to-back relegations and with them seemingly stuck in the National League for the possibility of a third season.

That was not on the agenda for the Florida-based family, but Lawrence says that their commitment is not waning despite on-field struggles.

"In terms of Tom and Patty and the wider family, their enthusiasm is unwavering," he said.

"They're committed to the project - of course they want to be winning more games - but Tom and Patty have been instrumental in locking in strategic pillars.

"They're incredibly passionate about the community aspect, they're incredibly passionate about giving fans a good experience and having good fan engagement and they want the business to operate as efficiently as it can and of course they want to be successful on the pitch."

Upon his arrival at Carlisle, Piatak spoke about his ambitions to push on and there has been a lot of money spent on and off the pitch.

But while the improvements are clearly visible in off-field activities, football has lagged behind with Elliot the fourth person in charge of the team since November 2023.

"Since they have been custodians of Carlisle United, there has been very significant investment on and off the pitch," Lawrence said of the owners.

"The infrastructure we have at Carlisle is above National League standard and it's League One or Championship standard in many cases.

"There has been investment to back up the ambition to go through the leagues and there continues to be investment in the football side to help us achieve our objectives as well."

This week saw the publication by the Independent Football Regulator into the state of finances in English football.

The report said that 94% of clubs in the top-five leagues are loss-making and that 29% of them could not survive more than 30 days without funding from their owners.

"I've lived and worked in clubs where finances have been the cause of most of the stresses in the business," said Lawrence.

"We don't have that here. We have owners who want us to work as efficiently as possible and want to use that investment to accelerate growth and uplift our squad.

"But in terms of ownership, we are incredibly lucky to have the group that we have.

"Of course, we want to be out of the National League and ideally the top end of League One.

"But we're not and we need to get firm foundations in place to help us build for the future and we need to create the environment for success where the football team can catch up with everything else."