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Interviews

CLUB: The goal is safety in League One

The Chairman on the January transfer window

30 November 2023

Interviews

CLUB: The goal is safety in League One

The Chairman on the January transfer window

30 November 2023

With the Piatak family's takeover of the club confirmed, focus now turns to their plans being put into action.

And speaking at a press-conference on Monday, Chairman Tom Piatak confirmed that the immediate focus is on the upcoming January transfer window and assisting manager Paul Simpson in the market.

"We've got the January transfer window that's popping up and we're already working with Paul and the coaching staff to identify free agents and potential signings," he said.

"We have a budget that is available to us to enhance the squad. 

"What we want to see is the existing squad step-up and play like they've played in some matches. We've been competitive in almost every match, we're just one step short of putting the ball in the net. 

"We're really focusing in the short-term on the transfer window, identifying the right players and going and having those discussions, and bringing the existing squad to play at the level we need to play at League One. 

"The goal is just safety in League One. I'd love to see better but I think this year that's a reasonable goal and any Carlisle United fan would see that as a reasonable goal - that's what we're going to try to achieve. 

"Paul has the budget necessary to go and affect that and I trust him in his judgement of players' capabilities. We're off and running there and having discussions every day on the future players that we're looking at."

United's coaching and recruitment staff are also benefitting from one of the early investments from the family in the shape of a new recruitment analysis tool.

And that is set to be supplemented by an additional staff member to help the club process the vast amounts of data concerning potential new signings.

"We chatted with them [the coaching staff] and the first step we've made is getting an analyst tool," added Tom Sr. 

"We've pulled the trigger on StatsBomb so we have what we need to do the recruiting. 

"To us, it all starts at the recruiting side - if you can get the recruiting right, that's the key in bringing the right people in so the coaching staff can build a winning team. 

"At the moment, we're relying on eyesight and going to individual games to view a player. While that's helpful, I think you need the data behind it and you need analytics behind it. You can go and watch one player and he might have a great match that day, but the history isn't there. 

"That's already been purchased and is being used by the club, but now we have it we need to make sure we have the right person who knows how to use those analytics to help Greg and Paul to identify that these are the people we want to target. 

"We're going to look for a recruitment analyst - what the exact title is, I don't know - but somebody who can actively provide the information and data necessary."


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