Carlisle United have sacked manager Steven Pressley after ten months in charge.
The announcement came after United crashed out of the EFL Trophy with a 3-1 defeat at Morecambe last night.
Pressley arrived in January to succeed John Sheridan with the Cumbrians sixth in League Two. They currently sit nineteenth, and the board cited a lack of progress as the reason for their decision.
The forty-six-year-old recently faced fans calling for his head after a run of four straight league defeats, but he seemed to have eased the pressure with a three-game unbeaten run which included guiding the Cumbrians to the second round of the FA Cup after a televised 4-1 victory over non-league Dulwich Hamlet.
In the statement on the club’s official website, Blues chairman Andrew Jenkins said: “Steven has given his all and has worked tirelessly since the day he joined us.’
‘We understand the challenges and have supported him throughout, but we haven’t seen the evidence of progress we expected or needed to see.’
‘This is not something we can allow to continue, so sadly, it is time to change, move on and look forward.’
‘I want to say a personal thank you to Steven, he has been a pleasure to work with, and this has not been an easy decision for us to make.’
‘He leaves with our very best wishes.’
The club confirmed Pressley’s backroom staff would remain in charge of football matters in the short-term.
Pressley’s sacking leaves Carlisle searching for their third manager in a year and while it is clear from the social media reaction plenty of fans will not be losing any sleep over his departure, some supporters feel the problems at the club run deeper than who is in the dugout.
Here is a selection of responses to the news from Blues fans on Twitter.
About time
— Ste Brown (@ste_brown19) November 13, 2019
Correct decision. Very good man but we couldn’t carry on like this and he couldn’t turn it round. #cufc
— Ross (@parkinsonross) November 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/Reidstopher/status/1194577543304744960?s=20
What a time to be alive 🙂
— Ste Moore (@SteMoore10) November 13, 2019
How long is this managerial Merry go round going to continue before the fans realise it’s more deep rooted than the manager. The board are the problem,simply can’t run the club as they do. Turn on the board not the manager
— Graham Forbes (@GrahamForbes11) November 13, 2019
Is it me but doesn’t this seem like strange timing? Why not do it wks ago? Probably got someone lined up and had to wait to confirm a few things. #cufc
— FishIslandBlues (@fish_blues) November 13, 2019
Thank god for that 2 month too late
— Hand (@mhand28497) November 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/Scutch_Young/status/1194581300998488066?s=20
Correct decision by the club. Clearly the fans rant at the directors box after the Northampton game has played a part but I suspect they have let SP go as self preservation as opposed to any notion of ambition.
— andyfellfixer (@Andythehood) November 13, 2019
