Carlisle United’s official supporters club (CUOSC) is examining whether different people should be appointed to take on the two roles vacated by long-serving Norman Steel.

Steel has announced he is ending his decade-long stint as United fans’ representative on the club’s 1921 operational board. That decision was confirmed at the CUOSC annual general meeting on Sunday.

In addition, Steel told the meeting that he is to stand down as the group’s chairman – a position he has also held for around 10 years.

As the task to find a replacement gets underway, board member Jim Mitchell confirmed CUOSC was considering changes in order to “spread the load more evenly”.

“Norman has fulfilled the two roles for over a decade and felt that time had come for a change both for himself and the supporters club,” said Mitchell.

“He has done very well and seen the supporters club through what have been some challenging times.

“He needed to have a thick skin and be fairly implacable, and kept calm through most of the times.

“As far as the CUOSC board is concerned we are going to have a look at, over the next couple of weeks, who will best fill the roles that Norman has occupied and a number of others as well, to put us in the best position going forward.

“We don’t see one board member trying to fulfil more than one major role as Norman has done because we want to spread the load more evenly.

“Time-wise it has been a real challenge for Norman, and we don’t believe that is the best way to progress in the future.”

Mitchell will represent CUOSC at the next 1921 board meeting on Monday.

Decisions about who will occupy that role, and others, in the long term will be taken in the coming days. These will then be confirmed at CUOSC’s next formal meeting on August 13.

Mitchell, along with Steel and Billy Atkinson, was re-elected to the CUOSC board at Sunday’s meeting.