Carlisle Utd's David Holdsworth: "Barriers have to be smashed down. We need to embrace people"

Structure. Across a morning session with the local media - Holdsworth's first since being appointed director of football - he used the term 14 times.

United, he repeatedly said, need to be structured correctly. This is a key part of a direction-change, away from the heavier-spending days of recent seasons, that is already under way at Brunton Park.

Other buzz-words and phrases included "accountability", "value for money" and "DNA". Methods, as Holdsworth explained it, of the Blues pulling their socks up and running themselves more prudently.

"Let's get it right," he said. "We need accountability in each department, whether that's youth, commercial, window cleaner, whoever. We all must be accountable. That's what I'm talking about with structure - someone does their job correctly.

"Having the right people in the right places is key to that - making sure the owners see their club has been prudent, is doing things right, isn't being wasteful.

"We want value for money, we want hard-working people. All those little things make a big thing."

If these are the aims, what about the detail? Holdsworth was initially brought in over the summer to help with their manager appointment process; since then, he has been given a formal position, handling player contracts and, as time goes on, becoming an all-seeing eye in other parts of the club.

Although scarcely a new role in football, it is at Carlisle; a significant change in fact. Holdsworth and chief executive Nigel Clibbens explained that the position was designed to introduce greater football knowledge to the decision-making at the club, significantly the board-manager relationship.

Where Keith Curle would frequently go straight to source - owners Andrew Jenkins and John Nixon - John Sheridan liaises with Holdsworth. "Having been a manager myself, having that combination of experience and knowledge regarding contracts, in terms of the financial aspects...I think it is a very bold move and a very good move," Holdsworth said.

"I would have probably appreciated that when I was a manager, having somebody inside the club who could speak to the board, without [me] having to go into boring board meetings, and I could worry about the other part of it. John can relax and enjoy his job - work very hard, of course - but he doesn't have to deal with the other stuff that I don't mind dealing with."

Holdsworth advocated Sheridan's appointment out of a final shortlist that, he said, included one other experienced candidate and two younger contenders. United's start to the season is showing that call in good light so far, yet Holdsworth's role is a broader one for a longer period.

"My job is to make sure this club, in financial terms of player recruitment, is within the boundaries of our budget," he said. "Going forward, that will be the case in every decision."

It is not, he stressed, one of those arrangements where the DOF strays too far onto the manager's territory. Sheridan picks the players, Holdsworth does the deals, and both men's eyes were open as to their respective roles. "I've been offered managers' jobs between now and my previous job, and I don't want one," Holdsworth added. "I enjoy the role that I do. I like working with people, communicating with people."

The issue of communication at United is a major one, with several strands. Chief among them: what are Edinburgh Woollen Mill's intentions regarding the club? Philip Day's firm loan the club money and have a charge over the stadium and United's assets.

It is on the record that Holdsworth has a link to EWM. This connection, though, was not given vast airtime today. Asked initially about this "elephant in the room", Holdsworth said: "I'm just gonna tell that elephant that I work for the football club. I work with the owners, and with sponsors, and with anyone here that will help me develop the club. I don't work for anybody else."

Pushed further about EWM, and their stance of silence on United, Holdsworth again said "communication is key", but steered away from specifics. "I don't feel a necessity [for supporters] to be worried," he said. "We've got a budget, one we won't overspend. We'll do it constructively."

Many fans want to know if EWM are future owners. "I think that potential is gonna be there with anybody, whoever wants to buy the club," he said. "I've been involved with two or three people who've had potential to buy one or two clubs over the last few years - I've been approached to perhaps go and find out more. They don't [always] come to fruition.

"There is always going to be speculation, whoever the sponsors are. My job is not to worry about that - that's board level."

Was it not, though, Holdsworth's connections to Day that led him here in the first place, at a time EWM also added a director (John Jackson) to United's holdings board? "Not at all. Mr Day was somebody I met many years ago, I'm aware he's a sponsor, but I work for the club."

That encounter with Day is understood to date back to Holdsworth's time with Gretna's academy. Is the perception that he is the billionaire's eyes and ears at United fair? "No, I don't think so."

"I met many nice people in this area," he added. "That's one of the reasons I came back up here. I knew the club before, and I know it was explained to me where the club's parameters have been a little bit out of shape.

"Having been a manager at other clubs that didn't have the subsequent finance, and rescuing them... it's very difficult. I was very proud to rescue Mansfield and Lincoln from horrible situations. I'm very much aware that when a club brings in players who are over-valued, not worth the money they were getting, and had no heart - 'semi-skimmed', I call them - ultimately we don't want those players at the club.

"We want value for money players, who'll wear their heart on their sleeve. It might be an old cliche but it's what we want in this modern day."

This aspect of the "restructuring" includes the legacy of previous player contracts - and bonuses - which, he said, meant 65-70 per cent of Sheridan's budget was already taken up when appointed.

"When that 65-70 per cent of budget is free next season, we'll have decisions to make regarding renewal and continuation of contracts of players - whether they are bringing in the value for money that we would like. They will be decisions John makes, but I'll make with him in terms of expenditure.

"We can't afford some of the things that have gone on before. Let's call a spade a spade - some of our players have underperformed. But we've got a manager now who knows how to get the best out of people and I'm seeing some improvement in certain players.

"Players are going to see a change in attitudes because we've got a demanding manager and a club that's saying we're not just giving out contracts for the sake of it. The days of three and four-year contracts have gone. We can't put this club in a vulnerable position with something hanging around our neck."

Does Holdsworth, then, feel the club was reckless with its spending, in the Curle era? "If you go into a shop and overspend on your Barclaycard...you can't afford it. It's a simple equation, general mathematics. If you've got £1.50 to spend, don't go and spend two quid."

Regarding United's current squad, Holdsworth said he is "already" looking at the various half-season deals which are up in January, stressing they will not be caught out. In answering a question on this, he also appealed to local businesses to help the club - another key part of his message.

"I want to reach out to people if they have felt, over however long, that they've stayed away," he said. "If they don't feel they can come to the club, well, they can now. There's a pathway through. It's called me. If they want to talk to me, if it's got the right agenda, the right value and right meaning, and are genuine, I'll gladly have any discussions.

"In recent years [we] might have turned down some - we don't need to. Embrace it, let's ask people to come and support us."

Holdsworth talked further about building bridges and working to heal any divisions, including with the media. "I'm aware of certain relationships which have been a little fragmented. I haven't got time for all that 'he said, she said', people throwing stones and accusations of this, that and the other...

"I've too much to do with my time than worry about what went on in 1938. If there's been a breakdown, let's mend it. Let's sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss where we feel we can get stronger."

Holdsworth said "a few initiatives" would be launched soon to strengthen community connections - while he hinted at potential further arrivals on a business footing. "I've had two or three very good conversations with nice people, good people, who do want to support the club.

"If I feel they're right, [I'll be] taking that a little bit further, suggesting to the board that, if necessary, we can bring those people through the door in some capacity.

"I've probably got a list of 25 people...that barrier has to be smashed down and we embrace people."

Holdsworth also said he would be learning more about the club's youth system and consolidating it as a place talented Cumbrians would wish to be in spite of the big-club temptations fostered by the Elite Player Performance Plan. He said this department was staffed by good and loyal people but would be subject to the same "demands" as other areas.

"When any change comes, it makes people sit up and get a bit worried," he said, when asked if the "structure" could risk job losses. "[But] there's no need to be scared. We're not going back to one person and Nigel washing the windows. It's not fair. We want a club that's accountable - simple as that." He and Clibbens, he added, were clear about their own different duties.

"It's never going to be done overnight," he added of this vision of a better-functioning Blues which he has patently been charged with nurturing. "But we've got to have a club that's not fragile, not built on quicksand."