Senior figures at Carlisle United’s supporters trust have called on fans to “work together” after some dramatic changes to the CUOSC board.

Five members of the new Unita Fortior group were elected at CUOSC’s latest elections.

Meanwhile, long-serving Norman Steel was voted off the trust board.

The election results, announced at the trust’s annual general meeting, see an influx of people from Unita Fortior, who formed in January with an aim of increasing trust membership.

READ MORE: Time for a line in the sand, say new Carlisle United fan group Unita Fortior after CUOSC elections

There has been thinly-disguised tension between UF and some at the top of CUOSC in recent months, with the new group accusing the trust of being “stale” and “stagnating”, and leading trust figures calling UF a “Trojan horse”.

After the elections, though, the trust’s chairman Frank Beattie and CUFC Holdings representative Billy Atkinson said it was time for a fresh start.

Atkinson – also re-elected to the CUOSC board this weekend – said: “This is a new chance. This is what UF was about. They want to take the trust and the club forward. To do that we need to work together.

“We can’t make demands on the club but we can work with the club. We have to be positive about what has happened today.

“We need to take this opportunity to go forward. That is all I ask.”

Beattie, meanwhile, added: “We welcome anyone who wants to help the trust to get better.

“It is important that as fans we all work together. If we do that we have a great chance of succeeding.”

The five Unita Fortior fans elected are Dan MacLennan, Matt Spooner, Chris Armstrong, Dave Noble and Kieron Bulman.

They will now take five of the available six board positions that were up for grabs, with Atkinson continuing in the other.

Another candidate, Gerard Gornall, did not gain enough votes and nor did long-serving Steel.

Existing trust board members who were not up for re-election this year are Beattie, Nigel Davidson, Malcolm Nugent and Carol Wilson.

Beattie paid tribute to Steel as well as the trust’s former United 1921 board representative Jim Mitchell, who has stood down for health reasons.

He said: “I want to thank both of them for all the hard work they have done.”

Davidson has taken Mitchell’s position as CUOSC’s representative on the club’s operational board.

Unita Fortior issued a statement after the election results.

"Following the election period, we have all been voted onto the board of CUOSC," the group said.

"We thank you for your support, both for ourselves and the project as a whole.

"Now is the time to draw a line in the sand and look to the future.

"That is working together with those already in place on the board, to help make CUOSC a modern, vibrant entity, representing the entire CUFC fanbase, whilst providing a voice for you, the Blue Army.

"We will now be retiring the Unita Fortior social media accounts."