Carlisle United coach job attracts interest from across world

So says Paul Simpson, who has been impressed with the calibre of candidates for their strength and conditioning coach position.

The Blues have held initial interviews for the role and will soon be moving to the next stage of the recruitment process.

It comes as current S&C coach Jamie Roper prepares to leave the club.

“We’ve had applications for this S&C job from Australia, from America, from Greece,” said Simpson.

“We’ve got people in Scotland applying, people in the south, in the Yorkshire area…they’re applying from all over, because they realise that this could be a positive place to be.

“One thing that will have to happen is that they’ll have to relocate to the area…some of them are single guys, some of them have families, but they’re going to have to move to the area, because to come in and be an S&C coach here, with the hours you work – it’s not like a player where you come in at 9.30am and go home at 1.30-2pm.

“This is a proper full-time job. The job spec says 40 hours but I can assure anybody it’s not 40 hours, it’s longer than that.

“But if we get the right person in I’m sure they’ll enjoy working here.”

The S&C coach will join a department which recently saw the arrival of Simpson’s son Jake from Stockport County as head of performance.

Jake Simpson recently joined United as head of performance (Image: Barbara Abbott)

United’s manager has long wanted to expand that department of the club as part of the Blues’ development.

On the search for a new coach he added: “We’ve done the first stage of interviews and we’ve been really pleasantly surprised with the calibre of people applying for the job.

“They really like the idea of coming to a club like Carlisle that’s on a positive upturn.

“We’ve gone through the firsts stage. We’ve probably now going to go to the next stage where they’ll come in and do a bit of a practical, which I’m hoping will happen over the next week or two.

“Things are moving forward in that.”

He added: “I’ve been really pleased with what Jake’s done so far, and what he’s trying to bring into the group of players.

“It’s a long-term project that we’ve got and hopefully all these little additions will help us to improve.”