FA and Rangers links should excite Carlisle United as key January transfer window looms for new figure | OneFootball

Carlisle ended their search for a new sporting director last week when they announced the appointment of Rob Clarkson.

The credentials of Carlisle United's new sporting director, Rob Clarkson, should have supporters very excited ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.

Just over two months on from the decision to get rid of manager Paul Simpson and begin the hunt for a new head coach and sporting director, the latter of the two has finally started their new job at Brunton Park.

The original plan laid out by Carlisle's chairman, Tom Piatak, was to have the sporting director appointed first, and then they could help with the job of finding the appropriate person to lead the first team.

It actually ended up playing out the other way around, with head coach Mike Williamson being part of the interviewing process for the people applying to be his boss, essentially.

Clarkson was the person they opted to go with.

He said as part of the announcement: "I’m delighted to be joining Carlisle United and I’m really excited to be a part of this club.

"I know with the support of the owners and CEO we will get this club moving in the right direction. I look forward to meeting the fans at Brunton Park in the coming weeks."

Now that all the desired infrastructure is in place, everything should be ready for this team to be able to kick on and get themselves out of the relegation fight that they are currently a part of.

Rob Clarkson's appointment should set things in motion for Carlisle United

Now the football side of the Blues truly has a head figure to answer to, rather than just the American owners who have self-professed their relative lack of knowledge about the game in comparison to others at the club.

Williamson was coming under a lot of pressure prior to Saturday's gutsy defeat to Wigan Athletic, but, even if the owners were thinking about moving on from him after just over a month in charge, the Piataks don't have real football acumen to make such a decision of such magnitude on their own again.

With Clarkson at the top of the footballing side of the club, there is now someone to answer to and make decisions on those matters.

That is a big plus, but not as big as what he should be able to bring on the recruitment side.

Carlisle's recruitment in recent times has got a lot of slack from the supporters. With a very important January window coming up, Clarkson's arrival should give a big boost to the recruiting department.

His last two positions in football have been as the Head of Domestic Scouting for Rangers and, most recently, the Talent ID Lead for the FA: a perfect CV for a team that is looking to improve in this area.

United have already made one signing since Williamson was appointed. They snapped up free agent and former Millwall winger Tyler Burey. They are also set to sign another former Championship wide player in Kadeem Harris, who has agreed a deal with the club and is now just waiting for international clearance, as per Williamson.

Carlisle need to have a strong January window

Despite the many positives that could be taken from Saturday's FA Cup tie against Wigan, the reality of the league table remains the same. Carlisle are second-bottom and are way off of the play-off and automatic promotion spots that they had hoped to be in at the start of the season.

Last time out, in League One, they found themselves in a similar position in the league and were in need of a good winter to help pull themselves out of the hole that they were in. It didn't work.

The club's transfer record was broken when they signed striker Luke Armstrong from Harrogate Town. Many others were brought in too, but it wasn't enough to save the Blues. The same can't happen again.