United chief executive David Allen spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Friday evening about how things are going in and around Brunton Park at the moment, Allen first talking about the growing pressure on Blues boss John Ward:
" We aren't thinking about timescales with John Ward, I would like to say that we agree with everything that John Ward has said there. It would be negative of him to think about timescales, and certainly the board don't want to be thinking about timescales either. Our timescale is now for making changes and I think that if you think about the things that John Ward had done already. Bringing Graham Kavanagh in, bringing Ben Alnwick in, John is certainly not just sitting back watching things drift away, we are doing things all the time.
" We have acted, we have brought Graham Kavanagh in, another week went by and we brought Ben Alnwick in. We are expecting to do better tomorrow and better on Tuesday. We will be making changes again and bringing other people in if it continues. A lot of supporters will be very, very disappointed that we have faith in John Ward, but there will be a proportion of supporters who are baying for John's head, they are probably a lot in number but a very small percentage of the total fanbase.
" Because I really do think that a lot of the fanbase thinks that John is a very, very good manager. There is nobody more disappointed than John, the other coaching staff and the team and the board. We are all very, very disappointed with the performances and I think that the majority of people are actually very surprised at our current performance looking at the manager we have got and the squad that we have got.
" The good thing is that we sit down with John and the other coaching staff every week and things are aired. The truth is that there isn't anything fundamentally wrong, clearly we have got a lot of injuries which is disappointing. When you have injuries you have an unsettled team with changes, that coincided with the loss of form, with people like David Raven and (Evan) Horwood, it is just unsettling everybody. So there are a lot of unsettled people and it is just getting it right again.
" Changes are being made all the time so when you are brining in people like Graham Kavanagh and Ben Alnwick and other people that John is looking at then we will see a change in form. There are exciting times to come, Derek Lacey mentioned about seeing (Michael) Bridges and Graham Kavanagh together, there are a lot of people looking forward to that. We are going to see some very exciting play before long. "
" The good thing was that as far as our team and our club goes, the club is on a really good strong financial footing. There are a lot of clubs in a very, very difficult position, there was money there in the transfer window to start the season, the scouts and John were out there looking for players. It is easy to knock him now saying that he should have brought in better players earlier on and things like that, it is very, very easy with hindsight.
" The fact is that he has done a good job and he is getting his finger out now bringing in some good people on loan. He is looking now for players, it isn't just about sitting back and doing nothing until January and thinking about whether we should bring somebody in or not. They are looking now to see if it is right and who is available and talking to people. The scouts are out there now, it is an ongoing process.
" The credit crunch hasn't hit too hard at the moment but it is something that we are very, very aware of. It isn't just the club that it is going to be suffering, there are a lot of businesses already suffering and they are going to suffer more as this credit crunch and this recession bites harder. The football club is one of the first to suffer, we know that, the money that people spend down there is a luxury and we are going to find that our numbers are hit on the gates.
" So we are going to have to do a few things to help with that. I know that for the Brighton and the Cheltenham games on the 15th and the 22nd of November we are going to have a little bit of a promotion there. Two adults seated, if they buy their tickets, two adult seats, one for each game then they can get them for £30, so they will save £10 there. Between the 12th of November and the 12th of December we are going to have a half-season ticket offer on, and then other ticket offers to come in January, so we are going to try to do what we can to help fans.
" There are all sorts of rumours and I know that in the short-term we have always said that we are going to be at Brunton Park. Longer term we have got to look at that, and to be fair we will look at that. Those rumours, there might be something in them, you just never know about the future but that is sort of ten years away isn't it.
" I know that the performance on the pitch isn't so good but I don't think that anybody is saying that we are as bad as (Michael) Knighton just yet. So stick with us for a little while longer, we do appreciate the fans sticking behind John, and the majority have, and the board are right behind him. We want to see things improve, and just bringing in good players over the last couple of weeks, hopefully people will see that it is going to improve. "