United chief executive David Allen spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips on Tuesday evening ahead of Carlisle's massive League One match at home to Hereford, Allen also later talking about the drop in attendances at Brunton Park this season affecting the finances at the club :
" We would all be very, very shattered by relegation. We are in a relegation battle now and our job is to make sure that we don't go down. There are things that we would need to do if we did go down, obviously we have got to win tonight and then get back on a winning streak, that is our aim. We are well aware that there are six teams with between 41 and 42 points above the bottom four, and any of this six if they get it wrong could be slipping into the bottom four and swapping places with Yeovil.
" So we are well aware of where we are at and what we need to do. I know that there has been a little bit of criticism of ourselves and of Greg (Abbott) but there is no complacency at all, we know that we are in a battle and we are going to be battling, and hopefully you will see that tonight. It is fair to say that we are focusing on tonight, we are not complacent at all, we know that this is a battle and we want to be getting it right from tonight.
" We couldn't have predicted this to be honest and you can go back to my comments at the start. We didn't see this coming, we expected something better and we really want to be looking for something better. It is certainly easier looking back, there are probably things that we could have done differently. All that we have tried to do is to do what is right, do what is right and do our best.
" We still have confidence in Greg, I know that things aren't perfect at all and that there is a lot to do. I think that we will see a different strategy tonight from Greg to show that he is thinking about things, we have just all got to get behind Greg. "
" Obviously there is no one solution or anything, there are lots of things and lots of people have opinions. We have certainly got some very, very good players that aren't playing well together and they are certainly not playing to their best. The main thing is to get to the bottom of that and get them playing their best, playing together and winning games.
" To be fair we have tried to bring in some better players and it isn't always that easy. We have got to get players to move to here and we have got to get clubs to release them. There are a few little things that we have tried to do that haven't come off and if they had come off then maybe things would have been different.
" I'm very naïve me aren't I, there is no thanks for this job I can tell you. It is a very tough job, it is, but I think that people can see that, well all four of us, we are all local lads, we are just trying to do our best and the majority of fans will see that.
" The attendances dropping is certainly one thing that we didn't foresee when we took over. It is a big disappointment to us, well just the whole credit crunch. Our performance on the pitch in itself has meant that the gates will be down, but then the gates are even further down because of what is going on in the economy. We have had a little bit of people backing out of sponsorship because they can't be going ahead with it, the money is down.
" We are just taking it on the chin and doing our best. We just want to rally everybody behind us, get behind Greg, get behind the team, let's do our best and make it work. To the fans, believe me, there is nobody more disappointed than the board of directors and everybody down at the club. Please get behind Greg, get behind the team, the fans are the 12th man, please just give us all the support that you can. "