Carlisle United owner Tom Piatak has issued an emphatic declaration of faith in head coach Mike Williamson.

The businessman told supporters that Williamson “is the right person” to lead the Blues to safety in League Two.

And both Piatak and sporting director Rob Clarkson insisted that it would be wrong to change the head coach position in United’s current situation.

Williamson has faced growing criticism and chants for his head from supporters recently.

United’s hierarchy used a fans’ forum at Brunton Park on Tuesday night to respond to the suggestion that they should sack Williamson given Carlisle’s predicament six points adrift of safety at the bottom of League Two.

Piatak said it was the “key question everyone has been asking” as he addressed the audience in the United Lounge.

“Mike wouldn’t be sitting here beside me if I didn’t think he was the right person to move this forward,” he said.

“Mike is the right person in the board’s mind, the ownership’s mind, the management….Mike is the right person to get us out of this fight.

“He knows the position we’re in, he knows how to get us out of it, and if I look at it from a board and ownership perspective, changing the head coach right now would not improve our chances of getting out of this.

“It’s not all on Mike. It’s all on us – the ownership and staff have to provide everything necessary to win that fight, and that’s what we’re doing.

“By January 7 we have five new signings already. We have not been waiting – we are working constantly. Rob Clarkson has done a phenomenal job.

“We need everybody to help us. We are in a pitched battle now, it’s not going to be easy but we will do whatever is necessary to get out of it.”

The fans forum panel at Tuesday's event at Brunton Park (Image: News & Star)

Clarkson, meanwhile, said that a decision to remove Williamson would also have proved counter-productive in terms of Carlisle’s work in the January transfer window.

The Blues have made five signings already this month.

“If we’d changed the head coach right before the January window, the players who we were talking to and had lined up, who really wanted to come and play for Mike – that doesn’t happen, they don’t come any more,” Clarkson said.

“They all said to me, ‘We really want to come and play for Mike, play in the style, be part of this journey’.

“That would have really hindered us in terms of the players we’ve brought in, and we’ll bring in more, we believe they will get us more goals and more creativity, and then we can really judge Mike – in terms of it [will be] his team.

“We know we’re in a tough spot, but if we’d changed prior to the January window, that would have put us in an even worse spot.”

Later in the forum, a supporter challenged United's leaders on the "metrics" by which Williamson would be judged.

Piatak had said after the departure of Paul Simpson in August that Carlisle were falling short on "internal metrics" and hence a change had to be made.

This was raised with regard to United's current poor points tally and position under Williamson.

Piatak said: "Points...our whole focus is putting points and moving up the table. Points is the key metric going forward."

He added: "When we look at the metrics under Mike, that is without his personnel. We knew there was a period of transition after the change that we had to get the personnel in here to play the way he wants to play. That's what we're doing right now."

Chief executive Nigel Clibbens, on this subject, went on to say: "The key point here is regardless of who's in charge, the maths are the same.

"Our view [is that] the decision has been made, and the best person to get us to the points we need is Mike.

"Changing the person doesn't change the maths. We've said we think Mike is the person for us to get there.

"We're committed to Mike, as Tom said at the start, we know what we've got to do and we're doing the actions to get us to do that - focused on bringing in players to improve the team."

Piatak, meanwhile, acknowledged the deep concern of supporters over Carlisle’s plight on the pitch, and stressed that staying up this season was the sole focus at the club.

“Where we're at right now is completely unacceptable,” he said.

“Speaking from the family, the ownership -  we are frustrated, angry, disappointed.

“If you'd asked at the start of the season would I expect to be here on Jan 7 with us 24th, absolutely not, with the squad and staff we have.

"Much like you, we’re angry and it hurts. It absolutely hurts. We feel the pain.

“We hear the voices of the fans. We feel it. We are very, very competitive, we hate losing, and this hurts and weighs on our shoulders. I want everybody to truly understand that.

“I woke up last night at 3am thinking, 'This can't happen. We're going to fight to get out of it'.

"I assure you right now, every resource in the club has one focus in mind - whatever it takes to get points to move up the table."

Piatak also effectively confirmed that his family’s commitment to the Blues would not waver even if the worst happens and the club suffer a second consecutive relegation to the National League.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” he said.

“We’re making investments in Cumbria, Carlisle, for the long haul. This club is going to move up the table and up the pyramid.

“We will be here, so don’t have any concerns about, ‘What happens if…’

“We do not want that to happen. And we will throw everything we possibly can at the fight to keep the club up.”

You can read a full recap of the fans' forum as it happened HERE