Lowly Carlisle sack boss Williamson

Mike Williamson leaves Carlisle five points adrift of safety in League Two

The Football League's bottom side Carlisle United have sacked boss Mike Williamson after their 5-1 home defeat by Swindon.

The Cumbrians are five points adrift of safety at the foot of the League Two table.

Williamson left his position as MK Dons boss to take over from Paul Simpson in September.

However, he won just five of his 25 games in charge in all competitions and leaves the club in danger of falling to a second successive relegation.

The 41-year-old had totally overhauled the squad in the past month with 11 new additions but has now been relieved of his duties on the final day of the transfer window.

It has been a dismal campaign for the Brunton Park side, who finished bottom of League One last season.

They kept faith with boss Simpson, who had guided them to promotion from League One in 2022-23, after relegation but sacked him on 31 August after three defeats in their first four league games.

Former Newcastle defender Williamson came in nearly three weeks later and claimed a victory in his first game with a 2-0 success at Swindon.

That result lifted them out of the relegation zone but they fell to the bottom of the league after being hammered 4-0 by AFC Wimbledon on 12 October and have not left the relegation zone since.

The 2-1 win at Fleetwood Town on 25 January was a second win in five matches but defeats at Notts County and then Saturday's capitulation against Swindon proved to be the end for the ex-Gateshead boss.

Carlisle, who have used more players than anyone else in the EFL so far this season with 41, visit Grimsby on Saturday.

'Swindon humiliation was tipping point'

Analysis, Paul Newton, BBC Radio Cumbria sports editor

History won't be kind to Mike Williamson at Carlisle United - 137 days in charge that brought just five wins from 25 games despite heavy financial backing in the January window.

Williamson was meant to be the blueprint for a new club identity of possession-based football.

Unfortunately for him, while that side of the modification was largely delivered, the results didn't change.

There is also the irony that of all the games Carlisle did win under him, they surrendered more possession to their opponents on each occasion.

Fans didn't take to the passive nature of the football nor to a seeming reluctance to change from the 3-4-2-1 system his teams were firmly welded to. Saturday's humiliation by Swindon felt like the tipping point and so it has proved.

There will be takers given Williamson's record at National League level with Gateshead but his brief spell with Carlisle won't be seen as anything other than a well-intended disaster.

With just 18 games to play and facing a very real possibility of relegation out of the EFL, the club can't afford to make the same mistake again.