CARLISLE boss Paul Simpson has gone viral after threatening to axe four players on the spot.
The raging manager produced a brutally honest interview on live TV after his side were beaten by Nottingham Forest under-21s in the EFL Trophy.
Tuesday night's 2-0 loss leaves Carlisle on the brink of elimination ahead of their final group match against Harrogate next month.
After the game, Simpson claimed he wants to name just three players on the bench for Saturday's home match against Leyton Orient.
However, he admitted he has to include seven substitutes in his matchday squad.
"They’re adults," he fumed at full-time. "They don’t need somebody to lift them, you have to lift yourself.
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"You’re a professional footballer. It’s your b***** job. So you have to lift yourself, you have to be professional.
"You’ve got to go about your business properly. We have standards that we need to set."
Simpson continued: "That was disgraceful, so no I’m not going to lift them, no I’m not. They’re going to have to lift themselves because otherwise they’ll just fall by the wayside. Simple as that.
"There’s a situation where I would probably want to put three players on the bench on Saturday but I’ve got to put seven on.
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"I’ve got to do what’s right for the first-team. So now we’ll see what reaction we get from everybody."
The Cumbrians gaffer was not done there, though, telling the club website: "It was as if we were asking professional footballers to play a game of football and it was a bit of a chore to them.
"Not all of them, some of them have gone about it in the right way, they’re the ones who we can normally depend and rely on.
"But there was a number who were way off it. The scary thing is that we’ll probably have to use some of them at the weekend because we haven’t got enough to just discard these, we’re going to have to use them.
"They haven’t done themselves any favours, it’s as simple as that."
Carlisle are currently 20th in League One and three points above the relegation zone having won just two of their first 12 matches.
Simpson has been in the dugout since his appointment in February 2022.
The former England under-20 boss guided Carlisle to promotion from League Two last season via the play-offs.
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