Carlisle United have big Mark Hughes decision to tackle before anything else this summer | OneFootball

It's still unclear whether the Welshman will remain at Brunton Park for the start of the 2025/26 campaign.

Mark Hughes and Carlisle United have a big joint decision to make over the coming days and weeks.

It's been a number of days now since the Blues' final EFL game of their near-two-decade-long stay in England's top four footballing divisions. One certainty is that Brunton Park will be hosting National League games next season. Apart from that, there is little certainty about what is going to happen over the summer.

14 of Carlisle's current playing staff, including loanees, are set to depart at the end of this month, and they may look to move on some of those who are still scheduled to stay with the club beyond this summer. Pulling off the requisite clear out of the double-relegation squad won't be an easy challenge, one that the club's supporters will need to be patient with as it hinges on the future of their current boss.

What Mark Hughes has said on his Carlisle United future

Like his predecessor, Mike Williamson, the former Manchester City and Wales boss joined Carlisle on a rolling contract, meaning that he, like many of his players, is set to be without a club in a matter of weeks.

Prior to last Saturday's 2-2 draw with Salford City, which prevented the Manchester-based side from getting into the play-offs, all the noise coming from the Welshman indicated that he was likely to stay.

Even in the build-up to playing Salford, Hughes stated that talks over him staying at Brunton Park were "moving in the right direction", as per the News & Star. But following the final day of the season, he sounded a bit more conflicted, more uncertain about what was to come.

He told BBC Radio Cumbria that he needs to see "whether or not it's right" for him to stay on as the United manager, and hinted that the current uncertainty around the club's footballing structure will factor into his ultimate decision.

Carlisle United's summer clearout depends on Mark Hughes' future

Without a manager or any form of sporting director/director of football, it wouldn't be appropriate to start offering out new deals to players or letting them go. Nobody currently present at the club, aside from Hughes, has the cache to be able to make those decisions.

Now, if the 61-year-old does agree to lead Carlisle in the National League, then he will probably have an idea already about the players that he wants to keep and those that he is happy to get rid of. But until that decision comes, it would be irresponsible to move forward with the retained/released list.

If Hughes decides that this opportunity isn't for him, or, indeed, if the club decide that he isn't the man they are looking for, then that will also cause delays, because you can't make such huge decisions on the future of the squad without a manager/head coach in place.

The frustration of Carlisle supporters is understandable. You can be annoyed at the club for not having the manager situation sorted at this point, given how long the threat of relegation was known for. You can't feel that way and then also demand a retained/released list to be published swiftly without anybody at Brunton Park being fit enough to make those sorts of decisions.