BARROW AFC managing director Andrew Casson wants the club's new manager to root out problem players in the Bluebirds dressing room.

Casson had strong words for the Barrow squad in the wake of Micky Moore's axing as manager on Tuesday.

The sacking came hot on the heels of a poor display in Sunday's FA Cup fourth qualifying round defeat at Northern Premier League Shaw Lane, a performance Casson has described as 'shocking'.

And, while Moore was the man to get the bullet, Casson recognised the players themselves have a lot to answer for – labelling some as disillusioned and suggesting several may well want out of Holker Street.

With that in mind, he said of any potential new manager: “The key characteristic is going to be someone who can come in, ask the tough questions, and really not take any attitudes that don't push this team forward.

“Myself and my father (Paul, the AFC owner), the board of directors, we had a very good season last year, but we have made all the mistakes we said we wouldn't make in terms of paying a lot of money to get certain kinds of players up here.

“We didn't really follow the blueprint which got us here – which is young, hungry guys, the Jordan Williams type, the Richie Bennett type, who have a bit of an edge to them and something to prove. People who what to either get themselves promoted with their play, or get the team promoted through their play.

“The new manager has to be a guy who can walk right into that room and quickly identify who doesn't want to be here.

“To give them some credit, a lot of them came here to be managed by Paul Cox and push for promotion. Paul Cox resigned, and we're not playing anything like a promotion level of performance.

“Some of them are a bit disillusioned about that, and it's really about asking the tough questions – if you don't want to be here, just hold your hand up and say you don't want to be here, and we will figure out we can get you where you want to be.

“Right now, we are where we are. We're about to enter the Cumbrian winter with not a lot of points, and we need to start picking them up. That's going to require guys who have the desire to.”

Asked, with this in mind, if there would be wholesale changes to the squad when the new manager comes in, he added: “I don't know.

“We went to training last week and everyone looked on board, everyone looked excited to be here, energetic and playing well. I don't really know how deep things go – was it just Micky? Or is it one guy, four guys, 10 guys?

“You can't really answer that question until the new guy comes into the room, looks them in the eye and examines their soul.”