Carlton legend Robert Walls has told critics of under-fire Blues coach Michael Voss to "shut up".
Pressure has piled on Carlton as a once-promising season with dreams of a drought-breaking finals appearance has turned ugly.
After narrowly missing finals last year, the Blues have slumped to 15th on the ladder with eight defeats from their last nine games ahead of Sunday's clash with Gold Coast.
But Walls, who was sacked as Blues coach less than two years after leading the club to the 1987 premiership, insisted Voss needed to be given more time.
“All of those people calling for Michael Voss to be sacked - shut up," he told SEN’s Sportsday.
"I was really pleased to hear (Carlton chief executive) Brian Cook come out and say he will coach his contract out, which is this year and next year.
“Obviously next year is an important year for him, but these people who are abusing the coach - I just say lay off because it’s not just the coach at Carlton when you’ve had nine of them sacked over the last 20 years.
"You’ve got to look beyond that and say it’s more than just the coach."
A triple premiership captain at the Brisbane Lions, Voss took over as coach ahead of the 2022 season following David Teague's sacking at the end of 2021.
Walls coached Voss at Brisbane in the first four years of his legendary playing career in the early 1990s.
A three-time Carlton premiership player, Walls said the Blues should use Richmond and Geelong as examples of sticking with coaches who were under pressure.
“When you think of what Richmond did with Damien Hardwick – he had seven years and the results weren’t great and they persisted and won three premierships," Walls said.
"We’ve seen it with Mark Thompson at Geelong and even Chris Scott took (11) years to win another premiership (with the Cats)."
