Club facing financial conundrum
Carlisle United Football Club have been left with a financial conundrum to solve following their exit from the Johnstone's Paint Trophy competition in a penalty shoot-out on Tuesday night.Speaking on Wednesday morning managing director John Nixon said: "It appears that the penalty misses last night could turn out to be quite expensive for us.
"Obviously there are the significant financial implications of a successful run through to the final, which is something you can never budget for, but a more pressing matter is that we have to try and balance the books from the Preston fixture as a whole.
"Although we made the game free entry for season ticket holders, we feel that was a good decision to reward them for their loyalty to us. But the income from away ticket sales for the 376 travelling Preston fans will only cover somewhere in the region of half of the police bill. That cost alone will be between £7,000 and £8,000.
"When we take into consideration the size of the gate compared to the cost of staging the game, and add that to the police bill, we will be doing very well if we come anywhere near breaking even."
United lost 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out to Preston North End having taken the game to spot kicks courtesy of a second half equaliser from midfielder Jon-Paul McGovern.