The panel for the Thursday night Forum is Billy Atkinson, Nigel Clibbens, Suzanne Kidd, John Nixon, Steven Pattison and Paul Simpson.
Summary
- A summary of the Thursday night Fans' Forum
14:31
The live feed will be published as it happens tonight ... watch this space ...
17:28
🎤🎙 Sound check ahead of tonight’s forum … pic.twitter.com/fuzdCNcDHL
— Carlisle United FC (@officialcufc) June 30, 2022
18:00
📝 You can follow the Forum over on the official website Live Blog here 👇 https://t.co/TS21JSHoqY
— Carlisle United FC (@officialcufc) June 30, 2022
18:12
Change to the panel - Lord Clark is unable to attend due to illness.
18:31
Here we go then, our host Adrian Bell is introducing the panel ahead of kick-off ...
18:31
Q - What steps is club taking to avoid the situation with pitch invasions.
18:33
Everybody recognises that football is tribal, passionate, we get that. But there comes a point when some fans step over the line, and we're getting pressure from the authorities to deal with it. We're trying to educate fans about the consequences, which is more police, more cost on the club, more bills to pay, and we think the messaging is sinking in. I think the fans get that.
18:33
Q - Whose decision to change club colours?
18:34
We haven't changed the club colours. The strip is a dark blue, the club has played in dark blue before, and it's wrong to say we have changed it. It's for a change and something new, and it's record breaking sales, so some people clearly like it.
18:34
Q - Any chance of imminet signings?
18:37
I hope so, and we've been working on it all summer. Player contracts finish today, but if they don't get fixed up with another club they're entitled to a wage in July as well. The way I'm doing it, I'm looking at players from a higher level, so they are happy to wait as they see what's out there. It's just starting to turn now, I spoke to a player today who has not trained but who is getting more money than we offer, and we have to keep those conversations going as these lads wait to see how it develops. I recognise we have areas in the squad to strengthen, and I hope something will happen in the next 10 days - but don't call me a liar if that doesn't happen!
18:38
In the defensive area we are short. We lost Rod Mc, and Joel Senior is probably October until he's back, and Jack Ellis is young, probably a centre back, so we do need help in that area.
18:38
Q - do we get cash for Dean Henderson if he plays for Forest?
18:39
Add-ons are generally related to a player's parent club, that's pretty standard, so we won't get any cash if the loan move happens.
18:39
Q - McCarron sell-on?
18:39
I think DH said that we had future profit in Liam, but we're not envisaging receiving any cash in this financial year on that transfer.
18:40
Q - can Paul explain how we went from not being able to defend in February to a run, with the same players?
18:43
It's obviously all about me, isn't it! When I first got the call I looked at the team, and the one thing I recognised was that we were playing with two very young centre backs in Morgs and Dynel. I had to look at where we could get another centre back. I spoke to Gav and said we were going to a back three, and he said that Keith had actually been thinking about a back five. You also can't discount luck, and we had luck go our way at Orient. I remember Dynel coming off and saying, wow, it's good when you win, because he'd never experienced it before. We have to give credit to the players as well, they knuckled down, and they deserve credit for that.
18:43
Q - rule changes, any adverse for ourselves?
18:46
There are no major changes, only the subs - and we argued with the subs one because I think the PL have gone from 7 to 9, and some wanted to follow that. That goes against what we're trying to do in terms of financial sustainability. Suddenly you start to increase costs, and even at five from seven, that is substantial in my opinion. Now any team can change 50% of the outfield players in one game. I'm not sure about that. Rotherham used it to their advantage against Sutton - so when you can do that it's a substantial change in any game. In lower leagues it's seldom that you have depth of quality, that's more for PL.
18:48
It's one of those things where I don't like loads of subs because it can disrupt a game. You see in pre-season, I'm playing two 11s tomorrow night and it's a bit of a farce. I think it should be manageable during the season and the players have to be resilient enough to deal with 90 minutes. I hope there won't be many games where I need to make five this season, if we do that means we've got something wrong.
18:48
Q - timeframe on trialists or Dev?
18:52
No, unless they put pressure on me. They'll play tomorrow night, we'll then discuss over the weekend and when we come to a decision we'll let them know. I won't keep people here for the sake of it, they'll only stay if I think they'll make us better. I let one go earlier this week, even though I said he could stay until tomorrow - I apologised for that, but I'm not here to be nice. My players came back fit, he said he was here to get fit, and I can't wait for that. I need everyone to work, I need them to be resilient, and the training we're doing now is geared up for that. I expect us to dominate the football tomorrow, but I expect them to run and run, and if they haven't done the distances in their half they'll run after they've played to make it up. We have live GPS this season so we can monitor it, and if they don't hit targets they will run at HT or the end of the game. If you can't run in L2 you have a problem, and I want them to be able to deal with that for 50 plus games.
18:52
Q - any update on debt?
18:58
At the last Forum we'd been in touch with PP to try to get them to agree to a plan. We sent them a message to see what we proposed, and as a board the chairman formally wrote to them (beginning of June) to tell them how we wanted to proceed (repay 100%). We did a little chase up on Monday, we hadn't had an answer, and I was able to speak to John Jackson last night. He said he was working on the interest rate on the loan, which is important, because that runs at slightly higher to the Bank of England rate. Once we get that, we can have a board meeting and put aside monies ready to pay to PP as soon as we get written agreement on our plan. They're working on the numbers, and it will be up to the board to see if they want to put the money aside. When we get to the stage of an agreement, that's vital, because anybody coming in doesn't want to have to put money in and find that the first million went out to pay historical debt. That would be their first priority because they don't want to see money disappear. We do want somebody to come and take over, and what usually happens is they come and they invest in the team and the club. That's why we need this first step, so that whoever does come will know where they stand. I had that conversation last night, I'm happier now, so let's wait and see.
18:59
I am really disappointed in a man who says he supports the city and the club that it's taken until now for them to respond. It's disappointing that they've made no effort to come forward and talk to us about the loan. My plea to whoever owns PP is to please sort it out. Everyone wants that done - please don't put it back like you have all this time, sort it out.
19:01
What I would like to say on that is please don't come now, that will affect what I want to do right now. Everyone at the club off the pitch is working hard, and we've had so many good new appointments. Let's stay positive, let's not have a fight we don't need. Let's make it about football, not politics, let's keep it going, stay with it, support the club, I want to have a good season and we need to keep the good vibe going. So please don't ask for all of that money now.
19:02
PP have never asked for any money back - we want to pay it back. We're businessmen, we have honour, and we want to do it properly. We have to try to work with them and get it done if we can.
19:03
We're in a good place, but they know we won't move forward as a club until this is sorted, so let's get it sorted.
19:04
Q - two under-19s here, try to get any more?
19:05
No, I think just those two. Sonny is a really talented player, a positive and bubbly character. Ryan, I've followed him all his career because he's an old fahsioned striker, a targetman, and I like that. My focus in the summer was to get my spine, I'm still waiting on centre backs, but we have the others. Sonny adds flair to that, so we'll see what else comes in.
19:06
Q - interest rate tracking base rate? What are PP thinking about?
19:08
The interest rate we pay is a % above base rate, so they're doing their calculations. They'll tell us the amount of interest we need to set aside, and when we have that we can add a lump of capital, and see if they'll agree to our payment plan. Rates are only going one way, so we want to deal with that. Once we have a fix, anyone new will know what they're dealing with. I think that person will want up to 76% of the club to take over, so we need them to know they're not going to lose all their money in one fell swoop.
19:08
Q - can you not pay capital back when you want?
19:09
No provision to pay any back, but outstanding amount is repayable on demand. If that happens, it will cause us real hiccups. We don't want the club to be in that situation.
19:12
Repaying on demand causes real problems, but we haven't had any call on that. PP know the implications of asking for it all back in one go, and JJ has told me they don't want to call for money the club can't pay. They don't want us in a spiral, where we get worse. It's to everyone's advantage that we have a strong club, cash in the coffers, and I think everyone wants that. That's why survival in L2 was crucial - that was success at that point. We now have a buzz, optimism, record shirt sales, good appointments, and generating cash off the field is what this club needs. We tried cutting costs, it doesn't work. Vibrancy, people wanting to support, that is best for us all.
19:14
Q - fixture launch, anything positive to come out of that, or all good wishes? Can fans have glimmer of hope due to Story on back of shirt?
19:15
I thought it was a really good event - Watt's did a great breakfast. Really positive, and I think there was about 30 new businesses, it was a good feel to the whole thing. I went to the Halston at the end of last season, about 120 people saying they would do something, that's great. On Friday in the shop, another great feeling. I'm not stupid, I know we have to win games to keep that going.
19:18
Yes, we have sold some commercial properties off the back of it. With Covid we haven't had the opportunity to have businesses in rooms like this to try to get their views. We saw new businesses, and old friends, and the commercial team have been working really hard to get to them all. Debbie has been out all day doing these deals, and we'll see news of that on the website. Hospitality for games is far higher, it's better, it's real. We're delighted that Story Homes is on the back of the shirt, and reading anything else into that is premature. He has told me not to read anything into it, and it's just great to have local businesses. Hopefully if people see Fred is prepared to come back, they will.
19:18
Q - kit deal?
19:21
Deal ends next June. We negotiate a deal to get kit at a fixed price. We then sell it and make a profit. Depending on how much we sell = bonus. It's a fixed bonus, which goes up in stages depending on what we sell. We need a huge amount of kit for team, so part of deal is Gift of Kit - how much in deal will you give us free for the first team. We negotiate other things within that, marketing collateral, etc. We ususally tender at end of August, start to look at designs, sign off at the end of November and order in January.
19:22
Q - players out, and loans out?
19:24
No imminent departures. Those things evolve. When new players come in others start to think about going out if they think they might not play. That's when things happen, that'll evolve over the next few weeks. Loans - yes, I'm keen for the young lads especially to be playing. We can play under-19s in the youth league, but I think they need experience of men's football. National North or National League, if we can do that, we will.
19:24
Q - PP accept sponsorship against their debt?
19:26
That's not in the current deal at all. We have had that in the past - Story and Pioneer have done that. There's nothing currently offset. Anything currently with EWM on, they pay cash for (stands and Foxy's). I spoke to PD a while ago to see about that, but at that time we needed cash coming in, so they paid for the commercial deals and we also took the loan. They are still paying for their stand and box.
19:26
The loan and commercial deals are entirely separate. They don't cross over.
19:26
Q - Morton BCD, is that our decision?
19:29
I wanted a training game we could manage ourselves. All of pre-season is an extension of training, so we put a circular round to see if we could find one. GM agreed, for whatever reason they decided to publicise it as a pre-season game, and it just isn't. I didn't want it made public that we were playing, and I felt that we had enough public games, and I didn't want any more. I wasn't being secretive, it's just what I wanted. We have another at Largs which will be the same. Hopefully there are enough other games to watch.
19:29
Q - play-offs?
19:33
I don't want to be in a relegation battle, let's put it that way. One thing that has surprised me are the levels clubs are going to. It's scary. I'm hearing what NL and other clubs in our league are paying, and it's crazy. I know our budget, and I know I can't hold out a cup and get more, but I'm seeing clubs at our level offer more and I don't know where the fair play rules are with that. Smaller clubs than ours - how are they doing it? I don't think we'll be in the top half in terms of budget, and you tend to find the league table follows that. That's not me complaining, but what I have said is that we know where we are. I know what Bradford, Stevenage, Salford are paying, it's outrageous the salaries that are at this level. We want to be competing, but this won't be happening overnight, it'll be a project.
19:33
Q - Dynel?
19:34
We've had discussions about him. I want to have our own players who will have value for us further down the line, but there will also be loans. When we spoke to Southampton they seemed to want him to go higher - let's wait and see.
19:34
Q - ideally would you like an extra coach?
19:36
Me, Gav, Gez - for me that's enough because I like to be out on the grass. Two areas needed changing, and I'm glad we've got Greg Abbott in. Jamie has stepped up in fitness and I have to say, he's been fantastic. He's hungry and driven. All in all I have the staff I need.
19:36
Q - what is revenue for year just done?
19:38
Definitely up on last year but it takes a while to filter through. Auditor due in September, and this year we expect to break even. That's remarkable for us when you see clubs losing millions. We'll confirm that in a few weeks. We aren't secretive, we give the numbers out. We always want to grow the income.
19:39
On staff, as we spoke to PS about staying, we talked to Paul and it wasn't just about ploughing on. He spoke about recruitment, and the need to do it right, and we're starting to see pay-offs already. The quality of the lists is far bigger, and there are people already working for us under Greg.
19:42
Greg today had a Zoom with a small number of part-time scouts. We're certainly trying to concentrate on NW, NE, Stoke because we can't change where Carlisle is. We have scouts working everywhere, and one who will do the South. We don't want someone on a donkey ride from here to go to Crawley. They'll do final game reports, ahead of our opponent, and we can work off that. They'll also highlight players to add to the database so we're ahead of it at the next transfer window. We've been behind, because we didn't have that. Hopefully a plan that's put in place will help us to get more right than we get wrong. Some may be wrong, I'll hold my hands up to that, but we hope to get more of them right.
19:43
When we're looking at players now it's not just the manager's eyes - it's four or five sets of eyes. It's not just Greg putting names in, it's others. That will pay off in the long term. There was a recruitment meeting about players today and the manager wasn't involved. That's good, it shows a good process using people who are trusted.
19:44
Thank you for watching and reading tonight!
20:06
All typos fixed gang = should be an easier read.