Newspaper reports of an overseas investor lurking in the shadows took centre stage this week but it comes as little surprise that for manager Paul Simpson it’s just something else to be taken in his stride.
“I haven’t met anybody or anything like that,” he said. “I got a bit of a surprise when I heard about it yesterday because I didn’t know it had gone that far. It excites me a little bit.
“One of the things that was mentioned when I first came back was that the directors realised there needed to be a change of ownership. If something is going on then I think it’s got to be good for the club.
“We know to move forward we need some more finances coming in. If it’s true and if it is going down the line - but I would say to not count our chickens just yet. It might just be a rumour and an enquiry, so we’ve just got to wait and see what happens.
“I think the current group of directors have done brilliant to get us to this point now, they’ve been fantastic for me, and if they feel as though there’s somebody else who can take us to another level then I’m sure they’ll talk.
“If it gets to a point where something is happening I’m sure I’ll get involved and somebody will have a conversation with me about it. If it means we need somebody else to come in, whether it’s American, locals, if they’re coming in alongside the current board, I don’t care. If it makes Carlisle United better then that’s good.”
“I’ve seen the story, and it doesn’t worry me,” he continued. “It makes me optimistic for the future of the club. And, let’s be fair, we’re in a flipping good saleable position at the moment with what’s gone on and where we are. Let’s wait and see.
“Knowing how these things happen in football, it isn’t going to happen overnight. I wouldn’t think it’ll happen in time to affect anything in the August transfer window, all I’m doing is cracking on doing what I have to do until somebody says here’s new investors, do you want to have a chat to them.
“I’ll be interested to know where the appeal came from but I’m sure getting to Wembley has made our profile a bit more attractive, not just in Cumbria but the rest of the country, and maybe even the rest of the world, who knows.
“At the moment my focus is just on Oxford United this weekend, and if anything happens before that I’m sure I’ll be told.”
And the same goes for the players.
“I’m sure they’re interested but after the story came out yesterday, we’ve trained today and not one player has mentioned it to me,” he told us. “I’m not going to speak to them about it because I don’t know where it’s at.
“The players just get on with it, they just get on with doing what they need to do, and as long as it doesn’t affect their performance or what they’re taking home in their wages they’ll just crack on.
“I’ve never met them, I don’t know who they are. I’ve heard the rumours like everybody else has. It excites me to think something could happen.
“That’s not in any way being disrespectful to Andrew, John, Steve, because since I came into this club they have been magnificent to me. At the time I came back John said the directors were aware there needed to be new investment.
“If they believe, because it's only them who can make this decision, that these are the right people to take the club forward, that is absolutely brilliant and that can only be good for our club.
“I really hope, if anything does happen, that they get looked after properly because they’ve been great servants for this club. I thought it was fitting to name the stand after the chairman, they’ve done incredible work for this club regardless of what anybody thinks.
“Without the three of them, and I know the Trust are involved, I don’t really know where the club would be. If there is somebody out there who wants to invest and take the club forward, brilliant, let’s bring it on because it can only be good for us.
“We need investment not only on the playing side but on the facilities side, because it’s like the money’s just going down like a drain. If there’s something out there, somebody who can make us better, I’d be delighted to sit down and talk to them.”