Last updated 19:13, Tuesday, 22 July 2008

From Joe Garner's transfer to the future of Brunton Park, Carlisle's new chief executive and finance director David Allen gives the answers the club's fans have been waiting to hear.

David Allen

Q Do you see us being a run-of-the-mill League One side flirting with the play-offs, or do you see us in the Championship as a mid-table side, which I think the majority of fans would expect?
A: The club’s aim is to achieve and maintain Championship football. Our first target though is to mount a serious and prolonged promotion challenge this season to go up into the Championship.
That would put us in the second tier of English football for the first time in more than 20 years, which in itself would be some feat.
Beyond that, our goal is to establish Carlisle United in the Championship, although we do not underestimate the size of that task. You only have to look at the size of the clubs currently in that division. I know most of our fans want the same.
Their expectations are high, but so are the club’s and this drives everyone on to do all we can to achieve these goals.

Q Can you see United spending, as many smaller clubs are doing, for example, Colchester, Shrewsbury and Doncaster?
A: It is difficult to compare what is going on at other clubs when it comes to such a broad subject as “spending.”
Each one has its own unique set of financial circumstances at any one point in their history. I don’t want to spend just to have a party. I want to spend for success. Spending on its own does not guarantee anything.
Plenty of other clubs like Luton, Rotherham, Bournemouth and, of course Leeds, have all paid a high price for spending. Carlisle United are prepared to spend wisely in an effort to achieve success.

Q What financial resources can the new owners provide to take the club forward, and why did you feel the need to make negative comments regarding the team’s chances this season?
A: The club is on sound financial footing with funds now made available for John Ward to operate in the transfer market.
I’d actually like to apologise for what I said about Leeds. I was asked about the competitiveness of this league and bookies making Leeds favourites for the League One title and I agreed with that, saying they are usually right. But I went too far and a lot of people, including John Ward, have enjoyed putting me right about that.
We beat Leeds twice last season and they would still have finished behind Swansea even if they had their 15 points back, so I think that puts things in proper perspective.

Q Why is it that every season bad news – takeovers and the sale of players – is announced AFTER season ticket holders have paid their annual subscription?
A: I don’t think the current takeover is bad news for the club, quite the contrary.QIf Joe Garner goes, can you assure us that John Ward will get the full transfer fee to reinvest in the team? AJohn has a kitty to operate with in the transfer market, irrespective of Joe’s future. That said, the club’s aim is to reinvest and strengthen the team.
I can assure you that we have not held back information because of the season ticket discount deadline. There are only two periods when transfers can be made – 1 January to 31 January and mid-May until 31 August.
Players have their holidays at the end of May and June so transfers are generally July and August.

Q Do you and the new owners have the will and funding to take Carlisle United into the Championship, or will it be a case of selling star players to survive and settling for a place in League One?
A: I can assure you we have the will to take Carlisle up. We will not just be settling for a place in League One.
This club has just reeled off four successful seasons of continued progress and we are looking to make it five on the run. We are certainly not looking to sell star players to survive.
However, no owners of any club can guarantee that good players won’t be sold when factors like their own personal footballing ambitions and wages come into it. Look at Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo. The club has the financial stability to do this.

Q Will the legal issue over the floodplain land affect the destiny of the club or is it more a case of a “storm in a tea cup” and something to forget about?
A: We have completed the deal to purchase control of the club from Fred Story.
That is the end of the matter as far as we are concerned. Ourwork is now to develop the club and we will not be distracted from that.

Q Will Joe Garner, Danny Livesey, Danny Graham or Simon Hackney be sold before the August 31 deadline?
A: It has been well documented that Nottingham Forest want to sign Joe. But no deal has been agreed and he remains a Carlisle United player.
That said we have contractual obligations with Joe which mean that we may be forced to release him regardless of the club’s wishes.
Regarding the other players you mention, we have not received any inquiries from any club for any of them, I am glad to say.
They are all very good players and it is a compliment to them and to Carlisle United that their names crop up in transfer specualtion. But that is all it is.
Could a similar concession with ticket prices not help boost attendances?

Q Is there any reason why concessionary prices are for over 65s rather than over 60s, as is the norm for the racecourse, cinemas, theatre and free travel on the buses?
A: We want to maximise income to the club while being fair to all fans. The club will be reviewing all age groups before the start of 09/10.

Q What contribution does the Trust make to the CUFC board and the needs of supporters, as the Trust is not representative of the true majority of the CUFC fan base?
A: Apart from the share issue the Trust have made no material contribution to the club. The Trust has been a continual distraction to the board and caused the club to incur considerable legal costs.
I am led to believe that the Trust only has around 70 members, which is less than 1% of our average gate, and so does not truly represent the fans. A lot of fans are disillusioned with the Trust.

Q Are you going to going to show you are serious about pushing for promotion by showing some positivity in regard to improving the squad, for example spending the Keiren Westwood money?
A: We are very serious about pushing for promotion and John Ward and his staff and network of contacts are constantly looking to improve the squad to help achieve this.
Money is available to do this. It’s worth adding that paying transfer fees for players does not guarantee they will be better than a player signed on a “Bosman”.
Even then, there can be considerable sums of money involved in “frees”, like signing on fees and agents’ fees.
Regarding Keiren, with respect, it is over-simplifying matters to suggest the money from his transfer will go into a transfer kitty pot for John to spend now. The fee income from Coventry is in installments and is spread over the next three years.

Q Where do the new owners of Carlisle United expect to see the club five years from now - and are there any plans for the futher development of Brunton Park as a stadium?
A: The straightforward answer to Ryan’s two-for-one question is - playing Championship football at a modernised Brunton Park.
Our ambition is to gain promotion to the Championship and then sustain the club at that level, although I would avoid specific timescales as these can become a millstone.
A lot of money has already been invested in Brunton Park in the last few years to improve facilities - and we are continuing to do this - but we are fully aware that our ground will eventually need to be upgraded to meet Championship stadia criteria.
However, the key is to get the timing of this work right, so that resources are not diverted away from what we need to spend to bring us the success on the pitch that will take us up to that level of football.

Q Why is it that teams like Shrewsbury can get a new ground and spend over £200,000 on players, signing about eight or nine new players when their crowds are a lot less than ours.
Also why do we seem to be happy to sign a player on a free transfer (Ben Williams and Josh Gowling) and rejoice when a player (Grant Smith) we had last year who has had more clubs than I carry in my golf bag re-signs on a one-year contract?
Does this and the manager’s comments not discourage fans from coming to the matches, when both you and the other three new owners and John Ward should be doing everything in your powers to get more fans through the turnstiles?
Don’t forget the signing of Michael Bridges two seasons ago put 1,000 on the gates.
A: I wouldn’t like to comment on what other clubs are doing but I would defend the signings of Ben and Josh, who we are confident will prove to be good additions to our squad.
The same applies to Grant. I hope our supporters will not let their views of these three players be swayed by the fact that we have not paid transfer fees for them.
The way football is nowadays, a lot of very good players move without a transfer fee, as such, because of the Bosman ruling and freedom of contract.
Carlisle United has, of course, still had to invest a considerable amount of money to ensure that none of these three players, who John Ward had identified as specific targets, signed for other clubs who also wanted them.
We are very conscious of trying to encourage more fans to Brunton Park, where last season we attracted our biggest average home league crowds for more than 20 years.
We are looking to introduce new initiatives to build on this for the coming season and to improve our communication with supporters.
You are right that new signings can stimulate further interest among fans but it is our policy not to comment on speculation regarding players until a deal has been completed.

Q What are the board’s long-term plans for Brunton Park, as many clubs are now building purpose-built grounds?
And what do the board see as the long-term solution given that Brunton Park is starting to look dated and a bit of a hotchpotch? If the aim is to get in and establish the team in the Championship, then a decision on the ground will have to be made sooner rather than later.
The present ground presents the club with only the Neil Centre to generate income for the club from public use. Building a purpose-built stadium or rebuilding Brunton Park would present the club with the opportunity to provide more facilities that could be used by the local community, therefore generating income for the club.
A: We plan to stay at Brunton Park and gradually develop the existing stadium to meet Championship criteria, although at this stage we are not in a position to give details of any proposed changes or a timescale.
Obviously, we would consult our supporters, local residents and organisations including the council about such plans, which I would hope would offer increased income from football and non-football sources.