Carlisle United say it was a "commercial decision" to accept new advertising from a former sponsor and vice-president who quit the club amid controversy.

The Blues insist they "deliberated" the implications of taking several new advertising boards from Bookies.com at Brunton Park for the recent play-off first leg against Exeter.

It came just over a year after the firm's owner Andy Bell cut his links to the club after inflammatory comments about the Hillsborough disaster appeared on his Twitter account.

Carlisle said they had not forgotten that "difficult" episode but went ahead with the recent pitchside adverts because of the extra revenue they would bring.

Asked by the News & Star why the firm had been back with a visible presence at the stadium, United's chief executive Nigel Clibbens said: "Bookies.com regularly advertise at major sporting events, especially football, so it was normal they were interested for a Sky TV game.

"They had a presence at the Exeter away game and have also had them at many other League Two fixtures, particularly involving clubs they have links with, such as Scunthorpe, Fleetwood, Blackpool and Morecambe.

"When Bookies.com gets an opportunity it has clearance that it doesn't cut across Sky Bet, the EFL title sponsor. It's a commercial decision which brings in extra revenue for the club which we can add to the budget which helps the team."

Asked if the Twitter episode had been a consideration before accepting the new sponsorship, Clibbens said: "It was considered, and it was decided to agree and go ahead and install new boards for that game.

"We see the same boards week in week out at other grounds with other rival clubs earning commercial income for their clubs and team. We see photos and TV footage of our players and fans in front of Bookies.com signs in the media regularly too.

"A new commercial opportunity arose for the benefit the club and after deliberation we accepted the ground boards.

"We have a choice as to what we do. As a club we made our thoughts at the time clear, and quickly acted to distance ourselves from the tweets that were in no way connected to the club, or written on behalf of the club.

"That is unchanged. The matter was difficult but it was closed off at the time. Everyone lost as a result and of course it’s not forgotten, but we all moved on."

The storm in April last year saw a backlash from many fans, as Bell then claimed his Twitter account had been "hacked", before he resigned as vice-president and halted sponsorship.

United denied that the involvement of Bookies.com at the Exeter game would herald a return to a regular connection with the firm, but nor did they dismiss the possibility.

Clibbens said: "If other opportunities arise that will benefit the club it would not make sense to dismiss them, but the only discussion was about [the Exeter] game."

The United chief executive added that some other advertising boards were moved due to a change in camera point from the Pioneer Foodservice Stand to the West Stand.

Clibbens added: "Moving these boards ensured that those boards which were contracted as 'TV facing' remained so.

"The only boards which were removed were EFL centralised contract boards [Ginsters, Solarplicity etc], which were no longer in contract with it being a play-off game.

"No 'club sponsor' boards were removed. The moving of existing boards and the removal of the out-of-contract boards created additional unsold space. We took the opportunity to sell this space for a one-off televised game, maximising the commercial opportunity - as we did for the televised Everton game last season.

"No existing sponsors'/advertisers' contracts were affected. All boards which are contracted as 'TV facing' were placed in such positions, and some sponsors/advertisers actually saw additional benefit from increased TV coverage positions which they would not normally have got.

"The full live national TV offered excellent coverage for our existing board sponsors and an extra game for them."