Company linked to failed Carlisle United takeover fails to trade again

Whilst the Blues now aim to push on under their new American owners, the Piatak family, evidence of a previous aborted bid for the club has re-emerged.

New documents filed at Companies House show that Eden Valley Sport Limited - a company set up by Philip Day amid talks over United - has still not traded, four years after its incorporation.

The company remains dormant with its latest accounts up to February 25, filed this week, reflecting its continued lack of activity.

Eden Valley Sport's latest accounts show its continued lack of activity (Image: Companies House)

"The company has not traded during the period or the previous period," reads a report from director John Herring.

It was revealed in December 2021 how Eden Valley Sport had been the intended vehicle for a takeover at United involving figures connected to the Blues' then financial backers Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

But a deal could not be reached and the prospect of such a takeover faded.

It left United with an increasing debt to EWM before that firm went into administration during Covid-19, and the club's debt was owed to a different company with links to Day, Purepay Retail Limited.

It took Carlisle until this month to achieve a resolution to the debt - with the Piatak family's Castle Sports Group purchasing the debt from Purepay in order to get their takeover across the line.

The American family sealed their deal for the Blues, via their Castle Sports Group company, last Wednesday and have big plans on and off the pitch at Brunton Park - while Tom Piatak snr said the debt would be "disposed of" in the most "tax-efficient" manner in due course.

The Florida businessman also spoke of the difficulty faced in securing a way forward in the debt situation, claiming Purepay were "not necessarily a friend of the club".

United's supporters' trust CUOSC confirmed in December 2021 details of Eden Valley Sport's proposed involvement.

“The proposal tabled to us in 2019 was for a change of control with a new entity (Eden Valley Sports) taking over approximately 90 per cent of the shareholding, leaving us with a little under 10 per cent," the trust said in an update to members.

“The club would continue to be backed financially by EWM, as they had been since early 2017.

“We asked a series of questions of EWM at the time, to seek re-assurances of how the club would operate after the takeover.

“The answers lacked a detailed 'vision' for the club but we were assured fans would continue to play a role and be listened to, and that there would be more communication than before, the lack of which has been a characteristic of EWM for a long time.

“At the time these assurances did quell some of the doubts we had at the start of the process. That, and the financial backing that EWM brought, gave us the notion that the club would be secure long-term.

“The subsequent collapse of EWM and novation of debt to Purepay [Retail Limited] has brought considerable doubt as to the scope and terms of any future financial support.”

Eden Valley Sport was incorporated as a company in February 2019 with Day its sole director, a spokesperson telling the News & Star at the time that the business was set up “as a potential holding company for sporting interests in Cumbria.”

In January 2020 Day ceased to be a director, with John Jackson and Herring then appointed as directors.

Jackson is a Purepay director and a former CUFC Holdings director. Both he and Herring remain directors of Eden Valley Sport. Figures involved in the company have never spoken publicly about the aborted takeover.