Tom Piatak II on plans and ambitions for Carlisle United

Tom II, part of the family who have just taken control of the Blues, says the Piataks would not be here if they did not think the club was capable of striving for the Championship eventually.

The family from Jacksonville, Florida, intend to grow the club on and off the pitch – hopefully starting with League One survival this season, accompanied by a number of wider developments.

And there should be no cap on the Blues’ aspirations as the years unfold, says Tom II.

“The sky is always the limit,” he says. “That's the beauty of the English pyramid, that there's always the opportunity – David and Goliath.

“For us, we don't believe Carlisle United should ever be below League One. We believe that should be the absolute bottom, and League One to the Championship, and in competition for play-offs in that area, is kind of what we hope to become the standard.

“And then if you get a season where a couple of results bounce your way and things look good, hopefully that that opportunity arises and we can capitalise on it.

“This season, survival is obviously number one, I think city-wide, supporter-wide everyone would snap your hand off for 20th today.

“But as we consolidate in League One and grow the infrastructure and grow the whole area, we believe that competing to get into the Championship is where this club belongs.”

Tom Piatak II pictured at Brunton Park after the takeover was announced (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Playing in England’s second tier for the first time since 1986 appears a distant goal but the Piataks have not taken over the Blues simply to throw their resources at the immediate term.

With talk of stadium developments, a new training ground and other initiatives, this appears a project designed to transform the club on a lasting level.

Tom II, whose research was at the outset of the family’s plans to get involved with professional football and ultimately at Brunton Park, says: “We have quite a few plans. Obviously in the middle of the season, there's not as much that we can do but I really hope the fans noticed and appreciated that the small things that we were able to do on day one [last Saturday’s home game against Charlton Athletic] out of the fan zone, some of the bathrooms, some of the some of the bars, having a little branding and things like that.

“They can be quick wins that have been mentioned quite often, but in terms of long-term that there's just so much opportunity here at the stadium for increasing in hospitality areas, training facilities for the players, even just a temporary pitch for when the one out here might be waterlogged for a couple days out of the week.

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“There's just so much that we are planning to do and we're looking forward to doing.”

The family’s main business in Florida concerns transport logistics, and Tom II concedes that it may not be an obvious transition.

But he believes his own skill set, and those of his family, can still apply in a significant way at Carlisle.

“Claims and contracts and risk management is a lot of what I handle back home, which I don't see too much crossover between contracts and transportation to contracts and football,” he says.

“But in terms of claims and risk management, understanding difficult conversations is something I've never shied away from.

“Setting those goals, and then having the expectation that whoever's responsible to fulfil those goals is completing them and making sure people are staying on task, is something I believe I can definitely add in with my abilities there.”

Tom II is now a director along with his wife Alice, his sister Jenna and her fiancé Nick, as well as Tom and Jenna’s parents Tom snr and Patty.

The family are working out the best way forward in terms of being in Carlisle, and at United, as often as possible, in tandem with their commitments back home.

“Having six is a huge benefit for us,” says Tom II. “We've kind of already broken up, tentatively, when is everyone going to be over here and who's overlapping.

“We certainly plan to have a presence here on site as much as possible. We really believe you have to be there to help drive the culture and make sure if you're not there, that it's being driven without you.

Nick, Tom snr and Tom II (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“We're very lucky and blessed to have such a great team here between Paul [Simpson], Nigel [Clibbens], Suzanne [Kidd] and Sarah [McKnight]. We've really grown our relationships with them over the past months and we trust them.

“We regularly are in contact – we have a weekly scheduled call but I can tell you we're talking so much more than just that.

“It's anything where we have a question or they have a question, we're all accessible all the time.”

Tom II is a football obsessive and he and the family have done plenty of research into the Blues before this point, but he accepts they are still just at the beginning of their journey in Cumbria.

“There's tonnes to learn,” he says. “The club has well over 100 years’ history. So we know there's more and more [to pick up].

“Over the past couple of seasons, I've watched a lot of the EFL, and obviously the last year and a half I'm really kind of focused on Carlisle.

“So I've learned just an absolute tonne about the club and its history. But even just walking around and see some of the bars [and the pictures in them] I'm like, ‘I know that one, I know that one…okay, who's this?’

“I'd like to read up on them. There's still so much to learn and we know that and we look forward to it.”

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The Piataks are embedded into American sport through their partnership with NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars, and are alert to potential crossovers – and aspects to avoid.”

“In Jacksonville we're lucky enough to have a couple of individuals with ties to English football that have the Jacksonville tie as well,” he says.

“And when we've talked to them, it's really to get to learn from mistakes they've made or correct things they've done.

“When it comes to even something as simple as their marketing, or their sponsorships or how things were ran at their teams in the US versus was how it was ran over here…sometimes it was better in the US, sometimes it was better in the UK, and they kind of put a playbook together.

“They've been very, very welcoming and open to sharing some of those ideas and what's worked with for them.

“So that's something we would love to soak in as much knowledge as possible to move this club in the right direction.”

Tom II shares his family’s gratitude for the extraordinary welcome they received from fans at Brunton Park last Saturday.

Tom II talks to fans in the fan zone (Image: Ben Holmes)

It reinforced, he says, everything they believe in and hope for when it comes to this new era.

 “It was absolutely unbelievable. You know, I've certainly never walked out onto a pitch with 10,000 in the stands, cheering,” he says. “So that was a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life.

“And to finally to be there to have that moment to experience the match the whole day from 11am, when we showed up, the fan zone just buzzing, through to the final whistle…it was just a top class day.

“The weather held off, which was great. And we could not have asked for a better start to the new Piatak era.

“Our goal as we stepped into this was to not only do what's best for the club, but to do what's best for the community. To have the community rallying behind us and to welcome us the way they did it just kickstarts that in a different way [to] if it was starting from people being 50-50 or maybe even anti [takeover].

“The support given by the community was absolutely fantastic and it just means the world to us all. And it kind of just backs up our thoughts and our analysis and how we got to Carlisle.

“We believe this was the right club. We've seen it on some of its best days and we know that the potential is there. We hope that the sky's the limit.”