'Long memories' - Carlisle United chief on debt saga

The club’s new owners, the Piatak family, ended up buying the £2.6m debt from Purepay Retail Limited in order to seal their takeover.

It followed a long period of uncertainty over the debt, which was a legacy of United’s loans from Philip Day's Edinburgh Woollen Mill several years before.

Carlisle’s previous owners had failed in attempts to find a resolution to the debt situation before the Piataks came on the scene.

Clibbens was critical of aspects of the saga when he spoke at this week’s fans’ forum at Brunton Park – and praised the Piataks for taking on the burden.

“We owed Purepay a significant amount of cash, around £2.6m at the time, and substantially all of that had to be paid to get the deal done, which was, it’s fair to say, disappointing all round, and really difficult,” said Clibbens.

“Fair play to Tom and the family for stepping up and doing that.

Nigel Clibbens (Image: Jon colman)

“Tom made it really clear it wouldn’t be an obstacle, and in the end he didn’t make it an obstacle – he did what was needed to get the deal done.

“In my view he was put in a really difficult position. There was talk of other bidders at the time too and that was used to talk up the amount to settle the debt, which leaves a sour taste to me.

“We were supported through some really difficult times by EWM – they put a lot of money in, and without that the club probably would have gone bust.

“They deserve eternal credit for that. But in the end it could have been handled better.”

Purepay have never commented publicly on their relationship with United, which included the involvement of an EWM and Purepay director, John Jackson, on the board of CUFC Holdings until recently.

Mr Jackson did not respond to the News & Star’s invitation to comment when Tom Piatak spoke out about the debt impasse in September, while previous invitations to comment during his time on the United board were similarly unsuccessful.

Tom Piatak told the News & Star last month that his Castle Sports Group had bought the debt from Purepay (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Clibbens added: “Everybody knows [the club was] trying to do a deal and reach agreement for a long time.

“Letters and enquiries were [often] not responded to. We tried all kinds of routes, direct, indirect, WhatsApps, you name it, and it didn’t get very far.

“That became very difficult when you’re trying to do something and banging your head against a brick wall, knowing at any time the phone could ring and someone could put the club into administration and take the club everybody loves away.

“We faced that risk for a long time. As we got closer to a deal that risk grew, and I didn’t like that.

“The fact we had someone [the Piataks] prepared to step in when they hardly knew the club and city, yet were prepared to back all of us and put their hard-earned cash in, is testament to them and says a lot about the other people.

“And people have long memories. We’ve got to look forward now.”