Carlisle United boss: transfer latest and spending pledge

But the Blues boss said he is not taking anything for granted until the deals are completely over the line.

United moved early to secure the signing of Luke Armstrong this week and Simpson hopes to make other moves early in January.

“There are probably two or three things which are quite far down the line,” he said today.

“That said, we’ve all been on the receiving end of thinking something’s going to happen and then it falls flat on its face.

“I never count my chickens yet – or I should say count my turkeys at this time of year. We’ve done lots of things, lots of conversations, we’re at a point where offers have been made for players.

“But they’re not signed yet and not guaranteed for January.

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“I really want to try and get them in to be available for the Exeter game [on January 6]. Whether that’s possible I don’t really know but I can assure everybody we’re trying everything we possibly can to see if we can add numbers to the group.”

Some fans have this week suggested that winger Charlie Kirk, who has just left Charlton Athletic, could be a player in Simpson’s sights.

Asked if that could be the case, United’s manager said: “He’s certainly a good player. I was only made aware of that [situation] in the last 24-48 hours.

Simpson described ex-Charlton attacker Charlie Kirk as a good player but was not drawn on whether he could try to bring him to Carlisle (Image: PA)

“There are lots of players out there who we think could improve our group. We then need to find out whether we can afford them, whether they’re interested, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.

“There are lots of good players that are out there. It would be wrong of me to start saying yes or no to every player but there are certainly players we believe could add to our group.”

It’s understood United’s deal for Harrogate Town striker Armstrong will break the club’s transfer record, in a strong early indication of the backing Simpson is getting from the Piataks since their takeover.

The Blues boss, who wants to strengthen in several other positions, says he is delighted with the extra financial support – but he also stressed his mid-season spending will not put the club at long-term risk.

“It’s a massive positive,” he said of the Piataks’ financial injection into the playing budget.

“With what’s happened now, we’re now able to be a bit more competitive at this level.

“Although the previous owners went out of their way to get us more budget for this season, it still put us in the bottom four to six of the league placings.

“Generally, the budget reflects your league placing come the end of the season. That’s why I knew this season was going to be a real tough slog.

“The fact we’ve now had an increase gives us the chance to be competitive.

“There’s one thing getting a more competitive budget, the next thing is getting the players to come to us.

“The fact we got Josh Emmanuel when we did, the fact Luke has agreed to come in – and all the details of that will come out once he’s registered – it now gives us a chance to be more competitive in the other areas we want to strengthen as well.”

Simpson has stressed that he takes extremely seriously the job of spending wisely and not shelling out money that could pose a problem for United down the line.

“I would never do that, I would never put the club at a financial risk,” he said.

“When we spoke in the summer to the previous owners, I was told, ‘Just spend what you need to stay up’. But that’s not sustainable. I wasn’t prepared to do that.

“Then we went down the line of discussions to what can we actually afford to spend. There’s no point just doing whatever, we have to know what is affordable. That’s where we came up with the figure.

Simpson says he will spend the Piataks' money responsibly (Image: Ben Holmes)

“Yes, it would have been really easy to say, ‘Give me a couple of million more’, and then the club goes bust. That’s not in anybody’s interest and as a Carlisle supporter that’s not what I want.

“We’ve seen what happens when you do that, with loads of clubs at all sorts of levels.

“You’ve got a football club like Reading at the moment who’ve had points docked. I find it hard to believe the decision that’s come this week that the owner [Dai Yongge] is going to get fined and not the club punished for failure to provide funds. I don’t know how the rules have changed for that.

“But we’re not going to do that. The Piatak family have come in and they are absolutely hell bent on making this football club a better experience for everybody, better to watch, and that would mean getting more positive results.

“They’re not going to throw all of their hard work in building Magellan Logistics [their business in Florida] down the pan just by throwing loads of money at Carlisle United.

“They want to build a really, really good football club. I want to be part of that, I’ve been involved in so many of the discussions and meetings, but I always want to make sure the football team’s winning, and that’s my priority – to make sure we get players in that help us win games but also keeps the club sustainable financially.”