DO you remember when, whilst on their upward curve in the middle of the last decade, Carlisle United gave serious thought to plonking seats onto the old Paddock terrace?

It was as recent as 2007, in fact, when John Nixon, then managing director, revealed the idea to transform the largely uncovered part of the ground best known for its friendliness to visiting managers.

At an estimated cost of £60,000, it would perhaps not have been the most luxurious renovation in stadium history. But it was genuinely on the table; realistic enough, at the time, for Nixon to claim that 2007/8 "could be the last one with the Paddock as a standing area".

Perhaps, though, the key word in all of that - and in subsequent stadium projects at United - was "could". The plan died soon after and was not mourned by fans.

These were in the years before Project Blue Yonder, whose latest incarnation - a hopeful stab at a development on the city's Viaduct Estate - perished last week. Yet the Paddock idea remains, arguably, the closest United have got to engineering a significant change to the place people watch them play.

It was, like the bolder schemes, motivated by the rule that gives a club three years to make its ground all-seater upon promotion to the Championship. In 2007 Neil McDonald's team had narrowly missed out on the League One play-offs, while an even closer shave was to follow the following spring.

Carlisle's heartbreaking play-off defeat to Leeds, in 2008, and their drop to mid-table and below in subsequent years, meant the clock no longer ticked with such urgency. Their 2014 nosedive into League Two then made rather laughable the idea that United would have to kit themselves out with a stadium fit for the second tier any time soon.

Yet times can change again. Keith Curle's revival this season has made a return to the third level a serious possibility and there have been enough cases of positive momentum to know that double promotions can happen.

This is not to urge anyone to stake the house on Carlisle playing Championship football by 2018. But if Burton Albion can leap two levels in successive years, it would be reckless to dismiss all thoughts of where United could eventually get to, with a fair wind.

In other words: that clock can tick louder again, at which point the Blues will need a plan. Last week's news raised obvious questions on what that plan may be.

A starting point here is to accept that, despite that Paddock idea, the flawed 2011 scheme to move to Kingmoor Park and the "realism" of a new ground on the Viaduct by 2018 (Nixon's words, though the architect involved said no dates were discussed), the club's pencil has not advanced far beyond square one.

The last 24 months of "lock-out" agreements over relocation have yielded nothing, and for all the talk since Blue Yonder was announced five years ago, the ground United occupy today, post-flood refurbishments aside, is essentially the same as it was since Michael Knighton's off-kilter East Stand opened 20 years ago.

A club can live to regret bad decisions on moving house. At least United have not tied themselves to something unwise. But it would still be easy for a cynic to say the Blues have proved better at vague concepts of finding a new ground than being able to make it happen.

This critical conclusion must accept the difficulties in pulling off what has been talked about these last few years. Even Roger Wilson, the architect, admitted the Viaduct was far from an "easy" site, citing issues such as "contamination from the old city gasworks, flooding, access and egress". And this before reflecting on the lack of commitment from retailers that could have made an enabling development fly.

If that cannot happen, and if Kingmoor remains off the agenda, it is either back to the original list of less favourable out-of-town sites, or staying put. At August's fans' forum Nixon said Carlisle would probably be at Brunton Park "for the foreseeable", but that cannot be an ambitious long-term option either without at least some major ideas and an ability to carry them out.

The cost of transforming their own ground was estimated at £18m at the time Kingmoor was being sold as the way forward. Whether or not those figures are revised, it still cannot be cheap, and here we return to the old topic of how the Blues are funded; particularly the talks with an overseas investor, a courtship that hits day 550 today still without the deal Carlisle's owners apparently crave.

Those fond of these little milestones may like to know that more than 100 days have now passed even since United wrote their last-ditch letter to the mystery man in August. There has been at least one visit to Carlisle as a result - possibly more, if speculation is to be believed about the "billionaire" having watched one of the Blues' academy teams in action and also having held further talks with co-owner Andrew Jenkins - but even now, something is stalling a very wealthy man from committing his money to a relatively small fourth-tier football club in the north of England.

Optimistic noises from within Brunton Park about all of this, which have been noticeable in recent months, may yet turn out to be justified. There is always the chance, though, that they may not, and what matters here is to what degree United's stadium intentions are linked to this individual's very patient interest, and what sort of alternatives exist as time passes.

"His indications were that he would prefer to stay at Brunton Park," said Nixon at the forum, receiving a rare round of applause in the process. But this is all United appear to have right now - indications. They had indications in 2011, and fresh indications from 2014, not to mention those long-defunct Paddock indications of 2007.

Something established, realistic and targeted? Not so much. And while anything of this order will also need to involve local authority, one wonders how settled the waters are there when it is only four years since city council leader Colin Glover was accusing Nixon of "rhetoric" and "sabre-rattling" after the demise of the Kingmoor scheme.

Round about the same time, another "imaginative" concept was floated by the former MD about "sharing" Brunton Park with someone else. A nice idea. But who was going to make it work, and how?

The approach of the one-year anniversary of Storm Desmond also brings a grave reminder about where United reside: in an area described as a "natural bowl" which, as a result, was ravaged by the floods that engulfed so much else of Carlisle.

Squaring this large circle is therefore highly complicated and unlikely to be done by one party alone. But the club can still explain its own credible thoughts as a central part of the tale.

As Blue Yonder recedes into the distance, setting out a new aim would not just be helpful but essential.