Carlisle Utd 'billionaire' is former pizza shop owner who tried to take over Liverpool

Sources say Canada-based Mr Kirdi was the potential overseas investor whose 650-day pursuit of the Blues finally ended in February.

Mr Kirdi’s name has been the subject of strong speculation among supporters since the Brunton Park club ended discussions after a controversial 21-month saga.

United and their official supporters’ club, CUOSC, have so far been unable to reveal the mystery suitor’s identity because of non-disclosure agreements signed in the final months of discussions.

The Blues have suggested they could face legal action if they break the terms of those agreements, while United chief executive Nigel Clibbens has recently refused to confirm or deny recent speculation regarding Mr Kirdi.

But the News & Star has established that the Syrian is indeed the unlikely individual who wanted to take control of the Brunton Park club.

It is further understood that Mr Kirdi was represented in talks with United’s owners by the Newcastle-based agent Nick McCreery, who is a director of the Catalyst4Soccer agency.

Mr McCreery – whose father David was Carlisle’s manager in 1992/3 – is believed to have been present when Mr Kirdi eventually made a formal offer to the club at a meeting in early February.

United turned it down, and have since entered into a loan arrangement with the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, owned by Cumbria’s richest man Philip Day.

While details on the terms offered by Mr Kirdi have not been disclosed – they are also the subject of legal confidentiality – it is understood his initial investment would have amounted to little more than previous offers rebuffed by the Blues, such as the £1.26m deal proposed by Andrew Lapping, and the £2m plan by Robin Brown, Graham Mossop and CUOSC.

While he also unveiled proposals for the stadium at Brunton Park, Mr Kirdi’s plans for spending on the squad are believed to have been deemed unrealistic by the Blues.

Co-owner John Nixon told a group of fans last weekend that United’s unnamed potential investor felt he could get the League Two club to the Premier League by signing foreign players on lower wages.

Mr Kirdi hit the headlines in 2010 when he claimed to be representing a group of Middle Eastern and Canadian investors in attempting to buy Liverpool from the Anfield club’s unpopular American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

It is believed he claimed to have backing from similar areas as he tried to do a deal for more than 50 per cent of Carlisle.

The Blues, meanwhile, are only one of a number of clubs eyed by Mr Kirdi, as it emerged he was in talks with Italian club Vicenza before he approached United.

The News & Star has also unearthed a Eurosport Arabia interview where Mr Kirdi claimed to be in discussions for a Spanish club in 2015. That interview was published just six days after United’s announcement on May 19, 2015 of “genuine and firm” interest from a new potential investor, subsequently declaring their belief that their suitor was a “billionaire”.

Mr Kirdi’s secret pursuit of United – which took more than a year for a face-to-face meeting with the club’s hierarchy in Carlisle – was in contrast to his public courting of Liverpool, a period that saw reporters in Canada and the UK highlight details of his business background.

It was revealed in 2010, for instance, that Mr Kirdi had run a corner shop and two pizza shops after moving to Canada in 2002, one named Pizza Kirdi.

Canada government sources, meanwhile, indicate that last year’s accounts for another of his firms are overdue.

Mr Kirdi is recently reported to have been in talks with a north-east offshore marine engineering firm regarding business opportunities in the Middle East and US.

United, meanwhile, this week reported a post-tax profit of £40,434 in their 2015/16 accounts. Full details of their new arrangement with EWM have yet to be disclosed.

The News & Star attempted to contact Mr Kirdi and Mr McCreery but received no response.

United and CUOSC both said they did not wish to comment.