Carlisle United have explained why they won't be rejoining a reserve league.

Blues head coach Chris Beech and chief executive Nigel Clibbens said the club prefer the “flexibility” of being able to arrange their own second-string games.

While United will continue to take part in the Central League Cup – a competition in which they reached the final last season – regular competitive reserve football remains off the agenda.

The Cumbrians will continue to organise other “bounce” games themselves than enter the reserve league.

Both Beech and Clibbens said this was a better scenario for the club than being tied to league fixtures that could be logistically difficult to fulfil at times.

Speaking about the subject at the club's latest fans’ forum, Clibbens said: “We joined the Central League [several years ago] but we found it was too rigid for the first team and management.

“You have to play the games within periods, on certain grounds, so we didn’t have flexibility on where we wanted to play.

“Sometimes you get other fixtures, especially in winter time, and it becomes difficult.

“We’ve got the best of both worlds, so we’ve got some fixtures in the Central League Cup, but the flexibility to organise other games, which are far easier - where we can ring up the likes of Fleetwood, who we’ve got a great relationship with, play at their training ground, or they come up here, and you don’t need to have specifics about where you’re playing, who the referee is, and so on.

“In the end it’s about getting something out of the games.”

The question was raised by a supporter to ask United about giving regular, meaningful game time to the younger players on the fringes of Beech’s first team such as Lewis Bell, Gabe Breeze and Sam Fishburn.

Beech added that young players would also be used in the Papa John’s Trophy.

On the drawbacks of a reserve league, Beech said: “There can be a situation if you get tied into a game every Tuesday, and the amount of travel we have to get to somewhere like Colchester, and then have to play the reserve game on Wednesday…

“We can have more control on playing games against different teams. You can make more substitutes, do it at times that suit your working week, for the lads.

“But it’s vital they do play. If anything [reserve football] changed Jon Mellish’s career at Carlisle – at Kendal he scored at hat-trick, and went from a released player to a retained player who we could look at in a diff position.

“It’s vital the lads play and definitely vital they play what we would class as more men’s football.”

Beech also said there was a new rule that would allow three players at first-year pro age (18 to 19) at clubs with Category Three academies play youth team games.

United's boss was also asked whether certain young players, such as Breeze and Scott Simons, could go out on loan.

"Possibly," Beech said. "It depends on what happens, and you've got a situation where, if they play lower, they can go after the transfer deadline. Of course that affects us what we can do for the first team in terms of recruitment.

"But you've got to make sure those boys are getting challenged and tested in first-team situations.

"My dad used to say to me, 'You can sing in the shower all day long, but you've got to do it on stage when the lights go on.'

"While you try and develop certain things in training, they learn so much more when they're playing.

"It's also important they're close to the standards needed to represent us now."