Carlisle United looked at school site as potential training ground

But the cost of bringing the area up to standard is more than the Blues can currently afford, directors admitted.

Club officials including chief executive Nigel Clibbens, manager Paul Simpson and supporters’ trust director Billy Atkinson visited the site in the last month.

They revealed at a fans’ forum last night how United had been exploring the possibility of using the site.

It followed Simpson’s recent appeals for better training facilities for the Brunton Park club.

Clibbens said: “We’ve been looking to find something better. For example, as recently as the last month we went to look at a potential facility.

“The cost to have the space we needed for rooms, changing rooms, all the things required of a facility, was over £60,000 a year in rent.

“The cost to get the grass up to speed and usable for a pro team, the quote I got most recently was £250,000.

“As we sit here now, sadly we haven’t got the cash to be able to do that.”

Later in the forum Clibbens confirmed that the potential facility he was referring to was indeed the old Newman site on Lismore Place.

“It has a lot of potential, it’s just that the capital cost to get the pitches into a usable state would cost a lot of money. The buildings would be great, but would cost a lot of money too.

“The intention is great but we’ve got to be able to pay for it.”

Simpson said the buildings at the site would have been “workable” for United’s needs with some adaptations, “but the pitches are nowhere near the standard of the pitch out there [United’s own training pitch].

• Carlisle United fans' forum - as it happened

“We’d be looking at hundreds of thousands to get them up to a good level to train and play on it [regularly].”

United co-owner Steven Pattison said a deal was close for United to use the Richard Rose Morton Academy before the Covid pandemic scuppered things.

United co-owner Steven Pattison said a deal was close for United to train at Morton before the Covid pandemic scuppered plans (Image: Jenny Woolgar Photography)

“We spent two years, myself, John Halpin and others, in meetings with Sport England and bodies like that,” Pattison said.

“The dominos were all set up that we were going to Morton School, ticking the boxes with our own funding, the Cumberland FA were involved…

“Covid [came] then it all collapsed. We’re trying to resurrect that, talking to Cumberland FA and other bodies, but like everything, there’s no money, so we’re back to square one.”

Pattison also referred to previous attempts to use the Sheepmount and Gillford Park which did not succeed in the long run.

He also spoke about recent work on a new training pitch at Brunton Park which has not been completed.

“Fred [Story] was going to put a pitch behind the Pioneer Stand, and started it, but the Environment Agency said we can’t do that,” he said.

“We bang our heads against walls sometimes.

“To get grants for a 3G pitch, you’ve got to have a 20-year lease to get the funding. That’s one of the reasons we went to Morton School.”

Clibbens, meanwhile, admitted that the long-term training facilities issue was a major one for the Blues, who have used facilities such as Gretna's pitch this season when their own surface has been out of action.

“We would 100 per cent agree with Paul’s comments,” he told the forum.

“When you look around at what other teams have compared to us, we’re inferior.

“Whilst we make the best of it, and Paul doesn’t complain about it, we all know the longer it takes to get something better, the further behind we come and the more difficult it is to match pace with other teams.

“The facts are, the club absorbs cash like all clubs in the EFL, and that cash needs to be provided by selling players, cup runs or owners.

“We have to try and get creative, build relationships with other places such as Gretna to try and get the best we can in the short term. But it’s not ideal and not sustainable in the long run.”

Clibbens said it was among the issues that comes back to succession and the ability for the club, under new ownership, to fund such capital investments in the future.

“Until we get that it’s going to be a real, real struggle,” he said.