"I don't know whether you'll think it's significant progress or not..." said John Nixon by way of an update on the debt situation at Carlisle United.

Nixon, speaking at Tuesday's fans' forum, had some news for the room. The news was that Carlisle had finally managed to secure a meeting with one of their own directors.

What a situation this has become, when a bloke who officially directs the affairs of United's Holding company is finally pinned down for a chinwag and it is deemed a big leap forward.

Which, of course, it is in the circumstances. Carlisle owe Purepay Retail Limited upwards of £2.4m and have, over the last year, been unable to get them to the table to thrash out the small matter of how this might be repaid.

John Jackson is the man at the centre of these talks now at last taking place. That is John Jackson, Carlisle United director (as well as John Jackson, Purepay director).

I doubt it goes as far as the Blues wishing they hadn't gone down the EWM loans route in the first place – their need for help, at the time, was acute and the loans very much gratefully received – but the fallout from that company's administration, the failure of a United takeover attempt and Carlisle's eventual moving on from those influences have left what can only be described as as a rather awkward legacy.

So now the long-awaited meeting has happened, what occurs next? Will things move beyond the glacial speed of recent times and hasten towards a conclusion?

Or will we be required to accept any scraps at all at future forums, continually grateful for the expressed hope that something – although we're not sure what yet – might be on the horizon?

“It is not an easy one from their point of view or from our point of view, because we’ve got slightly different points of view," added Nixon.

Well, that's good to know. The sooner this predicament is banished into the past, the better for Carlisle United and any of its bigger aspirations.