Carlisle United say it is “very tight” as to whether new training pitches at the Sheepmount will be ready in the coming weeks.

But the Blues say work on the new facility, which is two months later than they had hoped, still marks the start of something that will prove a major development for the club.

Work is under way to develop two pitches at the Sheepmount, as the first phase of what is intended to be a large-scale, multi-million pound project to create a new training complex for the Blues.

Chief executive Nigel Clibbens has commented on the timescale of the new pitches in an official club interview.

“We've talked about having some grass to play on for this season and we've started making that happen,” he said.

“We're probably two months later than we would have ideally liked, at worst, so it's now very, very tight.

“The weather's turning, it's getting colder, so that's going to impact on the ability for the grass to germinate and to grow for us to play on.

“But we've just got to deal with that. [Earlier this week] the diggers moved in and they started work on levelling the grassed area.

“There'll be sand going in, we’ll improve the top surface, and then seeds go in and we'll see where we go.

“Hopefully it'll germinate and we'll have some grass to play on and that will release some pressure on the training facilities here.

“In simple terms, it'll probably take us a week or so to get the ground in a reasonable fashion for us to then sow the seeds.

“We sow the seeds, and then usually it's about nine or ten days to germinate, and then we're in the lap of the gods in terms of how quickly that might grow.

“We're now into October and the weather's turning, it's getting colder, and you need to have temperatures of about nine degrees.

“We can't control that now. All we can do is get the ground in a condition that it'll grow if it grows, and then we'll see.

“That might be about six or seven weeks, and then you're getting into December time, so it's going to be really difficult.

“But we’ll do everything we can within our control to make that happen.”

Nigel Clibbens, back left with the Piatak family, says the training ground will shape the future of the club for the next 20 yearsNigel Clibbens, back left with the Piatak family, says the training ground will shape the future of the club for the next 20 years (Image: Richard Parkes)

Clibbens has described the Sheepmount development as “the most important” of all the projects on the table at United under the Piatak ownership.

 “It will help shape the future of the club for the next 20 years,” he added.

“It is fundamental to the future of this football club. The more you go around other clubs, the more you appreciate how far behind we are and the fact that we need to catch up and we need to catch up fast.”

The pitches currently being developed are on the upper plateau of the Sheepmount after a five-year lease was agreed between United and Cumberland Council.

Carlisle eventually want to secure a longer-term lease in order to put in place a bigger development which will see more pitches, a 4G surface, an indoor dome and a building with changing rooms, offices and other facilities.

Clibbens, on the latter, said: “We've got drawings for a building that we're now looking at, that's all going to have to go through planning.”

It is intended that the overall facility will also have some community use.

Clibbens said of the multi-million pound project: “At the moment, all of that's coming out of the [Piatak] family's resources, and that can't go on forever.

“So we need all the community and the fans to back the family as much as they're backing Carlisle, and I'm sure they will.”