Relic of failed Carlisle United takeover at Companies House

An annual report and financial statements for the dormant company Eden Valley Sport Limited has been filed.

It shows that the company did not trade again in the last year – which has been the case since it was incorporated five years ago.

Eden Valley Sport was set to be a vehicle for a takeover at a time the Blues were in a financial relationship with Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

The company was set up by EWM chief Philip Day amid talks over the future of United.

It was revealed in 2021 that Eden Valley Sport was intended to be a vehicle for takeover involving figures connected to EWM.

But a deal could not be reached and the prospect of such a takeover faded.

The company remains dormant some five years after it was created.

The latest report and financial statements for the period ended February 24, 2024 is accompanied by a director’s report dated November 18, by John Jackson – a former director of CUFC Holdings – who confirms: “The company has not traded during the period or the previous period.”

The latest Companies House filing for Eden Valley Sport Limited (Image: Companies House)

Jackson is listed as one of two directors of the company, the other being John Herring. The company has share capital of £1, dating to its incorporation in February 2019.

At the time, a spokesperson told the News & Star that the business was set up “as a potential holding company for sporting interests in Cumbria.”

After launching the company, Day ceased to be a director of Eden Valley Sport in January 2020, with his EWM colleagues Jackson and Herring duly becoming directors at the same time.

It was three years ago that United’s supporters’ trust confirmed for the first time that Eden Valley Sport had been central to takeover proposals.

In an update to members they wrote: “The proposal tabled to us in 2019 was for a change of control with a new entity (Eden Valley Sports) taking over approximately 90 per cent of the shareholding, leaving us with a little under 10 per cent.

“The club would continue to be backed financially by EWM, as they had been since early 2017.”

The takeover, though, did not materialise, with the collapse of EWM during the Covid-19 pandemic leading United’s seven-figure debt to EWM to be “novated” – moved – to another company, Purepay Retail Limited.

United’s current owners, the Piatak family, purchased the debt upon their November 2023 takeover and went on to “forgive” the debt, removing it from the Blues’ balance sheet.

Figures involved in Eden Valley Sport have never spoken publicly about the aborted takeover, while Jackson never issued any public comment during his time as a United director.