CUSG Meeting - Mon 6th Sept 2021

I agree there Bumble

Nothing to do with me as I've let my membership lapse but I admire the optimism that the money won't be needed for covid issues.

I would be keeping that money ringfenced for the next few months, at least until the spring.

Questions

Hi

Questions for the club/cusg please?

Does the club/cusg find it acceptable that despite being number 2 for fan engagement a member of cusg, namely the trust, have reverted back to old ways of ignoring questions/criticism?

Before the messageboard joined cusg this was the norm. Thankfully when the mods joined and did the questions the trust answered, but now it seems that this Avenue has stopped the trust have reverted back to ignoring which is disappointing.

Can the club confirm if they initially suggested using the reunited fund for Murphys bar refurbishment? I understand this has now been rejected but it's intriguing how the initial suggestion came about?

Thanks

Quoted from bob hatton 10 on Tuesday, 14 September 2025

So they have a problem then with13k of money that was specifically ringfenced. Ask those that donated what they want or hand it back are the options or they are on a sticky wicket especially if they ever plan on doing something again.

It’s been in the trusts account for over a year, they bought a nordboard and that’s it. There’s confusion over who suggested the fund be used for the bar refurb but to be in on it and make the suggestion is absurd.

The reason I picked up on it now was the article in the clubs info about cardboard cut outs. It stated again about how the money was going to be used and included for to help the club through covid and no other reasons.

The club confirmed they rejected the offer from the trust to fund the refurb.

Going forward we have 13k in the bank, with a little interest I presume, and not spent. Whatever happens going forward the fund won’t be used in the original remit. The trust say they have another project to use the funds on, but no further details - it’s been a year!

So I suggested ask the members/supporters for reasonable suggestions and take a vote on it. But they didn’t like it!

It just reinforces the point that the Trust are totally useless and they definitely shouldn't be masquerading as the Official Supporters Club as it's patently obvious that they have as much interest in the supporters of the club as the BoD have.
It comes across that now they have their snouts in the BoD's trough to hell with the rest of the support.

So they have a problem then with13k of money that was specifically ringfenced. Ask those that donated what they want or hand it back are the options or they are on a sticky wicket especially if they ever plan on doing something again.

Trust didn’t like that suggestion ffs

The club in fairness have rejected the donation from the trust/reunited towards the bar refurbishment - well done

However the trust have said it was the club who suggested it ???

Anyway going forward we have 13k sat in the bank for over a year with no idea where to spend it on.

Therefore It’s not going to be used towards the original remit of helping the club through Covid. So I suggest supporters send suggestions to the trust on how the money is to be used/spent (especially those that donated) and the trust can create a poll of these suggestions and put it to supporters - I’ve built the tools for them to do this so there’s no excuse, it might even give them a bit of positivity asking supporters opinions?

Over to you trust

Pointed to this by someone else but this link: https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2021/september/face-in-the-crowd-remaining-cut-outs-now-displayed-at-brunton-park/

There’s a paragraph that states the below.

Funds raised were purely for the purpose of supporting the club through the crisis and not to be used for any other purpose.

Again! Where does a bar refurbishment fit into that criteria?

I might pop in next time I go to a game.

In all honesty saying nought is probably best for them as the last one wasn't great . Ps you could always ask at their match day surgery/ meeting thing

Quoted from bob hatton 10 on Sunday, 12 September 2025

What I meant Mullen , was while I agree with your point about their reply it was highly unlikely they would reply to it and dig a bigger hole

Yep - I get that, doesn’t portray them in good light either way.

There were other questions though re succession etc.

What I meant Mullen , was while I agree with your point about their reply it was highly unlikely they would reply to it and dig a bigger hole

Still no answer!

I’m not bothered anymore let the trust do whatever it is they think they do but it’s two fingers up to those irrelevant yet correct people that think the trust are unfit and arrogant. Maybe they were right, well they are right!

We are a “competitive” side in tier 4 nothing more and nothing less. The trust should be screaming for change as we’ve been stuck in this league for what feels like forever.

They should be raising significant funds, but they don’t want too and pass the buck onto others.

But they are interested in diversity as it’s helps two people climb the ladder.

Whole thing stinks.

Quoted from ccu on Friday, 10 September 2025

Ditto. No direct answer myself, although the subject was covered in NC’s updates…

Had an answer, it had went into my Junk folder yesterday.

My Original Q was:

Three Home Saturday’s in a row, three ticket system failures in a row.

Fan’s getting waved in without tickets being scanned, fans being given empty tickets with biro scribbled on, queues at all ticket offices.

What is being done to address this shambles?

The reply received was:

Hi Dan
I refer to your questions for the club sent to hello@cusg.co.uk on 5 September.

They have been passed to me.

See below (in yellow) for the full detailed explanation.

I apologise to you and any other fans who are upset or have been inconvenienced due to ticketing issues we have experiencing in recent games.

Up until these events we have had no issues with the system over many years.

When it became clear at Orient and Salford (Colchester suffered only intermittent issues) we could not expect it to work we immediately activated our full contingency plan to minimise the impact. Despite the best efforts of all our staff it meant some fans suffered additional queuing time or an inferior match day service.

It is not a case of the club or staff failing to deal with issues or having no contingency in place.

Before each game our IT specialist and the club has conversations about the ticket system reliability and received assurances from the supplier.

We have had further assurances, later this week and again we are assured more changes have been made. We will be monitoring other users this weekend very closely to see how they get on.

I hope all the information clarifies the issue and what the club has and continue to do about it

If you have any more questions on the ticket issue for the club, please send them direct to me and I will answer them.

Best wishes
Nigel

The piece mentioned in yellow (obv won’t show as such on here!) was:

The detail of the issue is covered in my briefing note to the fan groups CUSG meeting which was published for all the fans here
https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/siteassets/documents/cusg-briefing-notes-sep-21.pdf

and in the minutes published for all the fans here
https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2021/september/cusg-september-meeting-minutes/

and in my update over the last couple of days – part 2
https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2021/september/chief-exec-september-update-part-2/

Thanks to Nigel for replying, I had several folk ask me if I could enquire about the Ticketing, hopefully this covers it all for them!

Quoted from bob hatton 10 on Saturday, 11 September 2025

You didn't actually expect anyone to answer that did you

I did yes, but not surprising they haven’t!

The trust at the agm more/less called the people calling them unfit and arrogant as irrelevant and not indicative of the support in general.

I think the trust will find that majority of our support find them arrogant and unfit to be honest.

You didn't actually expect anyone to answer that did you

Still no reply - to be honest I’m passed being bothered now!

But the question was in relation to those people that bothered to reply to my post re the trust being fit for purpose and calling the trust arrogant etc. Question was in relation to the trust calling these people more/less irrelevant and not having valid opinions as they aren’t the whole supporters opinions.

Well there’s no reply to this, so there’s your answer really!

For not a lot of money, you can buy European football in Scotland-so long as you don’t chase the Old Firm

The stadium at Dunfermline is also in good nick-a legacy from HBOS/Gavin Masterton largesse

In contrast Carlisle have zero chance of European football and the stadium is falling to bits

That’s the hard facts

Also calling a lender with an interest bearing loan backed up with a full security package including PGs an ‘investor’ is fanciful.

I got responses to my questions from N Clibbens for CUFC and A Woodcock for CUOSC.

A group of German businessmen recently bought a majority shareholding in Dunfermline Athletic F.C. reportedly for a seven figure sum whilst retaining the existing shareholders on the club’s board of directors. This sounds like exactly the sort of deal that the current owners of CUFC claim to have been looking for and failing to find for more than a decade.

NC - "At the last fans’ forum John Nixon confirmed that the three shareholders are in the “middle of an investment programme with one investor. So at present they are not currently looking at alternative options."

Question 1 - Were the owners of CUFC, including CUOSC, aware that this group was looking for a club to invest in?

NC - "Not aware of them."
AW - "CUOSC weren't aware of this group's interest in European football clubs. We don't believe anyone else at the club was either."

If not, why not?

NC - "We were not contacted by them. It is not possible for us to know every potential party across Europe looking at making an investment."

Question 2 - Was there any contact with the group? If so, how did that go?

NC - "None."
AW - "Not that we are aware of."

Question 3 - Why do you think that the group chose Dunfermline Athletic over CUFC?

NC - "I have no view."

Is it because you aren’t trying hard enough to attract new investment?

NC - "It is a question for them."
AW - "It is our understanding that the German consortium utilised an intermediary to contact Dunfermline. Therefore it was them reaching out to Dunfermline rather than the other way round. CUOSC and other individuals within the club have had discussions with various interested parties in recent years and months, and we've already acknowledged that the club came close to being taken over by already named parties about two years ago. The process of finding a route to succession is ongoing, with CUOSC at the forefront of it."

Thanks to Nigel & Alistair for their answers, if they're reading this. It's interesting that the owners have shut the door on talking to any new potential investors other than the one they have been negotiating with for some time. This is a change of approach from when they were in talks with the Lapping consortium but then blew that out of the water by listening to Kirdi.

We are going to go back to the times of no criticism or critical taken personally.

It’s our way or the high way!

Ditto. No direct answer myself, although the subject was covered in NC’s updates…

I still haven’t got answers and I think I was before Sepp.

You’re going to get selective answering and ignoring again now as you had before.

Seems the collective might be another Member light shortly if a rant is to be believed…

Quoted from ccu on Thursday, 09 September 2025

Quoted from Mullen103 on Thursday, 09 September 2025

No mention of the messageboard mods leaving.

Or even an acknowledgment of our contribution in the last 3yrs!

Proves our decision to step back was correct IMO…

Disgusting really!

There’s no denying you brought something to the meeting than others who treat it as a cosy get together.

You’d at least expected a thank you etc and wishing you the best statement but nothing is disgusting and if anything highlights, by some, what they thought of you.

I’m maybe becoming tame as I would normally loved a meeting with the trust and mentioned this but I just can’t be bothered. It’s sad as well the person that talked to Billy about “unscrupulous people” can’t be bothered either and no longer attends games after 43 years(minus Covid) again not the trusts fault but he’s had enough of the whole “Carlisle United” thing and doesn’t recognise it anymore.