Carlisle United managers say they make no apologies for running the club cautiously – and for not betting on big salaries like they have in the past.
The Blues, according to general manager Nigel Clibbens, have a budget that sits in the bottom six in League Two.
This claim has led fans to wonder how the club can hope to be successful when they are overtaken by the majority of their rivals.
Brunton Park’s hierarchy, however, says it won’t go back to the period in the middle of the last decade when it spent significantly more on salaries and bonuses – and puts the club at greater financial risk.
CFO Suzanne Kidd said, “We are operating within our means. It’s been really important to us for the last three or four years.
“We are fortunate to have external funding, and we are fortunate to always have a good race with the fortune of football.
“But our forecast for the 2021/22 season is that we have to be able to cover all of our costs.
“It used to be that we had to go from October to November and you throw a coin that you pay – the income, your kit bill, your salary – and nobody in this club wants to run a club like that.
“I don’t think the fans want us to run a club like this. We want to run things well and if that means living within our means, that’s how we budget and plan.
“It would be great to have £ 2.5million [playing] budget and go for it, but we have to make sure our club can survive.
“It’s not good to start with a budget in June [means] you can’t pay the bills by November. ”
Kidd was speaking at this week’s fan forum, hosted by Carlisle United fan groups.
His colleague on the board Nigel Clibbens, the general manager, said that the fact that the Blues were so far down the division table in player spending did not mean other clubs were better managed than United.
He said: “Our budget is not low because everyone is better managed than us.
“Overall it’s because they’ve sold more players in the past – [such as] Exeter – or they have someone funding them, which increases their budget. ”
Clibbens says Carlisle falls into the category of clubs that seek to be “self-sufficient” and not dependent on large financial contributions from outside sources.
He said the club depended on ‘football fortunes’ – such as income from cup tours and player sales – to increase their budget beyond what the Blues earn from normal business activities such as sales. of tickets, retail, trade and centrally distributed solidarity money.
He added: “We could do what we did in 2015-16-17, and when the football fortunes roll in, we spend it all.
“So our wages go up, but next year when we don’t have a fortune in football, we still have high wages but no money.
“What we need to do is manage the money that comes in so that it spreads out over time and doesn’t burn all at once.”
Clibbens says the contribution of director of football David Holdsworth has helped the Blues “take a longer view” of their spending.
He added: “He [says] we’re not going to spend all the money from the Jarrad Branthwaite deal this year – we might need it next year.
“This approach was absolutely valuable during Covid. We entered Covid with money in the bank, had a cushion, a competitive payroll but [also] allowed us not to worry about going bankrupt and running out of money.
Clibbens said increasing United’s income was a key goal.
He said on the retail side their change of kit supplier to Errea saw improved sales, adding that United would unveil a new ‘excellent’ strip for the 2021/22 season.
He said there will soon be announcements about changes to the catering layout at Brunton Park, while other sponsorship deals are “in the pipeline” following kit sponsor deals with Thomas Graham and Kitchen Rebels.
Clibbens added, however, that maximizing United’s commercial potential is “really difficult” because of Brunton Park’s limitations.
He said, “When sales people want to have experience and come and spend and sponsor you… you have to have the right environment. We don’t have it.
“This will only be fixed when sorting this stage. We can do small things, renovate rooms, work with CUSG on certain areas, but it’s tinkering around.
“I know this is a long term problem. But we are really trying to make the most of the strengths that we have. ”
Clibbens has said any expansion of United’s retail offerings will require investments that should be taken from other areas of the club.
And he pointed out that winning matches, and therefore spending appropriate levels in the team, always leads to the “biggest payoutâ€.