Carlisle United supporters overwhelmingly vote in favour of American takeover

Potential takeover of carlisle united by carlisle
Tom Piatak is hopeful that his takeover of Carlisle United could be completed by mid-October. Credit: ITV

Members of the Carlisle United Supporters Club (CUOSC) have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposals from Castle Sports Group.

Headed by American businessman Tom Piatak and his family they are looking to purchase Carlisle United.

Out of 849 eligible members, 701 voted with a turnout of 82%.

Supporters have voted in favour of the American takeover. Credit: ITV

688 members voted in favour of the proposals from Castle Sports Group, representing 98% of voting members, compared to just 12 people, representing 1.7% of the vote who were against.

  • Castle Sports Group statement following CUOSC vote.

Tom Piatak is a logistics firm owner from Florida and is hopeful that his takeover of Carlisle United could be completed by mid-October.

At the meeting with the trust on Sunday 24 September Mr Piatak presented his family's plans and vision for the club.

  • Watch as Tom Piatak speaks to ITV Border about meeting Carlisle United supporters to discuss his vision for the club.

He also publicly called on Purepay to resolve the club’s debt situation, to which he received a hugely positive response. Piatak told the Trust's members he was “confident” the debt situation – previously described as a significant hurdle to the deal – could be resolved.

Carlisle United currently have a £2.6 million debt to Purepay - a legacy of loans from Philip Day's Edinburgh Woolen Mill.

The CUOSC have also agreed to reduce their voting stake in United's holding company from 25.4% down to 10%.

A conclusion to the long-running debt saga has not been achieved, despite the club's repeated efforts to agree a repayment plan on the debt in recent months. Piatak said that it could “present a problem” should there remain no communication with Purepay.

Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson has previously spoken about his optimism regarding the deal but when he spoke with ITV Border earlier this month his focus was firmly on the matches ahead.

He said: "My focus is we have got a group of players here now and the transfer window is closed. The current ownership group have backed us and allowed us to bring some good players in.

"Until anything changes I will keep working with this group, keeping talking to the current owners and hope we keep improving as a football club."

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