Carlisle United’s first new training pitches at the Sheepmount are now expected to be ready for pre-season training this year.

The Blues had hoped to have the surfaces ready sooner.

But club bosses admitted that they are now likely to run out of time with the aim to have them ready this season.

Chief executive Nigel Clibbens offered an update on the training ground developments at Tuesday night’s fans’ forum.

He said that, by the time the deal had been agreed for the site and work had got under way, it was too late for new grass to grow on the pitches United are creating.

“We got a five-year lease from the council, and the reason for five years was so that we could get a deal done as quickly as possible and try and get on it to do some development work last spring-summer-autumn, in order to have some pitches to play on this winter,” Clibbens said.

“We did all that but didn’t get on early enough. We didn’t sign the deal probably until the grass growing season had finished.

“We started the work on the pitch, some levelling and sanding work, but by the time we got to the point at which the seeds could be grown, it was too late.

“Anybody who’s been down there will see it’s like a sandpit – there’s no grass. That’s not going to come through until the spring now, and we’ll start to do work on those pitches once we get to the growing season.

“That might give us some respite [until] March-April time, but the season’s finished by then, so it’s not going to give us anything this [season], so now we’re looking to next [season].

“We’ve [also] got meetings with the council to try and extend our lease, to give us ten years, so that we can start with the bigger investment, and that will mean we can do more work.

“So the plan for 2025 is to finish the pitches we’ve started, and get them up and running as a minimum by the time the guys come back for pre-season.

“And then [we will] work on the rest of the plateau as and when the legals get sorted with the council.”

Clibbens said the current area being worked on will have room for two full-size pitches, which will offer respite from the current training pitch at Brunton Park.

The longer-term aim for the Sheepmount is to develop a state-of-the-art training complex as part of the Piatak family’s major investment in the club.

Read a full recap of the fans forum as it happened HERE