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" I'm astounded by what John is saying. I really don't want to get into a public spat with John because he is a nice fella. It's just that his recollection of the facts always let him down unfortunately. I need to address a couple of things that he has said. One is that he is saying that I gave him a deadline last Tuesday, what he forgot to tell everyone is that I have given him four deadlines over the last month, all of which he has failed to respond to.
" The one that he talked about on Tuesday was the last and the final of the series, so he is being a little bit insincere when he is conveying that. I was offering to sell the club to John for £100 and in a much better condition than John sold it to me, and he still didn't take that offer. So I think John needs to be a bit more honest about what he is saying. On the debt, we have reduced the debt in the club, I think that David Allen is coming on later, I'll let David speak about that.
" On the land, John knows I have moved heaven and earth to try to transfer that land to John. I have never contended that John shouldn't get the land, that is what I agreed with John when he sold the club. John didn't have a legal representative, and he should have got it transferred and not left me with a big problem to transfer it to him. The (United) Trust have launched a legal attack to stop us transferring the land, if John has got an issue with anyone as far as transferring the land to him, he really does need to speak to the Trust and his friend Alan Steel.
" Because I know that they speak regularly on the phone to each other. Perhaps he should be questioning the Trust, because everyone knows that I have tried, and spent a lot of money trying to transfer that land to John, and I have got no issue with that. I've got no issue with John but I am disappointed with him coming and talking, quite honestly the rubbish that he has talked on your phone-in tonight. "
" The shares have now been transferred but taking legal action comes with the job description of owning Carlisle United. People seem to think that if you are the owner of Carlisle United they can go and take legal action against you. They sound so big and tough when they say these things, well the Trust has tried that, Brooks Mileson has tried that and the fact is that everything we have done has been absolutely correct and above board. That is why I have seen those two characters off, and if John is going to be silly enough to do that then he'll find that I have done everything absolutely properly. John really does need to get his facts right.
" You and your messageboard lads, you all get yourselves excited about these things. The truth is that I bet John Courtenay has no idea what the debt was when he sold the club to me. When you talk about debt, speak to David Allen, he is the accountant, look at the published accounts. You are all getting yourselves excited about these things, there are audited legal accounts, if you want to look at the debt then have a look in there.
" What I can tell you is that when I bought the club I put £2.15 million into the club to cover outstanding bills, to pay for players whose contracts were a joke quite frankly, and the best thing to do was pay them up and get fresh players in. Let me remind you that that was why we have been successful at this football club. Everyone seems to run around, the owner of the football club and the four directors who have become owners now are getting it together now. They are the targets of all these people who can tell them what they should and shouldn't do.
" The reality is that those people who have taken over the club are local people with a lot to lose, and people seem to take advantage of that which I think is pretty sad. The reality is that they care deeply for the club, they want the club to succeed, if people are true Carlisle United supporters they should stop getting their knickers in a twist and they should start supporting the club. I'll leave the actual debt level to David Allen because they do the accounts, I don't question the accounts, I know that they will be right.
" I know that I have put £2.15 million into the club, I never charged any interest for that money, and quite honestly that has meant that the club could stop chasing it's tail. When I bought the football club, before the shares were transferred the first thing that I had to tell everybody who worked at the football club, that there was no money to pay their wages, and there was a lass couldn't go on holiday because of that. "
" John is a nice fella but let's not get carried away here, John left that club without a bean in the club. People who worked for him, and he owned the club, didn't have the money to go on their holidays. So let's get it in context exactly where the club was when John left it, John did a fantastic job, he lost a lot of money in the club. Whether he was naïve, he was misadvised or whatever, but John is not a dishonest man, he is a really nice fella but sometimes he gets carried away with the facts, and he really needs to think before he talks.
" Saying why I chose them over John would be me going into what John Courtenay has done before. All I'm doing here is that, I didn't want to come and have a public spat with John because I do like the fella. I'm not going to say why I didn't choose John Courtenay or why I didn't choose anybody else, that's irrelevant. At the end of the day I have chosen to sell it to the four directors for one reason and one reason only, because I believe that they are the best people to look after Carlisle United. That is my, and still is, my primary interest.
" John says that he hasn't had a phone call returned, John is pretty good at not returning calls himself, so it is a little bit of pot and kettle there. Of course the club is still involved in a legal wrangle with the Trust, because the club is trying to see the land transferred to John Courtenay. So I am just absolutely astounded that John has come out attacking me and the club for not getting the land. We have spent a lot of money as John well knows, trying to transfer that land to John Courtenay.
" He really needs to speak to that fella that keeps ringing him up, and he keeps ringing back, that is a fella called Alan Steel. Alan Steel and his other compatriots on the Trust, they are the people who are stopping the land being transferred to John Courtenay. Anyone will tell you at that AGM last year, at the shareholders meeting, will verify that, the press were invited, it's all there on the public record. People can stop getting excited and making things up, the facts are there for them to look at. It's a difficult thing owning a football club, but I shouldn't be surprised about the last 24 hours really. "