Last updated at 08:12, Friday, 04 September 2015

Carlisle United have refused to comment on a bizarre social media gaffe involving director Steven Pattison.

Steve Pattison

A screengrab of a text message conversation was yesterday posted from the United director of football’s Twitter account.

The image – which was quickly deleted – showed messages from “Keith” which appeared to make disparaging comments about Pattison’s fellow director Dick Young.

They also made critical remarks about News & Star/The Cumberland News writer Jon Colman and the man whose investment proposals were recently thrown out by the club, Andrew Lapping.

The Cumberland News has asked both Pattison and the club to elaborate on the matter and to confirm that the “Keith” in question is not manager Keith Curle.

After removing the image, Pattison claimed he had not posted the screengrab himself.

The Carlisle Glass managing director, one of United’s joint owners, tweeted: “When that Tweet was sent I was doing the banking and my phone was at my desk on charge.

“Should learn to lock phone and trust nobody.”

He also insisted the conversation in the screengrab was several months old, conducted when Pattison was on holiday, and he had “prob[ably] had a few pints” when the image was saved to his phone.

He did not respond to questions about the identity of “Keith”.

Club sources recently insisted that another Keith, the former Stockport and Gretna managing director Keith Agar, had no link to United’s ongoing pursuit of investment from a mystery “billionaire”.

It is now 108 days since the original club announcement of an approach from the unnamed party.