With three of last season’s loan players now officially on the Carlisle United payroll that source of recruitment is a strong possibility again for manager Paul Simpson.
Alfie McCalmont, Jack Robinson and Ben Barclay have subsequently joined the Blues on permanent deals – and there could be more.
Simpson has hinted he might be trying to bring Fin Back and John-Kymani Gordon into the Brunton Park fold once again.
He told the official club website: “We’ve got the three lads in so far who were on loan last year and we’ve got a couple of other things we’re looking at in terms of loans.
“There’s interest, but whether we can get them is another thing. I thought both lads did very well.
“I don’t know what their clubs’ thoughts are on it, but we’ll speak to them. I speak to Steve Cooper regularly at Forest and Mark Bright at Crystal Palace really enjoyed what we did with JK and he liked how we looked after him.
“So I don’t think we’ve done ourselves any harm, whether it’s with JK or whether it’s with any other players at their club, so we’ll keep going. We’ll keep trying to get them in.”
On the subject of new loan deals Simpson said: “They won’t happen this week, possibly next, and hopefully they’ll come through. In terms of Premier League loans, we have to wait for the international boys to come back, so that’s going to be probably in a week or a week or so.
“I think we will get loans from Premier League clubs and then we’ve just got to wait and see what happens after that.
“The three who have signed contracts, we’ve given them an opportunity to play football and that’s what we’re here for. They’ll be able to show us what they’re all about.
“They’ll be able to help the squad, help the team, give the fans something to shout about, but I’m not deluded to think that this is enough. We’re going to need some reinforcements. We need more players to come in.
“That’s for the fans, for me, and for the rest of the players, because they want to see new faces and we’re desperately trying to do it, so we’ll just keep working away.
“But it’s good to get Ben, Alfie and Jack. With Ben, he had a contract with Stockport, and I think it’s just the way it is. He wasn’t part of their plans and these things happen.
“That’s the same with Alfie. Leeds looked at this as an opportunity for one of their young players to get a chance in first team football, and that’s the same for Jack and Boro as well.
“The days of transfer fees are more for things at the top end, but not so much down this end. And to be honest, certainly not for us either.”
Two other players who took to their spells in Cumbria were Fin Back and John-Kymani Gordon who, the manager commented, were both still on the radar.
“There’s interest, but whether we can get them is another thing,” he said. “I thought both lads did very well.
“I don’t know what the clubs’ thoughts are on it, but we’ll speak to them. I speak to Steve Cooper regularly. Mark Bright really enjoyed what we did with JK and he liked how we looked after him.
“So I don’t think we’ve done ourselves any harm, whether it’s with JK or whether it’s with any other players at their club, so we’ll keep going. We’ll keep trying to get them in.
“We know where we need players, just like all the fans will probably be aware of where we need players, and that’s something we’ve just got to try and get to.
“We’re actually talking to a number of clubs at the moment about loan signings. They just won’t allow to come through just yet because they want to check that their own international players are coming back fit.
“They don’t want to reduce the quality of their own squads that are training, so they keep them around. But I’m hoping that over the next week or two we should get a bit of movement on that.”
