There was a bit of late transfer window drama for the Blues on deadline day with the half-time announcement during the Barrow game that second year scholar Ryan Carr had joined Ipswich Town for an undisclosed fee, following a successful trial period with the League One club.
Explaining the move, manager Paul Simpson said: “He’s a player who they asked us about in December.
“They asked us if they could take him in for a week of training, which we allowed them to do. He wanted to go and take a look, so it was only fair to the boy.
“It’s a good football club and we were in a position where when you get a club like that showing, you’re vulnerable in that area.
“Ryan was at the end of his scholarship this year, he’d only been with us for two years and you look at the situation and, because of the rules of EPPP and compensation, we weren’t going to get a hell of a lot for him.
“We think he’s got a future and we’d have been delighted to keep him here. They’ve left it up until these last few days and then they came in over the weekend with an offer.
“We’ve tried to get an improvement, it’s a nominal fee, but it is actually more than we would have got had it gone to a tribunal in the summer.
“It’s a really tricky situation, and supporters may not like to hear it, but we have a problem when it comes to the academy players. We do have good ones and if they’re playing in our first team, where we can try and demand a bit more money, they’ve got us in a difficult situation.
“I’m really pleased for Ryan because he’s a great lad and I think he’s got a good future ahead of him. We have no holding area where we could have been playing him, so he’s playing under-18 football with us and he’s not quite ready for the first team in my opinion.
“We had to make the decision to allow him to go and we wish him all the best. What I’m saying isn’t anything against Ipswich, it’s the rules. They’ve been very professional in how they’ve gone about it. That’s just the way it goes and we have to accept it as much as we might not like it.”
“If he develops well there are different add-ons and clauses down the line,” he added. “That might come into it and a little sell on and stuff lined up.
“It’s one of them where we just have to take it on the chin. We can't do anything about it. The rules state what you're going to get if it does happen, and we just have to wish him all the best.
“Since December, when we first had the interest, I was fearing it was going to happen. I've got no criticism of Ipswich, they did it properly and we've been fair with them and with Ryan as well.
“It's just the way the EPPP is and it's nothing you can do. And I think the EPPP is very good. I just think clubs like us, we have absolutely no power when it comes to situations like that and we just have to take any small pickings that we can get.”
Speaking about the added complication with scholars for clubs in the lower leagues, he told us: “We have a problem here because in the last few years contracts have been offered early to scholars.
“What then happens is the ones who haven't been offered contracts just chuck it in when it comes to the education, and we have a duty of care to make sure that they do their education properly.
“So if we tell a couple of lads in December they're getting a contract the other second years think, hang on, I’m not getting one. That’s when some chuck the towel in on education.
“We made a point to them and we had a meeting with the Academy in November. I think it was where I said no decisions will be made until the summer.
“They all have to finish their education so that if they don't get a contract here, they leave with something behind them in terms of points to get to university. That means you leave yourselves open to this kind of thing.
“The players have agents and if they know that a club from a higher level and with more money than Carlisle United are there, they just turn the contract down in the summer, they go to a tribunal and we’d have got less than we've got in this situation.
“We have to accept it, and we'll keep doing what we're doing and hope that it doesn't happen very often.”
Other than that, it was a relatively quiet close to the January activities.
“I’m really happy with the group we’ve got,” he said. “I’m really disappointed in losing Tobi Sho-Silva. His news isn’t great, he’s got a grade three strain on two of the ligaments in his ankle, so he is possibly going to need surgery.
“That means he’s likely to be out for about 12 weeks, from whenever that surgery is. He turned his ankle on Friday in training before the Rochdale game, blocked a shot, and we didn't think it was anything serious.
“He went and had a scan and we need to get a surgical opinion on it, which we're waiting for that appointment. He's obviously disappointed. We're all disappointed for Tobi. We've just got to make sure we look after him.
“That’s the same for Jack Ellis. He hasn’t progressed as well as we would have liked this week and he’s maybe a little bit further back than we hoped.
“I did consider more cover for him, but then I just thought, I'm really pleased with the group we've got. We're going to have to make do with what we've got.
“And I've got to say, I thought Ben Barclay was outstanding in that position. I thought he brought a real calmness, a real assuredness in the way he played, barring the cramps at the end, he was a really good performer for us.”
As with any window there were rumours linking players with moves out to all kinds of clubs along the way.
“The only time I feared it was when you guys kept asking me because there's never been an enquiry about them,” he insisted. “The players have just got on with it, so I wasn't aware of any interest in anybody.
“And I'm sure there is, when they’re performing like that, there's bound to be interest. I was just hoping that nothing would come and I chose to not think about it, except when I had to answer you [the press].
“It's just focus now, focus on games of football. And as we get through April and May, people start saying, are you going to lose them in the summer. Let's not worry about that.
“If we lose them, it'll only be for the right reasons. And let's just keep everybody together, keep everybody focussed on these last run of games, and hope we continue as we have done.”