Carlisle United have insisted that their situation with Edinburgh Woollen Mill is unchanged despite a new reference to their debts to the troubled firm in administrators’ documents.

Detailed proposals prepared by FRP Advisory appear to mention the loans received by the Blues from Philip Day’s company since 2017.

The amount of £2.1m – United’s debt to EWM according to their last accounts – is cited in notes to the estimated outcome statement drawn up by FRP, the firm which has been handling the administration process.

It reads: “The company [EWM] has a small amount of trade debtors. A loan of £2.1m is included in this balance to an unconnected party. A write-off has been included for the purposes of the EOS [estimated outcome statement].”

FRP Advisory have so far not commented on exactly what the reference to “write-off” means, when asked by the News & Star.

It appears premature, though, to consider that the Blues' debt may have been wiped.

Carlisle United said: “We are aware of the update that has been posted but it doesn’t change anything, from our previous updates, as far as we are concerned.”

The status of United’s £2.1m debt could depend on the overall shape of Day’s empire after the current process.

There has been no sign yet of the debt – which are secured against the club’s assets and subject to personal guarantees by directors – being called in as part of the administration process.

The administrator’s proposal was filed on December 29 and showed EWM, which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, collapsed with £51.6m of unsecured debt including £17.5m owed to its pension scheme, with hundreds of jobs lost and thousands more at risk.

A report in The Sunday Times this weekend, though, said FRP had issued sales contracts to a potential buyer.

And the BBC have today reported that a deal has been agreed to rescue the EWM, Ponden Home and Bonmarche chains, with about 2,500 jobs and 300 jobs to be saved.

A consortium of international investors "will inject fresh funds into the business, led by the existing management team," the report adds, the BBC also claiming "it is understood that Mr Day will effectively lend the group the money to buy the businesses which will be paid back over a number of years".

The overall EWM group included Peacocks, Austin Reed, Jaeger and Bonmarche as well as the EWM retail chain.

Marks & Spencer yesterday confirmed a purchase of the Jaeger brand.

At the time that EWM Group called in administrators for its Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home retail businesses in the autumn, United co-owner John Nixon insisted the club would be able to cope whatever happened.

“If there’s anything that’s going to affect Carlisle United we will know about it and then we’ll be able to do something about it, but that’s if it is going to have any kind of real impact on us,” he said.

“It might just be that it has no impact on us at all.”

Nixon added that, when the situation becomes clearer, “believe you me the directors of this club will be able to cope with whatever is given to us out of that".

“Should it be positive or negative, we will be able to cope with it and that’s because we’re in a much better place from a Carlisle United point of view than we were three or four years ago," he added on the club website.

Tycoon Day made a personal appearance at Brunton Park in September, watching United’s opening game of the season against Fleetwood from the directors’ box alongside director of football David Holdsworth.

EWM's group finance controller John Jackson is a director of Carlisle United's holdings company.

The firm have played an influential role in the Blues' affairs since setting up the loan facility for the club four years ago.