Carlisle United chief executive Nigel Clibbens believes the 'mist is starting to clear' around rumoured start dates for the new League Two season.

Clibbens said dates had been floated towards the end of August and early September but nothing is yet decided.

Talking to the club's website, he admitted that things were still unclear but that he could see a way ahead.

“A couple of dates were floated towards the end of August and early September, but there’s an international break in the middle of that.

“Obviously that shouldn’t really affect League Two, and I think clubs are going to be asked if they want to start sooner rather than later around those kind of times. It’s a trade-off, if we can get the rules about what happens with fans really clear, and clubs can start earning some income, I think we’ll all just want to get on with it.

“If it’s still unclear as to what will happen, with the costs that come along with that coupled with no funding to pay for it, again it becomes quite difficult to even think about staging games or starting a season. We’d all find it hard with no income and a lot of costs.

"What I will say is that the mist is starting to clear, but it’s happening slowly. What we do know is that we aren’t going to get the fixtures until mid-August, with the National League play-off final not until 2 August, so even getting those fixtures two weeks later is a test, given the complexity of what’s needed to come up with the final scheduling.

“That’s why there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty for quite a while yet. You’ll have seen that the EFL are appealing the Macclesfield disciplinary commission punishment, so we don’t know what that will mean in terms of relegation, particularly if it means that another points deduction is made.

“Equally the EFL still needs to decide whether the National League has satisfied its criteria of certainty of a start for next season to know if anybody will get relegated in the first place. I’ve raised that specific point because it’s one that needs to be resolved quickly. They understand, but they weren’t able to say when we would know whether we had 24 or 25 teams for next season.”

Clibbens also admitted that there were problems ahead with the current transfer window remaining shut.

He added: “At the moment it’s all on hold, put simply,” he said. “There’s a lot of debate about when the transfer window will open, when it will close, and all of this kind of stuff. It’s something else that’s really difficult, and it’s one of the things that we’re all waiting to hear some clarification about.

“We’ve tried to lobby the EFL to let them know that we needed more time for a transfer window. Traditionally the transfer window opens after the season has finished, but this one isn’t going to finish for quite a while.

“It can’t be right that you’d be signing a player, even if he can’t play for you, who is still playing games at another club. People move down the pyramid, it’s lives and careers on the line here, and there are so many players out of contract who just want to know what they’re doing next.

“Everything has been pushed back, so we end up with a shorter window than we would otherwise traditionally have had. So, let’s say that if a window last 12 weeks, and the season started on 1 August, we’re going to be playing games and still doing transfers in mid-season.”