Carlisle boss Keith Curle is ready to admit defeat in his chase for Bradford's Gary Liddle

Carlisle boss Keith Curle is ready to admit defeat in his chase for Bradford's Gary Liddle.

The Cumbrians had a bid rejected for the midfielder last week and Curle does not expect to be able to convince the Bantams to sell.

Ex-Notts County and Hartlepool man Liddle has played 26 times for Bradford this season and Curle expects him to stay at Valley Parade.

"I had a conversation with his agent and he's been told by his manager that he still has a part to play with them," he told Carlisle's official site.

"That's fine, we respect that, because he is their player. If the situation was to change we could possibly revisit it but we are very much in the hands of parent clubs when we're talking about bringing players into our football club."

Carlisle are 10th in Sky Bet League Two, three points behind the top six, and returned to Brunton Park for Saturday's 1-1 draw with York seven weeks after it was badly flooded.

And Curle is ready to spend to aid their promotion push but insisted he will not sign players for the sake of it.

"We know there's money available to do business but I'm not in the habit of wasting it," he continued. "We're still talking to parent clubs about two players I think will add to the current squad. We haven't got to the stage of talking personal terms with either of them yet."