Northampton Boss Stuart Gray On Tomorrow

Last updated : 25 December 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Stuart Gray
Cobblers manager Stuart Gray spoke to BBC Radio Northampton and his club's official website about the League One match against Carlisle at Sixfields tomorrow, Gray first suggesting that the fans turn their anger at the local council this week turning down plans for a retail complex at the ground into support from the terraces :


" The players need to give the crowd a lift but after the disappointing news this week the fans can show their frustration and get the anger out of their system by backing the team to the hilt out on the pitch. We've got fantastic support here and unfortunately people outside of the football club are making decisions that aren't allowing the club to develop and move forward.

" This club needs to develop if it wants to move forward and we need the development so that we can improve both the facilities for the community and the working environment for the players. We want to attract better players to the club, we can't blame outside influences for our results on the pitch but looking long-term we need the development if we want to move forward.

" Unfortunately at the moment we aren't getting that help, the Chairman has put a lot of his own money into the football club but there comes a time when that has to stop.I'm sure he will fight tooth and nail to ensure that we don't have to sell our best players but if that does happen we will obviously have to look at the loan market.

" You need to get the right balance and at the end of the day a football club needs to be self-sufficient. I'm sure the Chairman will do everything in his power to keep us afloat and we need the supporters backing and the team winning but we also need help from outside as well.

" We showed great character to get back into the game at Scunthorpe and the players showed great character and belief to come back and get a point. The players work ethic against Scunthorpe was great but we need to start winning at home again and hopefully we will get three points against Carlisle on Saturday. "



" I thought we knocked the ball about really well in difficult conditions on Saturday and full credit to the players they kept going and in the end they got their rewards for the effort and commitment they put in. People always judge centre forwards on the goals they score but midfield is a very important area and I think Danny Jackman has adapted really well to his role in there.

" I'd rather win games 4-3, I don't mind conceding three goals as long as we win 4-3. At this moment we look like scoring goals and we look like conceding goals. I have gone from a flat back four to three at the back but I think that it is the league in itself. You just look at the quality of strikers that we are up against at this moment in time.

" What has happened is that, I am a great believer in what has happened in the Premier League with all the foreign players, it has allowed players to filter down into our league. There are some quality strikers in our league that could probably still play at Championship level, and Championship strikers that could still play at Premier League level.

" Obviously losing Mark Bunn and Chris (Dunn) coming in and then Frankie Fielding doesn't help, but the be-all and end-all is that I am a great believer in that you defend from the front. If your strikers are closing down and everything like that, but sometimes the ball is probably getting a bit into my back three or my back four a little bit too early. So there are two sides of the game, with the ball and without the ball, at the moment with the ball we look quite good but without the ball we need to do better.

" He (Adebayo Akinfenwa) got 60 minutes in the reserve game and he scored a good goal. So the pleasing thing is that he is out of the treatment table and hopefully he stays out of there. All the players are in contention, the pleasing thing is that we are going into the Christmas period with virtually a full squad. We just need Chris Doig (hamstring) fit now and hopefully fingers crossed. "



" With the batch of games that you have got over the Christmas period the squad will be tested because there are going to be aches and pains and a few injuries I would imagine. The most important thing though is that it is a nice problem to have if I have got a fully-fit squad to pick from.

" You look at what they (Carlisle) achieved last season with the play-offs and a good friend of mine in John Ward ended up losing his job. That is the way the game is, it is a results business and who would have thought that Carlisle would have gone on those results that they have had. A freak amount, I think that it was nine (13 - ed) games without a win as such. The most important thing though is that we can't have any sympathy for them, one thing that we do know is that will be a hard and a difficult game.

" If they all click, I think that they have probably underachieved a little bit with the quality of the squad that they have got. They have got the boy (Graham) Kavanagh from Sunderland who is a very, very good player who can dominate the game. That is what I am saying to my midfield players, that they have got to dominate games for 90 minutes, so we have got to keep him quiet.

" It is the inconsistency with us, you have got to get consistency and the most important thing is, that is where we have probably fallen down. It's that certain players should produce decent performances one week and then just go off the boil the following week. So it is getting some consistency, and that is my challenge to the players, play as well as you can and the best you can.

" The most important thing is that they have got to give everything to every game, which they are doing, but we just need to get a bit more consistency. We need to grab games by the scruff of the neck and dominate games a little bit more, rather than waiting to go a goal down or two goals. We need to get our noses in front and then push on and get that second goal. "



Meanwhile Cobblers left-back Danny Jackman told the Northampton Chronicle and Echo :

" Carlisle are not having the greatest of times at the moment so there's no reason why we can't beat them on Saturday. We need to get better at home and how we played at Scunthorpe will give us a massive confidence boost.

" We've proved by being 4-1 down against one of the leading sides that we are a team with a great spirit. Now we need to bottle that confidence and feeling that we can beat anyone and take into every game we play wherever it might be around the country. "




The referee for tomorrow's match is Phil Gibbs from Solihull in the West Midlands, and he will be assisted down the lines by Simon Barrow from Wilnecote in Staffordshire and Sam Lewis from Luton. Meanwhile the fourth official is Geoff Russell from Milton Keynes.