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Greg Abbott
" We've had a few weeks away from it now in terms of the football side but Dennis, I have given him a call a week or so ago saying that we will meet halfway into the break to see where we were at. We are in constant touch by telephone with regards to what is going on and movement with players and talking about players.
" So we have come in for a couple of days this week together, I have been coming up once or twice a week and Dennis has been doing the same. So we are in together just to talk over what has gone on up to press and where we are at this present situation. We have had a good day today talking through loads of different things, football sort of things which is good. We have got peace and quiet there in the office to ourselves so it has been a good day. "
Dennis Booth
" I will be going abroad on the 14th of June for a couple of weeks to Menorca so it will be quiet. I am moving house though so I am quite busy at the moment.
" We have got scouts, we have got a good scouting system, which is important for a club like Carlisle United. Also other managers, and when you go to games and coaches will speak to you and they may mention someone to you that possibly, if they are from a higher division, that player they will say to go and have a look at him. So by getting around to different grounds and watching matches, not only with your own scouts, you pick up quite a bit of information, so it all helps.
" We talk about players but there are some times I have been to see players and you need to see them quite a number of times. Especially I find when things are not going very well for that team, you judge characters then on that. It is easy for players when they are doing well and their side is doing well but a couple of times I have been to see players, as Greg has, and I have come back and said that they haven't done very well tonight.
" So you just don't watch them once or twice, you have to go and see them quite a few times. Every one you try to sign though, it is always a gamble you know because we don't know and we only know after say a couple of years or so, and you say that that was a good signing. We try to do our homework and we have got a very good scouting system and it is important for us. "
Greg Abbott
" Contract offers are a patience thing at the moment, the players have got until June 5th to come back with the offers that they have got to tell us whether they are going to take advantage of the offer or whether they are going to look elsewhere. What players do at the minute, because they have got representatives working for them, they look to exhaust all their options before they come back to you and give you a decision.
" So it is not as straightforward as what it used to be, so at the minute we are talking to people and trying to get a feel for what is going on so we know what we need to look for. We then also know what we have got out of the players that we have offered to come back and be positive with it. So it is a bit of a stalling game at the minute where things aren't moving as quickly as you would like.
" You have just got to be patient though and wait for those decisions, we have got to do our work behind that regardless of whether they say yes or no. If they say no then we need to be ready for other players that we have looked at to come into those positions. If they say yes then all well and good and we move on with the players that we have got.
" At the minute we are waiting for Danny (Graham) to give us an indication of what he is going to do by tomorrow by the latest. He won't give us a 100% answer but we are just trying to get a feel for where he is thinking, because obviously what he is thinking will determine what we do ourselves.
" Danny was fine with that so hopefully by the end of tomorrow, and that is no guarantee, we will have an idea that Danny is going to come with it or he is going to try his luck elsewhere, so it is a wait and see one. I am not being funny, I would like to know quickly and so would Dennis and the rest of the staff so that we can move on things that we have got in the pipeline or things that we have worked on. If Danny comes back and says yes then it has all worked towards getting him his 20-25 goals for next season. "
" That is what we are looking at so it is one of two scenarios at the moment. I think that there must be some interest in him otherwise he would have just come straight back with a positive yes, I want to come, I want to do this and we will talk figures and such like. He has had a tremendous offer from the football club and there must be interest in him because he hasn't come back straight away and said yes, so we have to wait and see.
" He (David Raven) hasn't said yes, what he has done is the conversation was a really positive one. So we never take anything for granted but the indication I got and the feeling in his voice was that he wanted to stay with it and help us improve on what we did last year. That will be one that is done and dusted, wrapped up and then we can move on to the next one.
" We are having a look at signing Premier League youngsters on loan deals. It is an area where we have talked about quite a bit and we have actually put in five phone calls as long as two months ago for players that we know are going to be good players next season. They are at Sunderland, Newcastle, Chelsea, Manchester United, they have all had phone calls.
" The problem is that what Premier League clubs do right at the minute, they wait until these lads come back because at 18 and 19-years old, eight to ten weeks away from the football club is a long time and they grow and they develop. What they generally do is have them pre-season, put them through their paces and have a look at them at the end of pre-season. If they don't think that they are going to figure in their first-team squad in the early part of the season then that is the time that they allow them to go out on loan.
" We have done our work early though and hopefully with the type of clubs, especially with the North-East clubs, that they can keep an eye on them if they come to us. We have got our name in the ring though for three or four really, really good young players. Ideally the loan system, is it right or wrong, we would like players attached to our club on a permanent basis but it is a way of getting that extra quality, and again, within your financial structure. "
" Buying players to develop them and sell on is something that we are looking at. It is something of a gamble because you don't often have enough time to find out a lot about these players. There are loads of good young players at places like Workington, Barrow, Guiseley, Ilkeston Town, there is one there that went to Derby. A lad called Ben Pringle, he was on our radar, he was on our list, the problem is that the size of the transfer fee involved made it difficult for us with the situation that we are in at the moment.
" It is quite a lot of money to pay for one of these players. What we have got to go back to the people at the club is to say that we might have to do this with a view to selling these players on. Developing them and getting the best out of them for 12 to 18 months and then moving them on for decent money. So it is an area that we are looking at and it is something that the scouts are onto all the time.
" I think that with the club we are that we can't afford not to look around the non-league. We have to look at the non-league, we have to look at clubs like Workington, Barrow, Southport, Blyth Spartans, Gateshead, those sorts of teams. The problem is that these players in the Conference teams are actually commanding massive fees, (Steve) Morison has gone for £130,000 (to Millwall).
" So you are actually spending what would nearly be a record transfer for our club to get a player out there that is unproven at league level. So you must do your homework right and you must make sure that you make the right decision because that is an awful lot of money. These players are on massive salaries and some of them have jobs as well so it is not always easy to prise them out.
" Some are actually comfortable at the level they are at, others, the costs involved are enormous, £130,000 for Morison is a massive transfer fee. If they are on £700-£800 a week and they have got a job that pays £700-£800 a week then it is a big salary for League One clubs. "
" I don't think that we are a small club, I think that we are a club with a certain size and a certain stature. What we are trying to do, we are talking about us in the same breath as we are talking about Wigan and Burnley, we think that we are the same type of club as them, and Scunthorpe as well. What we are trying to say is that the clubs of our level with a togetherness and a unity can go on and what you can achieve is unlimited.
" We are not a Manchester United but it is putting things in perspective, it is not setting your standards way above your station. What we are saying is that the size of the club that we are, we can compete in this league and go on. Look what Wigan did, look what Burnley did and look what has carried along with what they have achieved. They have developed themselves into really top football clubs and we think that we can do that the same here.
" So it is not a negative comment when I am talking about us a small club, I think that we are a nice sized club in this division. I think that we are a club that is comfortable of competing in this division and I think that with a little bit of luck and a massive collectiveness, I think that we can achieve what Burnley, Wigan and such like have done.
" We haven't got that massive investment at the minute. What we have got is the four people in charge at the minute who are giving everything that they can and are doing the job to the best of their ability, as me and Dennis are doing the job to the best of our ability. It makes it easier if you get a backer, it makes it easier if you have got more funds then you have got more avenues that you can go at.
" You could probably go to the non-league and pay £50,000-£60,000 a time for these players, sometimes we would like to do that and maybe we can't. Everybody at the club at the minute though is doing the job I think the best that they can you know. Whilst it would be nice to get that investment and we could then go out and buy the top players from the next level, at the minute we are what we are, we have got what we have got and we deal with it and we get on with it. We can't moan too much about what is going on because we have no power over that. "
Dennis Booth
" One thing that I am pleased about with Scunthorpe United is that they have stuck by their manager (Nigel Adkins). A lot of people, he took them up and then they were relegated and there were questions being asked that he would be sacked which I thought was ridiculous. I am really pleased for him that he has gone back, somewhere along the line there just has to be some stability. I am not being funny but if you look at most clubs that have had success, they have had a bit of stability.
" What would be the point in sacking Adkins at Scunthorpe, and I think that is what he has had, he has had time to build a squad. He knew them and I think that when you are at a club like Scunthorpe you have to work harder with players and work with them and be collective. As Greg said just there, you can go a long way with people pulling together and that is not just the players, it is everyone involved with the football club, and the fans play a massive part.
" As we saw at the end of the season when we got 9,000 who came along and were right behind us from the word go, and that makes a massive impact on the players believe you and me, and myself, it was fantastic. So I think that you have to be collective, you have to be strong and you have to have a little bit of time, it is not overnight.
" They paid £100,000 for Gary Hooper (ed-£125,000), unfortunately we didn't have £100,000 to spend. So you say that they have good buys but they have had more money than us, we couldn't compete with the people like that. We would love them, we knew all about them, we knew about Hooper and that but we can't afford them. The boy (Simeon) Jackson that scored the winning goal for Gillingham, he cost £125,000 from Stevenage (ed - £150,000 and Rushden.)"