United media officer and first team kitman Andy Hall spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips ahead of Carlisle's League One game at home to Oldham this afternoon, Hall first talking about Blues manager Greg Abbott's team selection for the match :
" I think Scott Dobie has had a few games recently and he is not so much being rested but I think Greg is having a look at the squad and the way he can use it and the way he can move things around. Obviously the other one is to start Gary Madine upfront again, the way we did against Leeds United, he had a good game we thought, he certainly put himself about a little bit.
" Marc Bridge-Wilkinson is also coming in, again when you have got Jason Price dropping out you have to look at what resources you have got left and how you are going to utilise those resources, and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has come in there probably on the right-hand side.
" We have got a few more coming in, we have got David Raven coming back into the side as well. He is another one who needs to be on the pitch and needs to be showing what he can do. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, I think the gaffer has said a few times in your interviews that he is a clever player.
" If you can get him onto the ball and get him using it then he can hurt the opposition, and that is definitely what we want to see. David Raven is more of a solid player, another one who will come in and he deputised really well when he was thrown into it on Tuesday night, and we think he will do the same again at centre-half.
" I think it is a difficult one with Richard Keogh and David Raven because Raven still needs pitch time. So I think the way the manager will probably be thinking is that once Raven gets back up to speed that he has got a real decision to make there.
" Because you have got somebody who is almost a career right-back in David Raven, whereas Richard Keogh it is a nice surprise, and I hope the manager won't mind me saying that. He has moved into that position and taken everybody by surprise, and sometimes you get a driving force like Richard Keogh who kicks the rest of the team on. "
" We have seen that a number of times, particularly here at Brunton Park. So it is an interesting one for the manager to have to mull over, particularly once Raven is fully fit again, which he almost is.
" The managers has been in talks with a number of the players since probably before Christmas. These things are always a slow and painful process as far as we are concerned because we just want the news.
" But for the players and for the manager it is key that they get everything right, so that everybody is happy. I don't think anybody feels pressured by it, I think everybody just wants to make sure that everything is right and once it is they will sign that piece of paper and we will all be able to talk about it.
" I think we are used to it at the club, it used to be a case of you are thinking - why not just do it, there is the offer, if you like it then sign it. But it is never that easy, there are so many things that these lads have to get right and that the club have to get right. I think it is only right and proper that everybody takes their time to do that.
" I think it is nice to be mid-table now but that is tempered with the fact that, I think personally in my role as the media guy, I think we have got to look at….. It has given us a chance to review the fact that we haven't really connected with the fans, and that is something I probably take personally to be honest with you, because we need to.
" We need to be talking to the fans, engaging with the fans, finding out exactly what it is that is wrong. We are doing a lot actually, and it is a lot of hard work to try to make that better. "
" It sounds daft, but things like Twitter and Facebook and the forums that we have been having, but we want to do more because we do want to make everybody feel as if actually the club cares, which we do massively.
" We are all working so hard to try to make the club move forward as much as we can as quickly as we can. Sometimes it is frustrating when it is all negative coming back the other way, so that is probably an area where personally, in conjunction with a lot of the directors as well, that we are looking at, to try to improve significantly.
" And we keep saying it, I know people will say that we do keep on saying it, but we do, we genuinely work hard and we genuinely want to try to get this area of it right.
" There is a reality with season ticket prices isn't there, you have got to look back to 12 months ago. We have got a £1.4 million debt that everybody knows about, we have got a £1.2 million deficit that everybody was told about. They don't just disappear, you have to service those.
" I think the owners quite rightly pointed out at the London Branch Forum down in Southend that it can cost anywhere from £100,000 to £150,000 a week just to keep this place going. Not just in wages, but in light bulbs and things like that. That is a real time cost, it is something that has to be paid and borne every single week.
" So we have got to do that, but we have got to keep the club running, and at the same time we have got to try to keep the club moving forward as well. It is a difficult balance but it is one that, and hopefully with the work that we do, and the way that we re-do things and try to get things right, it is one that we will able to do in the future. "