United media officer and first team kitman Andy Hall (AH) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this afternoon ahead of Carlisle's League One match away to Chesterfield, Hall first talking about Greg Abbott picking the same eleven that started United's 2-1 midweek win at Tranmere :
JP
A completely unchanged line-up for Carlisle United, I don't suppose, injuries permitting, the manager would have ever have conceived of anything else?
AH
No, not after Tuesday night the way the lads played, the attitude was fantastic, determination, energy, all the buzz words we keep hearing from Mr Abbott, the lads produced it in droves on Tuesday night and got the result because of it. So, again with another away game we are protecting the unbeaten away league record of course, so the lads have been sent out there to do more of the same please.
JP
Any particular reason you think why they are finding so much more joy on the road at the moment, the Cumbrians?
AH
No idea whatsoever, it is one of those really frustrating things because by and large it is the same squad of players isn't it that do home and away, you pretty much get a core of a team that is together, and for some reason, again the manager has mentioned the word fear but I don't think it is that.
Something does creep in and happen with us at home where we have not been producing it and we really want to because everybody is frustrated about the fact that we are playing some great football when we go away but those people who are coming to support us at home, we want them to see it as well. We have to hold our hands up and say that we haven't done it consistently enough for a while now, and it is something we want to change.
JP
Something I noticed when the three goalkeepers, who are warming up in front of us here, when they came out, the fans behind the goal, there were perhaps only 30 or 40 of them but every one of them to a man got up and applauded, not just sort of clapped, but applauded and cheered out just the goalkeepers coming out to start their warm up. You can't underestimate how important it is can you for the players to have that sort of support on these away trips. I wonder if that little bit extra helps them?
AH
What you get at away grounds is by nature of the beast is the fans all gathered together and collected in one area. So, again because of where that is and what happens the noise is amplified because of it. You don't get that at home, the fans are spread about a little bit and it is down to us a club to generate some kind of atmosphere, and that is certainly what we are trying to do.
We look at trying to address all areas of matchday experience, we have tried with the ticketing system and things like that to improve things, and there are teething problems but we are hoping to get there in all areas. On the pitch when you are at home you have got to do something to really spark the fans because people are spread out, they are all over the ground and if you want the whole ground to be bouncing and lifting the roof you have got to give them the football to do that.
JP
One thing a few fans noticed with the line-up on Tuesday night, the same line-up that we have here at the b2net stadium is that no goalkeeper on the bench, Greg Abbott admitting it is a little bit of a gamble but gives him more options off the bench in terms of the outfield options. Mark Gillespie there along with Tony Caig warming up Adam Collin at the moment, who is the man in the Carlisle United squad who could go in goal? There always is one isn't there, I hear Phil Jagielka is a really good goalkeeper who is currently at Everton, but when he was at Sheffield United he quite regularly filled in between the sticks?
AH
Yeah, we reckon if he was on the pitch it would be Danny Livesey because he fancies himself between the sticks. But, if he is not on the pitch then there are a couple of the bigger lads, I mean you don't need me to tell you who they are, they may well end up doing the job. But, it is a risk, you can hear in the hesistancy of that answer there, it isn't something that will come naturally to any of the ten lads who have got the outfield job.
It is a risk the manager has been willing to take for two games now, I won't use the words got away with it, but in some ways we did do on Tuesday night, we will need to again because if there is an injury or a sending off to the goalkeeper then that position will become under scrutiny. So, it is something the manager has done, will he do it every single game?
I doubt it very much but for these two away games where he wants to make sure that he has got attacking options, and particularly because Chesterfield's season has turned round since the arrival of (Craig) Westcarr, (Leon) Clarke and Lee Johnson I think it was, the three signings have been magnificent for them. All of a sudden they are picking up results so we want to be able to get at them, and if it is not working with the eleven on the pitch he wants a few options on the bench to be able to do that.
JP
James Tavernier tied down for another two months from Newcastle, how important has that been?
AH
Ah, he is a great lad and it is the cover for Frank SImek, you want continuity, I mean I know some of the names, I won't say them, that the manager was after should it all fall through with James Tavernier. But, the nice one for James is that he was settled, the manager was settled with him and he is here for another two months until the beginning of November. He can only push on now because John Carver over at Newcastle United is watching him closely and he is delighted with the development, we seem to do this with these Premier League lads don't we? We get them in, develop them and they go on to bigger and better things, but that is no bad thing.
JP
Yeah, you just wonder now whether he might actually get his chance with Newcastle at the end of this spell, fingers crossed for him but also fingers crossed for United that in a way is he perhaps not quite as good as over this period and they get to keep him just a little bit longer, if he carries on in this vein I can see him going back to Newcastle. Just finally, your trialist scored a couple of goals for you in the week, is there any latest on him?
AH
No, it is a tough one because he has been here a while now, I am quite surprised that you didn't pick up on him at the away trips. He has been on a couple of them walking up and down the tunnel, I have just been waiting for somebody to say who is he then?
JP
Alex Fisher this is?
AH
This is Alex Fisher, he has come from the Glenn Hoddle Academy, he has had a bit of a background at a couple of clubs, he has played at Oxford in the past as well. His goals were both close range, the keeper spilt the first one and he tapped it in and he was Johnny on the spot, very much like, oh my memory has gone, Lee Miller when Rory Loy flicked it on the other night and Lee Miller stabbed it home, very similar to that.
So, he is that kind of striker, he is a big lad as well, bigger than he looks when he is on the pitch, so it is a tough one for the manager, he is keeping him here a little bit longer as well so we will have to wait and see whether that develops into anything. But, we have had a couple of trialists, I am probably not doing anything wrong in mentioning this, we have got them in all the time.
We have not had a day of training where we haven't had a player who somebody hasn't been able to recognise in amongst the ranks. Because it is the way that Greg likes to do it, if he is tipped off about somebody he will bring them in, he tries to keep it under the radar, has a couple of sessions with us, if it doesn't work nobody is any the wiser and nobody is under pressure, if it does work or it seems it like it might be working like Alex he starts to get talked about, so we will just have to wait and see.
JP
So, basically you have just confirmed to me that in any given interview with Greg Abbott, I say by the way, how is your trialist getting on then I will probably get away with an exclusive?
AH
You will probably get something yeah, but I don't blame him for doing it this way because it does cause interest these days. I mean even in my time of doing this job with the club, ten years now, ten years ago if we had a trialist nobody cared, but now as soon as somebody pulls on the training gear of Carlisle United it is a back page spread or it is a news story in your bulletin at one o'clock, something like that. So, we do try to keep it a little bit quiet because you never know, sometimes you get a Francois Zoko off the back of it and you want to keep them.