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DB
It has seemed to drag on a little bit this season, well it has for me personally. I just thought that last year we always had something on every game didn't we and it went right to the very end and I don't think sometimes you have time to relax.
Mick McCarthy's mainstay was that he woke up on the Monday and that he just felt a bit bored in the morning because normally they are fighting against staying up in the Premier League like they did. It is a little bit like that really, it is a couple or three weeks ago that we were safe and it has just seemed to drag a little bit.
But we were well pleased to get those points on the board, so it has been a more relaxing end to the season than it was last season. But I have enjoyed it, again it has been a tough season, we have competed very well with clubs far and above ourselves in terms of budget and money. The lads have done very well to get up to that 50-odd points, 54 points isn't it (55 - ed).
Now let's see if we can go to Norwich and spoil the party because there is going to be I think a full house. They have deservedly won the championship and we want to go there and yes, appreciate what they have done, but we have got to go there and win because this season is not finished. The season will be finished at ten to five, not before.
JP
How much of a drain has this season been, or was it up until you got to that safe point in League One? Because there were some trickier times in the season, but in the end it has been a season beyond compare in recent years.
DB
Yeah, it has, we can look on it after last season where we nearly went down on the last game of the season. We have got to Wembley, we didn't win which was disappointing but we got to Wembley, so that gave us some interest in the season.
Then credit to the lads, because as I have said before, there are some good sides in this division and there are some quality players at some of the bigger clubs and we have competed well against them. We have probably not done ourselves justice against some of the sides that have been in and around us, a bit strange that.
But we have stayed in the season, we will do what we did last season, we will try to improve on this and try to freshen things up. We are always looking for players to come in and they must improve the side because again we can't just bring people on board and hope that in three or four months they have got to be right.
So, it is a difficult task in finding the right players and getting them into the group of players but that is what we will try to do. But the season isn't over in terms of that for the management, we will be working on getting players in if we possibly can and trying to improve on this season to get in and around that top six if we can next year.
JP
In terms of achieving that Greg Abbott had sort of said that very shortly after this weekend he wanted to have answers one way or the other on the players who needed tying up so he and the club knew what they needed to do over the summer. It is going to be a very important period isn't it for the club?
DB
It always is, particularly with clubs like ourselves that we can't go about bandy getting players in, loads of players. They have got to be right and we have done our homework and we have targeted players we need to get in, or that we will try to get in. If we don't then we have to look at others which we have targeted, so it is an important time.
Because we want everybody coming back first day of the season here, pre-season and we want things in place. It doesn't always happen, some may join in the pre-season but that is what we will try to do, so when we hit the ground up and running when we get back and we are not behind in chasing things, and that is what we will try to do.
JP
How confident are you and Greg of keeping hold of the players that you want to keep out of your own squad though?
DB
Well, the feedback has been pretty good, we will try to keep the players that we want here and add to that. Every club will do that and we are quite confident that we will be able to do that.
JP
It is important though isn't it because you have got very much the basis of a very impressive team and squad as well if you can just tweak one or two things, and I am sure you will want to over the summer. But that could come apart of course if too many of those players whose futures are yet to be resolved aren't with you next year?
DB
Yeah, but hopefully they are going to be, we have sat down and spoken to them and the offers are there, it is up to the players now. But it is going to be tough out there this summer, a lot of players are going to be on those lists, there will be a lot of players come through.
It is not easy for players and their families you know, so we do have a scope I suppose with players but they can't be greedy. They have got to come and…… we aren't a club that can throw money around, it is no secret that, we try to do it within our means which this football club is all about and it is credit to them, credit to the people at the top.
Greg and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) and myself now, we are quite aware of the financial situation so we just get on with it. We don't complain about it and say we should be doing this or we should have that, that is what we are going with and we will work very hard to do that.
JP
How do you approach in particular though just this final game of the season against Norwich? Because they are a Championship side now just about at ten to five at the weekend. What do you try to get out of a game like this?
DB
Win it, it is as simple as that, win it. Whether it was a Millwall like last season where we had to win, well we don't have to win but we are going to try to win. Nothing changes in football, for me it doesn't anyway and neither should the players.
This game is another fixture, until this fixture is out of the way then they can sit and relax and look forward to a nice break. But up until then we have got a job to do, we go down to Norwich, we want to beat them, spoil the party a little bit. I enjoy doing things like that, not that I don't dislike Norwich, I think they are a smashing club.
I think the manager (Paul Lambert) has done brilliant, I like the management team down there. But we are professional footballers, we are professional people and our game is about winning football matches. We aren't going there just to make up the numbers, we are going to try to win a football match.