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" Dan came to Kendal on a month's loan yesterday, and the manager (John Ward) thought that it was a good idea that somebody came down with him. Seeing as he only just started youth football he thought that it was right that I came down. I dragged Gary Madine with me to keep me company and if this game goes ahead with this weather I will be absolutely amazed.
" Dan was the captain of the youth side last year and I think that everybody knows what a successful time we had, and he was a big part of it. He is strong and he is aggressive, he likes defending which is unusual now for modern day defenders. They all want to be footballers and they all want to play but Dan actually loves tackling and actually being a proper defender.
" I think that this will do him good, I think that he was a bit sceptical about coming here but I had a quiet word with him yesterday. It will be good for his progression to come down and actually play proper football for a month, and play in the Unibond League which is tough and strong. I think that he will enjoy the challenges that are going to be in front of him in the next month.
" I think that Dan himself is a physical centre-half, so I think that he will be suited to it. He can play football when he has got a bit of time. I'm looking forward to seeing him play, it is part of his education, he is a very, very young professional footballer and it won't do him any harm. A month down here with Lee Ashcroft looking after him, of course Lee has played professional football for many years. I think that he is in safe hands and I think that it will do him a world of good. "
" Lee is a character isn't he, I remember him when I started coaching at Preston North End and he was a first-team centre-forward. He was very aggressive in his manner and the way that he went about things but he has mellowed a bit in his older age, but I think that management will soon bring that out of him.
" We came down here in the pre-season and they pushed us for the first-half, but it was only in the second-half when our superior fitness told that we ended up winning that game 4-0. Danny Carlton scored in that game, his first goal I think for the club and it started him off on a good pre-season, and he ended up with that shirt for the first-team.
" I think that managers like myself, we try to get everybody in Cumbria to support Carlisle United. We go around and we try to help them if we can. We think that it is the right thing for Dan to come down here and we are only glad that we can help Lee and Kendal out.
" We trained this morning and the youth team were going out again at 2pm, and at 1pm it started raining exactly like it is now. We went out onto St Aidans and we had to abandon it, it was totally underwater. At the moment the pitch looks like it is handling it very, very well but I'm sure that another half an hour or more of these conditions and I will be amazed if they can play. "
Meanwhile Kendal manager Lee Ashcroft commented :
"I texted Dennis Booth the assistant manager at Carlisle and he rang me first thing on Saturday. I said to him that I needed a centre-half and John Ward rang me yesterday and he put everything in motion so that he could play tonight, fair play to John. We start with a month, see how he does, I'm sure that if he enjoys it and we like the look of him then I will hopefully be able to extend it."