United caretaker manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 1-0 League One victory at home to Sheffield United, Kavanagh saying that former Blues boss Greg Abbott being sacked on Monday was upsetting:
JP
How did that feel as a start?
GK
A great start, I couldn’t have asked for any more, I think it has been a difficult week, most definitely. The manager leaving on Monday was quite upsetting, he was incredibly gracious and dignified in the manner in which he left, and the final thing he said to myself and the staff was as a parting gesture do our best to get him a win.
That is what we have done today and that was the message to the group, it was that one or two had seen him and seen how upset I think because of the way he is as a man he went and spoke to the group. He was a bit emotional I think and one or two felt like they had let him down, so we got that great performance today and it is a victory that we all wanted, and none more so than the players and the staff.
JP
What was the last thing that you said to them on the way out there, what got that gritty, solid and resolute display out of them?
GK
Well, it wasn’t actually one thing, it was from Monday, the circumstances in which Monday occurred, I then had to address the group and there were still one or two visibly upset. The harsh reality is that a lot of the younger players haven’t seen somebody get sacked, they still think of it as a game of football, which is what it is. But, it is an industry that we all know the consequences, especially the ones who have seen it before.
So, we asked them to give us more and I said to them that when they give us more I am going to demand more day after day, and we will keep asking for more. So, as much Monday to Friday were very good, and today has been exceptionally good, they have set the benchmark now. It is the first home win of the season, it is a clean sheet, it is an unbelievably hardworking performance added with a lot of quality, and we are just really pleased.
JP
A thousand on the gate today for the game, a first home win since March I think I am right in saying and it is important to get more of that sort of thing now to get those locals back in even bigger numbers?
GK
Well, first and foremost from my point of view and the staff’s point of view, every part of today’s game, when there was a lull the fans got behind us, they sang at the right times, they encouraged us at the right times. There was a smile on a lot of people’s faces and I know results certainly help that, but it just seemed that the onus was shining on us, the Gods were shining on us, the Sun shone and people came through the gate.
I hope now they believe that this is some thing and some part and they have a huge part to play in getting us to make this place a fortress. So, it was a huge part they played today and I just want to say a big thank you to them.
JP
Do you think that was something to capitalise on that perhaps hasn’t been in recent months, that Brunton Park is a long way from all of these teams who come here, it should be a fortress and it should be a real asset for Carlisle United?
GK
Well, it should be but we have said that year on year and sometimes it has worked and sometimes it hasn’t. The last year has been a little bit indifferent with our performances but what I said to the players today was we are good players, we have got a very good group and a very good honest group.
But, I wanted to make it clear to the players today that we have got a 40 game season, let’s start afresh, if the season was starting without the six games previous and I had seen the way they trained Monday to Friday then I would have taken it all day long even if we had lost today. Because, there is a manner in which you lose games and that performance today would have been one of them.
But, luckily we got the break of the ball, we got a little bit of quality, I thought we could have had a penalty and it has worked in our favour today. But, they will come in again now on Tuesday, I have given them Monday off because they have had a tough week, they have been in every day, but we will keep at them for more and more and more and I think that will give us a platform and some momentum and confidence to hopefully take us forward and give us belief.
JP
What was the most pleasing part of the game today for you, the first time that you have taken complete charge of a team?
GK
Well, two things really, the support I have had from the staff has been absolutely immense, I couldn’t have done it without them and secondly the attitude of the group. It is difficult, it has been difficult circumstances, but we tried to take the shackles off them today and that is easier said than done.
They produced and showed that they are well capable of it, in a difficult environment because we know we haven’t performed as well as we would like at home, but just the whole manner of the way they have pulled together, from the office staff, the directors, the chairman.
There were just so many well-wishers and I went up into the stand purposefully before the game just to see what the reaction was, and at the end of the day the fans just want the best for the football club and we are going to try to deliver that. All I have said to the players and will continue to say is if we lose then lose in the right manner and they will support us and they will get behind us. We have to earn their trust again, we have to get them back onside, and I am hoping we can do that.
JP
You said that Greg Abbott asked you and the players to try to do this one for him, are you happy that you have been able to give him that send off in the end?
GK
Most definitely, and I just want to say publically to everybody who is listening a huge thank you to Greg. I have leaned on him a couple of times this week and that is the manner of the man and that is the way he is, I spoke to him this morning about one or two players and stuff like that. He is at the end of the phone and he could quite easily blank me and he could quite easily say, look I hope Sheffield United beat us.
But, he is not that type of character, he is not that type of person, all he has ever wanted to do while he was here was do his best. They were difficult circumstances and we all understand that, but I think we all need to now get away from the difficult circumstances and the negative and make this place as positive a place as we can be and start looking forwards and upwards. I think I said yesterday to your radio station, let’s try to get this juggernaut rolling again in the right direction.
JP
And there is a future now to look forward to, is that a future that you want to very much stay involved with, and how excited are you about maybe leading Carlisle United longer term than just this today?
GK
Well, I do want to take it forward, I would love to be given the opportunity to get it, but today isn’t really about that, today was about doing a job for the football club, asking the players if they could perform to the levels we ask of them and to a man they have done that. There were some difficult decisions to be made yesterday, there were one or two people who were a little bit disappointed, I asked them to be big and I asked them to be men, and it was vital that they stayed onside with everything that we did.
Danny Livesey, Josh Gillies, you have got quite a few who would have expected to play, and Conor Townsend, he is another one who would have expected to play and didn’t, and that was tactical. But, listen, it is what it is, they got behind it, we got the result and we move forward from now and hopefully it is the start of bigger and better things.
JP
Great to see Sean O’Hanlon back in there?
GK
Yeah, I thought the two centre-halves were incredibly dominant, it is vital that those two win their headers, it is vital that they get us up the pitch, it is vital that they squeeze and give information to the people in front. But, you know, I think Paul Thirlwell for me is one that gets an awful lot of stick, the spine of our team, we have said all along, the keeper, the two centre-halves, the midfield player with Thirlwell and Lee Miller, they are huge players and when they perform we are a match for anybody in this league.
I have put the onus on them this week and I will continue to do that, they need to realise and understand their importance within the group because they are leaders, But, they led today, they were absolutely top drawer, but as they all were and the staff included. So, I am a very, very pleased proud person tonight of the group, but come Monday it may not be leading it. If I could play a part in leading it then obviously I would want to do that, but it will be what will be.
JP
It would be a bit tough for you because he is stood right there, but Chris Lumsdon was keen to point out the key role that Lee Miller played today and has to play, he may not always be banging the goals in as that focal point for your attack, but a tireless work for a guy who had a role and a very important one out there?
GK
It is about time isn’t it. No, to be fair, I have said to him yesterday, I think there are certain individuals within the group who can be loud and brash and whatever else, but they don’t understand the importance that they have within the group. He has been our captain, he is our leader, I want him to show that, I want him to lead by example, I put that pressure on him, I put that onus on him to show that he is the best targetman in this league.
I firmly believe that he is and I said to him yesterday, I said look, if it gets to the stage where you can give us 100% for 75 or 80 minutes, I would rather that than have him 75% for 90 minutes. To be fair to him, he held his hand up today, he said he was knackered on 82 minutes or whatever it was and rightly so.
It is a difficult job he has because he plays up top on his own, he gets battered an awful lot of the time, he doesn’t have the support because we are not in good possession of the ball, but I am sorry to say that that is the nature of the way we play at the moment. He is going to have to do more of it, but he is more than willing and he showed today that he is, so he will be up for selection next week, let’s put it that way.
JP
For whoever is manager next time around and in the future for Carlisle United, and I am sure you will be hoping that is you, is signing Troy Archibald-Henville on a longer term deal a bit of a priority?
GK
I would love to, I would absolutely love to, but listen, he is two weeks into a loan. I think the reasons behind him coming were that they wanted to get him fit, we are obviously doing that job and in the process he is performing extremely well. He has got a real calmness and assuredness about him, and I think when you have players of that calibre who know their jobs and are able to perform in their roles then it spreads confidence through the team.
As I say, if we can get this building and moving forward and get two or three results then you might see one or two others who have probably played within themselves, and I don’t mean today, but prior to today, you might actually see them perform to levels that we have seen in the past.
Who knows where that takes us and I have said to them that I am not going to tell the public what the target is, but I have set them a target in the dressing room up to Christmas, and I am planning on being here longer than that, well up to that point, as I said, if it happens it happens and if it doesn’t it doesn’t. But, come January if we can manage to get to that target and add one or two then who knows where it will take us. It is a 40 game season, at this moment in time it is 39 games and we are ahead of our target, but it is something that I believe is achieveable within the group.