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JP
How did the club find that workout this evening?
GK
To be honest I don't think we played anywhere near the level that we want to. But in saying that it is the third week of pre-season, we have had a really tough day yesterday, it was a double session and a lot of running.
So, I think the lads looked a bit jaded and a bit tired tonight. But we kept going, we are still looking at different formations and different styles and systems, and to be honest a lot of players are trying to get used to each other and gel. So, it is definitely a work in progress but we have got four weeks to put it right.
JP
Was it a diamond you were playing in the second-half?
GK
Yes, it was a diamond, we used it at Norwich away last season and obviously it was very effective. We have got two full-backs who like to get forward so with having Paul Thirlwell who is consistently very good in front of the back four, understands it all and can protect his two centre-halves. Then that gives the two full-backs an opportunity to get forward, so it is just something that we looked on.
We are going away next week to Leicester and we are going to have tough sessions, obviously morning and afternoon, but we are going to base it around the systems and the shapes we are going to try to utilise throughout the course of the season.
JP
How are you finding your new role? What do you feel you are bringing to the table that perhaps wasn't there for Carlisle last season as assistant manager?
GK
I don't really think that it wasn't there so much last season, I just think that the manager (Greg Abbott), I saw his workload last season at first hand. He was very much overloaded, he felt that he needed myself to be able to take some of the training to take that workload off him to give him the opportunity to make some calls and be in and around the office, and just to have a voice to bounce off.
So it is good, Dennis Booth comes in, Den does a lot of the scouting, Den is in two or three days a week and it just gives Greg another option in terms of eyes and opinion. But it has worked well up to now, it has been really good, obviously the hours and the days for myself are a lot longer than I have been used to as a footballer. But I am really enjoying it and getting my teeth right into it and I feel like I am learning every day.
JP
Do you hope to have a career as a manager when you come out of football? Do you see yourself more as a coach? Do you have an idea on that one?
GK
To be honest at the minute it is literally about learning as much as I possibly can. As a player you step across and you think you that genuinely feel like you could step in and you could do x, y and z. But the reality is when you see it first hand a little bit from a distance, because I am now assistant manager and the gaffer is the one taking the flak and he is the one with the final decision and he is the one with decisions to be made.
But you do see not only the footballing element of what goes on inside the club, but also the other bits and pieces that he has to deal with. So, it is a learning curve for myself, I would like to be in the role as long as possible and learn as much as I can, and if the opportunity down the road comes up at some stage then it certainly wouldn't be something that I would turn down.
But I feel like there is a big job this season for both of us to do and I think the gaffer has been different class with me. He has really helped me, he has really encouraged me on the side and has obviously given me the opportunity of the assistant manager's role, so I feel like I have got a big debt of gratitude to pay to him.
JP
At the end of season do, Greg gave us the idea that perhaps your boots were hung up and you were all out of football. But you have been involved in both of the friendlies and you are also registered as a player for next season, are we expecting to see as much or a little less?
GK
I would say to be honest it is probably going to be a little bit less. The workload that was on the manager last season was huge, and to have somebody to be able to bounce off to do the different bits and pieces around the office and what have you. I don't think the general person in the street would understand the amount that goes into running a football club.
He did say and he did feel that from that point of view, although I will still be on the players' register, if he needs me to play then brilliant I will play. I will train probably through the week but my input will be more on the coaching side of it.
I will join in training, I will keep myself fit and if the opportunity and the occasion arises and the manager feels he needs me so be it. But I certainly won't be looking to be pushing to be starting at the start of the season, that is now I suppose a part of my career that is not gone but it is certainly not something that is the utmost in my mind.
JP
I know you have said that Greg will have the final decision on the biggest decisions for Carlisle, but what have you as a player and as a coach made of the trialists who have been with us again tonight and performing out there?
GK
I think first of all they have come in and they have bought in to what we are trying to gel and to make of the football club. Which is a good work ethic, a good understanding of how we work around the training ground, an honesty and a work ethic that we are all in it together. It has been really good in the runs and the sprints the way we have all looked after each other if you like, dragged each other along.
There have been lots of high fives at the end of it because we appreciate how hard it is for each other when each individual, especially coming through the door and your first time in training as well. I think each and every one of them have brought that professionalism, they have also brought quite a bit of quality. So, it will be a decision that will be made over I am sure the next couple of days.
Because obviously they will need to know, we will need to let them know, they will obviously need to be looking at different options if it is not going to happen. Then the ones who obviously are we need to be getting trying to get signed. So, it is something that we will definitely have a chat about over the next three or four days, but they have been an absolute credit.
JP
And your latest trialist, the 19-year old from Sheffield Wednesday, Nick Wood, came and defended fairly well and got his goal, he will be fairly happy in the changing room tonight?
GK
He will be yes, he has only trained a couple of days and we haven't seen a great deal of him. He only came in yesterday and did his first running session, he looks like he is an athlete. He looks like he adapted well, he came on tonight for 10 or 15 minutes or whatever he did and obviously got his goal.
So he will be pleased with tonight but from the point of view of the 22 players, or the 18 players who played tonight, it is about getting the fitness. We have looked at it tonight, we have probably looked at the situation in terms of the intensity of the training yesterday. I know that everybody has the same situation throughout pre-season where you work the players hard and you expect them to perform in games.
We didn't perform as well as we would have liked tonight but it is another work in progress, it is another clean sheet. It is a win which will breed confidence and hopefully come Saturday now we will put in a good performance against Newcastle. I am not too sure if they have already played a couple of games but it will be one that will really be a big test for us.
JP
You have been playing against two teams in Workington and Kendal who perhaps stepped their game up to play the big team for them. Of course it is a role reversal for you at the weekend?
GK
Of course it is yes. It is a mini-cup final in the respect that it is the biggest game of our pre-season. There are markers to be laid down for every single player, they need to go out and perform and that is what we addressed after the game tonight. We said that we felt that the tempo of the warm-up was a little bit slow and a little bit flat.
There are going to be times this season where the games are like that, but when they are like that whatever it is as an individual you bring, you bring to the party and you make sure the team perform and you make sure we get some sort of result. We obviously did tonight and the roles will be reversed on Saturday against Newcastle.
We will be looking for big performances, but everybody, and I mean everybody, there is every single place up for grabs, nobody can rest on their laurels. It is not cliches, it is the genuine truth because we have seen players coming in on trial who have produced and have actually pushed the players already within the club.
No doubt there will be one or two more signings we will obviously try to make. So, everybody needs to be on their toes and whenever you get the opportunity to step onto that park you need to obviously make sure you do the business.
JP
And Jason Price had a little knock tonight, he wasn't available for you but we are told he will be OK for Newcastle?
GK
We are hoping so yes, he trained this morning, we did eleven v eleven with a lot of shape and he felt a twinge in his calf. So, the diagnosis seems to be that it is more of a nerve than an actual pull so hopefully that is the case. Jason is obviously hopefully available to train maybe Thursday or Friday.
JP
I just want to ask your opinion on the way Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has been playing this pre-season, he looks like a player hungry to prove that he can have more of a role for Carlisle?
GK
Well, as I have already said, every player needs to have that appetite and desire, and credit to Bridgey. We have done an awful lot of work as we have said in pre-season, a lot of the heart-rate work, and we can monitor now because we now download it with the computers and stuff.
Bridgey has been working hard and he is reaping the benefits of it, he is not struggling with any of the runs which he probably did do last season because of his injury. He has got an appetite and above all, he has got quality.
So, with the personnel that we have within the building, it is very important I feel, and the manager feels, that we look at as many options in terms of shapes and styles of play Bridgey would certainly fit into a role that we would play in a diamond.
JP
Warren Feeney, it looked like he was going to go to Oldham, but Oldham have said themselves this evening that they have been frustrated in their attempts to sign him. Does he remain a target for Carlisle if he is still up for grabs?
GK
As I said to you earlier, the gaffer has the final say. But one thing I have learned, certainly since I have come into the club and come onto the coaching side. The manager has rung me a few times, a few different people have rung me a few times and said that we have signed this body or that body. The reality is that until they actually put pen to paper, nobody has ever signed.
I have seen agents come in and promise that a player is going to sign, and as we have already seen, on SKY Sports yesterday it said that he has signed for Oldham and he hasn't. So, nothing surprises you, does that make us more interested? It is certainly a candidate that we have already expressed an interest in, it might well be that he becomes available for us again, but that will be something that we will discuss.
Because Francois (Zoko) has obviously come in, he has looked lively, he has looked very, very good in training. So, there will be ongoing discussions and then we can make a final decision on who is in the door.
JP
On Francois Zoko, one fan has already texted in and asked if he could be the 20-goal a season striker?
GK
Well, if somebody hands me a crystal ball and I look in it and if he is then he will definitely be getting signed. But to be honest he has shown a hell of a lot of potential and for a foreign lad, for somebody who has come in and not really understood the language, he understands when you tell him it is a day off and different little bits and pieces like that.
But to be fair to him, all credit to him, his attitude, his training, his running, his hunger, his technical ability, has been very good. So, he is a possibility, will he get us 20 goals a season? I wouldn't like to say yes because I think it is far too much pressure to put on a kid who has just walked in the door and doesn't understand English football yet but the kid definitely has ability.