United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to Look North's Mark Tulip (MT) ahead of Carlisle's 2011-12 League One season opener at home to Notts County, Abbott hoping for some better weather come matchday :
GA
I am like a drowned rat two days before we are due to start, I thought we were going to get a baking hot week but we have just got absolutely wet through. But, we are alright, the summer has been OK for us and we are all I think looking forward now like everybody else in the football world to Saturday hoping you get off to a good start.
MT
A few new arrivals, tell us a little bit about them, obviously Andy Welsh probably the best known?
GA
Yeah, I mean, Andy, Jon-Paul McGovern, Stephen O'Halloran and Liam Noble from Sunderland, players we know all about, players we know give us a little bit more strength in depth, a little bit more experience, and hopefully will give us the consistency we are looking for this year to make us go a little bit better than we did last year. Which was not bad, but I think with these additions hopefully we can have a bit more strength in depth and we can do a little bit better.
MT
And with Andy and Liam more members of the ex-Sunderland club really?
GA
Yeah, I mean, they are neighbours and they have got a lot of players and a lot of good players, so if we can tap into that and get some good players here to make us better and get some of these players some football then I think everybody is a winner, so yeah, that is the key. Andy obviously was there a while ago but Liam is a young player trying to make his way and we are finding out about him and he is finding out about the game, so it works well for everybody.
MT
You have given yourself a bit of a tough act to follow haven't you? Obviously you had that really good solid finish in the upper mid-table in League One and then the marvellous day out at Wembley learning all those lessons from the previous year, so you have got a hard act to follow?
GA
Yeah, we are trying to maintain progress and improve things all the time, everybody knows it is common knowledge that we haven't got the resources and finances others have got, so we have to beg, steal and borrow and look at places to find players that are untapped. But, we think we did that last year with five or six and they have had a full season's experience and we hope that that holds them in good stead and we continue to try to drive the club forward. Very difficult, but that is the key, that is the industry and that is what we keep trying to do.
MT
Do you feel your achievement as a manager has been to get the club to punch a little bit above its weight?
GA
Probably, if you look at players we have sold on to the Championship/Premier League over the last two or three years we have managed to keep our progress going in the right direction. You look at maybe Swindon as a perfect example, they lost their two best players and you could argue we have lost Gary Madine and Danny Graham and Ian Harte and people like that, that quality, we have managed to survive and have a couple of Wembley visits and Swindon couldn't survive.
That is a testimony to everybody at the club that we have managed to keep the thing going forward and obviously with League One it is a pecking ground for the big boys and anybody that shows any sort of quality is generally picked up and we are no different. But, we have managed to keep the ball rolling and I would like to think that we have kept the club going financially and on a good footing. We have tried to play the football that we have wanted to with what we have got and we think we are in decent order, we are all just keen to go that one step further now I think.
MT
A play-off push this time?
GA
I think if you are a manager at this stage of the season you have got to be talking about being at the top end of the division and we are no different. We know how difficult it is going to be but I think if we can hang on to the shirt tails right up to round about February/March and be in the top sort of ten then the play-offs is a realistic aim. But, certainly everbody sets off with that goal of trying to do as best they can, and we are no different.
MT
Jon-Paul McGovern talking about how you are just trying to get them all to play good quick football on the ground but also a good disciplined approach at the back, but I suppose that is very much the way you have been trying to evolve the style of play?
GA
Yeah, I mean we try to pass the ball, we try to move the ball quickly, get in good areas with the quality of people that we have got in those forward positions and then we are solid at the back. I think it is a recipe most managers would sort of adhere to but do it in different ways. But, we certainly like to be strong defensively, that is a platform, but we certainly like to play some good football, we did against Doncaster, we did against Middlesbrough, didn't get any points for them though, that is the key. But, hopefully now the real thing starts and we can continue that sort of form.
MT
And looking perhaps for a 6,000 crowd for the first home game of the season?
GA
Yeah, I would like to think so, I mean Notts County generally carry good support, good weather hopefully, not the rain we have just had, the first game of the season, everybody full of optimism, let's hope we get 6,000 and hope we put on a good show and keep those 6,000 and add to them. So, that is the key and that gives us more money to do more things with the football club, and that is everybody's aim.
MT
And in your time as the manager have you had your fair share of home games as your first game?
GA
Yeah, I think this is our third on the trot, Brentford twice and Notts County this one, we have generally done alright as well, so let's see if we can keep that up.