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" He (Fred Story) has been brutally honest, which I like that and I've been honest with him as well. I think he wants to see how well I can get on with doing the job. I've told him in no uncertain terms that I want the position. I feel that I have got the backing of the players and the great staff that we have here, I want to get down to the football side of things and get some results and make it impossible for him to look anywhere else.
" He said he wasn't, he said that I'm the first in the line, if things go right and he is comfortable with that sort of thing without any promises which I liked as well then we see where we go from there. At the moment I am in charge for an indefinite period and I'm going to do my utmost to get the right results and manage the club the right way over the period of the next few weeks.
" It's been one of those odd days, I turned in this morning at 9am for the normal meeting with the gaffer (Neil McDonald), to talk about tomorrow's game and the preparation for that and Saturday's game as well, as well as the weekly training programme. Fred (Story) interrupted the meeting and said that he needed a few words with Neil and then ten minutes later Neil came back and hit us with the fact that he said he had just lost his job. It put me on the backfoot to an extent at the time.
" I knew he wasn't joking because I know how Neil works, and I know that his body language suggested that he was rocked a little bit by the news. He was very dignified in the way he took it, and the way that he told his staff and quite a few speechless moments passed between the next few minutes. That's happened though, that decision has been made, it's obviously out of my hands and out of anybody else's hands, we've just got to focus now on the football side of things to keep the momentum going in the right direction again. "
" For me it's not too bad to get the focus back on the football side because I was the first-team coach anyway so the football side of it is my domain to an extent with Neil. I had to pick the players up and get them ready for the training session, which they were very, very good at I have to say, and get them ready for the game tomorrow. Because the football side of things has to kick on, there is no time for dwelling in this game and we have an important game tomorrow, and another one on Saturday.
" I just got my head round that and tried to be as professional as I could be and I had a really good response from the players. They were like us when we were first told, it rocked them at first, and obviously the understanding and the reasons behind it. It's between the board and Neil though and I think that it is definitely wrong to speculate on that because I don't know the full story. Certainly the players will find out bits and pieces but it's a private matter.
" I don't know how much will come out but eventually it will from the right people. It's not for me to comment on that one, and it's not a case of "no comment, no comment", it's just that is a private delicate situation. Certainly the players and myself have just got to kick on with the football side of things.
" Wins bring in extra confidence, I hate losing anything, I hate losing football games whether it be in training or whether it be in matches that really matter. So we'll be going all-out to win the game to get some more confidence and another win under our belt, and all-out so that we can get some more revenue and hopefully a really attractive next round tie.
" Let's go there though and pay respect to Bury, but we are going there guns blazing and we are going to have a right good go. We're really looking forward to it now because it has been a tough day for us, but we can talk about football and get a little bit of excitement back in my belly. With a good result hopefully to hand. "