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" In a personal way it is a relief but it is not all about me. It is about the whole of the football club and what it is right for the club. I did say that an early appointment and a swift appointment has got to be the best way for everybody. It was important to get a couple of results for me personally for the job, we have done that and they have decided with the bits and pieces that we have got going on to let me have a go at it.
" I am grateful for that but I just want to go on and prove now that we can do this and take the club forward. Everybody else seems to think I will be more ready this time, but I thought that I was ready last time, but I am impatient at times. Looking at the whole picture probably if I am dead honest then I have gained a bit of experience from that time and place for sure.
" This time around I have been a little bit calmer, made decisions with obviously a lot of thought and it is important that you make these big decisions, take your time over them and hopefully get them all right. So I suppose looking at the bigger picture I think that deep down if I am perfectly honest I suppose that it has benefited me, but I was anxious.
" What is a cheap option? Financially was it a cheap option last time? Did that work? No it didn't. You can do all sorts of things and the proof will be in the pudding. You could go out and get a big name, an experienced manager that comes in and it doesn't work out. You could get a young inexperienced cheap manager that doesn't work out. So basically what has happened in the last 12 months probably the club would think didn't work out and that was the way that they went at it. "
" This time is a different way at it so what is right and what is wrong? I think that it will all come down to results over the next period of time and we will find out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it but I think that we have done things within the short space of time that I have been in charge to suggest that we know what we are doing, we can do the job and we can improve things. Without being blasé though only time will tell.
" What I have done is obviously I have seen first-hand what was going on within the football club, and as an assistant you work to a manager. I just wanted to do things my way and implement things in a slightly different way. No two managers are the same, nobody is going to say that that is the right way to do things or that it is the wrong way to do things. What you have got to do is to do the job in your own way when you have got an opportunity.
" I am doing it my own way and I have wanted to do certain things in terms of the way that I coach, the way that we prepare, the diet side of things and the mental attitude of the players. I am doing it my way, it is slightly different, I think that discipline is important, that we make sure that players know what is expected of them on and off the field. Those sort of issues I have addressed and I have altered, that is just because it is Greg Abbott's way and that is not meant to be of any detriment to anybody.
" You have never got a clear plan in football. I have got ideas of what I would like to do and you have got to make the equation fit. It is like a jigsaw puzzle at times in terms of what players are available, what players you need to move on to make way for them, and how much the finances are that you have got available to do that.
" So you are just hoping that the pieces fit and all I can say is that we will be looking with a clear picture in our mind, and looking towards improving the squad by the end of January. Getting the team into better shape to improve results basically. There is a gameplan going to go into the board on Monday, my structure will be going to the board on Monday. They are going to tell me what I have got available in terms of the funds and whether we can fit in what I want to do to what is available. "
" I would like to do that quickly as certain situations might take longer than others to make sure that the right people become available for the jobs that I have got in mind. Certainly from the back-room staff right the way through to the playing staff it is not something that you can do overnight. You have got to make sure that we get the right people in at the right time. I am trying to do that and the board will know about that by Monday afternoon.
" We travelled down the same today as we did for Grays, we thought that it was a good way of doing things. We left Carlisle at nine o'clock this morning, we have trained at 1.30 for a nice period at Cheltenham, which is a lovely training ground. It broke the journey up, it takes the stiffness out of the players' legs and they trained really well, they looked nice and sharp.
" Then we have arrived at the hotel and we, again as last week, are just waiting to go in for an evening meal at seven o'clock. Where I would like to think that the boys are nice and lively and we have a good bit of crack and bit of banter. Then they will settle themselves down to get a nice night's sleep and hopefully perform against Swindon tomorrow.
" The squad is OK, we have got near enough a full bill of health. We have got Paul Thirlwell back, we are still going to miss Simon Hackney but we have got Paul back so he comes into contention for a place. Then we will just have a look at it all tonight with Dennis (Booth) and we will see what we will come up with by tomorrow. We have got a good idea of what we are going to do but we will leave it until tomorrow to actually name the team.
" I would think that Chris (Birchall) will be round and about what we are doing, whether he starts or not again is something that I will keep to myself until tomorrow. He has shown some good things though, he looks like a terrific boy, he has got a nice attitude to the game and he has got some ability. So we will be looking to get him integrated into things quickly but I will leave that until tomorrow."