|
" We just feel that we are getting things right, the atmosphere is right, we are ready to play and we get frustrated that the game is off and that the training facilities that we are using are not playable. So we are having to go down to an artificial surface today, which isn't ideal but it is better than we had yesterday.
" The boys are bright and they are ready and we just want to get playing again, it is a really frustrating time. I suppose it is for everybody though, we don't like this weather, I don't suppose that it does anybody any good. It certainly doesn't do football people any good and it is a frustrating time at the moment.
" It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that the game was off, we had had five nights of minus five degrees. Once that gets into your pitch then it takes more than a two degree temperature to get it out. I am not a groundsman and I am not a scientist but I do know that if it gets very, very cold then it takes a while to warm up. So that was it, the pitch was rock hard and we couldn't get the frost out. We made every effort to cover it and to keep it warm and insulated but the weather has beaten us.
" I think that John (Nixon) was trying to sort the replay date out yesterday but we have been that busy. I went off to a game last night and I have had five minutes with him this morning, we will have another good chat with him this afternoon. Hopefully by this afternoon at some point I will find out when that date is. "
" We have loads of phone calls in and out about transfers but nothing to report on that just yet. (Chris Dickson and Joe Anyinsah) are just two of loads of names that everybody has thrown at me. I think that the fans are actually doing our transfer window search for us at the moment. There are loads of names being bandied about, there are going to be loads in and loads out according to everybody else.
" We have just got to keep searching and looking though, and if the right people come then we will try to make a move on it. I am absolutely not going to declare my hand on anything because the more you declare the more you alert other people and they swipe them from underneath your noses. It is a cat and mouse game and if you are a mouse then you want to be hard to pin down. That is what I think we are trying to do at the moment so nobody can find us.
" I just think that it doesn't do us any good if people start throwing names about, if we are all working together for this club then the quieter we can keep it and the less people that we alert then the more chance we have got of getting them. Because if we do alert people and the big clubs come sniffing at the work that we have done, and we have been doing work over a long period. They just come and they just outmuscle with you money, what we have got to try to do is to keep things as quiet as we can.
" That is not because we want to be secretive from anybody, I would love to tell everybody all my targets so that they know that there are some exciting names on the radar. If we did that though then you are doing everybody else's job for them. We pride ourselves on working hard, we were at a game yesterday, we are at a game tonight, there are games tomorrow, all of us, that is the whole of the staff.
" All the reports come in and then we filter down a list of names that we think, we like him, we like him, he can do better than we have got, or he is better, then we try to work a deal out with them. So all that work is wasted if you declare your hand and somebody comes in who hasn't done their own work and snatches them from under your nose because they know how well thought of we think of them. "
" Michael (Liddle) has agreed to extend his deal to the middle of February with us going back to Sunderland at the end of January. If they have all got their players in position and they have got no injuries then they will be keen to extend it to the end of the season, so that he gets games with us. So that is a definite to the 14th of February and a possible to the end of the season.
" Graham (Kavanagh) at the minute is currently negotiating his situation with Sunderland. They have actually given us a verbal agreement that he can stay to the end of the year. Obviously with him out of contract they are now seeing if they can make that a little bit more firm where he sorts himself out at Sunderland and then he is a free agent to negotiate a maybe longer deal with us.
" Tim (Krul) is the 20th of January, and again, our situation with Tim is that we are in the hands of Newcastle. Whatever they decide to do we have to abide by it. He has done very well for us, again, we have worked very closely with Newcastle and built up a good relationship with them. They are very pleased with the way that we have done things and we will see. They might decide to give us another month, they might extend it, they might decide to take him back, but at the minute I don't know what that answer will be.
" They key is that they have done well, that is why we do our work, we go out, it was cold last night by the way, very cold last night. I didn't really want to be there but you have to be there. That is why we do our work though, we are hunting around everywhere looking at players that we think can do better than what we have. When we do go for a player then we have done our homework and we know what he is like, then hopefully the choice will be that because of the work that has been done, that he is going to be better than we have got.
" Every game is a hard game and we are looking forward to the Leeds game, everybody does, it is a big one for everyone to look forward to. We thought that we did well at MK Dons away from home, a little bit unlucky not to get anything out of the game. So we will just have a look at both games and give it everything that we have got and make ourselves hard to beat again, and try to cause them problems."
" Two games for the fans though to see if we have made any improvement and where we might make a benchmark with what we are doing. So great games, we don't have to motivate the players for the Leeds game and the MK Dons game with teams at the top of the table. So we will work hard again in the training and then hopefully the players and their energy, their enthusiasm, and the motivation that they have got from within will come out on Saturday and then a week on Saturday. Then we can pick up some results and keep a little bit of a run going.
" The job is frustrating, it is rewarding, it is up and down, it is football. Nothing is straightforward, every day is different and you just have to deal with it. The good thing about us here is that we deal with it, we get on with it, we don't make any moans, we don't moan and groan. Sometimes you might sense a little bit of frustration in my voice but it is only because we are keen to get on and play and do our football.
" We just deal with it though, we don't make excuses, and if results don't go our way then it won't be because of the weather or the pitches or lack of training. It will be because we weren't good enough, I am not going to make any excuses for anybody. Basically it makes it slightly harder work but over my period in the game we have had all this to deal with and we just get on with it.
" The latest on player contracts is that we have spoken to five or six of the players. Offers have been made, they have been given a time limit to come back to us. We will find out if they are going to re-sign or if they are not. If they are not then we will look away elsewhere to replace them, if they are going to sign then we just get on with it. We look at having them and to build a side around the better ones that we have got for the remainder of the season, and the following one, two or three seasons.
" It is a waiting game with them as well, they have got offers now on the table, let's see where we go with it. We think that they are terrific offers though and we are hopeful. There have to be time limits, the lads know what it is so they are up with that, they are fine with that. We have a good honesty between us and a respect between us that they have been given a date and that they will come back and say yes or no. If they say no then we know that we are going to have to replace in that area, if they say yes then brilliant, we just get on with it. "