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" The good result at the weekend was something that we have worked very hard for and it is something that we are going to continue to work hard for. We didn't have the best of preparations, we tried to play them down, but we don't make excuses and we dealt with that situation in terms of training and facilities and preparation.
" What you had on Saturday was not just 11 players but the rest of the squad united all as one, the fans as well, sticking together and pulling with everything they had got, and we got a really good result. I think we thoroughly deserved it and it was a collective team effort from everybody concerned and that makes me more pleased than anything.
" Everybody knows that Tim Krul's loan is in Newcastle's hands. He is their player, he has done well and we have to make a phone call, I have already put in a phone call because I was keen to see if we could do something with Tim. I would expect them to come back to me sometime today.
" I am a little bit disappointed with everybody speculating and rumouring and saying this and that, it was announced on SKY Sports that he (Graham Kavanagh) had been brought in as a player/coach. You know the lack of respect that people show my club and my players really upsets me. We kept it quiet and we didn't know that we could sign Kav until about 6pm on Thursday night, and that is when he negotiated his contract with Sunderland.
" We had no time at all to let the most important people know, which is our players, and that is why we didn't talk to anybody. That is why we didn't put anything in the newspapers and then people print stuff in papers and they print stuff on the teletext, and then it goes on SKY Sports News. I hadn't even made an announcement and I wondered how it could come out and people know about it before the players knew about it. "
" So on Friday certainly I refused to speak to anybody and so did Kav because today we are having a meeting with the players to explain Graham's position and explain his role that is going to be within the club. So they know first and foremost, because for me they are the most important people, they are at the moment, and everybody else works off the back of them, and then we can let everybody know what is going on.
" Because we want unity at this club and we want everyone together, we have got a lot of respect for the players and we wanted to make sure that they know exactly what is going on before it gets out in the wide open world. So that they are prepared for a situation, and they came to me on Saturday asking me what the news was about Graham Kavanagh that he was our new player/coach, they didn't even know and it is upsetting and it is not right.
" If they want to take me on these people and do things without my knowledge, without me knowing, without me actually making an announcement that Graham was going to be player/coach. Then they will find me difficult as well because I would like to think that I am very open and very honest. Basically I am that because our supporters have a right to know what is going on and they are the most important people alongside of the players.
" Not the television and the papers and the radio and everybody else. It is the players and the fans that need to know what is going on. That is why we deal with everybody honestly and at the right times. It is upsetting that the players were the last to know and that is not right.
" Michael Bridges came off because he had a tight hamstring, the actual intensity of it I don't know. Dolly (Neil Dalton) will see him today, you have got to have it 24 hours to rest down. He will be in today, we will have a look at him today and it is a downside because Michael has been performing well.
" His attitude is spot on, his enthusiasm is back, he has enjoyed his performances and he has got his couple of goals and he is on his way back promptly. We can all be enthused about that and I am hopeful that he will be fit to train by Thursday at the latest because we want him around what we are doing. He is enjoying himself and he is part of what is a progressive football club at the moment. "