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" Certainly since I have packed in playing it is the biggest game of my career, and even when I was playing the games don't come much bigger than this one for different reasons. This is a game that is for a reason at the wrong end of the table but in terms of its enormity it is a massive game for me. It is one that we have got to look forward to, we can't hide away from it, it is one that everybody is waiting for with anticipation. We have got to go into the game full of optimism and hope that we can come out of the other end with three points.
" It is a funny mood at the club, it is one that I think after the game last week when the seriousness of the situation really, well not hit home, it has been hitting home for a number of weeks now. I think it is like we are not going to get many more chances and this is one that we have to take. I think that there is a determination within the camp, there is an edge to the players to think that if we don't get something out of this then the reality sets in that the unthinkable might happen.
" It is not so much unthinkable at the minute, it is a seriousness that has to be faced head on and I think that is what the players have done. We have tried to offer encouragement and support all the way through the week in terms of putting everybody in the dressing-room together. Talking to them as a group, trying to get them together and the unity in the hope that they will all go out together, and it is a we, we all go out together on Saturday and try to find that performance that gets us three points.
" I think that you have to have a certain amount of nervous tension in any game. When I used to wake up as a player, if I said that I wasn't nervous then I would be lying. You need to have that nervousness or that edge in your stomach to know that you are going to go out and compete at the right levels. It is fear that is the word I think that we have got to keep away from everybody, it is that fear factor that players won't do things that come natural to them when they are on a winning streak. "
" I think that we have tried to eliminate that with them, we have tried to say to them that if they have got a chance in front of goal then make sure that you make a shot, make sure that you take that chance. Even if you hit it wide or over the bar. What we don't want is players not to go in those positions where they might make a mistake and the fear of that would be to the detriment of the team. So we have encouraged players just to do things that they might do when you are on a winning streak, and I think that is the important thing on Saturday.
" We have had a look at a lot of things this week and I have had probably more meetings with the back-room staff than we ever have. Because we have got a selection to make and we have got to make sure that it is the right one because there are not many chances after this if it doesn't go our way. It is one that has not just been thought over in the last 24 hours, it is one that has been thought over since Monday.
" You look at everybody in training, you look at mindsets, you look at performance in training, you look at mental toughness. Then what you are trying to do is put the right eleven out on the pitch tomorrow and hopefully you get it right. At the end of it I am going to make a selection which will be a honest selection that I hope will win the game for everybody connected to this football club.
" I am just hoping that we get it right between us and ultimately it is me that is going to get it right or wrong and I accept that. What I want though is total commitment and total fearlessness and total courage and total bravery. I have given it that to the players this week and the staff have and hopefully they will give that on Saturday. That is the key, it is courage and guts and determination we are looking for. "
" Everybody that is fit is available, with the way that the results have gone over the past few weeks I think that everybody that is fit has got to come into contention. Anybody that is selected will be happy with that and anybody that is not selected can hardly have much complaint really in terms of the results that have been served up over the last few weeks. So what we have said is that whoever plays gives it everything, whoever is not supports all that and backs it and goes in the dressing-room.
" We all, as a group, everybody that is fit and in the squad, and the dressing-room is going to be full to the brim of all our fit players. They will all listen to the team-talk, they are all going to be part of it, the eleven that play hopefully will respect that and the ones that don't play respect that too, and we all come together to find a performance. So I don't think that anybody can have any complaints if they are not playing and the people that are playing have to go out there and make sure that they prove me right in terms of the selection that I have picked.
" Grant Smith's comments won't be complimentary because we have just released him and that happens in football. That is absolutely at the back of my mind at the minute, I have had criticisms from quite a few angles, some fair, some justified, some not justified, some balanced, some unbalanced. I am not interested in what Grant Smith has got to say at the minute, I am interested in the performance tomorrow and in terms of us getting three points.
" That is all that matters to me at the minute and I will answer everybody's queries at the end of the season in due course on why this has happened and why that has happened, and why we have done this and why we have done that. At the minute I have got to conserve all my energy for the players and the squad that is going to take part in the football match tomorrow. "
" It is vital that the supporters get behind us now and the one group of people that you actually do feel sorry for is our supporters. Because they have given good money and good support and good time to follow us up and down the country at home and away. When you think of what we are doing this for, we are doing it for the fans in unity with the fans.
" My biggest concern is that they feel that they have not been served up the type of football and the sort of results that they have expected or want. We can't guarantee that we are going to be in the top three every season but I think that we could have guaranteed that we wouldn't be in this situation, and you have every sympathy with that. It is a thankless task trying to rectify that and seeing some of the performances and chances that we have missed and injuries that we have had to deal with.
" The people that suffer more than anybody are the fans, but do you know what, they keep turning in week in and week out. I have watched the television tonight and heard their messages, I have listened to your show and heard their messages, they just want us to get a result as badly as we do. We will be trying, we will be out there as a collective unit and again we will get the majority of the support for the early part of the game.
" We have got to make sure that we continue that and put on a performance that drags it out of the fans right to the end of the game and they go home happy. I think that they would probably even accept an under-par performance or a scrappy performance as long as we get the three points. It is a key at the moment that results are the be-all and end-all, and we are along with them in a 100% manner that we get the result that we want, along with the supporters. Everybody can then go home a little bit happier and a little bit more optimistic. "