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GA
I can't tell you too much to be honest, I think what is going to happen is Dolly (Neil Dalton) is going to put the whole thing together by Thursday and then let everybody know together in one rather than me second guess. Because there are people awaiting results from scans and they are in the early parts of the injuries. So Dolly I think is going to do something on Thursday to let everybody know where we are exactly at and that will be a lot clearer and a lot better than me trying to explain things.
JP
You can confirm I am sure that Danny Livesey is in amongst those who you are not sure about at the minute?
GA
Yeah, Danny is one that is in there but we don't think he is as bad as first thought. But like I said, I don't want to second guess, I am going to leave Dolly to give you a clearer view of everything on Thursday.
JP
Whereabouts are you with those big three players (Adam Clayton, Vincent Pericard and Tom Taiwo) who you are trying to get signed up as desperately as you can?
GA
We are alright, we have good discussions this week. I have just got a call to speak to Vincent's agent five minutes ago funnily enough, I have tried to ring him and he is engaged, he is in France at the moment, so that is that one. We have had some really positive talks with Tom and Adam and we are really hopeful we can maybe tie something up by, maybe not the back end of this week. Because obviously as soon as the back end of the week comes we start concentrating on the game.
But maybe after the Bradford game we will be hopeful that we can get…. We would like a decision in principle to be honest if we can and then that thing looks pretty positive at the moment. But you know what I am like, until something is done and dusted we don't want to be building our hopes up or actually looking on it in too despondent a fashion, but we are very, very hopeful.
JP
So essentially in a way, you need to know sooner rather than later, because with January coming up you would need to do some pretty quick business.
GA
Yeah, but what we have said to the players, and they are really good lads, is I have said that whatever decision they make, try to make it as quick as you can for us. So it gives us a good idea of what we need to be doing in January. We are always preparing for the negatives because that is what we have to do, but the quicker we know then the more players in particular positions we can go out and view.
We have got extensive lists but then we are going to have to really do some searching to find out which of those players on that list come in and improve us. So the boys have been pretty good to say they will give us as quick an answer as they can in terms of what they want to do.
JP
Best case scenario, if those three guys did commit to you, would you need to do much in January?
GA
Well looking at the performances and the results at the moment no, we would probably be OK you know. And then all that would happen is if somebody came in for a couple of ours and we might try to strengthen the squad that way. But I think you are sensing if those three did commit, we are not a million miles off having a pretty decent squad without injuries to kick on with.
So we are really happy with what we have got at the moment and obviously those three signings are key, and the injury situation getting better is also an important factor. But we think have got some good lads in the squad and there is a pretty positive spirit around the place at the moment, and everybody is in a good frame of mind so we want to try to keep that going.
JP
You have proved as well with Kevan Hurst that you can take a player out of the team and bring him back in to good effect. Some people think that any dropped player is going to be a player who is really unhappy. But just how important can it be sometimes to spend a bit of time out?
GA
I think the way we do things here, we work as hard, and probably even harder with the players that are out of the team than the players that are in the team. Because it is always easy when the players are playing, people like Kevan, he needs an arm round him at times and he needs constant encouragement, and so do others that are out of the team.
So I think the way we look after players when they are not in the team is just as important. Then when they are asked to come on and do the job, which we know they undoubtedly can, but it is a matter of picking sides for certain games, they come in and they have got their heads in the right frame of mind.
We have not got too many despondent players at the club at the minute which is really good. Most of the players are happy with what is going on, they are disappointed they are not playing some of them, but they appreciate the situation and they get on with it.
If anybody has got a major grief then they come and knock on the door and we try to sort it out that way. At the minute we have more good discussions than bad, and people are, not happy to be out of the team, they are comfortable in knowing that they are massively part of what we are doing.
JP
How much of a different proposition are Wycombe going to be this weekend from the recent matches that you have had against some big, some strong, and then some very strong at home teams in Gillingham of course.
GA
This will be the toughest home game we have had for a while. Wycombe are fighting for their lives and they are wounded and they are in a situation where we were nearly, or we were close to a few weeks ago. You know this league, you know as well as I do, there are absolutely no easy games at all.
We have got to be absolutely on top of our game, start the game right, the mental attitude has got to be spot on, the preparation has got to be right. And we send the players out just knowing how big a game this is and how important again another result is to keep the momentum going that we have just started to put together. So a very difficult game on Saturday.