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PN
All the indications at this stage suggest the game will go ahead tomorrow, which is good news.
GA
We are travelling down now, we are on the bus, we are about an hour and a half away from London and the roads are clear and the snow seems to have cleared. We don't see any problems so hopefully we will get a game on and we can crack on with the football.
PN
Just how much does your team need some competitive action at the moment?
GA
Well the way they trained today they are hungry. They were really at it today, we have trained on the pitch (Brunton Park) and the pitch was in good condition and it was soft. Seeing green grass gave them a real good bonus and they really trained very, very well. So we would have hoped the game was today but it is not, it is tomorrow and hopefully they show the same sort of spirit and the same sort of attitude because they were first class today.
PN
And your preparations have been slightly different today in that you have trained in Carlisle before setting off south.
GA
What we didn't want to do was get on our way and find the game cancelled and have nowhere to train. So we trained early morning like we used to do last season, we had a meal before we left and we will arrive at the hotel around or about 8pm and just have some soup and sandwiches. So it is no great big deal but what it did give us was a really good training facility, meaning we used our first team pitch today, which was excellent.
PN
Any injury concerns tonight?
GA
No, at the minute we are in good shape, the best we have been for a long time. We have only got David Raven who is an outstanding one long-term. The other lads, the likes of Joe Anyinsah, Richard Offiong, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Paul Thirlwell are all travelling with us, so we have got a really senior squad with us at the minute. It is probably in the right nick of time with all the tough games and the amount of games we have got coming up.
PN
We talked about Richard Offiong in our interview yesterday, perhaps in Richard's case not quite ready yet for the full 90 minutes?
GA
He is one that has suffered with the lack of training facilities but I have to say he looked very, very impressive today in training. He is ready to get his football back on track and fight his way back into the team.
PN
And he couldn't come back at a more timely time if you like given Vincent Pericard's departure. You have pretty much thrown down a challenge to your strikers to prove that they can fill that gap following his departure.
GA
Well it is an open book at the minute isn't it. We have got three strikers at the football club, they know they are going to get an opportunity tomorrow and possibly Tuesday and possibly next Saturday. What we have got to look at is how they do, how the team does without Vincent and if we can keep the momentum going and keep the results coming in then the position of Vincent is not as important as what it might have been.
But they have got a challenge on and if they come up to it that is fantastic. We are always looking to make sure the squad maintains its quality and if we think we have to do something we will do it. But there is an opportunity for those three lads to go in there and make some claims.
PN
You said this week that you don't want to comment on speculation and players being linked with you. Is there perhaps a reluctance to say too much about potential additions incase they don't come off?
GA
Absolutely, what we don't want to do is build or dash anybody's hopes. What we are doing and what we can guarantee everybody is that there is a working plan going on all the way through the year, looking at players, monitoring players, making enquiries, finding out about people. What I don't want to do is put names to the speculation and then they don't come off and people would get disappointed, disillusioned, upset or overjoyed with the prospect of players coming in.
To be fair to the players we have got at the football club, I think it shows a little bit of lack of respect that you are naming players who possibly might be affecting people who are already at the football club, people might think their positions are in doubt. So there are a number of reasons we don't do it and that is that.
PN
But you can say you are actively looking at players all the time?
GA
We are always looking, we have to do, it is our job to make sure that we cover all bases. And should anything happen in regards to people coming in for players that we have already got, that we have replacements ready and waiting to come in, and we have already done our homework on them.
PN
Just bring us up to date with Gary Madine's situation tonight, any further developments on that?
GA
No, at the minute Coventry have to got to come us and say what they are planning to do and we are awaiting that phone call. Up to speaking now there has been not a lot of communication from Coventry's side, so we are actually trying to find out what their intentions are so we can move forward with it.
PN
Do you need a deadline on that? Is there a certain time you really want to know where Gary's future immediately lies?
GA
Well his loan deal is up on the 18th (January), so I would imagine Monday would be the crunch day and they would be getting in touch with us to say what their plans are and if it suits what we are wanting and what our plans are. Then we go from there.
PN
It is nearly two weeks since Adam Clayton returned to Manchester City, has there been any further movement on that front?
GA
No, at the minute again the phone call has gone in to the first team staff at Manchester City. Obviously he is not on the bus so we can put him to bed for a couple of days because nothing is going to happen before tomorrow's match. But I will be chasing that round with what their plans are with Adam and if we can do something with that because if he is available then we will try our best to make that happen.
PN
And tomorrow's opponents Brentford, great start to the season, had a bit of a dip but seem to be back in form again now?
GA
Yeah, I think they are one of these sides that if you go into the match anywhere less than your best and don't roll your sleeves up and battle and scrap, which probably applies to most games, you are going to get yourself in for a shock.
It is a tough place to come, but the players, they were chomping at the bit today in training, they were more physical than I have seen them on a Friday for a long, long time. It was a proper full bloodied eleven v eleven we had on the main pitch and if we can go into the game tomorrow with that approach I think we can cause Brentford a lot of problems.
PN
Cleveland Taylor won't be playing against you tomorrow, he has been out of the first team picture down there for two months and has had to drop down a league to Burton to get some first team football. Again, you mentioned the fact that often in football the grass isn't always greener is it?
GA
Well we don't think that many players that have left this football club over the last two or three years have gone on and really struck gold. You can count out the Keiren (Westwood) one which was an out of contract money situation and the others that have gone have not really covered themselves in glory.
So a lot of the people have gone of their own accord or by us making those decisions, we have not had our fingers burned really to an extent. Which is good news for us and hopefully that might encourage other people that are thinking they might want to be looking at other things that it is a pretty good club to be at at the moment.