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GA
It is a decent performance, we are in the business of winning games so in that sense the result was a disappointment. But looking at the bigger picture and looking at what we are trying to do now and find out about players, it is a really good exercise. The players that have come in, some of them have done really well, some of them have done OK, some of them better than others.
But bearing in mind we were down to probably our last surviving bodies if you like with different reasons for why other players weren't involved. But the lads have performed very, very well and I am finding out a lot about them between now and the end of the season. So in that sense the performance was decent and we were a little bit unlucky maybe not to get a draw out of it in the end.
JP
What did you make of Charlton, a team gunning for promotion? On another day you may well have got something there despite the numbers you were missing.
GA
Listen, you know the way I am and the type of team we are trying to produce is a team that wins every game, or tries to win every game. Whether it is the first game, the middle game or the last game of the season or a friendly or anything. But looking at Charlton, we have probably come up against the teams involved in the top end in the last few weeks, or certainly the last six or seven weeks.
You would think they might just struggle to get that second place. They are certainly to me at the minute from what we have faced, there are teams that are going to be better than them. Not maybe a better football team but certainly tougher, you look at Millwall and how tough they are and resilient they are.
You look at the quality that Huddersfield have got with their strikers and you look at Leeds who have obviously got a really big squad and strength in depth. So it is going to be a real exciting end for those top teams.
JP
The goal that I guess won the game, I suppose you will feel that that one probably could have been avoided, but he was a very key player all over the pitch was Sam Sodje.
GA
Yeah, he is a good player, Richard (Keogh) is marking him from the corner, it is a great delivery. He has managed to move Richard out of the way and have a really clear run on goal. It is one of those, when players like that get on the march and lose you, Ian Harte does it very well for us doesn't he at corners, loses his marker, and so does Richard to be fair at the other end.
But it is very difficult when they get a run on you and get across you to stop him. Once he had got the run on Richard he was almost powerless to stop it, the pace on the ball was terrific. Obviously it was a set-piece so it was a slight disappointment but sometimes the quality of that, and the strength of the run, you have to maybe give a little bit of praise to Charlton for that.
JP
And he (Sodje) also made a crucial tackle on Jason Price, some fans wanted a penalty but he got a lot of the ball didn't he at the other end?
GA
I couldn't see that, Jason was saying it was a penalty. Kav (Graham Kavanagh) was actually stood right in my eyeline for it, but it wasn't to be. He is certainly a very, very good player and he is not a massive centre-half but he is certainly very powerful and has got a bit of pace. He is a tough defender, uncompromising, and he is certainly very good at this level.
JP
How is Adam Collin getting on as your number one at the moment? He may feel with that incident that he maybe made his mind up a bit too early to go for the cross. But broadly speaking this is a young man's first go at first team action and he is really handling it well.
GA
The pace on that ball would cause any goalkeeper, top goalkeepers in the world would have been caused a problem with the pace on that. Listen, Adam has hardly made a mistake, he has made one or two errors but you look at top, top goalkeepers in the Premier League and look at the mistakes they have made, and he has not made any out and out howlers really.
I think he is improving, his presence is getting better, his shot stopping is improving, the communication and the experience of working with his back four is getting better. We are talking about somebody that the best he has played at is Workington, which is three or four levels down from us. So he is making massive strides and we are absolutely delighted with him.
JP
You have signalled that with his new contract, does that indicate at this stage that you are getting happier and happier, and he may be looking to hang on to that number one position as it is next year then?
GA
Well, I don't think he is going to give it up too easy. He has got it at the minute and it is up to other people to dislodge him, we are really pleased with him at the moment.
JP
He is certainly having a great time of it and he looks like is enjoying that step up to the level. I managed to speak to him ahead of the Wembley experience and he just says he can't believe when he is looking back at gardening and Blue Square North with the Reds last year.
It is just such a big step, can you almost sympathise with that position he is in taking such a big step forwards? Did you ever have a point in your career where all of a sudden you were thrust that big level further on?
GA
I can tell you that he is not a very good gardener, so he had to do something different because he wasn't going to make a living out of that for long so I have heard, so that is one thing that we have to sort out. But I was fortunate, I was always connected, I was at Coventry to start with and had a career that was always in league football until I actually retired.
It is fairytale stuff with Adam, he is a local boy, doing his gardening bit, making his money up with Workington. His career is doing alright, but he has had a bit of luck, to be fair he has earned that luck. He doesn't want to give up that position too easily, so we are pleased with him.
He is a great kid, obviously with his background he is a really down to earth fellow who has had a real blow early on in his career when he was around some clubs and didn't quite get there. But he has done it the hard way and genuinely when you do it the hard way you don't want to give it back and don't want to go back where you have come from. So hopefully he can continue the good work he is doing.
JP
Myself and Jon Colman were on the train back with the fans after the Charlton game. A number of them were sat around us and chatting to us, and there wasn't any sort of feeling that you might normally get after a defeat. I think there is that sort of comfort I guess with fans a little bit that you won't want too much in with your players that you are there and you are safe now.
But there wasn't that feeling that this is a defeat, there was just the feeling of looking at the positive steps the club have taken. Is that important at the moment? Is it important to keep making sure things are happening in these last few games and that it doesn't just peter out now the season?
GA
It is massive to me that the fans believe in what we are trying to do, it is massive to me. We were disappointed with the performance at Wembley or the outcome and the way that we lost the game. But you look over the past 20 to 25 games and we haven't had too many times where we can really be over-critical. We know what we are, we know where we are at right now, we know where we want to be.
The fans, everyone to a man near enough stayed behind and clapped us off which was fantastic at the weekend. So we want to give them, when they go down to places like London and spend hard earned cash, we have a right to perform or give a performance full of attitude and commitment.
We can't always guarantee we are going to win the game but what we have got to show them is that we care, we appreciate the fact that they are spending money to come and watch us and support us. For that reason alone you have to put on a performance, never mind all the other massive reasons that football players should give of their best every time they cross the white line you know.
So that is the sort of mentality we are trying to get into the club and players that show me that they can do that will be part of what we are doing. Players that step off the plate will find themselves wanting at this football club.
JP
One of the other exciting things to the fans I think at this stage is just how good the team could be for next season looking at some of the players who weren't available for you but still getting that good result, or certainly that good performance on Saturday. What is the latest with the players who I guess need to be tied up for next season?
GA
Well listen, we don't know what is going to happen at the start of next season, we don't who is going to sign contracts, who is going to refuse them, who is going to turn them down, who is not going to be offered them. So at the minute I know there is a nucleus there of a really good team for next season and I want to add to that, I don't want to lose any of the major players, or players I think are major players.
So what we are trying to do is come August the 8th and our season starts next season, that we can improve on what we have got right now. If we do that with the players that we have that weren't available on Easter Monday then we think we are going to have a really nice squad. And a squad we can look with a real optimism to do something next season, and that has got to be everybody's aim.
JP
At this stage though, is there a sort of a time limit, you did speak ahead of Wembley that maybe the next couple of weeks. We are sort of heading towards that now, have you set any deadlines for the players and I guess the board as well as to when you want these sort of things tied up ahead of next season? Because am I right in saying that other clubs can speak to them at this stage, players whose contracts are up in the summer?
GA
Listen, I want it done as quick as possible. I deserve a summer off you know, we have worked, I and a we in terms of my backroom staff have worked exceptionally hard. I would like to go into June where everything is done, it is not going to be done because football doesn't work as easy as that.
Players now with the Bosman ruling and agents and people pushing things in front of them from other clubs and making their heads spin with offers, it is never easy. But if I can get it done as quickly as I can then I will do it, if I have to wait then I have to wait and that is the power that agents and players have nowadays with this Bosman situation.
So I want to do it as quick as I can and hopefully, hopefully, I mean we are talking about two weeks and two weeks and two weeks. But if I have to wait then I have to wait, but I am not going to let anybody I want go without a massive fight. Steps have already been taken to do that and the feedback I have got is encouraging.
I am not going to say it is set in stone because it might not happen, you know what football is like. But the feedback I have had at the minute is very encouraging, so I am hopeful my squad come next season, the start of next season, will be in good shape.
JP
I know Tony Kane is one of those players who has got a bit longer on his contract with the club. How impressed were you with him coming in for his first appearance in such a long time at a place like Charlton with tricky wingers all afternoon long?
GA
I thought he did well, I know what Tony Kane can and can't do. He has found it difficult with Richard in front of him this season, but he has got to push on and put pressure on Richard to try to get some football, regular football. That is the problem he has got, Richard has come to right-back and done very, very well but on the day he did well for us and never let anybody down.
JP
And we can't talk without mentioning young Tom Aldred who has come in, two starts now, what have you made of his emergence I guess in the team?
GA
It was tougher for him against Charlton but he coped and I thought that he will get better with more games. I think this is the ideal situation to get him seven or eight games. The problem we have got next season is if he hadn't been tried and hadn't been tested, if anything happens to Danny Livesey next year, who probably will start first choice, have we got any cover and what is that cover like?
We know now Tom, or my feeling is that Tom is going to be fine and he will be pushing Danny Livesey now and making sure Danny doesn't step off his standards.
JP
It is interesting that you mention Danny there because there has already been a comparison with some fans, I know they like players to come through at Carlisle. You will of course know that, I am sure it hangs around you. But he seems to be of a similar ilk doesn't he?
GA
He has probably not got the power Danny has got in the air, Danny is probably a little bit better, he is a little bit taller. But he is certainly strong and he certainly uses the ball OK, he is no-nonsense - similar to Danny, and he has got a bit of pace. He is a strong lad and he has got pace, which is similar to Danny Livesey as well.
So Danny has probably got the edge in the air but Tom has got probably maybe a little bit more within him in terms of his distribution. So listen, if they are comparing him to Danny Livesey already and he gets to be as good as Danny has been for Carlisle then he is on the right lines.
JP
He won't have done half bad will he. Of course Danny Livesey not available, what of I guess you would say up to ten first team squad members not available to you at the weekend. Do you have any encouraging news on any of them perhaps for next weekend's trip to Brighton?
GA
Well I am due to speak to Dolly (Neil Dalton) later on tonight, so I will find out off Dolly. He has had all the players in today, the injured lads, and he has worked exceptionally hard Dolly again.
He has not got any time off whatsoever, we have just had an Easter weekend with a game on Friday and a game on Monday and he has hardly seen his family. But he is in there treating all the boys and he will have some news for me I would imagine within the next hour.
JP
And just finally, what about that trip down to Brighton at the weekend? It is always one of the longer trips, another opportunity to be away with the players but a tough match?
GA
Yeah, they have picked up haven't they over the last few weeks, although they didn't get a good result against Hartlepool. They have sort of got themselves away from the relegation situation and we will just anticipate another tough game.
A long trip, again, we will leave early on Friday and get back late on Saturday and spend most of Sunday recovering, then we will get ready for Leeds. But we are at it and we are going to have a right go again and hopefully we can produce the same sort of performance with a slightly different result.
JP
And they must have some players in their forward options to be able to allow Nicky Forster to go out on loan?
GA
Yeah, Brighton are another club that have got a fair bit of money and they spend it, and a lot on strikers. So they have obviously got a lot of cover there and they brought the lad (Ashley) Barnes in from Plymouth, so they could afford to let Nicky out. Maybe a strange one to the outside person but obviously Gus (Poyet) knows what he is doing because he has had some decent results of late.