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JP
I believe you have been doing a little bit of late training on the beach, is that right?
GA
Well not exactly on the beach but on the promenade there just having a walk and a jog and a stretch. Because it was difficult to find a training ground, and then with a chance of getting stuck on the M25 on a Friday on the weekend of Easter, so we decided to come down here and do our work on the seafront side. It has been very pleasant, it makes a change and the lads have had a nice laugh and they have worked nicely with it.
JP
I bet it is breezy out there, it that getting you ready for the breezy Withdean? Which is certainly what it is going to be because it is such a big space tomorrow for Brighton that I am sure the wind will rip around that running track.
GA
What we are looking out at at the minute is absolutely magnificent compared to what the Withdean is, it is a place where I will be glad to see the back of. But we have to go there tomorrow and try to perform and win a game of football. But this is a lot more pleasant than that place is.
JP
Gus Poyet has been told that they want the club for 2011 I think it is when their new stadium opens to be in the Championship, and he says that a good chunk of these players can do that with a few additions. So what do you make of that? What do you make of what you are going to take on tomorrow? Do you think they are that close to where they are aiming to be as things stand?
GA
Well, Gus will know his players better than me. If he is telling you that they have got some good players there then you have to take his word for that. To be fair since he has taken over they have definitely had an upturn in form. I think already in the squad they have got some real decent players. It is surprising that this season and last they have really been struggling a bit at the wrong end of the table.
So I think with the amount of money involved at Brighton, they are a pretty decent club financially and I think they will be able to have a go at trying to get in the Championship with their new stadium coming up soon. But for us tomorrow, it is two sides relatively even-steven in the table and we would like to get a good result and make sure we end the season on a bit of a high.
JP
And you talked about wanting to get towards maybe 60 points when you were still aiming for that 50 points. Now that you just are nine points away from that with the games that you have got left, have you reassessed that? Do you think that the club could get thereabouts or maybe even a touch more?
GA
Well it is not about setting targets, it is about having a bit of ambition. Once you reach 50 then your next step has got to be 60, I am not saying 70, I am saying 60 because that is the next target.
If we can get that then probably over the season when we look back at what happened last year then we will consider it as a decent bit of progress and everybody can be reasonably pleased with what we have achieved, especially with the cup situations that we have had.
So we just keep going and it is a nice opportunity to see some of the other players get some football and find out just what they are like in more pressure situations. At the minute everything is of benefit to us, looking at those players, looking at getting some more points, looking at finishing as high as we can up the table. That is how we aim to end the season.
JP
For the trip to Charlton of course last time out, Bank Holiday Monday, you had ten of your first team squad members out. What is the situation ahead of the game? Who is back tomorrow?
GA
We have got nine out, we have got a few injury problems and that is the case at most clubs our size at this stage of the season, with suspensions and injuries. We have had a long slog haven't we, we have played 50-odd games this season, it has been a really tough slog.
The majority of our players have played a hell of a lot of games so some of them are just feeling it a little bit at the moment. Even the eleven that start tomorrow, they will all be playing with little niggles and little bits and pieces. But they want to play and all the players want to play and we just have to make sure that everybody gives a good account of themselves in these remaining six games.
JP
Who is the returning one?
GA
Well that is Ian (Harte), obviously Ian is back with us after he has had a bit of time away. But the rest of the injured lads are where they were, hopefully we will have some of them back before the end of the season, but probably not all of them. But again, there is no timescale on that, they are all in Dolly (Neil Dalton's) hands and all improving, but the end of the season might come too soon for a couple of them.
JP
Being in a clutch of quite a few who have still got issues regarding their future, David Raven of course, nice to see him back on the bench in the Charlton match. Is he any closer to maybe being involved because I am sure he is one who will feel he has got to show you what he can do in these last few games.
GA
David played in the reserve game the other day and it looks like his fitness levels are good. He has missed six or seven months of the season and it would probably be unfair to put him straight into the first team, it probably wouldn't do him any good. But he had his full 90 minutes for the reserves and fitness-wise looked good, so hopefully we can get David a game before the end of the season.
But probably tomorrow is coming a little bit too soon, he will remain on the bench and then when called upon I think David's natural fitness levels, he has got a great shape, a good body and he keeps his fitness levels good. So he would be OK if he was called upon tomorrow.
JP
There is no doubt sat where we are, I am sure it won't be the case for your players, that this is sort of a holiday place isn't it looking out down the pier there with the funfair in full swing there.
What is this like as an experience for you as a manager, early in your management career of course, to have games where you have just about sorted out where you are going to be next season and you have got a few games to, I am sure the fans will think, toy with things a little bit?
GA
Well it is not time where we can just come and go through the motions. Whatever we do we have to do for a purpose and for a reason. I think if you ask the Charlton team and the Charlton management team if we went there and laid down, I think they would be the first to say no and that we gave them a tough game.
I think what we have got to try to do is see some different things and see some different ideas. But we have to do that with a purpose with one eye on looking for who is going to be a part of what we are trying to do next season and improve on what we have done this season.
So there is a purpose behind what we do and we won't just give appearances away willy-nilly. We have to make sure that people earn the right to play, but there are people we need to see play and see just how far they have progressed in terms of their own development.