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JP
How do you feel after the game in the week? What do you think your younger players learnt from an experience like that?
GA
That the game is very, very tough and that level right at the top end of this league is going to be a difficult one and it is one that will take them time to get to. But we need to give them that experience, we need to find out as much as we can about these players because there are going to be stages next season where we are going to need them.
We need to know that they are capable of coming in because if anything happens to one of the senior players early on in the season when we are lucky enough to get out of the blocks really well, we need to know that these players are ready to come in. Otherwise we have to organise our squad slightly different, but the signs are OK.
JP
Is having this opportunity where you are pretty much safe in League One to blood some of these young players and see what they are like in competitive action, is that one of the bigger positives for you?
GA
Well I just think the four or five weeks we have had gives us a chance to put a lot of different things into place early for next season, ie. squad rebuilding, player recruitment, training facilities, giving players experience from our squad.
It is a nice four or five week period where we can do a number of things, and even with the staff we have talked about how we want to shake things around for next season, and we are on with that now as well. I will announce plans with that in due course. But the period is certainly not one where we have laid idle, it is one where we are putting a lot of things into practice and hopefully it is giving us a bit of a kick-start for the start of next year.
JP
You have talked about players there who are yours, one player who is not yours is Ben Marshall and he had been a sort of impact player for you in his early time here. But because of the injuries he has had a lot more pitch time, how do you think that has helped him develop at a higher level to what he has played at before?
GA
Ben has done really well, the more pitch time he has had he has come to the level and he has handled it well. We think Ben is going to be a good player, we said that right at the start. But we have got two experienced players there in Matty Robson and Kevan Hurst who certainly, Matty has done exceptionally well and Kevan has been very good at times and he has carried his knee injury.
But we needed the cover because of that situation and basically with Matty getting injured we desperately needed Ben in as well. But he has done ever so well and we think he is going to be a good player.
JP
Is there any indication at this stage though as to whether they (Stoke) see him as being developed enough by you or whether they might want him to go somewhere, hopefully here next year?
GA
The early signs are they were encouraged by what they have seen. But what happens is you actually try to premeditate what is going to happen and it never works. What generally happens at a club like that with the Premier League players is that they go back pre-season, they do their full pre-season stint, they play in three or four pre-season friendlies.
Then Tony (Pulis) will assess the progress he has made and if he doesn't see him as being in his first-team squad of 18 or 20 then he will look for the next best option. That for Ben at this stage of his career would probably be to go out on loan somewhere and if that situation arises I know we will be very, very high on his list.
JP
In a similar mould I am sure, Adam Clayton, any indication as to where his long-term future lies at this stage?
GA
Absolutely similar, absolutely similar, he is a Manchester City player and the same will apply with Adam.
JP
How about Jason Price? He has been a player who has come in on loan and has made no secret of the fact he is learning to earn a move somewhere. How impressed have you been with him and what might his chances be at this stage?
GA
He has done ever so well, he has done ever so well with us. Since he has come in we have got some good results and he has fitted into the group nicely. Again, it is one that we will have to see how things develop with that.
JP
Are you inclined to think that he could be part of your long-term plans at this stage then?
GA
I have given you as much as I am going to give you with that. We have to just wait and see on a number of things, there are not just issues here, there are issues everywhere else. I am not in the main of making false promises and giving people false hope.
I think Jason has done very well when he has been here, he has been a terrific professional and the results have been good while he has been here. So we will look at that situation over the next couple of weeks.
JP
And what is the situation with the players whose contracts are up in the summer, of which there are obviously quite a few? Some are already getting the fans talking in a way that they are a little bit concerned about how close they are getting to the end of those contracts.
GA
They are always going to be concerned because I am concerned. We have to just wait and see how the agents deal with their situations, but things are moving.
JP
There will be a comparison drawn with Vincent Pericard, do you learn from that? Will you try to set an earlier deadline for these players to say look, commit to us or find futures elsewhere? Or does it not quite work like that, how does it work?
GA
There is no black and white, but some people have had offers on the table since before Christmas, did you know that? So that is long enough isn't it. So there comes a time where I have to make decisions and that is why we are recruiting, we are always recruiting for eleven different positions just incase players in the positions we have offered decide not to take up that option and we have to move elsewhere.
With the agents involved in football now we lose a bit of control and we lose a bit of power. So we have to wait and see what the players are going to do and if they move on, they move on, and we replace them with what we consider as good if not better.
JP
Do you have an idea of exactly who you definitely do want or are there some who are yet to show you that they are still deserving of a place here?
GA
I am nearly there, I am nearly there with my thoughts in terms of what we are going to keep and what we think need to move on and get some football, so we are not far away.
JP
And after what you have seen from Tom Aldred, how did you gauge his reaction post-Tuesday night? He had some very successful games and then had a game where everything perhaps didn't go quite his way, how has he reacted to that?
GA
He will be fine, I told you in the interview after his first game what would happen didn't I. I said it would be two, three, four or could be 24 games before he has a game where he finds it really tough and he finds the game a little bit harder than he thought. But he will be fine, absolutely fine, it will do him the world of good and I think he is just glad to be around the first team.
JP
When you come into these last few games of the season are you almost looking for the season to run out as some fans say they are? Or are you starting to think that we have only got few games left and that you are going to miss this?
GA
I always miss Saturday afternoons, a Saturday afternoon without football is not the same is it? But we are not running the season down, we have got four games to go, it is as simple as that, we are just going to try to win as best we can. We know we have got a few injury problems and a few players out and we are up against it a bit, we have got a couple of tough games but we will keep trying.
JP
Anyone who might make it back who hasn't been available to you recently?
GA
At the minute, as we stand, no.
JP
And anyone who might surprise us by being out who has been available to you?
GA
No.