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PN
Firstly, how is the injury situation looking tonight? Because I know it wasn't looking much better earlier in the week.
GA
Not brilliant, not the healthiest it could be. We are probably down to our last fit surviving 18 bodies to be honest. But we just want to finish the season on a high, so the lads that go out there will give everything they have got, which you would expect that.
We will try to get a big result to send everybody home happy and look forward to optimism for next season. But we are not going to get any of the fit players back and we have lost Danny Livesey obviously with his stomach problem. That leaves us down to I think our last remaining bodies.
PN
Looking like the end of Danny Livesey's season, could there be a chance that Danny has played his last game for the club?
GA
Well, there could be a chance but I doubt it. We are very hopeful that we can sort out something with Danny, that obviously becomes a massive priority now is tying up the remaining players.
Making sure we get a squad, we get what we want retained and then we add to that to improve for next season. But the talks have been pretty good with Danny and hopefully sometime this week, or next week as I say now, we will have those things up.
PN
How much closer are you to knowing at this stage who is staying and who is going during the summer?
GA
Well, I have got my own ideas now on who we want and who we think we need to move on and replace and look to strengthen. So, that work will be done next week in private, the finalising of it, and hopefully by the end of the week before we go to Norwich we can get some sort of an answer now. Or certainly by the Monday or Tuesday after the Norwich game we can make everybody aware of what our plans are.
PN
Some of the players have had contracts on the table for quite a while now. Is there a part of you that sees their apparent reluctance to give you an answer over the last few months as a lack of loyalty in a way to you or the club?
GA
No, it is not a lack of loyalty. Everybody in life tries to get the best possible deal for themselves in all sorts of instances. So, we can't be too critical, it is frustrating but we can't be too critical. That is the way that the Bosman ruling has set football up nowadays.
That was brought into the play so we have to just accept that and get on with it. We are trying to build a team and we would like earlier answers but that now is almost impossible because of another situation. Players take advantage of that and so do the agents so we can't get too hung up about it and we certainly can't criticise the players for it.
PN
Given the fact you went through this last summer, does that make you better prepared if you like as to what to do this time around?
GA
We have got experience in thinking, 'well, hang on a minute, it is not the end of the world if this doesn't happen or that doesn't happen'. It is only the end of the world if you have got nothing in line to do something different if it doesn't happen.
So, we prepare for all scenarios and I have had a fantastic meeting with the three owners today who have said, 'listen, if this is the case scenario, and this happens and that happens, what are you going to do about it?' I have given them my plan and they have said, 'right, brilliant, we will back that.'
All the figures have got to add up to a certain amount at the end of it but they have been pretty good with what they have said today and I was really pleased at the end of the meeting. I came out of that at about 4.30pm this afternoon and I was delighted with what they had to say and now it is work in progress to try to retain the squad I want and then improve it with the players I want to bring in.
They have sort of given me the go ahead to chase those targets down. So, it could be an exciting summer, I hope so and I hope we can make some really good things happen so we can start next season in a real good frame of mind.
JP
It is the talk of the fans at the moment, the players who haven't yet signed on the dotted line. But on the flip side, I am sure you are looking to capitalise on players at other clubs who are in a similar position?
GA
Well, that is football at this time of the year, that is what happens in football. We are doing the same thing to other players as other clubs are doing to our players. The agents farm out players and get offers and we are doing exactly the same.
So, we are all battling and it is a real rat race out there, and we are hoping at the end of it that we start the season with a squad that is going to improve on what we have done this season. That is the black and white equation, make sure you start the season with a better team or a better squad than you had this season, so that has got to be everybody's aim.
PN
At what stage now are you allowed to make official approaches to potential targets?
GA
Not just yet, you are not allowed to do anything officially just yet but, you know, we are ongoing with stuff and that is the way we will keep it.
PN
You are obviously talking about restructuring the squad during the summer, you have talked about and alluded to the fact that you are looking to maybe restructure the coaching staff next season. What will this entail?
GA
Well, it is something that I am not going to talk about just yet, it is something that I will talk about after the final game of the season. But we are going to just slightly change the way we do things, but I think in fairness to everybody at the moment…. That is common knowledge but I want to go in and explain that when the season is over and everybody gets it at the same time.
PN
And in terms of just going back to your playing squad, you talked about quality over quantity for next season. You have got some fringe players on contract for next season, players who perhaps haven't really figured much in the first-team plans this season. Where do their immediate futures lie?
GA
Well, we look at all that, like I said, the big equation is fitting into the figures that the board have given to me and trying to get the strongest possible team and squad that is going to take the club forward. So, there will be some casualties along the way with all that but what we want to do is, time is something that managers don't get ever I think at every level.
So, what we need to do is make sure that every player we have got next season within our first-team squad, or our professional squad, is well and able and capable of playing in a League One team and being good at that. So, that is what I am looking at now, I am looking at getting the type of squad that every single player within it can play a part.
We haven't got too many spaces for players who are going to have to wait 12 months or 18 months because as you rightly know, if results don't go your way you don't get that time to see that plan come to fruition. So, we are just going to get the best possible squad we can that is able and well to play at League One level.
PN
Any chance you are going to get away on holiday this summer bearing in mind all the work you are going to have to do?
GA
I would like to get away late May but it looks like I am not going to go until, well I have not booked anything. I won't do it and that is me getting in trouble again from my family, but I won't book anything until I am happy and comfortable that I have got a squad that is near enough completed to start the season and improve on what we have done this year.
That is my family again giving me a bit of stick but I take this job seriously and sometimes too seriously to the detriment of people around me. But I will get away on holiday, I can assure everybody, certainly my family, that I will get away on holiday when the majority of this job is completed.
JP
With all the work you have got on, it is almost easy to forget that there is a game tomorrow of course. And quite an important one, your last chance to show the home support what Carlisle are all about before the summer?
GA
We have made it into a huge game because what we want is the fans to go away with a massive amount of optimism. Listen, we have done well this season in terms of what we have achieved, but we still want to be better and we still know we have had games where we haven't played as well as we can.
We want the players to play with no fear, with a lot of freedom, with a massive amount of attacking intention in mind and come away from the game giving the fans value for money again. And letting them go home thinking, 'hang on, we have actually got something to look forward to for next season.'
We are depleted with the injuries but we just want the players to go and play with a freedom, with a real big attacking intention and send the fans home happy.
Because the fans, the ones that have been there, even the ones that have been critical and the ones that have stood there and moaned through the season and not been happy with certain things. They have paid their money, they have turned up week in and week out and we are duty bound to try to make them happy at all times.
JP
And speaking of your fans, quite a few of them were down along with yourself at Borough Park on Wednesday night. A big ask still for Workington Reds in that match, from what you saw of the game what sort of task lies ahead to turn that tie around on Sunday?
GA
Well, I really enjoyed the night to be fair, and I have to pay credit to Darren (Edmondson) and his team and squad and the people at Workington. They have done fantastically well to get where they were, the run has been sensational that they have been on to get there.
They were probably a little bit disappointed the way they played on the night. The conditions were awful, but the biggest difference between the two sides was I thought the physical strength of Alfreton. We have come up against that ourselves at Carlisle, but they were physically strong, they played the conditions well, they didn't play a great deal of football.
They turned things round, they put the ball in the right areas, they pressed and squeezed the play all over. I think what Workington have got to do is try to find that team spirit and that determination that they have had for a number of weeks now.
They need to go to Alfreton, roll their sleeves up and just give a really good honest account of themselves. The tie is far from over but what they can say is that what they have achieved this season on the resources they have, for Darren and his players it is an absolutely magnificent achievement.
The fans have got to go there with optimism still believing they can do the job, and I think they can although it will be tough because of the physical strength of the Alfreton team.