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GA
They are probably the most frustrating press conferences you could get at the minute. We are trying to invent stuff for you to tell everybody, we are trying to give everybody a picture that there is a lot of work going on. There are a lot of names being thrown about, a lot of phone calls being made, a lot of enquiries being made.
But we don't want to really confirm or deny anything because we want to keep our cards as close as we can, try to make something happen, and then come out and tell everybody what has happened. My way of thinking is no timescales, no names and there are no disappointments and no promises broken.
PN
You have talked about having an A list of targets if you like, and then beyond that a B list and a C list, where are you in that respect?
GA
Well, we have just got as many enquiries as we think we need to cover every situation. Obviously in a perfect world we would have five, six or seven A list targets and we would get the lot. I don't think that is going to happen, we have had a phone call today where one of our A list players is attracting attention from a Premier League club, and I was staggered.
I thought maybe a Championship club but he is attracting attention from a Premier League club, so it looks like one of the targets won't be for us. So then you have to look at all the other things and keep as many things warm and keep as many options open to you as possible.
But I don't want to be taking too many targets from the D and E list, I really don't want to get below a B and C. I don't want to confuse everybody with the alphabet but obviously there is a pecking order in terms of players in certain positions I would like.
Until I get a firm yes or no from those players then I don't really want to go in any other area of the list. But I have to keep everything warm, if you know what I mean, to make sure that if we do lose one of the top targets, that we have got other people ready and waiting and understanding of the situation.
PN
Have you missed out on any of your targets at this stage?
GA
Erm, not yet, not yet, but I think we are in with some severe competition for a couple, some massive competition for a couple. So I am not going to say we are missing out or we are guaranteed of getting. We are in the situation now where we are racing, listen, we are in the race and that is all we can ask, is that.
I have put some really big names to the board, put some really big targets that I think to the board and obviously those targets have got competition for their signatures. The board have backed me, they have said go for them, and we are in the race, whether we win it or not is a different matter. But hopefully we can convince people to come and we can get that work done.
PN
Do you believe you are at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to transfer windows just because of the club's geography?
GA
I think we are at a disadvantage in a lot of things but you have got to just put those disadvantages to one side and try to fight and scrap even harder you know. I think what we do here is we work harder to make transfers happen than probably any other club because of where we are located, the financial situation, the expectation levels.
So what I do is I try to meet players, I have met players who I probably know that we are not going to probably get. But if it doesn't work out with the big clubs and their aspirations that they have don't quite work out, they think - well hang on a minute, the manager took the time and trouble to come and see me.
I did that with Vincent Pericard, he is a perfect example, he signed for us because I drove, within an hour of him saying that he would like to meet me, I drove from here to Stoke to meet him and tried to convince him to come.
He said yes straight away because of that, so sometimes you do do some wasted journeys but those wasted journeys are nice when you get somebody that says yes because you have got off your backside and gone and made something happen.
PN
We know Barrow midfielder Andy Bond is one of the players you are interested in bringing into the club this summer, where does that stand at the moment?
GA
Andy is a name that is in and amongst a whole group of names. He has got considerations to make and we are respectful of that. He is just on a huge list of players that we have made enquiries about.
PN
What was it in particular about Andy that attracted you, or first drew him to your attention?
GA
I don't want to really talk about Andy's particular strengths and weaknesses. He is just a player that shouldn't get any more press than anybody else, because if I talked about all the players we are interested in then they would all have strengths and weaknesses and they would all be getting press. We all be then thinking we are signing everybody, but he is just a player that is on our list and that is as far as it is at the minute.
PN
How frustrating is this waiting for you at the moment?
GA
It is not frustrating for me because it is what you expect. It is what comes with the territory, it is frustrating for fans because they are wanting to wait and go and buy their season tickets. And they are wanting to see that the players we bring in are going to give us a better chance of improving than we were last season.
So they are waiting, I have had a couple of texts from people saying please, please get these players in that we are looking for. I would like it to happen by the end of May, I would have liked to have happened, but it was never going to happen before the end of May. There are a lot of players out there that are still weighing up options, not just in League One but in League Two and the Premier League and the Championship.
I think there are a lot of managers sitting in the same situation as me, hoping that we can make deals happen and enjoy the summer break. But it doesn't happen like that, I have made four or five phone calls, and we are only at 12.30pm today, and all four have got international dialling tones.
So you can tell that these players and agents and managers are having a break as well, so it is difficult to get through to people at this stage. So I think people have to be patient and wait and let's hope that…. We have still got over two months before the first ball has been kicked of the next season, so we are not in a situation where we are desperate by a long, long, long way.
PN
Do you think the whole process has got longer, more protracted from where it is now to when you were a player?
GA
I think it is no, the system is a nightmare for you guys because the agents have got seven or eight balls in their hand and can choose and pick. They can send their players away and tell the players not to answer their phones, so you can't talk to players direct any more because the agents are carrying all the cards. So they tell you not to pick up the phone, they do everything and they are purely business.
They are purely this is the best deal or that is the best deal and it takes a lot more work to get through to that particular player. Out of the seven or eight balls that the agent holds you get down to three and then that is when the player might hear of the interest and he decides then to pick his choice. So it is a really tough time for making quick decisions and quick transfers.
PN
With regard to making decisions, Richard Keogh, you hinted at last week that you were probably approaching the time for Richard to make a decision as to whether he stays at the club and signs a new deal or goes. Where are we with that at the moment?
GA
In my opinion I think it is probably for everybody's interests, and Richard's included, so that this club, Richard, and the fans know what his outcome is going to be, that he makes a decision. But I can't drag a decision out of him, he is fully within his rights to withhold that.
I think at the minute the club are at the point of saying to Richard that out of respect of what we have done for you and what you have done for us, could we get close to an outcome so everybody knows where we stand and we can all move on. I am at the minute a little bit powerless to answer the question for you, although I am as keen to know the answer as you are.
But I think probably the longer it goes on, as I suggested last week, it will probably be that Richard is going to ply his trade elsewhere and his agent has found him that move that is a better one for his future than this one. I might be wrong in saying that, that is just an inkling I have got.
PN
And just an update on from where we were last week, last week you indicated that there hadn't been any official approaches for any of your squad, has that changed at all?
GA
Absolutely not one, and I am happy with that because obviously we did our work at the end of the season, I am comfortable with that, that is done now. Now it is a job of rebuilding, I don't want to be taking any more of it apart unless I am absolutely forced to, so that is a situation where I am pleased about.
PN
Jason Price has given an indication that Carlisle would be at the top of his list, if not the top of clubs to join this summer after his release by Millwall. How confident are you that you can persuade Jason to come?
GA
Well that is Jason talking as well and that is nice to now that we must have done something right with him while he was here last season. He had a nice impact for us at the end of the season and Jason is a player that again, along with a lot of others, that is on our list of people that we are discussing and talking about.
PN
Just to clarify Tony Kane's position, his name appeared on the PFA list this week on their website as available for a free transfer. But as far as you are aware that is certainly not the case?
GA
Well he is not, he has got another year to go with us, Tony has got another year of his contract and I don't know how he has gone on the availability for free transfer list. I have spoken to Tony at length about his future and he knows the situation and I know the situation.
If somebody came in for him that could offer him regular football then we probably wouldn't stand in his way. But he is coming back and he is working hard to come back as fit as he can be to challenge for a right-back position, which may be open for grabs next season.
PN
Just to clarify something we talked about last week that we touched on, which was Richard Offiong and his situation. Obviously his injury will mean he will miss the bulk of the pre-season, in respect of Richard is he on a last chance with you and with the club to prove himself when the season gets underway and he gets back to fitness?
GA
I just think when he is fit we have to start to judge him again. I would have liked him to have done the full pre-season with us and gone in on a level playing field with the rest of the players. We could get him fit and get him strong and get him hungry to play.
I think, like I said last week, the ball is in Richard's court, Richard has got to produce and show people the sort of form he showed when he was in Scotland, 100 and odd goals in 40-odd games (ed - 43 goals in 106 games).
If he doesn't then he is going to have problems getting a place in this club because we think we are going to bring in some good players that will test Richard's resolve to his hunger of getting into the team. I think the ball, it has been said, and I spoke to Richard face to face, nothing I am saying is any different, that he has got to prove to everybody that he is worthy of a place in the team.
PN
How patient are you as a manager in that respect?
GA
Well I have got to be patient because he has got another year on his contract. So he either gets in the team and does well or he doesn't get in the team and he goes along training for no…… The ball is entirely down to Richard, if somebody wanted to make an offer for Richard and thought they could develop him and make him a better player and put him in the team then it is something that we might listen to.
At the minute I am looking forward to Richard getting fit, coming back and proving he is worthy of a place in the team. If he is then he will get one, if he is not then he won't get one.
PN
Two young players who could make an impact this coming season, Tom Aldred and Gary Madine, how big a role do you envisage those two can play in the first-team?
GA
Er, well Gary looks like he could play a big role. Tom has shown people that he is probably ready to push Danny Livesey and Ian Harte for a place at the centre of the defence. So again we are talking about what may happen, again the ball is down to those two.
If they come back in the right frame of mind and have a good pre-season, they are fit and they have looked after themselves, and they get off to a good start, Gary scores goals and Tom defends properly then they will make progress.
PN
Are you confident Gary is maturing? Is getting over perhaps the things that have held him back in the past?
GA
He looked like it, he certainly looked like it at the end of the season. He really looked like he was getting his head round things, I think he has probably seen himself in last chance saloon sort of area. But he knows how quickly football can change and how quickly opinions can change.
Because if he scores ten goals in the first fifteen or sixteen games then there could be big clubs looking for him. If he does that then all his troubles will be put to one side and then people will be talking about his football.
If he doesn't do that, he doesn't have the right impact and he is consistently getting into the wrong areas and doing the wrong things, people will just remind him of his misgivings over the past couple of years. So hopefully we are talking about Gary next season as a purely in a football sense and nothing else.
PN
And Tony Caig, any movement with the talks with Workington over his position?
GA
No, I think they are ongoing, I think everybody knows we would like to bring Tony in as a full-time goalkeeping coach. So things I think are in hand with the clubs at boardroom level to sort that out.