|
GA
I think to be honest with you things are getting much warmer. Players now are looking at July 1st as a date when everybody goes back pre-season training. Certainly some of the inquiries we thought we had made some progress with are getting a lot warmer.
Some of the players we had hopes of getting, if they are not back to me by the end of this week you would think that they are going to make their decisions and do other things. So we are looking on a number of fronts and we are getting closer to decisions, good and bad decisions in my case. But certainly by the end of the week I would hope that things can be a clear picture of where I am going really.
There is still a lot of time here, we are still talking about August 8th and some players will keep their cards close to their chest and some players will go back pre-season and find themselves out of favour and want to look for some first-team football. So there are lots of things still to happen, but certainly the thing is definitely getting a bit more intensified.
PN
Did you expect that given the fact that we are at the time now where contracts are running out, and of course pre-season as you mentioned is just over the horizon?
GA
We are not Manchester United, Manchester United could probably do their work in the first week because everybody wants to play for Manchester United. With us we have got to compete, we have got to get in the race with other clubs for other players, and we have got to try and try and try to force them, or persuade them if you like, to come to our club.
We go on a list of options, if Manchester United come in for you then you generally don't look for other options if you want to stay in England, you take that choice and you go for it. So I knew it would happen, it has happened, we did one early, we have talked to a number of people, a number of players, a number of agents, a number of managers.
Now we are getting to the situation where the work we have done will start to happen. But there is still a long way to go before that first game, and I am absolutely not worried about anything just yet, it is not that time. I am full of hope and enthusiasm that the team will be better, and I am really confident it will be stronger come that time middle of July towards the first game of the season.
PN
The club's managing director John Nixon last week revealed, or highlighted one of the problems you face I guess as a manager. An instance with a midfielder you had agreed terms with and was all set to come for a medical and at the last minute joined another club. I guess that shows some of the problems that you do face that perhaps fans maybe aren't aware of.
GA
The fans aren't aware of quite a few things. The reason we can't give them all the information, the reason we didn't give the midfield players' identity away before we were due to sign him is because once we have offered him a deal and it gets farmed out then people find out that he is talking to Carlisle.
They then think that they can outbid Carlisle, they can muscle us out of it, we try to get them all wrapped up, done and dusted and then announce them. But that one was disappointing because when you get a handshake and you look into somebody's eyes, I certainly wouldn't renege on a deal like that.
I was upset about that, well upset is a bit harsh, probably initially you are a bit angry but long-term you think if that is the type of player you want. The player there is like turning his back on a tackle you know, so good luck to the lad, good luck to his new manager. But for me he has just turned his back on a tackle and I don't want players that are going to do that at this football club.
PN
Are you able to say who the player was?
GA
No, I am not going to do that because you know me, publicly I never criticise anybody. I have criticised him in my own mind, I am not going to come out and start criticising players, I think I am an honest sort of type of guy.
Possibly I should, possibly I should, all I want is people to know that the situation wasn't the right way to do things. But I am not going to come out and name anybody and throw my bat and ball out and sulk and be mardy about it, this is the way I am. It is part and parcel of football, it is not a part I agree with and a part I particularly like but it does happen.
PN
Roy O'Donovan was also revealed last week as a long-term target of yours.
GA
We have chased Roy down since April, probably before April actually. We have had a conversation, did I have a conversation with who?, did I have a conversation with somebody?, I had a conversation, that is as far as that one goes. We had to try to make people aware, or certainly Roy's people aware that we would be interested.
That went right the way through the summer, it was only just last week we got told. It is not completely dead but I think Roy is talking to clubs, two in the Championship and three right at the top end of our division.
So what he has said is that he has told me that if I can do my work and get another striker in then do it, but if he doesn't manage to get himself fixed up we have agreed that our situation, it might not be as strong the offer, because we are using the package for other things. But if Roy still doesn't find himself worked out we have had a gentleman's agreement that we can still be considered.
PN
Is that an indication, and again Paul Heffernan that we can build into that, an indication of the kind of quality that you have to bring in this summer?
GA
This is the type of quality I am wanting to bring in. The board said that we did the work at the end of the season to create space, to create some finance for that type of player. It is what we wanted to do, that type of player attracts the best and it attracts even attention from other leagues, higher leagues.
So we are still looking, we are still not giving up on hope that we might get one of those types of players in, but the type of people we are looking at we think will do a good job. All the people on the radar have got good pedigree and we might have to take a chance with one that is a bit younger that might do us something like Charlie Austin did at Swindon.
That is in the equation as well but I am not saying that is the way we are going to go or not going to go. But they are all areas that we have had covered and we are looking at bringing in people that then become available and want to come, that is the be-all and end-all I suppose. At the end of it is are they available and can we persuade them to come?
PN
How frustrating for you is it as a manager when you chase targets like Heffernan and O'Donovan, who might go to bigger clubs and end up being on the bench. Which I am not saying might necessarily be the case with those two, but I am thinking of somebody like Vincent Pericard last season who chose to go to Swindon and then spent most of the season kicking his feet on the bench.
GA
I spoke to Vincent in the hotel in Manchester before signing him and I told him that the one thing we could guarantee him is first-team football, and we stuck to that. We said that we wouldn't make him rich but we gave him an attractive enough package for him to come.
Because they don't come for nothing these types of players, but we probably weren't as wealthy as the top people in our division, certainly not Charlton, Swindon, Huddersfield or Leeds. We weren't, we aren't, we may not be in the future.
But Vincent came in and got his career going again and attracted interest from a lot of clubs. We got Vincent a move, this football club Carlisle United and its fans, got Vincent a move and now he has played no football. So whether he has made the right decision or not, we have to leave that down to Vincent in what he thinks, but he has not played any football.
For me players like Vincent who, all he talked about initially was playing football, probably just missed the boat in terms of getting any more games. He hasn't kicked a ball for Swindon, alright ten minutes in the cup final but in real terms he hasn't kicked a football and he must be frustrated with that.
We were because we felt like we had got a player that fitted in to the way we were playing. He was productive for us in terms of what he gave and what he brought to the team and things were going nicely. We wanted to keep him and we made that obvious, but I suppose that is the frustration that he has gone somewhere else and he has not really gone on from what he found at Carlisle United.
PN
Richard Keogh and his decision?
GA
Richard at the moment is flying back from Dubai, I would expect that decision as soon as Richard lands. He will be in touch with the club and we can put that one to bed, the closure of that one needs to come and then we can go forward with or without Richard.
PN
And in terms of offers coming in for members of your squad at the moment, I know John Nixon highlighted on Friday that some have been knocked back, where do we stand with that?
GA
Well I think we will knock everything back, I mean obviously there have been offers for Richard because he has been out of contract. But we will be knocking everything back unless it enables me to go out and buy better.
But nobody will be leaving unless I have already done a signing, so that the signing will be done first before anybody is leaving. Like I said, I am making a big statement here that in my mind now I don't want anybody to leave really unless we get ridiculous money that I know can improve the rest of the squad behind it.
PN
In terms of transfers done in League One so far there seems to be a split. There is a clutch of clubs who have been fairly active and on the other side there are clubs like Carlisle who have been fairly inactive so far. What do you read into that?
GA
Well if you look at the clubs that have been active they are probably the ones that have got the financial clout. Then the other ones have got ones that have bought probably average players. There are some clubs in the league that get money from somewhere that gets investment from areas that enables them to do that.
Orient seem to have found a little bit of money but they have not bought anybody that you would think, wow, what a signing that is for Orient. But they have got some decent players, don't get me wrong and I won't criticise what he (Russell Slade) has brought in, but they are not wow factor players.
But there must have been some investment there because Orient were struggling a little bit financially last season, so there must have been some sort of investment for somebody. Then the big one has been Sheffield Wednesday who released a few big names, got a few really well paid players off their books and have replaced them with actually good players but very much less salaried players than they let go.