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GA
We enjoy the friendlies, they give us the chance to work without the pressure of getting results and stuff like that. They are telling us quite a bit about where we are and what we think we need and they have given us an indication of what is working and what is not working.
So, another game and another tough one, they have had some decent results I think have Falkirk in pre-season so we go again. It will tell us a little bit more about what we are doing and what we think we need to be doing to make things right for the Brentford game.
JP
What sort of squad will you be taking up there in view of the fact that you have got this behind closed doors friendly with Middlesbrough later in the week?
GA
Over two games everybody is going to get 90 minutes, we said you can call it whatever fixture you want, it is a first-team fixture really but we are sending two squads. One will play on Wednesday and one will play on Thursday, so there will be two strong squads go to each game.
JP
And then presumably the Hibernian game will be the one where you are looking at what might be your Brentford line-up perhaps?
GA
No, it won't be.
JP
What will it be then?
GA
It will just be another strong team, listen, at the end of the day, without me saying something on the radio that might alert anybody, I am not giving everything away in the Hibernian game. I have near enough got my mind set on where we are going, there are three more games to go before Brentford and then I will pick the team that is going to be playing against Brentford on the Thursday or the Friday.
JP
Given that the fans obviously can't go to the Middlesbrough game, can you give us any indication as to who might be there for fans travelling up to Falkirk on Wednesday?
GA
All I can say, I don't want to tell you the team but it will be a really strong team, it will be a really good side. It will be really strong and we will be going there again as part of our programme. But like I said, over the two days everybody is going to play, but the majority of the first-team players will be playing.
What we are going to do is have no substitutes, well no first-team players as substitutes, we are going to take the younger players as substitutes. So the ones that don't play on Wednesday will definitely play on Thursday, but it will be a large part of the first-team on Wednesday night.
JP
Given a couple of goes now at the pre-season, or not quite a full couple yet, how valuable do you think that week is away with the players, away from the usual run of a football club?
GA
Well, if I said I have already booked it for next year you would tell me the price and the value that I put on it. We have already booked the same venue at the same time for next year, because for me it is just a terrific week where we can lock, without being no problem to you guys, but lock you out. Lock everybody else out and just work together and don't have any distractions from the football and we work constantly on everything.
All the different aspects of the game, with and without the ball, different systems, different things and then we can work to long hours because the weather was fantastic. The pitch was superb, the people there were good, the food was excellent. So, we have done a real good week of work and hopefully it will pay dividends during the season.
JP
Was it a useful process as well to have two trialists (Kevin Long and Francoise Zoko) and to get to have a real meaty look at what they have to offer?
GA
Well, yes, when you have got trialist people the longer you see people for the better, you make better decisions. So, in that respect we have seen a lot of them and they have shone up a lot as well. So, on that front it is another positive to the training.
JP
What is the latest with Francoise and Kevin?
GA
At the minute we are talking to Francoise and we have just about got in touch with the Burnley people, because they have been away in Singapore. As have the Sunderland people have been away, I think they have been in Portugal.
So, it is a little bit difficult because they have left players behind with us and we haven't really had any point of contact. Because again, training camps are very hard work and time consuming and Steve (Bruce) and Brian (Laws) have been tied up with that. But they are all back now so we can probably speak to the clubs and swap opinions and ideas and see where we go.
JP
So, with Sunderland and Burnley, that is Kevin Long and (Jean-Yves) M'Voto, is there anything more you can tell us then at this stage on M'Voto, I was going to ask that one.
GA
Not at the minute because I haven't spoken to Steve, I have literally just come off the training ground now. So, I have got my work to do now in terms of speaking and ringing and finding out what people's thoughts are on certain things. Hopefully by the next couple of days things will take a clearer picture.
JP
Final question on those two, do you have an indication from them that they enjoyed it here and they would like to perhaps come back?
GA
I think they enjoyed it, players keep things close to their chests and I think we are going to speak to the clubs first out of courtesy and then speak to the players and see what their thoughts are. But we are hopeful that we can do something.
JP
What about Francoise then?
GA
The situation with Francoise, he went back to France to get some gear because he was only going to stay for a week and he stayed for three weeks and I think he was starting to smell a bit. So, we have let him go home to get a change of clothes. We spoke to his agent today, there is a bit of work to be done.
We would like to keep him for a bit longer, we are not sure what that period will be, whether we can agree something over twelve months or six months. Obviously there is finance involved now, but I would like to take him for longer. I thought he looks like someone who can give us something different, I can't give you any more than that because that is as black and white as it is.
We like him, he really enjoys being round us, he has wanted to be here which is massively important, and he looks like he wants to come and play and enjoy his football. I think he is going to get better the fitter he gets, and I thought he put in a really decent performance the other night at Darlington.
JP
And in other matches, is this a big one for you in terms of, not just Francoise, but in terms of trialists that they perhaps work very hard when they are trying to earn a contract, maybe not so hard after. Is this something where you have to really try to get your handle on the player's character?
GA
Yes, you are spot on, because sometimes in trial periods……. But the good thing with Francoise for our sake is that we have had him for three weeks now and he has just worked harder and harder and harder. Now I know he has worked, but generally after two or three days you might think that this isn't going to happen for me. But he just enjoys playing football, I think you can see that from the Darlington performance.
What he did which probably didn't appeal to the eye of the fans as much as we see from our end was the amount of times he won the ball back. He tracked back and won the ball back in possession, now that is someone that is having a right go because obviously he is a forward thinking player and he has got a little bit of ability and quality.
But he tracked back three or four times and I thought harshly pulled up for free-kicks when he ran back, took the ball off a midfield player and off he went. But he is a big strong boy who needs to be just a little bit fitter, I think if we can get him a little bit fitter and a little bit quicker.
He has got good pace over short distances, explosive pace over short distances and he has certainly got massive quality on the ball. So, I think he is going to give us something different if we can organise something with him.
JP
If he were to come in would that be an end of your interest in the forwards, because you had voiced an interest, if there was someone around, getting that 20 goal a season striker? Would you still be in the market for that or do you think that would be it for the forward line?
GA
Looking at Gary Madine and looking at Craig Curran and looking at Zoko and looking at (Jason) Price, I would be disappointed if there wasn't goals there. Does somebody get 20? I don't know, I don't know if anybody is going to get 20 but I think if we can score the same amount of goals……..
We have been working at the other end to be fair to make us a little bit harder to score against. I think if we can do that, as long as we get the number of goals we got last season, it would be nice if somebody got 20, but if somebody got 20 and we didn't get many more……
It is a team thing, it is an amount of goals, I am not really bothered where they come from, I would like somebody to get 20 because once you have got a striker in form then generally the other people pick off that. But, I think out of those four they should score goals and there has been a lot of pressure put, well certainly from us, a responsibility on other areas and wide players and midfield players to score goals as well.
So, you are asking your centre-halves to get another dozen between them as well, Ian (Harte) got 19. So, I don't think we should just be saying that he has got to get 20 goals, I think if we get the number right, the combination number right for the whole of the team then that it is important. But it would be nice if somebody did come in with 20-25 goals, that would be fantastic.
JP
But if Zoko came in then, it sounds like that would be about it for you upfront?
GA
For the timebeing, but things change, things change in football quickly. If people come in for some of our players and we were not scoring regular, from certainly the top four have got to get their goals and the midfield players and the wide players.
If we thought we had to do something and there was room because other clubs come in for players that they fancied then we might do something. I would never say it was dead, but I would think for the timebeing then we would have to start the season with that.
JP
And two new Spanish trialists? (Jose Maria Cases Hernandez and Edgar Chumillas Martinez)
GA
Where they have come from is a decent source, and to be fair they look very good players to be honest, they look technically very, very good. So they have come from a good source, they have just asked us to have a look at them. We didn't know where we would be in terms of the size of the squad but we promised this in May.
We are probably nearly full up in the area that they are in but if they really do wow us then we can maybe do something there. But at the minute we are nearly up to speed in what we want to do, obviously we know we need the centre-half position sorting out and then we have got the attacking option that we might do. Then if anybody else wows us then we have to try to make room or go to the board and put in a really big case for it.