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GA
We have had a gameplan right from the end of last season of how we want to try to do things and what type of players we want to get at the club. Looking at the work through the summer and the work in the pre-season programme, and then the two games that we have started off with, we think that we are getting there.
It is really early days but the signs are OK and the signs are looking in the right direction. So, we need to tramp on with the good work and get some good results and get everybody believing in what we are trying to do.
PN
You talked in the summer about changing the way your side played and the way you set up the team, have you been surprised at how quickly the players have adapted to that?
GA
Yes and no, if you are going to play a certain way then you need your players to fit into that way. You can't just decide to say that we are going to play that style of football without having the players to back it up. We have researched a lot of the players, it is difficult in the financial environment that our club is in to try to get the right players because you haven't got as many to pick from as everybody else.
But, once we have got them together they have done the hard bit, we have stuck to our guns, we have tried to tell them the way we want to do things. To be fair to them they have taken it on board recently and we are getting some good results. But, there is a long way to go yet and we haven't gone 3-0 down in a game yet, and that is when you tend to find out your players as well.
We have got those sort of performances to come and that is when we will really find out we have got a really good team. We want to keep playing the type of football, whichever system we play, that we played in the first two games and keep the fans enthused by what is going on. They were terrific the other night in their appreciation into what is going on.
PN
How important do you think it is that those fans who are coming down are getting that message across as well to those fans who have maybe stayed away for the last two, three or five years?
GA
Well, we had 6,000 near enough for the opening game. If they liked what they saw in the Brentford game, which I am sure they did, and then we got a good reception on Tuesday night, if we can bang out a good result at Plymouth then we might be getting an extra 300 or 400 on top of the gate.
If we can build up that attendance gradually and turn people's heads slowly rather than go down in 500 or 600 in one fell swoop it tells us that the football and the results are in the right direction. But, we need those people and to be honest I think the fans have wanted to see the football.
It is not that they don't want to come and watch, they have got to go away feeling comfortable with what is going on and optimistic they are going to see good football. We have tried to improve things as they have gone along, we think we are.
I think it takes more than two or three months of doing it, and after nearly going down the season before last, last season was a really good season in terms of getting things back on a footing. Now we have got to try to crack on and improve the results again, and the type of football, and get the crowd up near 7,500 or 8,000, which really might be where our cap off point is at the minute.
PN
Plymouth this weekend, any injury concerns at this stage?
GA
At the minute we are OK, everybody has come through Tuesday night well. The other lads that didn't play on Tuesday had a really tough session on Wednesday morning and they are looking in good shape. So, we are going with a full squad bar Danny (Livesey) for the big trip.
PN
And of course they came down from the Championship last season, they had a good win on the opening day at Southampton, what kind of game are you expecting from them?
GA
Probably it is a good time to play them, you would have wanted them to get off to a bit of a shaky start, which obviously they didn't at Southampton but they did at home to Notts County.
So, maybe expectations at home with the crowd, and they do get good fans and good numbers supporting them, if we can get in and around them, and stop them playing and stop them getting a lead early on, then they might find a bit of frustration from the home fans, and we can use that to our advantage. But, it is certainly going to be a tough game, good players, still a big club and certainly well supported.
PN
As you alluded to a few moments ago, you have got really good options on the bench now, it looks a stronger bench than you have had for a number of seasons down there. Because of that are you less likely to be inclined to make any further ventures into the transfer market, either loan or permanent, between now and the end of the window?
GA
Well, it is a question there that is loaded with all sorts of things, the ifs and buts that might happen. To be perfectly honest with everybody, if somebody asked me now if I was happy with my squad, then yes I am happy. Could it get better? Yes, it could. And could we find another player to bring in to improve it then we would do.
I think we might start alerting, clubs might start getting alerted to players that we have got. So, if somebody came for one of mine and something happened then we would try to do something to balance all that up. But, certainly we don't want to be going down in numbers between now and the end of the window.
The only thing that would happen is the possibility that one might come in if we could find the right one, but I certainly wouldn't like to think that we would be losing any numbers, and that would be something that everybody should know.
PN
A quick word just finally about Joe Garner, because he came back on Tuesday, got a hero's welcome and then as soon as the game started the fans got on his back. As a manager you know the way Joe plays, what did you make of his performance on Tuesday night?
GA
Well, I thought it was typical Joe and if he is in your team you put up with what he does. I thought he did go down to ground probably too easy at times, even easier than he normally does. But, Joe buys free-kicks, he takes a buffeting, he gives a buffeting, he doesn't moan about too much.
He is one of those where fans love him if he is on your team and you are going to hate him if he is against you, and that proved to be the case the other night. But, everybody knows how Joe plays and that is the way it was.
He did get a great reception and he will be pleased with that, and I think in the long-term if our fans had him back in their squad they would appreciate what he does for the team, and would probably say he is getting a buffeting himself, so it does work both ways. But, listen, it is great to see our fans getting biased and getting right behind us for a change, and I was happy for that.