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PN
Firstly, you have been able to tie up a couple of key players to longer-term deals this week.
GA
Yeah, it looks that way, we have agreed in principle that Ian Harte and Gary Madine are going to be with us for the next couple of years. So, we think that is good business from the club and great that they have agreed to stay and be part of what we are trying to do. I think everybody at the club, certainly the board of directors deserve a bit of a pat on the back that they have been able to make this happen and we are delighted with it.
PN
Yeah, Ian has signed a one year extension and Gary has signed a two year extension. Is it important to get new contracts resolved as early possible now?
GA
Well, I think in the past one or two players have let their contract run out and we have probably not got the right amounts for these sorts of players. I think they have shown that they want to be at the club, we have sort of got them in a position now where we are in a bit more power of strength. If people come in for them then the club have got a bit of protection in terms of the amounts of money involved in taking them away. So, we have done that now and the quicker we get these things resolved the better for everybody.
PN
You must have taken quite a good deal of encouragment from what you have seen on the pitch so far this season?
GA
Yeah, we are chuffed to bits at the minute with the way things are going. We know there is a long season ahead, we know there is loads and loads of hard work to be done but the early performances have been promising and we just want to build on that. We want to keep the momentum going and hopefully get some more good results over the next few games and build a head of steam up.
PN
Did the Plymouth game feel like a defeat in the end on that long journey home given the way it ended?
GA
I think it did and it didn't, I think obviously you get to that stage of the game where you think you have got all three points and you only get one. But, I think the bigger picture was that the performance outweighed the result in the end.
We had a terrific performance and we take heart from that, and hopefully if we can keep performing like that then we are going to get more wins than losses. So, that sort of tempers the fact that we had given away two points on the day, which was a big disappointment right there and then.
JP
What has encouraged you most then so far about what you have seen from the team and your new look formation?
GA
There are lots of encouraging things, I think the way we have passed the ball, the way we have been controlling most of the games. The defensive side of it has been good, it has given us a platform to attack. A lot of the attacking play has been good, we have caused teams a lot of problems. So, on that front we think we are in decent shape and they are the encouraging signs.
JP
With the transfer window just a couple of weeks away, are you sort of approaching it in terms of if something comes along then we will have a look rather than we are actively looking for something?
GA
I don't think there any massive voids in the squad at the minute, there are not any glaring positions that we need to fill. But, if a situation arose where I thought it would benefit the club then I would go to the board of directors and say that we need to try to do this because it is going to make us better and it is in the right area financially.
Obviously we are actively looking but we are not thinking that we absolutely definitely need that or we definitely need that or we definitely need that. I think it is a case of if something arose on the horizon that we thought would improve us and we could do it, then I would say to the board let's make a play for it. Hopefully they would then back me which they have done this week, obviously with the Gary (Madine) and the Ian (Harte) thing.
JP
How far is Jason Price off being fit, because with him out and (Richard) Offiong and (Andy) Cook out on loan, some fans are a bit worried that you are a touch short upfront?
GA
Well, Jason is only approximately a week away, so he is not going to be a long-term thing. Richard has only got another couple of weeks to go at Darlington and Andy Cook is only on a short-term thing at Barrow. So, the situation is in no way going to be a problem to us, we can call them back very, very quickly and Jason will be back involved possibly for the Colchester game, if not that then certainly the week after that.
JP
And just on MK Dons, of course nine goals against them last year, a league double, they will certainly be out for revenge against your side?
GA
Let's hope so, let's hope they come full of the fact that want to try to beat us, throw everything they can at us and we hurt them with the play we have got, that is not a problem. I would be smarting if I had lost two games home and away to a team like we did with the Brentford thing. But, we think that teams that come at us and open up and want to play give us a better chance to get at them as well, so that will be no problem to me.
JP
And Didier Hamann in the middle of the park, it is something to excite the fans if he is in their squad and in their starting eleven, but it is something for you to think about too?
GA
Yeah, I mean Didier is coming to the back end of a fantastic career you know and I would be more concerned with their front two. They have got more pace and energy than somebody that sits in the middle of the park and just passes the ball. I think we can stop him doing that but you can't always stop the pace of Sam Baldock and Jermaine Easter. So, I would be more frightened about them than I would Hamann.
JP
And just finally on the injuries, anyone else that we don't know about looking doubtful at all tomorrow?
GA
No, everybody else is fine, apart from obviously Jason and Danny Livesey we have got a full bill of health.