Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Blues boss Greg Abbott

How much did that Torquay defeat hurt you professionally?

GA

I think defeats against teams from lower leagues hurt everybody. We have seen Crawley beat Derby, we have seen Stevenage beat Newcastle, a multi-million pound outfit. So, it happens, but it doesn't make it any easier. Every defeat hurts me but it was a big game for the club because we are talking about a financial situation that is vital to what we are doing, and the win there would have helped us along a bit.

Maybe it would have improved my chances of bringing in even better players than I am looking for at the moment, because the revenue is the be-all and end-all. The club is in a position where it won't spend more than it has got, so I have got to work with what I have and they won't go and spend £1 if they have only got 50p.

They are black and white and I am sorry, that is what we have to give to everybody out there. The club are running a ship that is run financially properly, and the defeat probably hurt us more financially than all the other things that go with it, as well as the fact that we could have progressed in a fantastic competition.

But, that has gone now, there is a line has gone under that, I have had my say, we did on Saturday, we have done on Monday, I have had a little bit of a go again today. We have got to get back on track and get some league points and maybe get two games against Huddersfield in the Johnstone's Paint, and then all of a sudden the season is on fire again, but we have to make that happen now.

PN

A couple of supporters who were at Plainmoor on Saturday called after the game to say they had been disappointed that the players and the manager hadn't offered them recognition at the end of the game. What was the situation there?

GA

Yeah, I think emotions were running high and to anybody that thought there was no recognition, then they always get recognition from me and they always get it from the fans. If they felt that it wasn't there on Saturday then they will have to take a humble apology from myself. But, there were a lot of emotions and there were a lot of things being said as well and thrown at the players and the atmosphere wasn't brilliant.

I think by the time everybody took stock of that most of the fans had wandered off and there were others, some others, who were having a bit of a criticism, which they are rightly to do so and I think it was probably those more reasons that they weren't. If we have upset anybody, listen, the very fact that they paid all their money out there and had seen a poor performance, everybody was as upset as everybody else.

I will apologise if that is the case and they think they deserve……. I think we need to do that and I think everybody needs to take stock of what is going on and the very fact that people have put their hands in their pockets and travelled a long way.

PN

What has the mood been like amongst the players this week? Have you sat them down and talked through what is happening at the moment?

GA

It is one bad performance really, if you look at Dagenham, it is only a couple. We are not going to quantify a criticism when we don't think there is……. We think there is a lot still to play for, we think there is a lot still to group up for. However we play we always sit the players down and talk to them about that particular performance, and Torquay was no different.

I think what we have done now is stressed the importance of how quickly we get back on track. It is amazing that in a fortnight we could be sitting here in a cup final and in the top six. It is ridiculous how quickly this season can slide into a negative and slide back into a positive.

So, we have told them about opportunities and missing opportunities, we have missed a couple and we need to make sure we take up on the next few. Then we can talk about the good things that the season has got to offer rather than a couple of defeats in the last nine or ten games.

PN

Do you as manager feel under any more pressure at the moment?

GA

A manager is always under pressure, you have seen the state of the game at the moment, and that will never change from week one to the last week of the season. Every manager is wondering what the hell is going on with the football game, so we are always under pressure.

PN

Is there any reason to have a youth team at the club if it is perceived that players haven't got a direct route to prove themselves in the first team? Maybe the likes of (Ryan) Bowman and (Andy) Cook and (Steven) Swinglehurst who are perhaps not getting that opportunity at the moment?

GA

If they are good enough they will play, it is as simple as that. I think the debate doesn't have much substance, Gary Madine is our top scorer, leading the line, he came through the youth team didn't he? Ryan Bowman has made his debut in the last couple of weeks, he came through the youth team, so I don't think the argument has got much substance.

If they are good enough they will all play, if they are not good enough they won't play. That is the same principle at every single football club in the 92 clubs, so I think we are exactly the same. We have given youth a chance, we have got one of the youngest teams in the division and people are looking at why young players aren't playing, I am not so sure where that is coming from.

PN

Are you looking at mainly loans or permanents in the transfer window?

GA

I would like to do permanents, but unless you have got hard cash to put down at this particular time……. I enquired about a player and they wanted six figures, and that was for a player that is in a league two leagues below this, and we thought we could get him for a nominal, and we are talking about nominals.

But, people hold aces at this time, there is no need to sell for them unless you actually physically financially bully people out of clubs then you don't get anybody at this stage of the season. We have not got that financial clout to go in and bid in lots of money, so it going to be probably more loans, but, I would like to do the permanent things.

Some of the loans we do though you have seen are with a view to permanents later on down the line. Looking at what happened over the (James) Chester thing and you start thinking that as much as we can, certainly the summer, we try to do as many permanents as we can. But, we were hit with horrific injuries to Danny Livesey and to Sean McDaid and things like that, clubs like us can't carry too many of them and they have hurt us.

PN

What can you tell us about the two Liams (Cooper and Noble)?

GA

Well, we think we need to strengthen, we have come to a situation where we knew we would have problems trying to organise the loanees we already had, and some circumstances beyond what we could do about it enabled other people to leave. So, we had to strengthen and we have been working hard this week to try to make things happen.

Liam (Cooper) has come in to replace James if you like, he has played in the Premier League, he is a left-sider, he has got good pace, good size, attacks the ball. So, we feel that he is going to come in and provide some competition in there at the centre of defence for Danny, Peter (Murphy) and Paul Thirlwell - our new found centre-half.

So, he has been brought in the building, and the other one, Liam Noble, what we felt in there is at the minute we have got similar type midfield players. He is one with a real eye to go forward, he has got great energy and he is hungry, he wants to play, he has got a good pass in him.

We think he can get on the fringe of the attacks as well a bit more than we have got, so there is a different type of midfield player in there. He is coming in as a favour from Sunderland at the right types of money and gives us a different option if you like. So, that is the thinking process behind them and we are still trying to do some more business as we speak.

PN

Yeah, with regard to Liam Noble and being a different kind of player, would that perhaps alter your thinking with regard to formations and systems?

GA

Not really, I think he is still a good midfield player who could play any type of system we want him too. He is just a different type where if we are needing a bit more creativity or a bit more forward thinking player he would provide that type. You have got to balance that up against who you are playing, where you are playing and how that particular game is going.

So, on Saturday we could have done with him couldn't we because we could have done with a little bit more thrust and a bit more forward thinking creativity from midfield, which we hope he will come in and add to what we have already got. Which we think is very, very good but at times it has its limitations and Liam will hopefully fill that void.

PN

You have allowed Thomas Cruise to go back to Arsenal, what was the thinking behind that?

GA

Yeah, I felt that Tom had done OK during his period here. What I did say to him on the Friday night was that I didn't think he was ready to play week in and week out at this level. It is a big jump from where he has come from and Saturday's performance when you are up against it and when there is a tough performance required, I just felt that it just found him out a bit. We were probably going to keep him then just to have a body around and I don't think that was fair on Tom.

The idea of having Premier League players here is to try to give them as much pitch-time as possible. I did say to him that I was going to try to bring in another left-back and that is something I am still trying to do to add a little bit more experience. Tom has got a little bit of developing to do I think before he is ready to be thrown into a week in and week out situation at League One level.

PN

And as far as your defence goes, Danny Livesey, how far away is he?

GA

Erm, looking at him today, quite a bit, looking at him last Tuesday when we played the behind closed doors game he looked very, very good. But, I think the amount of activity he had caught up with him today and he looked really, really tired. But, you often feel worse before you feel better when you are trying to get your fitness levels.

So, I would think another ten days probably, probably we are looking at maybe getting him involved in some capacity, maybe on the substitutes bench for next Saturday. But, I think this week and Tuesday will come too early for him.

PN

It is an important game for both teams isn't it on Saturday, but a very different set of circumstances given they have just got a new manager (Dave Penney) coming in and I would imagine their players will be desperately keen to impress?

GA

I would hope my players are desperately keen to impress as well to be honest. We don't really worry too much about Bristol Rovers's situation, I hope they are even keener to impress the week after because they have been beaten. I think my players after Saturday should be keen to impress also.

PN

Are you expecting a big response from your players?

GA

We don't expect that, we have to demand that, we have to put the pressure on them to an extent. Everybody is liking to be talking about pressure and it is a word that is creeping into football more and more. The boys have to go out and perform, that is for sure, the fans will be wanting them to answer the few critics and we are only two results away from putting the season right back on a positive note again.

So, that is where we are coming from but like I said to them, missed opportunities escalate and make things harder to attain. So, we have got to go into Saturday's game in is a real good frame of mind and I think that people have got to see that the players have rolled their sleeves up and they have given a real, real big determined performance, and getting a positive result out of it.

I think supporters have got to…….. I have said it before and we keep going over ourselves, the supporters have got a bigger part to play than anybody. Because, supporters can spread so much positivity and when we hear the fans cheering the players are 100 times better. If supporters are coming on here on Saturday, if we did a goal down, and are going to spit their dummies out, then we are going to struggle.

Players suffer, players fear that, players don't like that, they feel that, they can sense it. But, they can also sense when the fans have come, and they have done, 99% of the time this season they have been absolutely brilliant, come to cheer a team on to victory, that spreads to the pitch as well. That is what I ask for, I ask the supporters to come and support us and give the boys every backing. We need a result because there have not been enough good results in the league just of late.

Hence missing the games due to the weather and other people playing and picking up games where we haven't, if you look at our games in hand situation and look at a couple of wins on top of that, the season is still very much alive. We need the supporters to see that and come in a really good frame of mind on Saturday.