United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this afternoon ahead of Carlisle's pre-season friendly at Gateshead, Abbott first talking about the club's five day training camp this week :
GA
In terms of Slaley Hall and the staffing and the food and the facility, brilliant, and the players have just taken on board everything we have done again. We have trained morning and afternoon every day except for yesterday, and we have done loads of work that we think will keep us in good stead for next season. The new players have integrated fantastically well, Liam (Noble) came on Thursday as well and trained with us and he has smoothly got himself back into the group, so there have been so many positives from the week. When I have a good week like this you sort of tend to build your optimism even further that we can start the season running and full of confidence and get off to a good start.
JP
What sort of things did you get your teeth into then this week? Obviously, the first week is a lot more, or less so than it used to be, about getting the fitness in, because the players come back fit, but what does the second week comprise of?
GA
I think this week is a mixture of the fitness and the tactical side of it, so we have done a lot of shape work, eleven v eleven work where everybody is on the pitch so everybody knows how we are going to play and what system we are going to do, and when we do change the system people can adapt to it and understand it. So, we have done a lot of that this week and we are really pleased with the way that the players have responded to all of the work.
JP
In terms of the week away I know that you do like to keep the players away from everything, that is why you to like to have them away, and away from the media in particular, because you just like to get them focused on the match, how important is that?
GA
Yeah, don't take that too personally, it is not the media we are trying......... We just want a week, they had seven weeks off, they had a big holiday, but we just want a week where everybody throws themselves into Carlisle United Football Club, into the staff, into the team-mates, into the football, and we shut ourselves off from everything. The lads haven't even seen their families, so it is not the media or anything, it is their families and all sorts.
But, we just say, full focus on everything we do and these are the ground rules, all the ground rules get set this week on how we expect them to behave, how we expect them to play, what sort of systems we are going to play, how we expect them to behave and all those sorts of things. All those sorts of things have been done this week, how we want them to integrate as a group, how we want them to prepare, how we want them to eat, how we want them to behave and all that sort of stuff. So, we have had a really good week.
JP
In terms of Liam Noble how excited are you to have him back at the club?
GA
Yeah, again it gives us competitive squad at the minute, we have got a really, really big squad with a bit of depth to it now and you probably judge the strength of your squad by how strong your substitutes bench is, so you can make changes if things don't go right. I think we have certainly got that at the minute, and to be fair if you asked me my team for the start of the season now I would be very, very hard pressed to be able to pick it. We have got so many choices, so many options and so much quality running through the club now.
JP
How have all of the players on this week away bedded in? The new guys in particular? How crucial is it to have this bit of time away with them?
GA
It is vital, certainly for your new players because they need to understand how I work, how Kav (Graham Kavanagh) works and how the staff work, and how all the other players work, what our work ethic is, what our morals are, the way we play, the way we work, the way we train, the way we eat, all that sort of stuff. Now they know, now they know what we are all about, they understand what we are all about, they know that we need to work with a smile on our face but we work to a massive degree of intensity, and we have to do that because man for man I don't think we have got the strongest squad in the league. But, I think man for man when we are together and we are united and we have got everybody pulling in the same direction we are a real threat to everybody.
JP
Just a bit more on Liam Noble, a thought that crossed my mind, does he come in, do you have any indication that he comes in sort of in the (Tom) Taiwo mould where he might be looking for something beyond Sunderland, or is it more in the Ben Marshall mould where he is a player who still might have a future at his parent club?
GA
I don't think anybody can answer that question, I think you have got to set your standards and your sights as high as possible, that is what Liam is, he is not going to play immediately at Sunderland so he is going to get a real good level of football with us. What that will lead to and what the outcome of that is nobody knows because he might prove to be far too good for this level and go to the Championship or the Premier League, he might prove that this is his level, he might prove that he can't do it at this level. So, I think he will, I think certainly at this level he has showed he can do it, and then we will have to see whether he can do the next. Then people make decisions after that and he goes in whichever direction his form or his play decides.
JP
How did your trialists get on then in the week? Have you been further impressed by them? Is there any development with (Lasse Merring-) Mikkelesen or (Stuart) Green?
GA
Well, we are going to get today out of the way, we are going to let them play, they have been great in training in terms of their attitude and their application, and they have been integrated into the group really, really well. Today we want to see how they perform and then we will make some decisions probably early/middle of next week.
JP
And are you any closer to any further movement at the moment or is it as we were in the week away that you have had?
GA
No, right now as we are there is nothing imminent, but there are still phone calls being made and there is still work being done and there are still a lot of things ongoing. But, at the minute there is nothing imminent and we have got what we have got and we are going to see how they do, which we all said we would, and then we will look at the thing as we progress.
JP
Has there been no interest in your squad? I almost find that hard to believe given the performance of them last year?
GA
Erm, there probably has but nothing has come. Generally you find now the interest is the Bosmans at our level really, people that are out of contract, Bosmans, that they get snapped up by now. The next step is teams that are underperforming, need a certain type of player, look at who has got them and then go for them from there. But, at the minute, and I don't want to encourage any interest in anybody from our club, but at the moment we are completely happy with what we have got and desperately don't want to lose anybody, so I am fine with all that.
JP
And personally on your front, a few years now into this pre-season lark, how are you finding this one? Are you starting to sort of get a handle on how Greg Abbott takes a team through these stages of the year?
GA
Yeah, I mean every day you learn as a manager, every day you learn as a player, every day in football you learn. From the day I signed at Coventry at 14-years old, 33 years ago I think that is, I have learned quite a bit you know. As I think (Sir) Alex Ferguson would admit, he is still learning every day that there are new things around the corner, there are other challenges and other problems, but there are also some nice things that go along with it. So, yeah, I am in fine form with myself and the way we have set things up, the staff have been terrific again, we have worked very closely as a unit, the players respond to that and we crack on and look forward to another successful year.
JP
And arguably the most important question at this stage, what is better, Francois Zoko's English or Greg Abbott's French?
GA
Definitely Francois Zoko's English, yeah, definitely.