United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Thursday's open press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about how pre-season training went for the Blues :
PN
The new season almost upon us now, a quick reflection firstly of how you feel the pre-season has gone for you?
GA
Pretty well, at times too well, but there is a different sort of feel this week you know with the first game coming tomorrow, there is a bit more tension around the place, obviously there is selection issues to take care of, there is the first game to look foward to, there is the season beginning for real. So, there is a different atmosphere, one a bit more intense and over the piece since we came back I have been very, very pleased with a lot of things.
A little bit disturbed with a couple of niggling injuries, that is the only downfall of it but apart from that I have found out a lot about the group again. We continue to try to do that and they look in decent shape and we are hoping for a flying start to lift the optimism around the town and press on from what we achieved last season.
We are just looking to get the season off to a winning start, we just want to win the first game. We will give the respect that Accrington deserve, but we will be trying our damnedest to get the season off to a winning start. When we are on top form and we are playing the way we know we can we are a good side against anybody.
PN
As you mentioned, one or two injuries which are a concern, no different to any other manager I guess at this stage of the season, what is the latest on those injured players?
GA
Erm, pretty encouraging really, we have got Rory (Loy) and Paddy (Madden) still not enabled to take part in full training, but we have got Cads (Danny Cadamarteri) back in full training, we have got J-P (Jon-Paul McGovern) into an area where he is probably in contention now, which we didn't think he would be, for tomorrow. Frank (Simek) is back playing now so overall we are in decent shape. So, better than we were maybe seven or eight days ago.
PN
Danny Cadamarteri you mentioned back in full training, but tomorrow might be a bit too early for him?
GA
Maybe, he trained alright today, we will see how he is, it is probably three or four days too early, we might even try to fix up a bounce game on Tuesday against one of our neighbours, Sunderland, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, one of those teams, to be fair to give pitch time to the players that don't get it tomorrow, and then to give a little bit more time to them that have been out and not taken part in everything we have done pre-season.
PN
You have talked about the setback to Rory Loy which has prevented him taking part in the pre-season games, what exactly has the setback been?
GA
I think it has been incidental injuries connected to the break, he had a double fracture, it is not a nice injury and sometimes these things aren't as straightforward as what they might be. He has just had a few little complications which with the nature or the seriousness of the injury we have to make sure we get him spot on before he gets back in full-time.
PN
Is there an approximate timescale on when you think Rory might be back in full training again?
GA
Erm, not really, because I think we are guessing against nature and I am not good at doing that, and I don't think Dolly (Neil Dalton) would be prepared to commit himself. So, we are hopeful less time rather than more time if that makes any sense, and the quicker we get Rory on the pitch the better because we need his face turning round the other way because he is a bit down with things at the moment and we need to get that smile back and he wants to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But, we are hoping it is less rather than more.
PN
Does Rory's injury and the injuries to Paddy Madden and obviously Danny Cadamarteri who is perhaps not yet match-fit force your hand in a way in terms of looking at maybe possibly bringing some cover in in those positions?
GA
I wouldn't want to bring any cover in, every player I bring in I want to bring in a player that is going to improve us. I am always looking for that player in all positions if it is within the bracket of finance we have, and that is still the case. So, if I could find a player that I think would benefit the group, I am certainly not into bringing cover players in, we have got to bring players in that are going to make an impact. If I could find that I would certainly try to suggest to the board that we do it.
PN
Where we do currently stand with that? Are you in talks with any players at the moment?
GA
I am in talks with............. Believe it or not I am in talks with quite a few managers and a few clubs, some loan signings, some permanent, all that sort of thing. So, we are probably at the stage of the season where all the Premiership and Championship clubs have assessed their groups and they are ready probably maybe Monday or Tuesday because obviously their season doesn't start tomorrow, to let people go out on loan.
So, that sort of area will start livening up, we are also looking at players who might not start who thought they were going to start round-about League One and League Two, so those players will start to become available. So, you know, plus with the work you have already done there are stages of the pre-season that offer you different types of players that possibly weren't available early July.
PN
So, even at this stage, although we probably won't see anybody coming in before tomorrow, there still might be a chance somebody might come in before the first game at Stevenage?
GA
Yeah, I mean there is always a chance, there is always a chance it might be after Stevenage because again it has got to be the right type of player that makes us better. I could sign one today if I wanted to but it wouldn't be the right one because the right one that I am looking for is not just there. It is dead easy to sign players, it is very, very difficult to sign the right players and the better players that are going to make your team all that much better. That of the course is the idea behind bringing somebody else into your club.
PN
You took the decision not to pursue any further interest in Ryan Donaldson this week, what was the thinking behind that decision?
GA
Just backing up what I am saying, I don't think he was better than the players we already had in the club. So, we have let Ryan go, he needs to play football at the minute Ryan, he is 21, he has had too much time on the substitutes bench and around squads but not actually playing. So, I thought that it was unfair on him, and unfair on us because we didn't believe at this moment he was better than the players we already have at the club.
PN
A lot has been said during the pre-season about how well the likes of Mark Beck and Dave Symington and Brad Potts have done, what about Mark Gillespie, how do you rate his performances in pre-season?
GA
As high as we could, if he wasn't as good as what he was we could have let him go out on loan to get some games because he needs experience. But, he is that close to Adam (Collin), there is nothing between them at the minute and he is really giving Adam a lot of pressure and the right type of pressure.
My decision tomorrow is which one to play because you look at what they both can and can't do and there is not much difference between them. So, he has improved immensely and a player we think an absolute massive amount of, so he is definitely going in the right direction and there is already my first selection problem at number one. Which probably I didn't have at the start of last season, maybe at the end but not at the start.
We are always delighted for our own, if you can bring your own through then that is the key, that is what we are always trying to do. Because, in the finance state of the club it is the best possible way to do it, but we have been delighted with David, we have been delighted with Becky and Bradley Potts is making good progress. The only one that we haven’t really seen now is Toddy (Josh Todd) who has just got back after injury, but he has been on the training ground this week and he has looked impressive too.
So, we have got high hopes for those four and it is fantastic development for them and it is a fantastic slant on our youth system and all the good work that David Wilkes does initially and the local scouts, and then the work carried on by Eric (Kinder) when the boys come into the club. They could really hold the key to the future of the club in terms of finding players and bringing them in.
Up to now I don’t believe we have had players of the level we have got and that is why they have gone and tried to find their football elsewhere. Like I said on Tuesday night, nobody has gone on to surprise us, we have made the right decisions, these four hopefully, hopefully will be the ones that can break in. But, there is a lot of work to go and a lot of stuff for them to develop and improve on before they do that, but they are on the right lines for sure.
PN
And every year you have been manager of the team the league position has improved so if you continue that you should be in the play-offs, so there is absolutely no pressure there whatsoever?
GA
No, I mean it is nice of you to remind everybody in Cumbria of that fact. So, it is probably easier said than done that you are going to improve every year because there are lot of people in businesses out there that they think have got everything right and have had desperately bad years business-wise.
But, for some reason they expect football clubs just to be better and stronger even though they are in the same environment and the same crisis point as people in normal business. But, those businessmen that are struggling in their own business turn up as football supporters and expect it just to be easy, but we will be doing our best to try to improve and let's hope that we do and we can take the club into where everybody wants it to be.
PN
We are in a slightly odd position in that the season gets underway with a cup game on Saturday, in a way is that quite a good way of easing you into your League One campaign?
GA
I don’t think we are easing into it because I think the cups are going to play a significant importance this season in terms of bringing revenue in. We are where we are and we need to find the pitfalls of finances throughout the club. The key areas to bringing in money are your league performances, are your cup runs, are your player sales and your commercial side, and you know how tough business is out there at the moment. So, cup runs are one of those four that we need to do to make all the figures add up and keep the club on a proper financial footing.
PN
And Accrington on Saturday, it seems as though Paul Cook has got them set up and playing in a different way to the way John Coleman had them playing?
GA
Yeah, Paul Cook is a great guy, he is a proper football person, I am not saying John isn’t but I know Cooky really well, I have known him a lot of years, he is a big friend of Paul Jewell’s and they played together in their early parts of their career, so I have met him a lot of years ago. I bumped into him last week, I had 45 minutes before his game against St Mirren and we were talking about the tactics we were both going to use and how we were and how we were doing things.
He is really proud of what he has achieved at Accrington so far in terms of the infrastructure and how difficult it is. I told him that exactly the same was the case here, and we were training on St Aidans school field and now we have got sort of two training pitches at Creighton that we use regularly. The infrastructure of the staff and the way we do things on and off the pitch, and he is as proud of that as I am of what we have achieved here. There are a lot of things go on behind the scenes that Paul is trying to do to get right to give the football club a chance.
But, again, it is all around finance playing its part, but after tomorrow I absolutely wish him all the luck in the world, because to do a job at Accrington is even more difficult than to do the job at Carlisle. It is a really tough ask but he plays the right way, his teams are full of energy, full of enthusiasm, they will try to pass the ball, they will try to make life difficult for us. But, I really hope it is a good game and they go on and have a successful season because he is a proper, proper football guy.
PN
And just finally, any further injury concerns ahead of the weekend?
GA
I hope not, some have got sunstroke after the photo call, but apart from that I think they are all in good order.