United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Thursday lunchtime's open press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about the build up to the start of the 2012-13 League One season on Saturday:
GA
This is it for real and everybody is upbeat, training was up the tempo today, it was very, very good, everybody is desperate to be part of the starting line-up. So, there is a different edge to the week and you notice it massive, there is a different edge to me this week as well, but we are still trying to smile our way through the day and keep enjoying what we do and how we do it, but definitely a different feel.
PN
You came so close of course to the play-offs last time around, do you think your side will be better off for that experience?
GA
I think you always are, you are always better off with experience in whatever shape. We have been at the wrong end of the table, we have been at the wrong end of cup finals, we have been at the right end of the table, we have been in the right end of cup finals. All those things should, if the players and management staff learn from it make you better. There is no reason this season why we can't be, we have done it in the past, we have improved year on year, and this season we are hoping that we can do it again.
PN
Where do you think the squad is now compared to where it was at the end of last season?
GA
It is a good question and a difficult one you know. You take certain players out of it and you lose certain qualities, but you bring players in and you get different qualities. No squad will ever be the same, in terms of a general, the strength, I don't think we are a million miles away to be honest. I think looking at the back end of last season and this season getting your injured boys fit in terms of Chris Chantler and Lee Miller and Rory Loy, that will make a big difference.
I know Rory is still injured, but that makes a big difference, and then your signings that you have made who I think are going to be decent, and then the emergence of your young players. So, the club is evolving all the time and the strengths of it sometimes come from areas where you might least expect. The emergence of Bradley Potts has been a bonus and Mark Beck is nearer to the first team than I thought he would be, and he has still got a bit to go.
David Symington has been tremendous, but still a little bit from the team, but he has been tremendous and these are players that we didn't think would come as quick as they have done. But, they have shown us on the training ground where they are and, like I said, with the additions of the new signings and the injured players fit then we are not a million miles.
PN
Stevenage on Saturday, difficult in a way to predict what kind of game to expect because there has been such an overhaul in their playing staff over the summer?
GA
Yeah, I mean we have had them watched three times this season already in pre-season. So, the work has been done there, we are going to play slightly different, we are ready for that, we have worked on that this morning, we are going to work on it again tomorrow as well as the things we know we can do well. We want to go there and I think we are in a better, certainly in a better position squad-wise than we were at this stage last season when we had obviously Lee out and a few other little injuries. So, we are going to go there and try to cause them a lot of problems.
PN
You have already mentioned you would like to add maybe one or two players to that squad at some point, what kind of stage are we at with that at the moment?
GA
We are trying to do maybe one more, we are talking, we are talking all the time and we have a financial level. I pass that on straight away otherwise a lot of the dialogue is time-wasted dialogue. So, I have passed on the information where we can be and let the people digest that, there are two or three enquiries have gone in, we will revisit that after this and see where it goes.
PN
Are you able to give a rough idea of what kind of level the player has been playing at?
GA
A better level than we are at to be honest, and there are chances that if we got that player in or that type of player in............ It is the type of player we want, one that we think that we can help develop his game, help develop our club, help improve our performances and results and maybe everybody is a winner when people come knocking on the door for his signature from the higher arches again.
But, it is a good one if we can do it. I think we need that one that can maybe light up a game in an even contest, and that is the player we have been looking at for a while. That is where the most expensive players are isn't it in that position, but we are still trying and hopefully we might manage to do something within the next week.
PN
In terms of the market itself, are you finding it any easier or harder this summer to look for new players? The inference seems to be that there are more players looking for work so it might be easier to pick them up but has that been the case?
GA
I think it is easy if you have got players out there available better than you have got. The problem we have had is we have got some good players now, we have performed admirably at this level, so to take you to the next level or higher than where we have been you need a quality of a player.
That is where we finding it............... There are umpteen players around there that I could do, I could sign somebody within the next 20 minutes if I wanted to, it is signing somebody within the next 20 minutes that is going to make you better and at the financial level you are allowed. That is the key to all this and that is where we have found the difficulty, that we think our players have done really well last year and in forward areas we have got some exceptional talents, and some players that are decent and some players that could get in other people's teams.
So, you are trying to get that one that is making an even contest sway in your favour, it is the one everybody else is looking for in this division and even clubs below with the Rotherhams and that, and the likes of Crawley until they came up. They have got as much if not more available than us to spend, so it is very difficult. I would have liked to have made one in May if I could because I could have relaxed and knowing today where I am sat here today that I have got my squad complete.
But, I would say that the last time there was a lot of pressure on bringing a striker in we brought in a player called Richard Offiong who was a mistake, a mistake bringing in him into the football club in terms of what he could bring to the party. I don't want to do that again, I can't do that again, we can't afford to do that again.
So, with no disrespect to Richard it was one that didn't work. one that we probably were a bit hasty in doing, I am not wanting to make those types of mistakes again, and the club, like I said to you, just can't afford to do that. So, we press on trying to find the right player that I know, or as much as I can, I have almost a guarantee that he will be a sucess for the club.
PN
A quick update on the injury situation, Danny Cadamarteri came through 90 minutes OK in midweek?
GA
Big bonus, big bonus, very, very good as well apparently. I was obviously here with the first-team players, Kav (Graham Kavanagh) took the team and came back raving over him in terms of his impact on the game, his enthusiasm, his determination and his strength. So, there is a good one, that is, I mean is he a new signing, but he is like another new signing because we have not had him for a while. But, well looked after on the training ground and sorted out in his preparation work and keeping him fit. I think he could play an important part for us.
PN
And will that 90 minutes be enough to make him under consideration for the weekend?
GA
Absolutely.
PN
What about the other injured players? Paddy Madden, Rory Loy, where do we stand with those two?
GA
Possibly another week with Paddy and Rory, we are not putting timespans on Rory but he is a little bit low at the minute and we are just, without.............. He wouldn't want to hear me say it is three weeks or four weeks or five weeks, when he is fit, he is fit. I can't really put a timespan on that because none of the doctors can, so it is when it is.
PN
Any other injury concerns ahead of the weekend?
GA
Just Liam Noble doing flip-flops on his BMX bike, but apart from that.......... He looks like he has been in a fight with Frank Bruno at the minute, but he assures me he came over the handlebars of his BMX trying to replicate the Olympic winners gold medal and didn't do it, and also he didn't do it with a helmet on, so he got a nasty bump on his head.