United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) at Tuesday's open press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about releasing striker Mathieu Manset at the end of the season:
GA
You have got to fit into a group, we have a group work ethic here and we have a group where you need to be part of the group and integrate completely into that, that is the way we work. League One outfits don’t have many individualists in it that want to do their own thing and not quite fit into that group and the way the group operates. We think over the period we have seen a lot of good things with Manny, but some things we didn’t think were quite so good. So, we made a decision to move on from that.
JP
Rory Loy was one that maybe surprised a couple with him, what did it come down to with him because he hadn’t quite seemed to have got going this year in showing what we knew he was capable of?
GA
To be honest I am not going to get drawn on individuals, I have talked about Manny and I think there are different reasons behind every individual decision. I am not going to go through them all, it is not the right and proper thing to do to start pulling people to pieces and saying what they were good at and what they were bad at. Decisions are made for a number of reasons, sometimes it is finance, sometimes it is to give space within your squad to develop it. There are a number of issues involved in all of them as to why we should and shouldn’t.
JP
So, looking forward from those, do you see a need just to evolve the squad a little bit from where it was to make sure that you get a better year than you have had?
GA
Yeah, but listen, some of the issues we had were well documented. You have followed us every game, you know where some of the problems have lay. I have got to do things about those to try to make them better. Come next season it is the obvious statement now that we need to be stronger and better than we were last season.
But, we have been in the previous four, this season was the one drawback but we have to quickly try to bounce back and put ourselves in and amongst the teams higher up. That will take some doing but that job started as the last ball of last season was kicked.
JP
Up until this season you have progressed as you say and you have always wanted to make just minor adjustments haven’t you, do you think now there is this need for a bit more of an evolution of the squad you have got to make sure you get the things you are talking about there?
GA
Well, we will be allowed to do what we are allowed to do, we have a level of finance that we have to work within. I would like to do a lot of things but I have to work closely with the chairman Andrew Jenkins and John Nixon to spend what is available and that won’t be as much as other years. But, the key to it is if we get off to a roaring start this season then money becomes readily available from the increase in attendances, as it was taken off me a little bit this season with the drop in attendances.
So, it is important that we get the thing right as best we can to start the season off, to get off to a flyer to get that energy and enthusiasm back on the terraces and then get a few more numbers back through the gates. So, that is where the key lies really, the start is vital, probably more vital this year than others.
JP
In terms of moving forwards then, obviously the next thing that people will speculate and create rumours over is the players that will be coming in now, the pace and the other elements that you are looking for, whereabouts are you on that?
GA
We have looked at some really good and interesting players. Again, if I give my hand away somebody will come in, because we have had relative success with the players we have brought in and they have done alright for us and we have moved quite a lot on, we have moved a hell of a lot on infact. So, we have got to keep all that close to our chest but we have looked at one or two and interested, again, I shouldn’t have met a couple but I have.
That is what I do, but I only I bumped into them just for a coffee at Plymouth and places like that just on the odd chance of bumping into somebody. It wasn’t Plymouth actually, it was just using that as an example. But, no, you can sometimes bump into people can’t you that you need to do.
JP
Seven have gone from the club, is that the sort of figure you are looking at or is not going to be as big as that in terms of revolutionising?
GA
I don’t know to be honest, I don’t think it will be seven, it certainly won’t be seven at the levels financially that it was. But, like I said, it is a tougher job this time around because the resources are less, we have to make sure the club is run right and is prudent and is still here. But, I need to get some players in, three or four, and it will all depend on who re-signs and who doesn’t re-sign and stuff like that.
But, we have had to cut the cloth a little bit, but again, whatever is left has been given to me. So, I have got to try to use it as prudently as I can. It is only like the people going to the shops with a little bit less than they had last week, you still need the same sort of food and the same quality and you have got to try to do that.
JP
And will the squad be supplemented as well this year as it was last year by the young lads coming through? Do you think they have got the potential to have that similar sort of impact?
GA
Well, Mark Gillespie will start the season as first choice goalkeeper, I would think Brad Potts will start the season as first choice right-back. So, they are like two new signings really compared to last year. So, we have saved a little bit there and it is vital to what we are doing so that it frees up a little bit of extra somewhere else. But, I would think Mark Beck, I think he played over 25 games this season of sort of part of the games, so I would hope he is pushing to be a regular. But, we do need three or four I think.
JP
I think it is fair to say there are some fans who for whatever reason, you are not their cup of tea and they have sort of made that point heard. What do you need from them and what can you do for them to try, because it seems like your contract is going to be signed you are sort of intimating, what needs to happen now between those fans and yourself and the club to try to get everyone going in the right direction?
GA
We just need success on the field, I think we need better performances. We had some real shots through the heart with the defensive displays and the goals we conceded. I have no problem personally with any of the fans and I don’t think they have with me, they just want to see success on the field. That is what we have got to try to do, but they have to try to understand sometimes……
They have to understand me like I have to try to understand them that the club is more difficult to manage than it probably has been in a while. We just need a little bit more but I don’t think anybody wants to keep talking about what it has got and what it hasn’t got. What we have got to do is we have all just got to come together, like we did on Saturday, and again we shot ourselves a little bit in the foot on Saturday.
I genuinely think players sometimes have to stand up and take responsibility when they go out there, because they have got roles to fulfil and jobs to do. We have all got tough jobs to do and if any of us falls down by the wayside then the whole operation gets more and more difficult. But, I think the fans, they have had some success and they have just been desperate this year for a bit more and we have found it difficult to deliver.
But, I think there is a lot of support out there as well, I went in Carlisle the last week of the season and I went to the do on the Sunday night and there is a hell of a lot of support about that doesn’t often get its media time as well. So, there is a lot of people out there frustrated, but there is a lot of people out there that understand the predicament we are in and are willing to support their team.
But, listen, at the end of it results on the pitch are key and you have seen managers turn things around very, very quickly. No manager is liked by the way when they are losing games, no manager in the country is liked, and then four games later they are the absolute bees knees. So, you have to take it with a little bit of well it is good when it is good and sometimes it is not quite so good when it is not quite so good.
So, that is a manager’s role and I am understanding of that and I understand where fans are and I would just love them to understand where I am at times and understand how much determination I have got to be a success at the club. But, I don’t think any of it is too personal to be honest with you, I think a lot of it is borne out of frustration and borne out of the will to want a winning football team.