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GA
Apparently it has gone on the SKY News I think is it that his agent says he is going somewhere else so all we can do is, it is not official to me. We made him a tremendous offer and if that is what they are going to do then we are probably powerless to prevent that. But at the minute it is speculation rather than affirmative.
JP
So as far as you are aware at the moment, you are still waiting to hear back on whether he has turned down or accepted that offer?
GA
Yeah.
JP
How ready are you for a contingency I guess that he was going to turn it down. I suppose it had to always be an option?
GA
Listen, what we are trying to do at the minute is build a football club and make the team better. We were always aware that there was a chance that Vincent may or may not stay so we have got a gameplan for if he stays and we have got a gameplan if he doesn't stay. If things carry on as they are and he takes up his option to go elsewhere then we will try to make sure that we bring in somebody that makes the team even better.
JP
Does that gameplan for if he doesn't stay, does that hinge around the transfer market because he did seem to be a bit of a missing link when he came into the team, a focal point for the team that you hadn't perhaps had before.
GA
Listen, if he doesn't stay then we will try to do something that makes the team better.
JP
And that would seem to be having to go into the transfer market?
GA
Yeah.
JP
What about Gary Madine, he has done reasonably well at Coventry, has he got a future back at Carlisle United, could he now have moved on as a player and perhaps give you that focal point or is he looking likely to move on as well?
GA
All I am saying is we will try to make the team better, that is the answer to the question. If Vincent doesn't re-sign will we try to do something that makes us either as good or better, if he doesn't then that is my job, that is our job and it is not easy but that is what we are trying to do.
JP
And the fans, having brought in Vince, will have faith in your ability to go out and do that, but they will want to know whether you are anywhere along towards that. If Vince leaves is it going to be a case of having to wait two or three weeks towards nearly the end of the transfer window or is something in place to move sooner than that?
GA
We will be trying, from the minute, well we have already been trying to cover our bases and we will be trying to do something as quickly as possible.
JP
OK, what about Gary Madine in his own right then, is there anything more you can tell us on whether Coventry are looking at him longer term?
GA
At the minute there is dialogue between the two clubs and we are not sure which way that will go.
JP
And what about the two midfielders you are hopeful of, we know obviously that Adam (Clayton) is back with Manchester City. But I suppose in particular Tom Taiwo, what is the situation with him?
GA
Just to clear up Adam's situation, we got a nice phone call from senior management from Manchester City to say how well he had done. How well they thought his game had developed and they thanked us for giving him the opportunity to play at League One level. They are very keen to have a look at him, which is very understandable.
A new manager (Roberto Mancini) and Adam has to do that because he doesn't want to leave himself wide open to other players taking a shine to the manager's eye without him being there. So they have asked for that, we have to do that and Adam has to do that. Then the situation is if he is not quite seen as ready for the first team at Manchester City then we would like to think that we would have an opportunity of getting him back.
His performances of late have probably created a lot of interest in him as well and that is one of the downsides of the loan system, you are never always guaranteed. But we are hopeful that if he doesn't get right into the forefront of the manager's plans that we may be able to do something later on even in this month, so that was Adam.
And with little Tom, we are hoping to convince him that his future lies with us and possible news on that could be over the next 24 hours.
JP
Good news then that sounds like, because it has been reported, I mean we knew that he would attract attention but it has been reported that there are some clubs, even at Championship level looking at him.
GA
Yeah, we are hoping to let you know what in the next 24 hours.
JP
That sounds like good news, onto the Everton game then because we do want to talk about it, it was a great affair for everyone who got involved, how pleased are you looking back now on how your team performed? For all of the game let alone the incidents that went against you.
GA
We don't make too many excuses, it is not in my nature and we would like to take a lot of positives out of the game. The whole day from the directors, through the staff, through the players, through to the fans, I think did the whole club proud. Everybody that went and took part in the day did themselves an immense amount of good and that is everybody. I don't just mean the players or the staff, everybody, the fans were unbelievable, the best they have been probably since I have been here you know, magnificent.
I think a lot of the belief in what we are trying to do is spreading to the terraces now and that is fantastic. If we can continue that type of performance and that type of play, we can improve gates here, we can improve the second half of the season, the excitement that can go with the second half of the season will be better. I just think the whole day has been a big plus for Carlisle United.
JP
As a fan of football I find there is nothing better than really good fans' banter. And when you equalised at Everton and your fans were cheering "who are you" at the Everton fans and silencing them, that must have made you feel great as a manager that you and your guys were behind that.
GA
The whole of the day, the way that the people at Everton treated us, the way our fans conducted themselves, the way the banter was flying, we were getting banter from the Everton fans to the left and right of us. It was brilliant, there was nothing ill-mannered about it, it was all in the right spirit and I think we have made ourselves a lot of friends there.
It is where, on days like that you can take out other things that they might let us have a pre-season friendly with them, they might decide that their younger players, it is a good place for them to come and develop. So there are so many positives that have come out of the day that we need to kick on from that and make sure that we build on that success.
JP
And your chairman (Andrew Jenkins) seemed as though he got on with their chairman (Bill Kenwright) so maybe he can help that along in the process as well, a bit of the prawn sandwich club if you will.
GA
Well the chairman looks like he has had a few prawn sandwiches, he has been giving me a bit of stick about my weight. But listen, it is important that everybody enjoys football and Saturday was a really enjoyable day. We have had enough days where there has been pressure and things like that, and the intensity of what we have been doing has been high.
But Saturday was a day where I think it was nice and relaxed and we gave a really good showing of ourselves on the pitch. We were close to getting a victory and everything else that goes towards making a nice day of football was there. We are just a little bit disappointed that we haven't got them back to Brunton Park for at least a replay.
JP
In the build up you described David Moyes as, in your opinion the best manager in the Premier League, what did you learn from pitting your wits against him in that game?
GA
I learned that he is under the same type of pressure as us. Nothing is different, he was as anxious on the touchline with the fans starting to just get at their team a little bit. Expectancy levels from them and how he dealt with it, I think he was a relieved man at the end of the game and I have been in that situation myself a few times. But he was very complimentary in what he had to say about us, and his staff were fantastic in the way that they looked after us before, during and after the game.
But it is patience as well for David and he is fighting sometimes what he might think is a losing battle in trying to compete with the big boys. A game against a side like Carlisle is always a tricky tie and we have those types of games ourselves here at Carlisle. But have you to keep patient, you have to keep your belief and I thought he did that and I thought the way he conducted himself was nothing less than expected.
JP
Tactically they play a 4-4-1-1, he has favoured that for quite a while like you have and you have had a lot of success with it. Did you learn a bit about that with the way perhaps Moyes changed things around a little bit in the game?
GA
Well if you noticed we changed things around in the game too. We thought that midway through the first-half they were getting the upper hand, certainly (Phil) Neville and (Marouane) Fellaini were getting on the ball more than we would have liked and we did something about that. To be fair, I think that at the end of the day Everton have had to go and play to the maximum to finally win the game. So we feel that we have probably matched them in that area as well.
JP
What does that tell you about your players the way that they did compete against such quality opposition? Because at times some of the stuff that the likes of (Steven) Pienaar, (Tim) Cahill, Fellaini can do, it is breathtaking, but you competed so well with them.
GA
Yeah but, do you know what, after the game they were talking about what Matty Robson did and what people in our team did as well. So it wasn't a one way traffic thing, but I thought Fellaini was probably the outstanding individual on the day, I thought he was terrific. But we had some really good performances too and I think it was both sets of staff complimenting each other's players on the way both sets of players approached the game.
JP
But as a manager you always want to, I know it is a common phrase, take things to the next level, has that shown you and has that shown the players perhaps even more than they perhaps knew before the game that they can play at a higher level?
GA
Well that is what we are talking about, taking that level of performance and transforming it into league performances on a regular basis. If we can do that there could be a really exciting second half of the season. But they have shown us that they are capable, I have been saying all along that I think we are capable and Saturday proved that there is the ability there. The last 14 or 15 games have proved that we are doing it on a regular basis, what we have got to do now is maintain that for another 14 or 15 game run and see where it takes us.