United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) at Tuesday afternoon's press conference for the local media, Abbott in the opening part of a lengthy interview first talking about the club advertising itself:
JP
I had five friends come up and watch the Brentford game, all came and watched it, what they said to me was that had I not told them that there was a game on and that I was working, having spent the whole week in the city they wouldn’t have known there was a game on. At a time when you are probably being told as part of your job you have got to get more people through the gates, do you think the club’s presence in the city is quite where it should be, do you think that the club are trying push their product as well as they might?
GA
I think so, I think there is a tough situation going on out there isn’t there. There is a lot of people who have not got the amount of pennies they have had before and the team isn’t performing at the right end of the table. So, there are a lot of things that are going against us having massive crowds.
We appeal as we always do for the crowds to come in, we need them at the moment, the club needs them at the moment because again once we get through this period, and we will get through this period with the points we need to build on for next year, we then have to have a fighting chance of putting a better squad together, a stronger squad together to compete at a better level than we have this year.
So, there is an absolute appeal always for the fans, and do you know what, our fans have been fantastic at home, the ones that have been coming, and the ones that have been staying away have been missing out. We have only had one defeat in eight games so they are seeing a little bit of success on the field as well. But, there is tough times out there, I think Blackburn and Milllwall last week, 8,000 for a quarter-final of the FA Cup, it is not just us.
JP
It is not, but things like billboards around the town, those little vans that have a sign up saying come to Brunton Park, little deals and that sort of thing, do you think there needs to be more of that just to try to push the positive product of Carlisle United within your home city?
GA
Well, Eric (Kinder) is not busy on an afternoon so we will have to get him one of those white vans with one of those tannoys, like the old man that does any old iron, any old iron, you come out and put your stuff at the end of the street. I think there is a case for Eric to do that this afternoon, I am sure he will be glad of that position. Trying to make a little bit light of it, I think fans will come when they see that what is happening at the club is right and is going in the right direction. I think there are question marks over a lot of things and I think that is where maybe we can get help from every quarter.
JP
Any nearer on Mathieu Manset’s international clearance?
GA
There is just an issue between Mathieu and Sion to resolve that the agent didn’t inform us about, so we are waiting for him to do his work and free him up and then we can get the clearance through and get his registration off Sion, and then get him available to play. So, that is taking a bit of time but the agent’s issue and it is something that is proving a little bit difficult to do, so hopefully that will be done maybe today or tomorrow.
JP
How frustrating is it when you seem to have all parties round the table, just except this minor administrative one and it is holding it up?
GA
I am used to frustrations, so I just wait until it is dealt with and get on with it.
JP
Have you ever experienced anything like this before? I mean I suppose you haven’t delved that often into the international market, but has it been like this in the past?
GA
Erm, no.
JP
Fair point. Great news coming out of the club this week, Mark Beck has got a call-up to the Scotland under-19s, another of your youngsters getting recognition for what Carlisle have done with them, that must be great for all parties?
GA
Yeah, I mean there are good things happening all the time with the younger players, they are getting pitch time and they are getting some exposure. It is tough out there in League One at the moment, but they are coming through and they are giving their heart and soul to the club. I think going forward they are going to play an important role and we have had Brad Potts got England recognition, we have got Mark Gillespie through playing regularly in goal and Becky now has forced his way into the under-19s squad. So, there are a lot of good things going on and a lot of things to be optimistic about.
JP
Have Scotland been in contact with you, have they said what it is they hope to get out of having him in their squad this time around? What have they said to you?
GA
No, they select him and I think what they are hoping is that he can reproduce the form for us for them. So, they will be wanting him to score some goals and develop his game and prove that he is a really good player and can progress through their age groups. But, they are pleased, obviously he has got his selection off what he has done for the first team at Carlisle, so that is a big fillip. I think they will be expecting him to reproduce that at international level.
JP
It is obviously great isn’t it for Carlisle’s reputation as well, with these young players getting international recognition through the opportunity, and helps I guess Carlisle United attract youngsters further down the line?
GA
Believe it or not we have got a fantastic reputation for the way we deal with players. You look at the players we have had loaned from the quality of the clubs that have loaned players to us, and we have sent some players on to bigger and better things and we have got a really good relationship with some big, big, well the biggest clubs in the country.
Our proof is in the pudding where we have sent on the likes of Ben Marshall and Adam Clayton and James Chester and all those types of players onto bigger and better things. So, we are well aware of that and we use it to our advantage and hopefully that relationship will continue and we keep getting players.
I had another really, really big name manager on the phone to me wanting one of his players to come to us if they got knocked out of one of the European competitions, fortunately for them and I am pleased and delighted even though it means we can’t get the player just yet, that they are in that competition and going well and going great guns. But, it is a credit to us that they wanted him to come here and nowhere else, so there are good things going on.
JP
And in terms of protecting other people’s players and helping them develop, but also bringing through your own players, I guess this is the sort of thing that will help Carlisle continue to grow?
GA
Yeah, I mean we need to do all these sorts of things, we are consistently rebuilding, it is the type of club, because when we get players that we get to any level then the really good players we have got we have had to let move on to bigger and better things, and we have not always replaced them as quickly as we would like to. Because, the dearth of talent out there and the attraction and the finances involved in getting that quality of player can’t be done immediately.
So, we do shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit with our own success, that we get these players to a level, other teams come along and take them and then we have to be patient in terms of finding the quality of replacement almost straight away. Because, it is a well-known secret that we can’t go into the transfer market with all the funds because they money gets gobbled up in the running and the infrastructure of the club. So, sometimes we do pay the price for our own success.
JP
What is the situation with Danny Livesey’s injury, it seemed quite a turning point in the game at the weekend, how is he getting on?
GA
He is not doing great, he is going to be a two to three week situation, and again it is probably in line with our season that we get a player playing at the peak of his form and then lose him to an injury. The same has happened to Chris Chantler, the same has happened to Lee Miller, the same has happened to Matty Robson, key players at key times halting the progress we are making.
Like a lot of the other clubs that have had a little bit of joy in this league, the likes of Tranmere who have been at the top, a couple of injuries to powerful players and quickly they find life tough. We have been a victim of that again, we had just got into a situation where we were winning games and Lee gets his sending off and Matty Robson gets injured almost at the same time, and they are two reliable players for us.
JP
What sort of scale are we looking at then, you say two to three weeks, it is not one that at the moment because there are only six or seven weeks of the season left, it is not one at the moment that is threatening that is it, like Chris Chantler of course who is out for the season?
GA
I think it is two to three weeks, I don’t know any more than that, that is what Neil Dalton is saying so hopefully that is where it is, and after those two to three weeks he is back in contention. Because, much longer than that and we are into the depths at the end of the season, so I would hope he recovers quickly.
He is not a bad healer so we will hope he gets himself back, but the problem is with a calf injury, a muscle injury, it has got to be right before he goes back on the training ground because it can go again. If it goes again that is the end of the season and it will go again even worse than it has done this time, so it is a bit of a problem for Dolly and myself.
JP
So, it is his calf because he seemed to do the splits to actually incur the injury, so we just presumed it would be the groin?
GA
Yeah, well with Danny you can presume a lot of things and it is not always what it seems with Danny is it. But, it is his calf, I think he overstretched the muscle with making a clearance, it did look like a groin from where I was as well, but he has overstretched and the calf has gone in that situation.
JP
One defeat in eight now at home?
GA
We are trying to keep it going as long as we can, home form is imperative to most clubs’ success. At the start of the season we came under a bit of criticism for our home form and we seem to have turned it round. We need everybody battling away together, it is an important period for the club, not for the team, for the club because we need to make sure that we get the points required to make sure we are at least where we are this season next season, and we can grow and move on from that.
All the issues we have had this season we have probably got them out of the way and we can start off a level playing field and start taking the club forward. But, the home form has been sensational really, take the Walsall game out of it, the win against Brentford was a terrific win. I know there was a lot of upset about the defeat on Saturday but the margin for error was so tight that it could have gone either way actually.
I know we ended up second best and it looks a lot worse than it was, but Brentford went second in the division and they are a really powerful team and they have got a lot of going them, Uwe Rosler was saying that just afterwards. So, it made our result against them probably even better than we thought at the time. If we can reproduce that type of performance then we will cause Yeovil problems on Saturday.
JP
You have touched on the weekend, I was going to come to that a bit later but we might as well carry on with it now, it wasn’t, I know this sounds a bit daft but it wasn’t the most comprehensive 4-1 as you say, there wasn’t quite so much in it as the scoreline suggests. So, how much of a concern was the defending, what were the factors do you think that let you down in that one, what were the margins?
GA
Maybe if you are saying that now then you should have sent that message out on Saturday. Because, it has got to a situation where people have looked at the 4-1 and not actually looked at any of the performance. They have looked at the comments that were thrown in after the game and you are right that the margins for error are so critical in this league. We still say it is a first goal league and we hit the post and then had one cleared off the line, and if that goes in and some of the key decisions go our way…………..
The second goal was really a killer goal, it was a soft goal, we appreciate that, the people involved appreciate that, they don’t mean to make mistakes but they made a mistake in a crucial time in the game. To go 2-0 down away from home carrying the type of team that we had a lot of the younger players in it, it makes it a real mountain to climb.
That is how tight the margins are for having real success and having failure, it was failure by not the type of margin that it actually appeared on the outside. I don’t want to start camouflaging 4-1 defeats because nobody wants to get beat 4-1, but you have rightly pointed out that some of the football and some of the play we had, and some of the things that went against us in the game are so fine a margin that you run up a defeat that you probably didn’t deserve.
We didn’t deserve the enormity of that defeat from the performance that we gave, but that is what happens in football. There is no sob story and there is no sentiment and there is no way out of a situation sometimes when you have been beaten like that. I think maybe sometimes we over-react both ways to defeats and to victories, but I think there was a slight over-reaction if I am perfectly honest.
JP
Well we certainly did talk about the fact that it wasn’t as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests, but one of the things we did talk about is that you have mentioned hitting the post and the shot early on from Brad Potts, you seemed to have a spell where you were playing your old game, playing a lot of football and it was very effective, but then all too quickly it went a bit direct again. I wondered if that was something that comes down to perhaps nerves from the players or was it something that they were told to do. Because, that seemed to be when you were at your best when you were playing the ball and keeping it on the deck?
GA
Ask Uwe Rosler the same question, they were playing terrific until we scored and all of a sudden they went long didn’t they. They got a bit frantic, they got a bit excited and that is one of the best teams in the division. It happens, you do think in a game that you wouldn’t if the goals go your way. Brentford are probably the strongest team in the division and when they conceded their goal their gameplan changed.
I don’t think Uwe shouted on them to smash the ball forward and play into our hands, like I didn’t shout to our players to smash the ball forward. But, there is an anxiety to get the ball forward quicker, to get the ball closer to their goal, to try to get the equaliser or to try to get yourselves back in the game, so it is not something that is planned. It is not something that comes from the touchline believe it or not, it is something that you will see a number of teams doing that are better than Carlisle and Brentford and they will do it when things go against them in games.
JP
I appreciate it is hard on there, everyone knows how hard it is in football but can you not sort of really force on them that they need to stick to the philosophy then in those situations?
GA
Better managers than me have tried that, sometimes it is difficult. But, the players get that anxiety and they get that desperation to want to get back in the game, and they do things that they wouldn’t normally do, if we had been 2-0 down we wouldn’t have done that. It is what happens and it is very, very difficult to change the mindset within a game situation, once they cross the white line they are out there to perform, and as much as we rant and rave on the touchline it is very difficult to change the decision making they make and to stop the second goal going in for instance.
Somebody said it was my fault for the second goal and I thought well I didn’t actually stand still and let the ball bounce inbetween me and not clear it. We don’t highlight individuals, we don’t hang people out to dry but we made a team error for the second goal and that is very difficult for me stood on the touchline to do anything about. Then to go 2-0 down right on the turn of half-time makes life really, really awkward for a manager in trying to get back into a football game.